I'd be very keen to see a Triangulum playtest pack for
FC, akin to those currently available for Omega and the LMC. However, there are a handful of issues from the
SFB side of things which, in my view, may need to be resolved before such a pack would be viable.
There are four Triangulum Galaxy empires currently in playtest over in
Star Fleet Battles: the
Helgardian Protectorate, the
Arachnid Worlds of Union, and the
Mallaran Empire are previewed in
Module E2 proper, while the
Imperium (to include its array of semi-autonomous provinces) has a set of four playtest ships in
Captain's Log #23. (There is
a significant errata file dated to the 6th of December 2011 covering both documents, as well as a set of sample counters printed on
Special Countersheet #1.)
Choosing which ships to preview would be the easy part. I'd simply go with a CA and DD for each of the four current playtest empires, incorporating the Y120 and Y154 refits marked on their SSDs. (In the case of the Imperium, I'd probably skip the optional Y49 refit.)
While it has yet to be confirmed whether or not the Andromedans - or other extra-galactic trouble-makers, such as the Juggernauts - ever launched an invasion of M33, I'd encourage any would-be playtesters to try out such encounters nonetheless.
Rules-wise, however, things are less clear-cut.
As both the Helgardians and Imperium are primarily direct-fire fleets (not counting the medium mine racks the optional Y49 refit provides for the Imperium in
SFB, which I would consider a poor fit for
FC), converting the rules needed to fly those two factions need not be a problem. (The Helgardians have an optional battle armour upgrade available to their boarding parties in
SFB, but those could be side-stepped in
FC if necessary.)
The Mallarans, however, pose greater challenges. The biggest question for them would be how to convert their Ram torpedoes from one game system to another; their movement is tied to the number of
SFB impulses they are on the board for, which might make things awkward in terms of adapting it to fit in with FC movement sub-pulses. Plus, there would be a need to adapt their energy absorber and MPDS rules, and to work out which class of Viper fighter to port over.
The Arachnids have even bigger problems. The 2011 errata file severely limits their ability to arm their plasma-esque Hellfire and Hellblazer torpedoes, by cutting the warhead yields to 25% of the "final" result. Even if this was not the case, the arming rules for hellfires and hellblazers in
SFB would need to be significantly trimmed down in order to work in
FC terms. Plus, there is the matter of how, or even if, one ought to convert the Arachnid assimilation rules over to this game system, or if it would be better to abstract out the concept entirely.
In the long run, I wonder if there might be a need to formally publish the four current Triangulum playtest empires in
SFB proper, before it would be safe to start working on an
FC conversion project for them. That said, I am a big fan of the work which Francois Angers has done in making M33 a compelling setting in the Star Fleet Universe; I hope that, in the fullness of time, there may be an opportunity to see the Triangulum Galaxy more fully fleshed out in print for both game systems.
I'd love to write some stories that made their empire an actual entity.
