Federation Commander

Noticed on e23 that it has "Battle Tug" ship cards in one of the ship packs. In the starfleet store, the individual cards include a "Combat Tug" Are these the same ship?

Different ships. For example, the Kzinti Combat Tug (card 185) squadron PV is 132 +10+10 according to the ship chart; the Battle Tug (card L443) is 230. All the battle tugs in the E-pack are from Captain's Log #44.

Thx. I'll have to pick that epack up now

Just to explain a little more, you can think of tugs themselves being in two categories:
- Fleet Tug
- Combat Tug

The Fleet Tug is lightly armed. The Combat Tug is more heavily armed. Some empires have both types (e.g. Klingons, Lyrans, Kzinti), most just have the equivalent of Fleet Tugs (e.g. Federation, Gorn, Hydran) with no Combat Tug. This designation works regardless of the type of pod carried. (In FC, the only type of pod carried is just a cargo pod.)

The Battle Tug doesn't actually refer to the Tug, but rather the combination of the Tug and a special "battle pod". The actual tug portion is the same, but instead of a pod full of cargo, it carries a pod full of weapons, power, and combat systems. The tug/pod combo Battle Tug ends up being about as powerful as a dreadnought, but with slower movement. (How much slower depends on the empire.)

Do note that Battle Tugs are considered to be part of "Borders of Madness".

If memory serves, I do believe the "Combat Tug" is to designate it from the "Fleet Tug" in that the Combat Tug has heavy weapons and the Fleet Tug does not.

Please note that not all empires have Combat Tugs, some only have Fleet Tugs. The Federation is a prime example of this.

The Battle Tug is simply a Tug equiped with Battle Pod(s). It would be unusual but not impossible for a Fleet Tug to carry Battle Pods.


EDIT: And I cross-posted with Mike, as he said the same thing.

Thx Everyone.

That makes sense. I was trying to figure all that out, but my old SFBism's kept crossing with "cargo-only" pods in FC.