Federation Commander

[Captain Nebula]

Would you modify a Klingon D7?

Get rid of the forward and aft Phasers, and replace them with Photon torpedoes? One forward and one aft.

It would make it a much stronger ship, I'd think. Which the Klingons would like.

But what disadvantages would it have?

Or would it be better just to create a new ship? I don't ever hear anyone talking about building new ships.
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[mjwest]

On modifying ships, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, you can do whatever you want and, as long as whomever you are playing the game with is OK with it, go nuts. Try whatever you want to try.

Second, the ships are generally built for specific reasons and in specific ways. While there are a few clunkers and a few that don't "fit" correctly, for the most part the ships operate like they do for specific reasons. If you go changing stuff around, you will get different results and those results can be surprising or over-powered (or under-powered). When wandering in the unknown, you can get expected results.

Third, the Federation Commander rules do mention the idea of replacing disruptors with photons for the Klingons and replacing plasma with disruptors for Romulans, based on the dialog and statements from the TNG and later era shows. If your opponents are good with it, give it a try and see what happens.

Finally, in older versions of SFB, there were rules for Modifying Ships. They were removed from the current rules set because they were determined to both not be needed anymore and to cause more problems than they are worth. But, SFB did provide them as a resource on their website in case anyone was curious. They even updated them to make them work better in the current game. While this is for SFB, and not FC, it should be easy enough to use them for the same purpose in FC.

Now, for your specific idea. Honestly, replacing the phasers with photons won't really work well. Phasers are highly power efficient weapons that can also be used in defense. You'll need those phasers, particularly against someone like the Kzinti (with all of their drones) and Hydrans (with all of their fighters). You would find the missing phasers to be a big problem, and you'll be moving incredibly slow trying to power up all of those disruptors and photons.

Now, way back in the day in (I think) Captain's Log 3, there were two "custom" ships: the Hammerfield and the Doomslayer. The Doomslayer was a D7C that had its ADD racks and one tractor removed, but had a photon FA added to the boom (just wedged in there) and another photon RA added to the rear deckhouse in place of the rear tractor. You could try that arrangement if you wished ... (And if your opponents were up for the challenge.)
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Dal Downing]

In the SFU your biggest problem with mounting more Heavy Weapons is you would have to deal with Shock Values.

Cruiser that fire more than four Heavy Weapons in a turn gains a significant chance of breaking down do to hull shock. This is the reason why the Klingon F6 replaced the added Disruptors with Drone Racks.
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-Dal

"Which one of you is the Biggest, Baddest, Bootlicker of the bunch?"
"I am."
"ARCHERS!!! THAT ONE!!!!"

[Captain Nebula]

Those are all great ideas!

I just found in First Missions under Photon Torpedoes that says you can replace the Disruptors with Photon Torpedoes.
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[Sgt_G]

A long long time ago, I wrote an article for "random minor modifications". the idea was for a campaign, but it could be used for a pick-up game.

For each ship in the fleet, you would cut a deck of cards, then check a table to see what minor mod the ship has. For example, the Ten of Clubs might say the ship has an extra pair of rear Ph-3's.

Conversely, it might say that due to long-term battle damage, a 360 Phaser bank is limited to FH arc.


I could swear it was published in the old Star Fleet Times newsletter, but I couldn't find it when I flipped thru them.

I did, however, notice that the first edition had Bruce Graw's rules for modifying ships with cost charts.
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Garth L. Getgen

Master Sgt, US Air Force, Retired -- 1981-2007 -- 1W091A

[Captain Nebula]

Very cool, Sarge.
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[Steve Cole]

I will confirm that whatever you do at your dining room table and your opponent is willing well that is just fine. I will comment that...

1. We would probably never publish such a ship due to licensing limits. Paramount doesn't want us using items/ships that are not within our 1986 license and we respect their rules.

2. You will get unexpected results. Don't expect us to fix the problems for you, but the challenge is fixing them yourself.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Captain Nebula]

I understand.
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[Sgt_G]

[Captain Nebula]

First Missions says you can swap the Disruptors for Photon Torpedoes.

I'm wondering what the difference is between the Disruptors and Phasers.

I'll have to look at the chart this weekend.
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[Dal Downing]

Disruptor Bolts are a heavy weapon which discharge more than a simple beam of energy. Phasers can replace Heavy Weapons bur Heavy Weapons produce to much shock or recall to simple replace Phasers.
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-Dal

"Which one of you is the Biggest, Baddest, Bootlicker of the bunch?"
"I am."
"ARCHERS!!! THAT ONE!!!!"

[Captain Nebula]

Thanks!
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[Magnum357]

I create whole new designs all the time, but I hardly ever release my materials. Mostly because backing up my theories to newbies is time consuming and the old Doomsday protocals are as about as useless as Vaticant-I going to Vaticant-II for scientific purposes.

For example, there are tons of proposals for alternate factions outside the Alpha territories. I learned with any new designs, always try to follow a standard design process like mentioned above....

Drone Type Factions-
Phasers
Photon Based weapons
Drones

Plasma Type Factions-
Phasers
Disruptors/or Photons
Plasma based weapons

Hybrid Type Factions-
Phasers
Plasma based weapons + Disruptors
Drones

I also used a ship building process similar to Starfires ship building system
with system/power balance equations linked to hull types and design. Just too complicated to describe here and most of the designs would work better under the old FASA systems, however there are advantages to ADB's philosophies.

[Magnum357]

I also agree with the others above. Keep in mind shock rules for Heavy Weapons (and in my opinion certain types of Phasers) sometimes need special rules to install or even offset the design philosophy.

For example, the CFS is a Fed Heavy weapons Photon Cruiser. It fires it Photons to the side because its the only way it can install such a large number of Heavy Weapons on a hull and hope it can use the weapon to any use. This reduces the need for shock rules if you set the Photons on proximity, but its almost of no use in Overload mode.

Also, keep in mind that different factions have different design philosphies. Like single hulls versus tri-hull or single hull modifications to handle extra subsystems and power. Not too mention shock rules on non-weapon systems.