Federation Commander

So here I sit again with my sleep disorder and figured I'd do something constructive. I've been reading that some people are looking for Training Scenarios and one person was talking about running a 'Training Academy' at their FLGS. So I sat down and figured out how to set up some training. Mostly just an outline right now, I don't have scenarios for all of this yet, but I've included the names (in ALL CAPS) of some existing scenarios that could work within the system. 'Piloting a Ship out of Stardock', 'Battle Drill', 'Under Attack', and 'Buoy Data' can be found here. Made by someone named Mike Bennett (Converted from StarFleet Battles scenarios). 'Training' is a scenario in the back of both Klingon Border and Romulan Border and 'The Mighty Hood Goes Down' is in .pdf around here somewhere. If you know of any scenarios that could go with this, please post a name or link. Also, if someone were to take one or more of these ideas and translate them into a scenario... I know I would be grateful, and I'm sure others would be, too.

The first group is Academy Training Exercises and is pretty much movement and combat. The second group is A Proper Shakedown for other ship systems and repair. The last is, of course, the real battle that they're being trained for. The think the only thing I think I skipped was Boarding Parties. I figured someone could get that later.

I'd like to be able to sit down with someone or even a small group and be able to go through the game bit by bit with training scenarios.

Should I work this out or is it too much trouble?

Let me know what you all think about this.

See posts below for new Scenarios. I'm going to designate these Scenarios 8BTA for 'Basic Training Academy' with a secondary designation of either '-ATE' for 'Academy Training Exercises' or '-APS' for 'A Proper Shakedown', and then the number of the Scenario in the order I listed them. I'll try to keep editing the original outline I posted here with updates as long as the forum lets me.

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Federation Commander Basic Training Academy
1.) Only ships seen in the TV show. Federation Heavy Cruiser, Klingon D7, or Romulan Warbird for players.
2.) Fleet Scale only for easy training - First Missions scale
3.) 5 'Academy Training' Scenarios
4.) 5 'Shakedown Cruise' Scenarios - no battles
5.) First Battle Scenario
6.) About 5 hours to complete 'Course'?


Academy Training Exercises

1.) 'Full Impulse Launch' Simulation - Driving Test
- .a. Energy Allocation
- .b. Maneuvering (moving and turning) around the board
- .c. Checkpoints - a different maneuver to get to each one
- .d. Advanced Maneuvers
- .e. PILOTING A SHIP OUT OF STARDOCK

2.) 'Light Combat' Simulation - Target Practice
- .a. Academy Firing Range
- .b. Primary Weapon
- .c. Secondary Weapons
- .d. Non-Moving Objects
- .e. Moving Objects - Drones
- .f. Small Ship
- .g. Damage Allocation
- .h. TRAINING/BATTLE DRILL/UNDER ATTACK

3.) 'Navigational Hazards' Simulation - Obstacle Course
- .a. Non-moving Objects
- .b. Planets, Moons, and moving Asteroids (Meteor Storm)
- .c. System Traffic - avoid other moving ships
- .d. Chase and Catch the Drone

4.) 'Testing Ground' Simulation - Other Ship Operations
- .a. Specialized Systems - Cloaking Device, etc...
- .b. BUOY DATA

5.) 'Heavy Combat' Simulation - Final Exercise
- .a. The Ashikobay Naru 'No-Win' Situation
- .b. A Distress Call
- .c. A Freighter Under Attack
- .d. Across The Neutral Zone
- .e. 3 Enemy Starships
- .f. You Have To Rescue The Ship
- .g. Can You Handle It?
- .h. Similar to THE MIGHTY HOOD GOES DOWN


A Proper Shakedown
(No Combat - Routine Deployment)

1.) Milk Runs - Cargo Operations
- .a. Pickup and Deliver Cargo
- .b. Different planets and stations
- .c. Use Lab boxes as Cargo boxes on the SSD
- .d. Both by Transporter and Docked

2.) Galactic Survey - Information Gathering Operations
- .a. Laboratory and Probe
- .b. Scavenger Hunt?
- .c. Dilithium deposits
- .d. Lifeforms and Civilizations

3.) (8BTA-APS3) RESCUE CALL

4.) Diplomatic Courier - Shuttlecraft Operations
- .a. Ambassador doesn't like transporters
- .b. Launch and Land on Planet
- .c. Retrieve Shuttle

5.) (8BTA-APS5) A BIG BANG


First Battle

1. Adversary Duel
- .a. Federation, Klingon, or Romulan
- .b. Choice of Adversary?

I'll keep up with your progress, as I will be starting a new round of training friends, later this year.

Sounds great!

Here's the first I've finished.

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(8BTA-APS3) RESCUE CALL
A Freighter is stranded near the Neutral Zone after it's engines failed, and has sent out a rescue call. Your ship has been dispatched for a Rescue Operation to tow the disabled Freighter back to the nearest base, and your ship has just reached the Freighter.

