Federation Commander

I just got my copy of Booster 91, and I was wondering if the following ships could be used without problem in the General War setting:

Federation Dreadnought-Original Franz Joseph Design
Federation Heavy Cruiser-Rear Phaser Refit
Federation Destroyer-Original Franz Joseph Design


I know that the DDM Destroyer is specifically for the Middle years setting, and the Fleet Tug, DDL Destroyer, DDG Destroyer, and Scout are specifically for the General War Setting. Any help would be awesome,

Thanks!

You can use them - any ship in FC is a ship in the game. Just be aware that they have very real shortcomings (thus the refits for the General War era versions). The Middle Years Feds tend to have blind spots to the rear and are weak on drone defense.

As Will says, you can fighter what you want against what you want.

However, the three ships you listed are all Middle Years designs with some design deficiencies that were alleviated in later refits/designs. So, using the DN might seem tempting with its good power curve and lost of phasers. But it is going to have a harder time against drones because it doesn't have the phasers and drones of the later designs.

So, the DN, CAR, DD, and DDM are all Middle Years designs. The DDG, DDL, Tug, and Scout are all General War designs, with those extra systems.

You owe it to yourself to fly the FJ dreadnaught into combat at least once. It handles a bit differently than other DNs.

Krellex wrote:You owe it to yourself to fly the FJ dreadnaught into combat at least once. It handles a bit differently than other DNs.

It handles a bit less than other DNs.

Sometimes the middle years ships have point values that make them handy for balancing a duel or scenario. A That 129 point heavy cruiser makes an interesting opponent for a Romulan KR.

The FJ ships are like old friends. I've started ordering the Briefing 2 ship packs from e23 because they take me back to them good ol' days (like when you could tell a Ford from a Chevy) Ships had more character back then, I think.

Spacecowboy87 wrote:The FJ ships are like old friends. I've started ordering the Briefing 2 ship packs from e23 because they take me back to them good ol' days (like when you could tell a Ford from a Chevy) Ships had more character back then, I think.

Which, I want to point out, is the entire reason I pushed so hard to do Briefing #2. I wanted to have that "alternative setting" so that we could take the existing ships and strip them of their refits and improvements, leaving just the original, basic ships.

I had hoped it would be more popular than it apparently is, but I am always glad to see that at least some like Briefing #2.

In the longer term, I'm hoping that the work put into Briefing #2 will have a payoff over in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet; in terms of opening the door for a potential look at the Middle Years setting in that game system.

Other Mongoose games based on the same game engine, like Victory at Sea and the old Babylon 5 take on ACtA, have/had different era ships presented within them. While the core rules for VaS look at the Second World War, the game has a pair of setting books which go back to the Age of Dreadnoughts (and word has it that there may even be a pre-dreadnought module in the works, too); while the second had three separate fleet lists for EarthForce depending on which generation of Terran ships one wanted to fly.

Plus, if the "Tri-video era" proved to be of interest over there, perhaps it might help feed back into the FC fanbase in the process?

I wonder how many die hard SFB players long for the days of the Belflower box and a couple of expansions? It might be fun to go back and pretend nothing new came out after 1982 Of course, I take one look at the DAC and the feeling passes.

Spacecowboy87 wrote:I wonder how many die hard SFB players long for the days of the Belflower box and a couple of expansions? It might be fun to go back and pretend nothing new came out after 1982 Of course, I take one look at the DAC and the feeling passes.

A large part of the appeal of FedComm for me is that is captures the feeling of that era. For me, SFB was the most fun from about 1980-1982. I do miss the flaws in the unrefitted ships, but I haven't picked up Briefing #2 yet. I really should, though. Trying to exploit the weaknesses of your opponent's ship was part of the challenge back then.

mjwest wrote:

Spacecowboy87 wrote:The FJ ships are like old friends. I've started ordering the Briefing 2 ship packs from e23 because they take me back to them good ol' days (like when you could tell a Ford from a Chevy) Ships had more character back then, I think.

Which, I want to point out, is the entire reason I pushed so hard to do Briefing #2. I wanted to have that "alternative setting" so that we could take the existing ships and strip them of their refits and improvements, leaving just the original, basic ships.

I had hoped it would be more popular than it apparently is, but I am always glad to see that at least some like Briefing #2.

I was really looking forward to the older ships, and did buy breifing 2. The reason I haven't ended up playing it more than once is that whilst he ships have less firepower and some glaring 'problems' they still have pretty much the same amount of power. Maybe my memory was playing tricks on me, but I was hoping that the older ships would suffer more from power issues. Many ships with less phasers but the same power as the main era actually have more discretionary power.

storeylf wrote:I was really looking forward to the older ships, and did buy breifing 2. The reason I haven't ended up playing it more than once is that whilst he ships have less firepower and some glaring 'problems' they still have pretty much the same amount of power. Maybe my memory was playing tricks on me, but I was hoping that the older ships would suffer more from power issues. Many ships with less phasers but the same power as the main era actually have more discretionary power.

In the olden days, we put a lot more power into specific shield reinforcement. In FedComm, you can't put nearly as much into shield reinforcement, so there's a lot more spare power for faster flying. I find myself going 24 a LOT more in FedComm. In SFB, things often slowed down to 8-12 after the first turn.

Plus-- Life support, scanners, shields, and that damned ECM have all gone away (sorry, I meant to say darned ECM)

But no phaser capacitor, which is a big power saver in SFB.