The Andromedans and new Aliens Questions.

[Nerroth]

I was reading allot about the Magellenic cloud kingdoms, the stepping stone for the Andro invasion, are those kingdoms and their ships going to be part of the Andro army as captured vessels?

By and large, the Andromedans don't do flying captured vessels in combat.

No other empire's ships are compatible with the Andromedan strategic doctrine of the Rapid Transport Network (using nodes at various bases to travel at higher strategic speeds than their opponents can manage - but at the cost of a slower strategic speed when off the RTN) or with their tactical doctrines (based around the use of technologies like TR beams, power-absorber panels and the displacement device).

The Andromedans would not bother trying to use any ships other than their own in battle, and would consider their enemies - Magellanic, Alpha, Omega or other - to be useful for either slave labour, subjects of unspeakable experiments, or simple roadkill.

what about the giant Andro base stations from which they stage their wars from the Magellenic cloud to the milky way galaxy?

The Andros had a total of three Desecrator starbases in the Cloud - though by the time of Operation Unity, only one was being used as a fleet hub. (The first had been destroyed decades earlier by the Magellanics, and the second was being used to build a Devastator-class battleship by 2602.)

I hope to see a Desecrator Ship Card show up someday, but if there is room for only one double-sided card for the Andromedans, I'd sooner want the Devastator to be given the nod first.

Will the Magellenic cloud races have their own future expansions?

That, it seems, is another matter entirely...

[Kahuna]

There's been lots of speculation of what races might actually make it to FC in the future. Lots of peeps on the forums have posted their feelings and thoughts on this as well. I hope to eventually see almost everything show up in FC. I hope to see those same rules simplified and streamlined with an eye towards "FC Simplicity" to make it all work easily enough. I absolutely loved the ISC, Andros, LMC races, Vudar, Frax, simulator races, Jindarians, and even the Omegans. However, I only want these guys if we can keep it simple and clean.

I recently introduced another old SFB player (who doesn't play anymore) to FC and he was quite impressed. He knows SFB pretty well and I had to retrain his technical mind into just playing the game, not necessarily the rules. He had a very good time and I expect to see him again. I hope we can introduce almost all of SFB tailored to the FC ruleset.

[djdood]

Kahuna -

If you build up a FC group over there, we may have to do a cross-Cascade Mountains group meetup someday. The "Inland Empire" ain't that far from Seattle.

[Starsuperion]

I was reading allot about the Magellenic cloud kingdoms, the stepping stone for the Andro invasion, are those kingdoms and their ships going to be part of the Andro army as captured vessels?

By and large, the Andromedans don't do flying captured vessels in combat.

No other empire's ships are compatible with the Andromedan strategic doctrine of the Rapid Transport Network (using nodes at various bases to travel at higher strategic speeds than their opponents can manage - but at the cost of a slower strategic speed when off the RTN) or with their tactical doctrines (based around the use of technologies like TR beams, power-absorber panels and the displacement device).

The Andromedans would not bother trying to use any ships other than their own in battle, and would consider their enemies - Magellanic, Alpha, Omega or other - to be useful for either slave labour, subjects of unspeakable experiments, or simple roadkill.

what about the giant Andro base stations from which they stage their wars from the Magellenic cloud to the milky way galaxy?

The Andros had a total of three Desecrator starbases in the Cloud - though by the time of Operation Unity, only one was being used as a fleet hub. (The first had been destroyed decades earlier by the Magellanics, and the second was being used to build a Devastator-class battleship by 2602.)

I hope to see a Desecrator Ship Card show up someday, but if there is room for only one double-sided card for the Andromedans, I'd sooner want the Devastator to be given the nod first.

Will the Magellenic cloud races have their own future expansions?

That, it seems, is another matter entirely...

Thanks for the in depth explanation! you rock man!
Well, if we can get a Desecrator miniature, it would probably have to be hollow and plastic.. (I hate resin, it crumbles over time..) because that ship is so large, it would seem cost prohibitive to produce it in full pewter.. or make it pewter but hollow and two separate pieces..

in either event, I sure hope it comes out one day..

