FedComm Timeline Please

[dave]

I will be totally honest here and say that mostly I just want to smack some ships together in the SFU and "blow stuff up real good". FC is a great way to do that, no timeline required.

For those who want to play timeline specific games using the FC rules I assume they are free to pour over the respective Master Ship Charts and cross out system boxes that "should not be there yet" and figure out how to fit the scenario into the existing FC ship mix. Those of us who just want to "blow stuff up" don't need to worry about when a particular ship was or was not on the Klingon Border.

I like the idea of a "Middle Years" setting using new ship cards and existing counters to portray the ships of ToS etc. I would buy into an FC:Early Years product that dealt with sub-light ships etc. No need for a specific timeline, just a general era.

As for "Fizzing Beams" this is no worse than the "Cosmic Kitty" a giant Monster possibly of Kzinti or Lyran origin which bats starships, terrain, seeking weapons etc about at will.

Or the dreaded "Stellar Wind" which used to plague or marathon battles with paper maps and cardboard counters on a screened in porch...

[Kang]

Aye, well, don't worry about the 'fizzing beams'; they were simply an humourous extension to a spelling error - nobody is thinking of incorporating such a weapon - wherever in the timeline it appears

[USS Enterprise]

Except the Diet Pepsi Battlecruiser!

[MajerBlundor]

Aye, well, don't worry about the 'fizzing beams'; they were simply an humourous extension to a spelling error - nobody is thinking of incorporating such a weapon - wherever in the timeline it appears

In a recent session one of my friends announced that he was firing his "futon torpedoes".

Personally, I doubt that comfy cushions would have much of an impact on a star ship's hull.

[USS Enterprise]

Diet Pepsi Battlecruiser- Colonel Sanders speaking, Fire all Fizzing Beams.

[Kang]

Personally, I doubt that comfy cushions would have much of an impact on a star ship's hull.

It worked for the Spanish Inquisition....





.....for those that don't know, it's a Monty Python sketch...

[MajerBlundor]

You know, I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition to be discussed on this forum. But I suppose that nooobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[Mike]

Well, I guess that was something completely different...

[USS Enterprise]

By the way, the fizzing beams leak through the shield and choke the captain.

Unless he's Kirk.

[Sneaky Scot]

Just remember that our main weapon is fear. And surprise. Our two main weapons are...

[drwibble]

Just remember that our main weapon is fear. And surprise. Our two main weapons are...

Ah... but is the big chair a Comfy Chair?

[Kang]

Let's come back in and start again....

[pinecone]

Just remember that our main weapon is fear. And surprise. Our two main weapons are...

Okay, so I won't sleep well, so I'll be spacey. My thoughts will wander and I won't notice or fear you.

[ericphillips]

I would like a "sorta" timeline.

I think having a defined history is good is good for scenarios. However, for FC, I would recommend "eras" instead of a detailed timeline for ships in service (it is still impotant to know what year an event happened, but independent from the ship services).

Middle Years is a perfect example. Don't think of it as an alternate setting, but an alternate era. It should reflect all the ships available to a scenario between (insert whatever years covers the whole of the middle years). It does not matter if one Empire develops such-and-such technology 12 years later than so-and-so. Too much info for FC.

I would like to see an early years era product. Again, all ships represented should cover the entire era, no versions for early or late. You play an early gorn, here is the SSD. No need to think if it is Y80 or Y100.

Scenarios can set an exact historical date, it just would not affect the design of a ship in that era.

This seems like a good balance of playability and history. In the end I can see four eras: Early, Middle, Main FC, and Late (simplified x-ships).

[mjwest]

Actually, there are two mini-eras in the Early Years: the one focused on the W-era ships (typically max speed 16) and the other focused on teh Y-era ships (typically max speed 24). That means the presentation of the Early Years could be as two eras, one mini-era at the expense of the other, or some bizarre mashup. I don't know which is best, really, though I lean toward the "two separate eras" type idea.