Federation Commander

We are going to be using an FRD in our next game. I don't think it has ever turned up in FedCom, so a couple of questions.

Does it gain the Warp -> Reactor conversion when taking damage like a base does, or as a more fragile unit does it not get that, and goes pop quicker?

What is its towing cost. It is static unit (at the game level) with no move cost. Is only towable by things like tugs, or will it be tractorable and towable by anything, in which case what speed penalty will they get?



And a bonus question. Am I correct in assuming that a Vudar BATs will have Ion Cannons in the option mounts, and IPG instead of the 2 drones.
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If I remember correctly,the FRD only had impulse engines,and as it only had PD phasers,it wouldn't need the AWR refit.It had I think a towing cost of 1,unless my memories faded too much. It could be towed by pretty much anything,though of course the bigger the better. The FRD could move on it's own,though only at impulse speeds.

Well, looking at the SFB rules, we can see a few things:
- There is no rule about how to handle warp hits. That is fine in SFB, but not FC. That means it will need to use the base/monitor exception in FC. (Otherwise it just blows up too fast.)
- The towing cost of the FRD is 2, not 1. As another total exception, it may be docked to by two different ships and moved, similar to how a tug docks to and moves a pod. The combined force has a turn mode of F.
- Anything inside the FRD cannot help move, but adds its movement rate to the towing cost. (So, if an FRD has a heavy cruiser in it, the towing cost is 3, not 2.)
- An untowed FRD uses sublight movement detailed elsewhere.
- Weapon boxes are as follows:
-- W1: Klingon, Hydran, Lyran: Ph-2; everyone else: Ph-1.
-- W2: Hydran, LDR: Ph-G; everyone else: Ph-3.
-- W3: Drone, Pl-D, or ESG as appropriate by empire; delete for Hydrans.
-- W4: Delete. (It was used for Klingon security stations. So, just delete for everyone.)
- Up to two ships can use normal docking with it, and are considered to be inside the FRD when they do so. As (yet another) exception, the combined unit can still be towed (or move itself with the FRD's impulse).
- Repair rules would have to be developed. I don't know what they will be, so feel free to make up something reasonable for your own purposes.

For repair rules, you could borrow something from the rules for Andromedans: Anything docked inside the FRD gets extra repair points to use for repairs.

IIRC, in FC you can't transfer power between docked units, so the old tactic of repairing engines first, so as to provide more power for repairs, probably won't work.

Only repair that power is involved with are shields in FC --

FRD should have repair boxes -- don't recall the SFB rating of repair points for each box -- but power isn't involved ---

Good point. I guess I was meaning if they wanted to adapt the old FRD rules.... the point that Mike made above is also valid, in that they'd have to make up their own repair rules. Perhaps if they do that they could also say that an FRD (only) can use power to generate more repair points and can take that power from the patient.... all hypothetical, of course. It's gonna be their rules, of course.

It's really just a target, the repair rules are not going to be that important, especially as there is nothing in it - there might have been something in it, but neither side has any damaged ships at the moment.

Perhaps FRD rules might be good to include in the Borders of Madness section of Captain's Log...

In any case, if one were to do an FC version of FRD rules, just give the FRD a high Repair Rating and declare that any ship docked internally may use the FRD's repair points in addition to its own. Change any repair boxes to hull or maybe cargo. No need to worry about power. That's how repair was handled in the scenario Repair Rendezvous and it's how Andromedan motherships handle repair boxes.

terryoc wrote:In any case, if one were to do an FC version of FRD rules, just give the FRD a high Repair Rating and declare that any ship docked internally may use the FRD's repair points in addition to its own.

Or perhaps the FRD should have two Repair ratings, one it can use for itself and the other (higher number) it can use for the docked ship.