There's been lots of speculation of what races might actually make it to FC in the future. Lots of peeps on the forums have posted their feelings and thoughts on this as well. I hope to eventually see almost everything show up in FC. I hope to see those same rules simplified and streamlined with an eye towards "FC Simplicity" to make it all work easily enough. I absolutely loved the ISC, Andros, LMC races, Vudar, Frax, simulator races, Jindarians, and even the Omegans. However, I only want these guys if we can keep it simple and clean.

I recently introduced another old SFB player (who doesn't play anymore) to FC and he was quite impressed. He knows SFB pretty well and I had to retrain his technical mind into just playing the game, not necessarily the rules. He had a very good time and I expect to see him again. I hope we can introduce almost all of SFB tailored to the FC ruleset.

I'm hope that all the aliens from SFB eventually make it into the FC too.. I have to agree, though not playing SFB and coming into this with no idea of the complexities involved in the other aliens you sited.. I would like anything that comes out for Fedcomm (in terms of new aliens) to be easy and not complex what so ever..

I have so little time to learn rules these days with trying to keep my business going during this recession.. so if the game is easy to learn, then I am all for it too!

you make great sense.. I too hope that all of the SFB stuff can eventually become FC rules and Miniatures!! (I love the Miniatures!!)

[Kahuna]

Kahuna -

If you build up a FC group over there, we may have to do a cross-Cascade Mountains group meetup someday. The "Inland Empire" ain't that far from Seattle.

Hey DJ,

I'd love to get together once or twice in the future. I have a group of 4 right now I play with, though being all busily employed with spouses and kids to fill in the gaps. So I don't get to play near as much as I would like to. However, if I'm coming out that way or you're coming this way, I'd love to hook up for a session or two.

[Starsuperion]

Well I have heard that we can submit some alien stuff for the game.. whether or not it could ever end up in there is immaterial to me..

I just like to contribute to the fandom in some minor way..( these designs are for the entire fandom here.)

so here is a ship I designed that I thought would be kinda cool. I have a whole race based around their technology of using Gravitons as a weapon, much like they do with protons, however with the graviton generators on the Imperial Fel warships, they can hold a ship in place warping the space surrounding it, and creating a crushing force that eventually wipes out the shields, and then wraps the ship into a little ball the size of a pen tip..kinda like a black whole without the serious gravitational effects..

the Fel Imperium is an alien race who once were masters of the Alpha and Omega Octant, but were thought extinct..Many races were subject slaves to the Fel Imperium, and on some worlds their giant monuments to their superiority still stand, with the meaning and the culture surrounding them al but faded into mythology.

However, they were merely laying dormant in the void in a large meteor field.. their ships had been frozen in space for a millennium and had not been disturbed until the events chronicled in the Omega Octant adventures.. after the Andromedan Invasion..

I have been trying to keep up on what is currently released in the games, so if I am inaccurate in any regard, please know I just read most of this stuff over this weekend..

Here is a ship painting scheme..Now the Ships have no names yet, I was just fleshing out my idea.. the warp engines have to be used to stabilize the ships when they use their Graviton weapon.. which leaves them open to attack.. hence the smaller ships and fighters..


and here is a small ship chart..now the bulky looking satellite thing in the front is the mobile Graviton weapon.. it is used for large fleets and planetary killing on a massive scale.. they usually are carried in tow by the large command ships and their extra warp engines which pull them to battles..



Side view of the command ship, known as the Hammer head!
I would say the first image above the ship is probably about the same size as the enterprise..


I know that these may never end up in this game, but it was nice to give it a go.. I love the idea of an alien race who was around back in the past who emerges once again, and is surprised to see the Galaxy has come as far as it has in their absence.. and though they are slightly more advanced, they now have a ton of formidable foes to reconquer...

anyways.. I hope you guys like my little fun thing I was doing..

[timp77]

That is so AWESOME! ADB has to make them!

[mjwest]

Well I have heard that we can submit some alien stuff for the game.. whether or not it could ever end up in there is immaterial to me..

If you wish to submit anything to ADB for consideration, please send it directly to Steve Cole at design@starfleetgames.com.

