Hello,
I'm just now getting into FC, used to play SFB way back in the day (late '80s).
I've been following FC since it came out, finally in a place to get into it. I suspect it'll be Fleet scale for me, but we'll see.
I have one question prompted from the boards. I skipped over getting Briefing 1 because scenarios don't interest me at the moment, but someone mentioned crew quality rules in the consolidated rule book thread.
Are there any other optional rules in it?
Hello, everyone
Moderators: mjwest, Albiegamer
First, there are no "crew quality" rules, at least you would think of them from an SFB perspective.
Instead, Briefing #1 includes two rules to support scenarios. One is Degraded Crew (to support scenarios that have sick, inexperienced, penal, or otherwise suboptimal crews), and Retirement (to cover ships that must leave the scenario due to damage).
While the Degraded Crew rule is based on SFB's poor crew portion of crew quality rules, it is for a different purpose. SFB crew quality is, as much as anything else, a campaign tool. The idea is that a crew moves from "Poor", to "normal", then, if good enough, to "Outstanding". The Degraded Crew rules are purely there to support scenarios where crews are, for whatever reason, well, degraded. The prototypical use is Klingon penal ships, but sick or inexperienced crews are other applications for use. There is no progression; there are no experience points; there is no "outstanding" crew.
Instead, Briefing #1 includes two rules to support scenarios. One is Degraded Crew (to support scenarios that have sick, inexperienced, penal, or otherwise suboptimal crews), and Retirement (to cover ships that must leave the scenario due to damage).
While the Degraded Crew rule is based on SFB's poor crew portion of crew quality rules, it is for a different purpose. SFB crew quality is, as much as anything else, a campaign tool. The idea is that a crew moves from "Poor", to "normal", then, if good enough, to "Outstanding". The Degraded Crew rules are purely there to support scenarios where crews are, for whatever reason, well, degraded. The prototypical use is Klingon penal ships, but sick or inexperienced crews are other applications for use. There is no progression; there are no experience points; there is no "outstanding" crew.
Federation Commander Answer Guy
Ah, thank you for the explanation.
B1 is basically just scenarios and additional ships, then?
I ordered Klingon Border, Romulan Space, all of the Attacks, and the consolidated rule book and B2.
That should hold me, I think, until rules for Andromedens, carriers, and other wild and wacky SFB bits come out.
B1 is basically just scenarios and additional ships, then?
I ordered Klingon Border, Romulan Space, all of the Attacks, and the consolidated rule book and B2.
That should hold me, I think, until rules for Andromedens, carriers, and other wild and wacky SFB bits come out.
What! No booster packs to get the extra ship cards so you can run squadrons of ships instead of just one each!!!! 
Seriousy though, that's quite a haul.
Welcome to our little community, here's to hoping you can find some local players to duke it out with.
Seriousy though, that's quite a haul.
Welcome to our little community, here's to hoping you can find some local players to duke it out with.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
enrious -
Welcome to the fold. There's a lot of helpful folks here.
In regards to Briefing #1, it does have some things in it beyond scenarios and b&w ship "cards". There are several excellent and in-depth tactics articles. There is also a (very helpful) copy of the master ship chart (current up to FedCom:Orion Attack). There are other articles which may or may not interest you (scenario-writer's guide, etc.).
Welcome to the fold. There's a lot of helpful folks here.
In regards to Briefing #1, it does have some things in it beyond scenarios and b&w ship "cards". There are several excellent and in-depth tactics articles. There is also a (very helpful) copy of the master ship chart (current up to FedCom:Orion Attack). There are other articles which may or may not interest you (scenario-writer's guide, etc.).
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Steve Cole
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(2E3) RETIREMENT
Under certain conditions as part of a scenario’s special rules, a ship may be required to “retire�, usually to avoid being destroyed in a situation in which loss of the ship would be worse than losing the scenario. This is a form of disengagement, but includes special conditions to reflect the orders that impose it. Scenario rules may modify or extend these special restrictions.
(2E3a) Movement: A ship ordered to “retire� must immediately begin moving to disengage at the maximum Baseline Speed it can afford. On a fixed or location map, this would require movement to (and off of) the closest map edge from which it can legally disengage. On an open map, this would require the ship to move in an allowed direction until it actually does disengage.
(2E3b) Combat: The “retiring� ship can only fire weapons in its own defense, i.e., only against incoming seeking weapons or against a unit which fires at it. The enemy can fire at the “retiring� ship.
(2E3c) Repair: If the ship can repair itself so as to nullify the condition which triggered a requirement to retire before it actually disengages, it may return to combat in the scenario, but the owning player must announce if the ship is doing so.
