Federation Commander

[Jean]

Switching back and forth between empires when checking Ship Cards is takes much, much longer. You'd be forever flipping back and forth to see how a notes was worded "here" to make it be similarly worded "there".

* shudder *

Gary, I really think these will sell better in onesies. People won't be looking at a big hit to their pockets and deciding to pass this one by because it will cost too much to get into it. Please, don't get so focused on what you would like that you do not listen to the fans who are saying do this one group of 12 at a time. For every person who expresses an opinion, there are usually at least 10 more who are thinking, "Yep". Listen to Mike West -- you only need 6 matched ships for each side in your first "pack". As long as the battle can be fought, people will enjoy the conflict.

As I wrote earlier, it is hard to to do the practical thing from the business viewpoint when it conflicts with what you want to do. But you have to make those choices sometimes so that SVC will be willing to ask his volunteers to work on the Omegas.
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Business Manager/RPG Line Editor
Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

[mjwest]

The first question is what two empires to use? Looking at the maps and all, it looks like the primary candidates are (in no particular order):
- Maestron
- Trobin
- Probr
- Koligahr
- Vari
- Drex
Which two work best? They need to be enemies who fight a lot. Pretty much have to be border states. Needs to not have too much tech between the two. (They can be completely separate, but having two phasers, two primary weapons, two secondary weapons, and a tertiary weapon, too, will be too much. Complexity counts, too.)

The base ship selection for each is DN, BCH, CA, CL/CW, DD, FF. Obviously, not all empires have all of these. (And if there are no CWs yet, then I will stop mentioning the class.) This will determine whether they each need 5 or 6 ships each. If they only need 5 ships, then we can slip in something minor (e.g. FRA) with two ships. Any third empire needs to have as much tech overlap as possible.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Steve Cole]

I think right now you guys should focus on

1. Pick two or at most three empires.

2. Get the RULES working.

3. Get one or two ships per empire working so you can CHECK the rules.

Until we get to that point, we're just wasting time trying to figure out what the "product" will look like.

In a similar case, an old friend of mine said "You guys are arguing about where my son is going to college and what degree he's going to get BUT he's only three months old. Nobody knows yet what interests he will show. When he's twelve or fourteen, there will be plenty of time for him to pick a career based on his interests. Of course I am putting money aside for him every month, but not with a specific college."
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[terryoc]

Hey if you use the Probr then the first product could be called "Federation Commander: Probr Bordr"!

"Bordr", get it? Hahahahhahahha WHANG! ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[Jean]

*Looks* at Terry.

Makes sure the #8 Griswold didn't get rusty in its flight over salt water.


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Business Manager/RPG Line Editor
Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

[Rick Smith]

It's settled then! Probr first. Hah.
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UPFY

[pauls]

Cool, don't mess with the discussion boards much for a few months and come back to discover Omega is in with a shout of being produced in FC.

So random thoughts.


Races/Ships
Maesron and Koligahr might not be the best pair to start as they don't have the really glitzy toys of some of the other Empires. Conversly that might be a help. They do have different phasers. This may not be so much of an issue see my thoughts on rules below.
Trobin and Vari have more tricks (hence glitz) than Kolighar so might be a better choice for opponents to the Maesron. Kolighar have a ship done by Rick so I can start playing with it!

FRA can be included as the Fed Old CL currently in communique that might flesh the product out a bit for free. If the Vulpa Blockade runner is included in the Maesron ship cards it can be the defacto pirate for Omega for awhile.

Rules
Phasers; I think the rules for these can be very straightforward.

All Omegan Phasers follow the standard phaser rules (ref) each will have few differences as noted in their entry this mostly being a note that it will have its own chart.

4OWP (sorry if that's the wrong form)
Wide Angle phaser -Blurb
Use Wide Angle Phaser Chart

4ORP
Radiation Phaser Chart -blurb
Use Radiation phaser chart
Rather than present rules use a chart
For ranges with 1/2 damage listed just list dice rolls 1-3 as rounded up 4-6 as rounded down for those with the same number just list that number 6 times.
Can make a note that radiation phasers are resistant to effects like terrain and EM and they reduce any shifts by one so that for example a shift of 1 is ignored and a shift of 2 only gives a shift 1.

