Star Fleet Universe

[Nerroth]

Don't worry - Andromedans are equal-opportunity invaders...


I suppose the question might come down to how many "standard" ships you want, or if you want to have a few "unusual" designs added to the mix. The SFU Klingons never throw away a weapon, yet even they might struggle to make use of some of the less orthodox choices (such as the "incomplete" E5). But then, squadron commodores and fleet admirals often fight with the ships they have to hand, not the ones they wished they had.

[glitterboy2098]

not a player, but depending on when in the setting you play (and what you think of the rules involved) you could maybe upgrade that C7 to be the PF carrier? a flotilla of gunboats/patrolships might add some flavor to a force.

[Weirdo]

I don't mind odd ships, though my options are limited to what's been published for Klingon Armada, since that's my chosen system for SFU gaming.

As for variants, I've got nothing against them at all. We're just talking about my minis collection here, not the specific configurations I'll be taking into battle. Definitely intrigued by what form gunboats will take in Armada, whether they'll be tougher than usual fighters that still need a carrier, or if they'll be flotillas of tiny starships, where the tender requirement will effectively be a fluff thing.

[Nerroth]

My latest batch arrived today!



That's a large print edition each of Captain's Log #50 and Captain's Log #51; the CL50 and CL51 Supplemental Files; A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Version 1.2 Deluxe Edition; and the Star Fleet Battles Klingon Master Starship Book.


On another note, ADB recently got in a batch of "Starline 2450" Klingon D7Ks - which are based on the Starline 2500 D7, but scaled own to match the Starline 2400 miniature scale.

[glitterboy2098]

what is the difference between a D7 and a D7K?

[Nerroth]

In SFB, the D7K is a D7 with the "K" refit, which upgraded its prow phaser-2s to phaser-1s.

In the Starline 2500 line, there are separate D6 and D7 minis; one has the "smooth" hull surface of the original ship, while the other has a series of raised hull panels and so forth. (One can still use the D6 as a D7, if one prefers the "classic" look.)

The 2450 D7K is marked as such since it is based on the 2500-series D7. But it can be used for any D7 variant in Klingon or Romulan service... or, indeed, for the Hydran D7H Anarchist.

[Nerroth]

Captain's Log #48 included playtest rules and a set of four Ship Cards (two per empire) for the "lost empires" (the Carnivons and Paravians) in Federation Commander, based on the rules and SSDs published for them in Star Fleet Battles Module C6.

Those ships and rules from CL48, along with a third Ship Card for each empire, have been uploaded as a preview pack, in case anyone was curious to road-test how well (or otherwise) these ships handle in the FC game system.


I should note that the ships in C6 represent "what-if" scenarios, in which the Carnivons and/or Paravians somehow managed to survive into the "modern" SFU era in the Alpha Octant. Historically, the surviving Paravians fled to the Omega Octant; while there are hints that a set of Carnivon exiles may have made it as far as the Sargasso Storm Zone.

The SFU Milky Way map divides the habitable portion of the galaxy into five regions, with impassible Void sectors separating one from another. The Omega Octant is to the "right" of the Alpha Octant; the Sargasso Storm Zone is to the "left"; the Sigma Octant is on the far side of Omega from Alpha; while the area controlled by the Xorkaelian Tyranny is over on the opposite side of the galaxy from Alpha (beyond both Sigma and Sargasso).

The Paravians of Omega are known to acquire certain local technologies over time, though no formal write-up for them has been done as of yet. Nor is there any solid data on who (or what) any would-be Carnivon exiles in Sargasso might run into over in that neck of the galactic woods.

[Meow Liao]

It turns out that the distributors for my gaming stores don't have SFB stuff.  Do you have to order it from ADB?  Maybe someone will have stuff at Dragoncon, but I don't remember seeing any of it there recently.  I am really wanting the Federation and Klingon ship books. 

Meow Liao

[YingJanshi]

It turns out that the distributors for my gaming stores don't have SFB stuff.  Do you have to order it from ADB?  Maybe someone will have stuff at Dragoncon, but I don't remember seeing any of it there recently.  I am really wanting the Federation and Klingon ship books. 

Meow Liao

I always just order from ADB. They're fast and let have the option of how you want the rules packaged (I always get unpunched/unbound).

[Alexander Knight]

A surprisingly useful amount of material is also available for sale as pdf.

[Nerroth]

In any event, I gather that the Master Starship Books are not shipped to distributors; so it may be as well to order them from ADB, or to get them as PDFs (as noted in the previous post).