(8BTA-APS3a) NUMBER OF PLAYERS
One: This is a solitaire scenario for one ship. The freighter does not move on it's own. Circumstances concerning the freighter are in the text below.

(8BTA-APS3b) INITIAL SETUP
Map: Any fixed
Player: Player's ship is placed at one end of the map.
Freighter: Freighter is placed adjacent to the Player's ship.

(8BTA-APS3c) OBJECTIVE
Mission: To tow a disabled Freighter with a Tractor Beam (section 5D6 in the rulebook) to the opposite side of the map.
Time Limit: The scenario continues until the Player's ship reaches the opposite side of the map.
Victory: The Player's ship must reach the opposite side of the map with the Freighter Crew evacuated before the Freighter explodes.

(8BTA-APS3d) SPECIAL RULES
When the ships have gotten half way to the opposite side of the map, the Freighter's engines begin to fail and overload. An explosion is immanent.
Roll one six-sided die and add 1 to the result. This is how many Turns before the Freighter explodes.
The Crew must be Transported off of the Freighter using Emergency Evacuation (section 5E7 in the rulebook).
The Player must 'drop' shields, evacuate the Crew, then 'reactivate' the shields (section 3C2 in the rulebook).

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This Scenario was created to give a beginning familiarity with using Tractor Beams, Emergency Evacuation Transporters, and Shields. Designed by Kel Kollman. I kept it as generic as possible so it can be used with any race. For some strange reason, the Forum won't let me post Designer's Notes.

I'm happy to hear any Comments, Questions, or Suggestions.

CaptainQuirk wrote:

First Battle

1. Adversary Duel
- .a. Federation, Klingon, or Romulan
- .b. Choice of Adversary?

The last time I introduced a new player to the game, I set up a duel between a 140 point Fed CA (Which he played), and a D7 (Which i played). He had played SFB back in the days and liked playing Feds. He lost, because Fedcom is a different game, the tactics aren't exactly the same, and he made some duffer's mistakes. But he had a good time, and went out and bought Klingon Border and Romulan Border. I think there's something to be said for teaching people the game using ships they saw on the old TV show. It gives them a familiar point of reference.

Doing a "No win" freighter rescue is kind of an interesting idea. It might or might not teach them about how we deal with life and death, or what have you, but they might learn something about how drone/disruptor races can be a bear to deal with in groups. Something we must all learn at some point, frequently the hard way.

Klingon of Gor wrote:I think there's something to be said for teaching people the game using ships they saw on the old TV show. It gives them a familiar point of reference.

I hope that's the case. If it can draw in new people, then it definitely works, right? It's too bad First Missions doesn't have a Romulan opponent. That would work great.

I'm going to give it a shot with a No-Win game. I am a little worried that it might turn a new player off of the game, tho. I'm hoping that presenting it as a Training Simulation and the Player knowing ahead of time that they can't win will make it easier. You gotta lose sometime.

Here's another.

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(8BTA-APS5) A BIG BANG
As your ship makes it's way back to base, your sensors pick up a strange energy reading from a nearby moon. Before you can react, the moon explodes!
Your ship rocks from the impact!
Fragments hammer the hull!
Energy discharges throughout your ship!
Eventually, the explosion dissipates. As Damage Control reports come in, you realize your ship is in pretty bad shape, and Communications are down. Your crew begins Repair Operations as you try to limp back to base, and Enemy ships could show up at any time.

(8BTA-APS5a) NUMBER OF PLAYERS
One: This is a solitaire scenario for one ship.

(8BTA-APS5b) INITIAL SETUP
Map: Any fixed
Player: Player's ship is placed at one end of the map.

(8BTA-APS5c) OBJECTIVE
Mission: To repair the damaged and disabled ship (section 5G in the rulebook) and reach the opposite side of the map. See SPECIAL RULES
Time Limit: The scenario continues until the Player's ship reaches the opposite side of the map.
Victory: The Player's ship must reach the opposite side of the map with the following repairs: All Control systems must be repaired. All Shields must have at least one box regenerated (section 3C7 in the rulebook). At least 1 Phaser or Disruptor must be repaired. The ship must be able to produce at least 8 Energy Points per turn without using a Battery.

(8BTA-APS5d) SPECIAL RULES
The ship is damaged as follows: The ship's Shields are down. Every system is hit, but no frame damage. Select one box in every system on your SSD and mark it off. If the system only has 1 box, it is disabled. Mark off all Warp Power boxes. This only leaves 1 Impulse box to generate power (presumably for life-support) and 1 Battery.

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This scenario is designed to give a Player a beginning familiarity with Repairing a ship and regenerating Shields. Designed by Kel Kollman. It's strange that it won't let me post a Designer's Note. I wonder if it has anything to do with the code at the beginning of the section.

The coding is preventing it. I've had that problem plenty of times.

Thanks, Mike. I thought it was something with my computer, maybe.