Federation Commander

Okay, here's a new question for everyone.

I've drawn the phaser emitters (based on the Desilu water heaters), the photon torpedoes, and all that .... but now, one weapon remains...

What does a Federation Drone actually look like?

I think the art on the counters is as definitive as there is available. There was an article (maybe a "to question Why") in a CapLog that showed how drone racks work that had larger views of the various drone types. They've also been shown on art for scatter-pack shuttles.

Every time I've seen a line art drawing of a drone, it has reminded me of a typical air-to-air missile:
long,thin cylindrical body - pointed nose cone, 3 or 4 large fins at the rear (or bottom) end of the drone body, and smaller fins up near the nose.

It's not a lot to go on, but I hope it helps.

I seem to recall some where in the 80's reading that SVC said they look alot like Pheonix Air to Air Missiles, (which is why I always keep a eye out for a sutbaly scaled pack of accesories to use for my Drone Markers) but really it is a Missile so does it really matter what it look like just draw some rocket looking thing and you have it.

Dal Downing wrote:I seem to recall some where in the 80's reading that SVC said they look alot like Pheonix Air to Air Missiles, (which is why I always keep a eye out for a sutbaly scaled pack of accesories to use for my Drone Markers) but really it is a Missile so does it really matter what it look like just draw some rocket looking thing and you have it.

Dal, C-in-C Products makes a set of 1/285th scale Soviet Air-to-Air Missiles that I use for my drones.
They work pretty well, and at 20 to a pack for $5 - you can't beat the price.

To pick up from what Scoutdad mentioned, the line-art for the drones does indeed look a lot like the old AIM-54 Phoenix missile (and the even older Falcon and Genie missiles). The body is "chubby" in proportion to the fins, in comparison to the more modern pencil-with-tiny-fins missiles like the AIM-120 AMRAAM or even the venerable AIM-9 Sidewinder.

Can someone save me a whole heck of a lot of time and send me a scan of that line art (vanguard at pixelsagas dot com) . Also, if someone can post the max damage number the 'common' Feddie drone does, compared to the standard Photon Torpedo, I would be indebted.

A standard, type-1 drone does 12 points of damage.

Vanguard -

If you are doing damage output in RPG terms (Newtons, megatons, whatever), you'll need to do the math to compare the 12 points from a standard (SFB Type I) drone, versus 8 points from a standard-load photon torpedo. I'm assuming you already have the value in that equation for the photons (so you can find "x" for the drone).

If the weapons functioned identically, it would be 37.5MT for the Standard Federation Drone, and 25MT for the Standard Photon Torpedo. The PT, though, has a 'field sustainment generator' that allows a short-period warp travel which draws heavily from the warhead's max yield.

Drones don't seem to be fast direct-fire, but slower 'seeking' weapons, moving at impulse... so there may be an adjustment in MT required. That's the trick between going from 'canon' ST to SFB/FC, the numbers aren't entirely the same.

As long as weapon damages work out about where they should in-proportion to each other, everything should be fine.

A Phaser-1, rolling-lucky, at range 1 should do the same raw damage output as a standard photon torpedo, as should an overloaded disruptor at range 2-4 (8 damage points = x Real World Value).

As long as x = a whole lotta hurtin', I'd believe any number.

The biggest fusion bomb I know of was the Czar Bomb, which was 100MT. 37.5MT with Trek-level targeting is scary enough.

Today's fun fact!

At warp 3.2, a drone travels 885 hexes per second!

Nice. Do we get a fun fact tomorrow too?

Would a spaceborne drone have fins?

Maybe for planetary surface bombardment I suppose.

Just a thought.

Wolverin61 wrote:Would a spaceborne drone have fins?

Maybe for planetary surface bombardment I suppose.

Just a thought.

While not necessary for maneuvering, the artwork shows them as present... and since mankind has added stabilizing fins to it's missiles for hundreds of years... that's a lot of ingrained belief to overcome.
I vote, Yes. Fins would be present on the drones.