As you have admitted, there are no promises. However, only Steve can decide what belongs in the Star Fleet Universe and what does not. I do not know of any current openings for submissions for new empires, but you never know. Plus, maybe he can use your efforts in ways you might not expect. The only way to find out is to ask.

And those are pretty nice models ...

[djdood]

Some interesting ideas there and the art is very nice (quite evocative of SVC's ship drawings).

Creating new empires usually goes into the Omega/Magellanic/Simulator stuff that I don't really head into, but it sounds pretty neat.

Maybe these guys were "bumped off" by the Zorkaliens (near-mythical uber-badguys that dominate the other side of the galaxy, whom SVC has been teasing us about for nearly 20 years)?

Your next step could be ship cards and weapons tables, but I would table this for a while and play the existing empires quite a bit first.

Get to know the existing fabric of the SFU, then look for a niche for your new guys to fill (this is how the Lyrans happened) or have a unique spin (how the Vudar and Peladine ended up getting wedged-in, the Vudar as a minor power, the Peladine as also-rans).

Making new ships and tech balance against the existing stuff in the games is tricky and takes a lot of work (and playtesting, playtesting, playtesting). Otherwise they just end up being unpublished ships no one outside your group will ever see, which would be a shame.

It might be better to separate the ships/weapon designs from an empire backstory. Both your ships/weapons and the empire itself sound interesting, but they could also be done separately, with twice the chance of them getting published someday.

For a good example of someone actively doing the same process right now, check out SWO_Daddy's Borak empire. He's been posting ships, etc. on the legacy bbs. They're a phaser-based empire (phasers are their heavy weapons too). He's building them in a "vacuum" in that he isn't attaching a backstory or racial-characteristics to them. This way they can (or not) get used in whatever way works and he can keep happily designing ships. He's really been a roll in the last couple of months, fleshing their fleet out nicely.

[Scoutdad]

My wife likes the color... go figure! Although our high school colors were Purple and Gold, so that may have somethign to do with it.


And I have to admit, it would be an interesting challenge to paint one of them following that paint scheme. If only I had a mini... hmmm...

[Kang]

The other thing you can do is to publish your designs independently on your own website. To do this with FC-related material, you have to abide by ADB's Web policy, which can be found at http://www.starfleetgames.com/web_policy.shtml .

That way, you can present your race as a 'non-canon', independent race that people can use if they want to. That said, if you do publish online like that, you stand less chance of having your new race published as an official product by ADB, since the material is already out in the public domain as it were. As far as I know, there are few FC-related new race sites out there; most of them are SFB-related. Mind you I did look a long time ago....

Then again, the chances of fitting in a new race into the existing universe at this stage is pretty slim anyway. Twenty five years ago, you may have been ok, but by now all the geographical 'slots' have been filled.

[Starsuperion]

That is so AWESOME! ADB has to make them!

thanks man!! well, I got a ton of other ideas.. this was just me playing around a bit with a new idea and just letting the rest of the guys here on Fed Comm know that I am down for anything they would like to see or any kind of contributions that could help..

Whether these ships designs, or the technology i briefly described is usable or not, I'm here to help if you guys ever need me to.

Well I have heard that we can submit some alien stuff for the game.. whether or not it could ever end up in there is immaterial to me..

If you wish to submit anything to ADB for consideration, please send it directly to Steve Cole at design@starfleetgames.com.

As you have admitted, there are no promises. However, only Steve can decide what belongs in the Star Fleet Universe and what does not. I do not know of any current openings for submissions for new empires, but you never know. Plus, maybe he can use your efforts in ways you might not expect. The only way to find out is to ask.

And those are pretty nice models ...

thanks man! I am glad you like the designs, and I will surely take submitting things to Steve under advisement.. I was kinda just doing a brief test run, and just putting up some ideas I had as an example.. Not really trying to get points for my art, but rather find out how to submit ideas to Fed Comm, if in the future I become Compelled to do so..LOL

Some interesting ideas there and the art is very nice (quite evocative of SVC's ship drawings).

Creating new empires usually goes into the Omega/Magellanic/Simulator stuff that I don't really head into, but it sounds pretty neat.

