Federation Commander

One of the many differences between Federation Commander and Star Fleet Battles is that ships can land on planets in FedComm and not in SFB (I think there are some exceptions).

Here's a twist: Are there situations or conditions in which ships in FedComm would not be able to land on a planet?

I'm not looking for extreme environments or weird space anomalies. I'm thinking about a Class-M planet with a small colony where life is going normally. For "some" reason ships can't land. It would be a temporary situation--just for the purpose of a particular situation at one point in time.

Thoughts?

That would be a scenario rule.

In general, any ship can land on a Class-M planet. For situations where that isn't possible, whether a permanent feature of the planet, or a short-term issue during this particular point in time, it would be covered as a scenario rule.

Right. This would be a scenario situation.

My dilemma is coming up with a reason for a ship not being able to land, but shuttles would still be able to land.

Honestly, the best reason is no reason. Don't give an explanation. Just state "ships cannot land on this planet". Not everything needs technobabble. Just state the rule and get on with it.

If you must provide a reason, I recommend looking for a tactical reason. Because of some kind of extenuating situation (which could be otherwise unenforceable in the scenario) ships cannot land. For example, there are a string of battles, and any ship that lands is vulnerable to being easily picked up by nearby forces not in this specific battle. Or whatever.

If you need a technobabble reason, I dunno. SFU physics is pretty out there, so anything you come up with probably works. If forced to come up with something, I would go with: There is a phenomena (electrical discharge; weather; gravitational anomaly) that affects large units, but shuttles and small units can ignore. You can decide if it is localize or temporary, or a permanent feature of this planet.

Thanks, Mike. You ARE the FedComm answer guy!