4OPP
particle phaser its own just chart and blurb

4OQP
Quantum phasers use own chart.
These phasers ver resistant to efects that degrade other phasers treat shift of +3 as a shift of +1 and ignore lesser shifts completely.

4OMP
Microphasers use own chart. again give this phaser a chart just list dice rolls that give a hit as the damage listed and put 0 in entries where they miss.
Microphasers are particuarly effective against plasma torpedoes and each damage point from a micro phaser reduced the warhead strength of a plasma torpedo by one point unlike standard phasers that reduce plasma by one damage point by 1 only for every two phaser damage points.

I think the above approach will cover Omegan phasers very easily and not take up much space.

Other waepons
All the plamsa weapons can be listed as behaves like plasma except where noted and this will save a good deal of writing also.

Difficult races
From Omegan 1 Probr because their topedo augmentation mode.
Drex because of their super computer and maybe varied ammo types.
Chlorophon as Spore caster is just tricky.
Alunda batteries
Hivers Fighters

That's not to say they don't all have challenges


My suggestion

So Maesron
DN,CA,CL,DD,FF and VBR
Kolighar
DN,CA,DD,PC
Vari
CL,FF

The Vari only need a phaser chart and can use the particle cannon rules from the Seltorians. the particle probe can just be represented with more probes and a rule that Vari can use probes as weapons without restriction.

At a later date a more complex Vari probe use weapon could be introduced if it was felt worthwhile.

This gives 3 races (4 with Fed CL ) The Vari are a raider nuissance initially and fight both. The VBR allows Maesron Civil War games or more piracy style scenarios easily?

Well my 2 cents seems to have got me a lot of words today

[mjwest]

Any other suggestions for the first two (or two plus) empires?
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Rick Smith]

[Nerroth]

I would want the Omega rules to be reasonably straightforward; I don't want to throw out entire rules sections just to make them get by with previously-published weapons.

The Vari particle beam is distinct from the particle cannon (it has an even lower energy cost and damage output, but can be overloaded twice per turn). Ignoring this distinction not only goes against how the Vari operate in SFB; it cheapens the Omega project by reducing what does make them distinct to a bunch of hand-me-downs.

If the Early Years weapons were good enough to get separate rules, and the same was true for the Axion Torpedo (a weapon for an empire that doesn't exist!) then doing new rules for 'easy' weapons like the PB should not be overly troubling... unless one wants to reinforce the notion that Omega is the red-headed stepchild of the Star Fleet Universe family, that doesn't deserve any better.


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When it comes to empire selection, I would not rush to go for the Vari anyway. They are generally considered to be the weakest (in game terms) of the four Superpower fleets; while the Command Cruiser and Wing Cruiser from CL23 are nice ships, they arrive late, and would need rules for the particle splitter torpedo (a plasma-like weapon that was added to the Vari arsenal in that issue; it splits into 2, 3 or 4 smaller torps, depending on the arming level used for the original one) to be viable.

I'd sooner keep the Vari alongside the Koligahr on the 'eastern' Mæsron front, in the second batch of big powers looked at game-wise.


As far as Superpowers go, the Trobrin are the ones who would arguably make the biggest impact. Their ships are big, tough, and dangerous.

Since the Trobrin Empire is to the 'north-west' of the Alliance, the Probr on the 'south-west' make for the most natural fit Superpower-wise. Since I plan on skipping the re-targeting HEAT trick from SFB (as I mentioned in a recent post) the accentuation part should hopefully not take too much trouble to get right; all it does is make the torpedo twice as fast for a limited time, once you have the TA light the target up.


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In terms of using pre-existing Ship Cards, the Auroran CL is not covered by either Alpha Octant version of the Fed CL (Middle Years or Main Era); it doesn't use drones, for one thing. (For that matter, the FF is not covered by either POL, and the CLA is not covered by either OCA either.)

The only FRA ship that matches a published card is the Throne of Ozymondas (with the Middle Years CR), and even then it only works as-is prior to 2577; you'd have to add in the TM refit yourself.


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I still want two files on launch day, and since the decision hasn't been made (and it's not my decision to make anyway) I'll stand by my wish to see the likes of the FRA in there; I may be going against the grain on this one, but if the time comes for a final list to be laid down I'll have no choice but to accept it anyway.

