Federation Commander

Can there be some "easy" experimental rules to incorporate X technology into FedCom with existing ship cards?

I gave up on SFB a long time ago because of the time factor, so my last exposure to X ships was with the 3 expansions for the old Designer's edition (or was it the Commander's edition?). I've read that several of those rules were later changed, so I don't know how current X ships work in SFB.

I recall, however, that X ships had better batteries (more power per box), Ph-1s that could fire as two Ph-3s, some kind of aegis system whereby one phaser after another could shoot at impacted seeking weapons (FC terminology) until it was destroyed, and some degree of special sensors.

So, without getting too complicated, is there a way to incorporate any of this (or more) with existing FC components?

Mike... several (if not all) o the X-tech rules could be ported into FC rather easily and I would expect SVC and Co to hae that very high on the list of potential products.

There have been several "house rules" for the various X-techs discussed in both this forum and on the BBS. A bit of seearching should turn up a lot of those, if you're just dying to try some X-tech of your own...

Or maybe if we all ask nicely, we can get an X-tech Bordeers of Madness article in an upcoming Capt's Log???

Actually, I am pitching it as a "Project Z" style article. (Kinda the other side of the Early Years article I did.) If I get the go-ahead, I plan on using a "less is more" style approach and provide very minimal rules changes, making the major difference the massive improvements on SSD.

At the minimum, such an article would have to include the following X-rules:
- Batteries hold three points of power, not just one.
- Ph-1s can fire as two Ph-3s (same or different impulses).
- All multi-turn arming weapons can be armed in a single turn (same combined power cost).
- Photons can also have a +4 overload marker added.
- No fusion cool-down turn.
- Drones do 18 points damage and take 6 damage points to destroy.
- Plasma can be loaded as an F in one turn, then upgrade on a later turn.
- ESGs hold 7 points of energy.

The above is entirely weapons focused. It remains to be seen if any of the non-weapons systems need to be improved. In general, I think it is a good idea to keep those to a minimum (or be eliminated) to keep the approach simple.

Note that there is no guaranteed I will get to write that article, or that Steve won't need to make changes to it. Those are just some of my thoughts about the article I would like to write.

I was kind of hoping something would be done to keep the accounting for the batteries graphical and simple.

Having each one hold three points of power is part and parcel of X-ship tech, but FedCom lacks SFB's energy allocation form to keep track of what is in which battery (not that I miss the EA "tax form" in the least).

I was hoping FedCom X-ship (if and when they happen) would have some kind of block diagram for batteries and power within them (like the drone damage track and plasma strength tracks). FedCom is a graphical game. Having to do "off card" accounting on-paper doesn't fit the game's style.

I think that is what draws me to Fed com.. the graphical stuff and the art, not to mention the minis.. all play a vital role in the game as far as rules and play go...

In my view, "three per battery" isn't really any different or complex than "one per battery".

Remember, the only time that batteries come into play is when you are seeing how much power you can carry over between turns. (OK, there is shield reinforcement, too.) The mechanics and everything are exactly the same as they are now, except the power allowed is three points per undisabled battery, rather than just one.

So, you don't need mark-off boxes or anything. The way X-batteries would work is just the same as non-X-batteries, except that there is more power involved. it is the same "graphics" that already exist.

In fact, this is what I envision the rules for X-batteries to look like. It isn't really that hard or complicated.

------------------------------------
(1D4a) Unlike the ships in the rest of the game, X-ship batteries can hold three points of power instead of one. Simply count the remaining un-disabled batteries, and you can keep remaining energy tokens equal to three times that number. For example, the Fed CX has five batteries. Rather than just being able to keep 5 points of power, it can keep 15 points of power.

(3C5a) Since X-ship batteries hold three points of power, an X-ship can use energy points up to three times the number of un-disabled batteries for reinforcement, rather than an equal number.
------------------------------------

So, as you can see, there is just no need for charts or mark-off boxes or anything. It works just the same as now, except that you get a much bigger stack of energy tokens. No off-card notes unless that is how you do energy management already.

(An an aside, this is how I expect Andromedan batteries to work. Just exchange "five" and "five times" for "three" and "three times".)

Thanks for the responses to my question.

How about 2 free high energy turns for a X-ship? Was that something that SFB X-ships have, too?

Okay, now for the fun part.

How would the shields, power, and weapons be modified?

I would imagine that the number of weapons would be the same as a command cruiser of the regular era. But might it be a battlecruiser instead?

[By the way, if photons can be armed and fired in 1 turn, will they still have to wait until a 2nd turn later to fire again?]

Now, what about power? Would it generally increase by another 1/3? For example, a 15-point warp engine to 20-points? How about impulse and reactor power...same increase?

I seem to remember a line from ST:TMP that stated the shields of the X-Ent. were about 30% stronger. Would each shield of an X-ship be about 30% stronger?

That's all for now.

The ships alreads exist. We are not making those, just porting over the pre-existing X-ships.

On the non-weapon rules, that is where the discussions come in, because how many 'fidley bits' do you want in FC? Do too many, and it weighs down the game. Do too few, and will they be missed? That is where the hard part is.

What non-weapon advantages do X-ships get? The only one I can remember is that they have an EW advantage, which in FC you can simply ignore.

X-ships get a bunch of little "tweaks" all across the rulebook. Don't get me wrong, they sure add up. But they also add an extra layer of complexity and are just extra things to try and remember.

As I've said before, that has always been my beef with X-ships - the little rules tweaks. It's like having another CRUL to hand

I do believe that (the last six or seven times the subject of FC X-rules came up) I said that I wanted to write them myself with no outside input whatsoever (at least, not until I write them and send them to the staff).

terryoc wrote:What non-weapon advantages do X-ships get? The only one I can remember is that they have an EW advantage, which in FC you can simply ignore.

Also iirc they have better shields and more power, both in terms of total generated power and reserve [battery] power.

This is just a friendly discussion.

Instead of doing special sensors with all their complexity, the X-ships could get a "stealth bonus" when fired upon by non-X-ships like Orions do when they don't double engines. When X-ships fire upon other X-ships, no bonus.

So what is the difference in the X-ships as far as aesthetics..?

I have seen some fed ships with red intake warp nacels and some with bright blue nacels.. so are the x-tech the blue??

same for the klingon ships art and minis.. red on soem and blue on others..

and what ships have been excluded by the time the x-tech stuff comes into play?? is there a comprehensive list?

is there a different paint scheme for x-tech?

just trying to understand the little changes so when I order a new set of minis and such I can understand the changes in the colors..