[PurpleDragon]

For all of you SFB Romulan players out there, here's a little something for ya...


http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/shadowdepository/rpg/starfleet_battles.jpg

[Meow Liao]

I am a happy little camper today.  Got home to find that my order had arrived.  Federation and Klingon master starship books and 6 sheets (basic, advanced, R1, R2, R8, R9) of counters.  Now to just find some time so I can read the books.  I guess they get moved to the top of the bathroom reading stack.

Meow Liao

[YingJanshi]

Hey guys wondering if any of you might know if there are any colors for the Klingon fleets? And if so, where I might find them?

[Weirdo]

You can find a paint guide here. :)

[YingJanshi]

You can find a paint guide here. :)

Thanks. O0

[Meow Liao]

I saw that the Romulan master starship book is out now.  I really like the inclusion of the fighters and ships from the Captain's Logs.  Quite a bit of that stuff should be available if I ever get a campaign going.  However, I find the lack of a master ship list or fighter list to be a gross omission.  >:( The latter especially given that both books mention the fighter info is in the master fighter chart/annex 4, and there is no master fighter chart in either book.  So does anyone know if G3 includes all of the ships/fighters/bomber conversions that are included in the master starship books?  Or do you have to get all of the Cap Logs for the info?

Meow Liao

[YingJanshi]

I have a question for you all: what hull would you consider the equivalent of the Klingon Bird of Prey? (In so far as size/role goes.)

Wanting to get a mini to paint up as the IKS Rotarran (General Martok/Worf's ship during the Dominion War).

(Just looking through the minis I'd say it looks like either the E4, E5, F5 or F6. But still not sure.)

[glitterboy2098]

Rotarran was one of the 110 meter versions, not a 230 meter cruiser type. so I'd say your in the right ballpark. The rotarran had a larger crew (30 plus) than the scout type with its dozen people, so I'd say one that is more combat capable.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/bop-size.htm

I'm not familiar with the different frigate options for the Klingons in SFB.

[Nerroth]

ADB have posted their first batch of ship models to Shapeways. Some of these ships are in "3788" (Starline 2400) scale; others are in "3125" (Starline 2500) scale; while others are in "Onmi" (works with both) scale.

The first batch includes stalwarts like the Federation CA and Klingon D7, a number of units which had not been done in "3125" scale before now (such as the Romulan Vulture and the Seltorian CA), plus a handful of designs which had not been done in any scale before (to include the Romulan DemonHawk and the Frax CA).

[Giovanni Blasini]

Sweet, what account/store name are they under?

Also, for those who've actively played, for kicks I picked up Module D3 - Booms & Saucers, and saw that two Federation cruiser saucers, the command heavy cruiser and battlecruiser, both have center warp engines that seem to allow them to maneuver at warp, but still have shields equivalent to the impulse-only saucers.  Contrast that with, say, a dreadnought saucer that has its own warp nacelle, stronger shields, etc.

How does that work exactly?  Is that a warp engine internal to the saucer running off the impulse engines to allow low warp?  I don't recall either ship having an external warp nacelle (I actually have a Fed BC, in addition to the old Fed CA, and plastic DN and tug).

[Alexander Knight]

It's an itty-bitty "emergency warp engine", not big enough to need a nacelle.  Like with the Klingon Emergency Impulse (and Boom Warp Engines on the penal ships)

[Nerroth]

It's listed under Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. on the Shapeways Marketplace; the "designer" is listed as adbinc.


Actually, one detail I like from the Starline 2500 CB miniature is that it has a distinct piece underneath the saucer impulse engine which represents that two-box "warp pack".

In the SFU, impulse engines can produce "non-tactical warp", which allows a ship to travel at a cruising speed of approximately nine parsecs per day, yet obliges it to slow to "sub-light" speeds in order to fight. The two-box warp pack is a self-contained item (set apart from the saucer impulse engines) allowing for a limited degree of "tactical warp" movement, or at least to help off-set a Fed ship's photon arming costs.

In addition to the CB and BC, a handful of other Star Fleet ship classes have these warp packs also: the CM from SFB Module R12 and the CX (which is technically an X-upgrade to the CB design) from Module X1. Actually, the warp pack on the CM is not an emergency warp engine; it can be used to generate warp movement, yet must be jettisoned along with the port and starboard engines if this is called for.

[Giovanni Blasini]

It's listed under Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. on the Shapeways Marketplace; the "designer" is listed as adbinc.


Actually, one detail I like from the Starline 2500 CB miniature is that it has a distinct piece underneath the saucer impulse engine which represents that two-box "warp pack".