Besides, the Mæsrons, Trobrin and Probr are on my list for a first pair of files in any event.
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[Rick Smith]

Let me reword that for you, Gary. I liked his take on the factions he chose. Any rules will need to be hammered out, so I wasn't saying yay or nay to the Vari weapons. I just quoted a chunk of his text. My mistake. Mike West had asked for a vote and I reciprocated.

However, I think a singular release and possibly some other ship in a Communique is the way to go. Let's take it easy on Jean and the other ADB staffers please.

Let's follow Steve's advice:

[pauls]

Garry,

My take on the particle cannon as particle beam was just a "quick and dirty" solution to squeeze in third race. If space allows it would be nice to give them the full rules.

You maybe right about going with the Western end of the Maesron Empire and the Trobin and the superpowers war. The Kolighar and Vari are both direct fire races so perhaps leave the Omega release a bit gray but I just like starting at the beginning of the Omegan story and working forward.

OTOH the Trobin are quite ISC in feel with plasma backed by a direct fire "super gun" so they might not be the best bet as the ISC are still fresh off presses.

Apart from the Trobin the most usually quote stars of Omega are the Drex but they are Tholian like in political terms so don't make a good starter also their rules will be tricky. The Hiver with fighters and small ships might be cool.

The Superpowers are Vari, Trobin, Koligahr and Probr

So Maesrons plus 1 and a half of these as product one then the other two and the second half of one half done as the second would give the key players of the Superpower wars and enough of the Pax Maesra and early Empire to play that if required.

The Probr are late to the game and Vari are the best 1/2 race IMHO as they are raiders initially and we can steal the particle cannon rules in for the particle beam in space requires.

So Maesron and either Koligahr or Trobin? I'd be happy either way

[pauls]

Oh and the Fed CL can be the FRA one it just needs a note saying it doesn't get a drone rack.

[Nerroth]

I wouldn't be so quick to write the Trobrin off as the ISC mk2, ship-wise. You can do fun things at very short range with implosion bolts, something the myopic zone on the PPD prevents; on the other hand, the LS/RS firing arcs for IBs on many Trobrin ships make a difference in terms of how best one might actually use them. Coupled with all that padding (including armour), the way ITs run down once launched, and the premium that Phaser-Rs put on firing in larger volleys, one might suggest that Trobrin ships like to get in your face, at ranges where even the ISC might feel queasy.

If you want someone to look at a Superpower fleet and think 'I might have a problem with those guys', the Trobrin are it.


I'd still leave the Vari to one side, too; the Probr are a better choice, in my view.


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In terms of timeline focus, Omega does not need to start too far back, any more than the Alpha Octant did. (The Middle Years era came after the General War, not the other way around; and even then, Briefing #2 cheated a bit in giving the Romulans their Treaty of Smarba ships.)

The era of the Collapse through to the Superpower Wars is, in my mind, a much more useful setting to start with; yes, because the FRA and others are in there, but also because a wider range of ships (not least dreadnoughts) came to the fore over this stretch of time.

Indeed, the Vulpa Blockade Runner you suggested as a de facto pirate (an interesting way of looking at things, actually) only entered service in 2571, at the mid-way point of the Superpower Wars era. If you can't use WYN fish ships or Romulan SparrowHawks in the Middle Years, it wouldn't make any more sense to offer the VBR in a product themed for a time when it had no reason to exist.

The relevant fleets can still go back and re-fight the First Great War if they wanted to, since there are (virtually) no refits to worry about; still, I really think it's best to start with the Collapse and work from there.


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When it comes to the Drex, I did have a go at rules covering the use of their supercomputers a while back, in case anyone wanted to look them over.

Still, I would keep them aside for now, and put them in with the Ymatrians (who launched a fanatical invasion of the Drex Unity) and Worb (who later rummaged through the wreckage of Ymatrian warships, in order to help pursue their own efforts against the robots) later on.
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[terryoc]

The Main Era of Aloha Octant FC doesn't really have a "timeline focus". It's just the fully-refitted version of every ship. The earlier designs fly alongside the later ones, with any historical notes in the ship descriptions. Same with the Middle Years, it's the fully refitted version as at the end of the MY period. Do the same with Omega.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West