Federation Commander

Whenever we play at our local gamestore, we try to make sure one of the Big Three empires is well represented on the table in the hope that familiarity will generate interest in FC among the on-lookers. So even among the most experienced of our group, we don't really do a lot with the Vudar, ISC, Andros, etc. but we are starting to branch out.
So could somebody explain to me exactly what the Frax are? I've picked up bits here and there, but never the full story. Danke.

They are a race the Federation 'created' for use in combat simulations. Their ships have heavy weapons with FX and RX arcs, creating a broadside zone of maximum firepower somewhat reminiscent of wet-navy battleships.

The name comes from the firing arcs.

My recollection is that the Klingons created them. The rest is correct.

But are they REAL ships, or are they used only for training purposes in computer simulations?

They are used only for training purposes in computer simulations. Even within the make believe world of Fed Com, they are a make believe race.

If you accept Federation or Klingon ships as being "real", Frax ships are still not real.

The Frax is, however, the most developed of all the simulator races, so if you are in a campaign or an FCOL tournament, they are legal to play.

BTW: Frax also have subs, which can cloak, and can fire some weapons while cloaked!

Klingons aren't real?

We Klingons are definitely real.

Olivette thinks the Frax are real. She wrote a lovely story about them -- well about Kumerian actually, but the Frax are in it.



See Captain's Log #41.

Actually, did Olivette, or whomever, ever describe what the Frax look like? Yeah, sure, they are a simulator empire, but what is their simulated physiology? Has that ever been defined?

I've heard the Frax are so ugly make a Fralli look like a supermodel.

Mike, Olivette mentioned something in the story. Cannot remember it, but I'm pretty sure she mentioned something about Rya Nopel.

WILL!!!!! My poor Fralli and Frax (I started out playing SFB Galactic Conquest as the Frax Queen. )

Jean wrote:Mike, Olivette mentioned something in the story. Cannot remember it, but I'm pretty sure she mentioned something about Rya Nopel.

I went back and reread it. All it says is that he was blue. It heavily implies they are standard humaniod. (Slitting throats probably is irrelevant if they have a radically different structure. Also, given the way things are described, it makes most sense to assume a structure similar to humans and Klingons. Given Karisma's complete lack of reaction, I assume they don't look radically different than Klingons.) Actual appearance details are completely unknown.

I remembered blue and throats and hands.

It certainly didn't suggest that they were hideous. I think SVC is reserving that for the Fralli.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to look it up.

Jean wrote:I remembered blue and throats and hands.

Actually, no "hands" were explicitly mentioned. Yes, he did grab a pistol from a hidden compartment, but it doesn't say he did it with hands. It could have been a tentacle for all we know.

But, considering I am talking to the author of the piece, I'll go with "hands".

Oddly, one piece missing was the color of the blood. Given that there had to be plenty of it showing even before the throats were slit.

It certainly didn't suggest that they were hideous. I think SVC is reserving that for the Fralli.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to look it up.

No problem. It gave me a distraction I needed, and I was asking.

I am going to just assume they are blue-skinned humaniods, fitting right in with the Klingon/Dunkar/Human/Vulcan/Orion standard. I'll think of them as hairless blue Klingons until disabused of that notion. And their blood is blue, too, but darker than their skin. (Let's say the skin is a royal blue, and the blood is a navy blue.) How does that sound?