In the SFU, impulse engines can produce "non-tactical warp", which allows a ship to travel at a cruising speed of approximately nine parsecs per day, yet obliges it to slow to "sub-light" speeds in order to fight. The two-box warp pack is a self-contained item (set apart from the saucer impulse engines) allowing for a limited degree of "tactical warp" movement, or at least to help off-set a Fed ship's photon arming costs.

In addition to the CB and BC, a handful of other Star Fleet ship classes have these warp packs also: the CM from SFB Module R12 and the CX (which is technically an X-upgrade to the CB design) from Module X1. Actually, the warp pack on the CM is not an emergency warp engine; it can be used to generate warp movement, yet must be jettisoned along with the port and starboard engines if this is called for.

Holy crap, 9 parsecs/day?  That works out to around 10714c, or equivalent to Warp 22 on the old Trek OCU warp scale.  Dude, just how fast are Star Fleet Battles ships?!

(One of the reasons I ask has bearing on the Trek fanfic I've been writing, where I've been considering having the M5ized Hermes class jettison her warp nacelle and run on a warp pack in the saucer section, either by kludging the subspace coils in her impulse engine to let her travel at low warp off her fusion reactors and impulse engine's power, or with a new Kerbal-supplied warp drive to do the same).

[glitterboy2098]

i think they use a different scale. though the one document they provide with details on how to translate the F&E distances to in universe values is a hard read for those of us that aren't familiar with that game: http://www.starfleetgames.com/documents/Warp_Speed_in_SFU.pdf

[Giovanni Blasini]

i think they use a different scale. though the one document they provide with details on how to translate the F&E distances to in universe values is a hard read for those of us that aren't familiar with that game: http://www.starfleetgames.com/documents/Warp_Speed_in_SFU.pdf

Yeah, that example puts Orion at 2500 parsecs from Earth, which is over 8000 light years.  I think in Trek canon it's nowhere that far.

[glitterboy2098]

To be fair, the origins and astrographic location of the Orion's wasn't established in trek canon until season 4 of st:enterprise. So divergence is pretty much a given.

[Giovanni Blasini]

True, but as I recall the entire Federation isn't that far across in Trek canon.  Not saying it's a bad thing, just interesting the differences between SFB and Trek Prime.

That said, that may be closer to speeds we see in JJverse. ;)

[Nerroth]

It's worth bearing in mind that one of the primary source documents for the SFU is the Star Fleet Technical Manual, though the scale of the galaxy itself is somewhat different in the SFU than it is in the SFTM.

The Federation and Empire hex map is 61 hexes across and 19 hexes down; each F&E hex is 500 parsecs across. (Thus, the galactic disc is only one hex thick along the z-axis.) The Federation is at the centre of the F&E map; ever since the Border Declaration of Y102, it has claimed a disc 9500 parsecs (or 19 hexes) in diameter. The founding member planets (such as Earth, Vulcan, and Andor) are located in F&E hex 2908 (the UFP's "capital" hex); the Orion home world is in F&E hex 2812.

Rather than having four quadrants, the SFU Milky Way is divided into 24 sectors, grouped into five regions capable of hosting life as we know it. The Alpha Octant extends across the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta sectors; the F&E hex map covers the outermost two-thirds of the habitable zone of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Immense Voids in the Epsilon and Omega sectors divide the Alpha Octant from the Sargasso Storm Zone and the Omega Octant respectively, while the "off-map" area coreward of the F&E map eventually runs into the Storm Zone (not to be confused with the Sargasso Storm Zone), a region surrounding the galactic core which cannot sustain long-term occupation.

Of the five habitable regions of the Milky Way, only the Alpha and Omega octants have thus far been explored in print. Neither Sargasso nor the distant Sigma Octant (the next octant over past Omega from Alpha) have been written about much as of yet, though the Xorkaelian Tyranny - which holds the largest habitable region, over on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Alpha Octant - is set to become the "big bad" of the Module X2 era.

That said, there is material in the SFU looking at a number of places outside of the Milky Way, or at least for certain extra-galactic factions. The Tholians and Seltorians are from the M81 Galaxy; an enclave of Tholians would later appear in the Draco Dwarf galaxy, while some info has been printed regarding the main "pirate" faction back in M81. The Bolosco and Zosmans (a pair of rival Omega factions) are each from beyond the Milky Way, while the Iridani (also encountered in Omega) are based in a nearby extra-galactic cluster. There is a published module looking at the Lesser Magellanic Cloud and a playtest file exploring the Triangulum Galaxy. As the name suggests, the Andromedan Invaders hail originally from the M31 Galaxy. While the Juggernauts are also from some other galaxy, though no-one is quite sure which one...

[mikecj]

Have you seen the minis on Shapeways, they look pretty good.