Under certain conditions as part of a scenario’s special rules, a ship may be required to “retire�, usually to avoid being destroyed in a situation in which loss of the ship would be worse than losing the scenario. This is a form of disengagement, but includes special conditions to reflect the orders that impose it. Scenario rules may modify or extend these special restrictions.
(2E3a) Movement: A ship ordered to “retire� must immediately begin moving to disengage at the maximum Baseline Speed it can afford. On a fixed or location map, this would require movement to (and off of) the closest map edge from which it can legally disengage. On an open map, this would require the ship to move in an allowed direction until it actually does disengage.
(2E3b) Combat: The “retiring� ship can only fire weapons in its own defense, i.e., only against incoming seeking weapons or against a unit which fires at it. The enemy can fire at the “retiring� ship.
(2E3c) Repair: If the ship can repair itself so as to nullify the condition which triggered a requirement to retire before it actually disengages, it may return to combat in the scenario, but the owning player must announce if the ship is doing so.
The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Steve Cole
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(5X) DEGRADED CREW
The crew of a military starship operate with great efficiency and high skill. Sometimes a starship will have the quality of its crew degraded for some reason. The reason for the degradation can vary, from something temporary like a significant influx of new crew members or a ship-wide illness, to something permanent like a low morale crew found on a Klingon penal ship. When a ship is operated by a degraded crew, it suffers from several negative effects.
(5X1) Direct Fire: All rolls by the ship with direct-fire weapons have a +1 “to hit� modifier (4A4).
(5X2) Plasma: When a plasma torpedo impacts, one is added to its impulse of impact (4J3b).
(5X3) Turn Mode: The Turn Mode Category is unaffected; but the Turn Mode number (as determined by the Turn Mode Category and the ship’s Baseline Speed) is increased by one (2C2a). This is cumulative with Evasive Maneuvers (2D4b).
(5X4) Breakdown: The ship does not receive its “safe� High Energy Turn, but must roll for breakdown (2D2b) on its first (and every) attempt.
(5X5) Evasive Maneuvers: The benefit for Evasive Maneuvers (2D4c) is +1 rather than +2.
(5X6) Marines: The Marines on the ship do not perform as well as they should. Raids on an enemy ship (5F1a) suffer a +1 to the die roll, and during hand-to-hand combat (5F2b) the enemy Marines get a +1 to their die roll. (In both cases, a modified 6 is still a 6.)
(5X7) Shuttles: One of the ship’s shuttles is inoperative (two if the ship has more than four). The box takes damage normally, but the shuttle in the box is unusable. (If the ship only has one shuttle, there is no penalty, and the single shuttle operates normally.)
The crew of a military starship operate with great efficiency and high skill. Sometimes a starship will have the quality of its crew degraded for some reason. The reason for the degradation can vary, from something temporary like a significant influx of new crew members or a ship-wide illness, to something permanent like a low morale crew found on a Klingon penal ship. When a ship is operated by a degraded crew, it suffers from several negative effects.
(5X1) Direct Fire: All rolls by the ship with direct-fire weapons have a +1 “to hit� modifier (4A4).
(5X2) Plasma: When a plasma torpedo impacts, one is added to its impulse of impact (4J3b).
(5X3) Turn Mode: The Turn Mode Category is unaffected; but the Turn Mode number (as determined by the Turn Mode Category and the ship’s Baseline Speed) is increased by one (2C2a). This is cumulative with Evasive Maneuvers (2D4b).
(5X4) Breakdown: The ship does not receive its “safe� High Energy Turn, but must roll for breakdown (2D2b) on its first (and every) attempt.
(5X5) Evasive Maneuvers: The benefit for Evasive Maneuvers (2D4c) is +1 rather than +2.
(5X6) Marines: The Marines on the ship do not perform as well as they should. Raids on an enemy ship (5F1a) suffer a +1 to the die roll, and during hand-to-hand combat (5F2b) the enemy Marines get a +1 to their die roll. (In both cases, a modified 6 is still a 6.)
(5X7) Shuttles: One of the ship’s shuttles is inoperative (two if the ship has more than four). The box takes damage normally, but the shuttle in the box is unusable. (If the ship only has one shuttle, there is no penalty, and the single shuttle operates normally.)
The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Steve Cole
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This is why I was hesitant to suggest Degraded Crews in the first place.pinecone wrote:A bit off topic, but I'd like to see Outstanding crew rules. It would give the Magnificent panzers a fighting chance...
Next, of course, will be the requests for the experience point system so that crews can progress from poor, to normal, to outstanding.
Personally, if outstanding crews are ever added to Federation Commander, I hope they have a point value equal to the ship. (In other words, they double the cost of the ship.)
Federation Commander Answer Guy
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Bolo_MK_XL
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