Maybe these guys were "bumped off" by the Zorkaliens (near-mythical uber-badguys that dominate the other side of the galaxy, whom SVC has been teasing us about for nearly 20 years)?

Your next step could be ship cards and weapons tables, but I would table this for a while and play the existing empires quite a bit first.

Get to know the existing fabric of the SFU, then look for a niche for your new guys to fill (this is how the Lyrans happened) or have a unique spin (how the Vudar and Peladine ended up getting wedged-in, the Vudar as a minor power, the Peladine as also-rans).

Making new ships and tech balance against the existing stuff in the games is tricky and takes a lot of work (and playtesting, playtesting, playtesting). Otherwise they just end up being unpublished ships no one outside your group will ever see, which would be a shame.

It might be better to separate the ships/weapon designs from an empire backstory. Both your ships/weapons and the empire itself sound interesting, but they could also be done separately, with twice the chance of them getting published someday.

For a good example of someone actively doing the same process right now, check out SWO_Daddy's Borak empire. He's been posting ships, etc. on the legacy bbs. They're a phaser-based empire (phasers are their heavy weapons too). He's building them in a "vacuum" in that he isn't attaching a backstory or racial-characteristics to them. This way they can (or not) get used in whatever way works and he can keep happily designing ships. He's really been a roll in the last couple of months, fleshing their fleet out nicely.

Wow! this is exactly what I was trying to find out by doing the post of those ships for the "Fel Imperium" How and what is entailed when ever, and if ever I decided to try to put my ideas out there for consideration by ADB. I would think that the greatest single compliment I could ever receive is to be considered by SVC and ADB for ideas to add to the SFU.

However you did hit on some very good points.. I am not going to go more indepth on these designs then I already have, like you said, I need to become more familiar with the game before I decide to go anywhere with any of my own personal submissions and idea.. but what is so great about this thread and the responses you awesome guys have been giving is that for a newb like me, I get to get the full run down on how it works from guys who have seen it happen!!

that's the most wonderful thing of all.. getting the cool fellow fan support on this forum.. you guys are great, and unlike other sites and Interests I have been involved with namely "Transformers" those here seem very well behaved and certainly knowledgeable with a touch of style mixed in..

as a Newb to all of this, i am very lucky and honored to be a new member of this community..

My wife likes the color... go figure! Although our high school colors were Purple and Gold, so that may have something to do with it.


And I have to admit, it would be an interesting challenge to paint one of them following that paint scheme. If only I had a mini... hmmm...

LOL.. well Purple has been a color that has received so much fanfare and kind of a stigmatization in the recent decades.. however, it is actually the color of royalty and I figured some gold and Purple made the ancient empire of the Fel more evocative of a race that had a regal royalty about it.. I hadn't considered though how difficult it would be to paint them though..I am glad you like the ship designs.. they took me only a few days to hash out.. imagine what I could do with the full knowledge of Fed comm and the rules behind me.. oh man!!

some day maybe I'll come back and try some other things.. but for now, the Fel is here and I will submit it to SVC just to let him know, I have an option for him to consider if he ever wants to find some others to look at..

The other thing you can do is to publish your designs independently on your own website. To do this with FC-related material, you have to abide by ADB's Web policy, which can be found at http://www.starfleetgames.com/web_policy.shtml .

That way, you can present your race as a 'non-canon', independent race that people can use if they want to. That said, if you do publish online like that, you stand less chance of having your new race published as an official product by ADB, since the material is already out in the public domain as it were. As far as I know, there are few FC-related new race sites out there; most of them are SFB-related. Mind you I did look a long time ago....

Then again, the chances of fitting in a new race into the existing universe at this stage is pretty slim anyway. Twenty five years ago, you may have been ok, but by now all the geographical 'slots' have been filled.

yeah I think I'd rather try to do it here and not on some other site.. you may be right.. however 25 years ago I was watching He-Man on TV and not anywhere near mature enough to add anything to this universe.. that said, the idea I had for the Fel was that they came from the inner section above Alpha and Omega octant.. most of their empire had been in stasis in side of meteorites and Ice..a universal cataclysm placed them there..

so it would be almost as if the invasion of the Fel was geared from withing the Galaxy just from a sector of space that has yet to be explored.. there are still some spots in the Omega Octant that show uncharted and unconquered space.. and in the Alpha Octant, there is still enough room to have a small war shake things up..

I suppose the main thing about trying to add new races to the SFU is that with anything in the universe, there is always some natural occurrence which can change things.. like a spontaneous wormhole, or a Black Hole that drifts too close to a sector and wipes out a races planets forcing them to become nomads and fight others.. etc..

that is the exciting thing about Scifi that makes me so interested in this game..it can always change and that is half the fun!

I did have one question though...

Does the SFU have any rules for the "Mirror Mirror" Universe??

Do ADB have the rights to that alternate reality?

I would think it would be kinda cool to see an ISS Defiant coming out of some rip in time and space in the Tholian territory See " Star Trek TOS tholian Web" and the Star Trek Enterprise "in a mirror Darkly" episodes..

anyhow to have the rules for the ISS federation empire.. and their disruptors versus the regular federation ships and their Phasers in battle.. that would be kinda fun.. hmmm a classic federation enterprise versus a mirror universe ISS Defiant! star trek II, eat your heart out! Ha ha ha ha

not to mention the cool decals for the miniature ships!!

[mjwest]

Does the SFU have any rules for the "Mirror Mirror" Universe??

Do ADB have the rights to that alternate reality?

No and no.

ADB does not have any rights to the Mirror universe. In addition, as mentioned before, ADB does not have any rights to anything from the movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise. Oh, or the new movie. ADB only has rights to the elements of TOS and TAS that are currently in the game. (Meaning they can't go back and include something they haven't already included.)

Now, that all said, there is a discussion topic on the Legacy BBS about a potential "Reflections Universe" for the SFU that is inspired by the "Mirror, Mirror" episode. In the Reflections Universe the point of departure is that the Romulans and Vulcans are swapped. (I.e. the "logical Vulcans" leave and become the Romulans, instead of staying to be the Vulcans we know.) Keep in mind that such discussions like this one tend to grow in fits and starts, and that it will take a while to get anything published.

[Steve Cole]

I like the art. If you want to send in ship cards and rules to go with them, we'll read them.

[Starsuperion]

Does the SFU have any rules for the "Mirror Mirror" Universe??

Do ADB have the rights to that alternate reality?

No and no.

ADB does not have any rights to the Mirror universe. In addition, as mentioned before, ADB does not have any rights to anything from the movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise. Oh, or the new movie. ADB only has rights to the elements of TOS and TAS that are currently in the game. (Meaning they can't go back and include something they haven't already included.)

Got it, I just wasn't sure if it was already included in the game or not.. I have yet to see everything you guys have already done, but I'm learning fast.. and I am exploring this website and reading other threads as much as I can..

Now, that all said, there is a discussion topic on the Legacy BBS about a potential "Reflections Universe" for the SFU that is inspired by the "Mirror, Mirror" episode. In the Reflections Universe the point of departure is that the Romulans and Vulcans are swapped. (I.e. the "logical Vulcans" leave and become the Romulans, instead of staying to be the Vulcans we know.) Keep in mind that such discussions like this one tend to grow in fits and starts, and that it will take a while to get anything published.

Whoa now that sounds pretty cool.. so this " Reflections" universe sounds pretty interesting. I wonder though, with the potential to create your own alternate reality, you can also do your own versions of the Federation, though I'm sure it couldn't be the same as the TOS version, but it would be nice to paint a mini up like the evil enterprise.. LOL

anyhow, I love the idea that a "reflections Universe fleet " could end up accidentally in the SFU and they start making a bunch of attacks on races and such and don't realize where they are until it's too late..

so from a rules stand point, you could In theory, just have ship cards and rules

and if you wanted to take it bit further for existing minis with newer paint schemes.. that would be all that would be needed.. however, New ships would be kinda cool..

I like the art. If you want to send in ship cards and rules to go with them, we'll read them.

Wow! cool! I need to get more familiar with your rules system first.. could try to do both SFU and Fed Comm. thanks for the compliment, I am glad you like the designs.

thanks!