SFB: ADB Status Report
Stephan Fassmann
Category 10, Topic 2
Message 189 Sat May 20, 1995
STEVE.COLE at 15:11 EDT
STATUS REPORT, SFB PRODUCTS: 20 MAY 1995
ADB works in a two-week cycle. At the end of each cycle, we
will update you on the status of various projects.
This status update can be reprinted by anyone, but be
advised that we make progress on things every single day.
========================================
MINIATURES: TFG shipping boxed sets.
==================
STAR FLEET DICE: Latest prototypes approved.
New production samples expected shortly.
==================
MODULE M: STAR FLEET MARINES: Smash hit in stores!
==================
F&E MODULE #2: MARINE ASSAULT
Sent to press on 17 May.
=============================================
SUMMER 1995
==================
CAPTAIN'S LOG #17 (regular issue, June 95?)
Publishable story (History of General War) on hand.
Accelerated work in progress on all features.
==================
MODULE C4: NATIONAL TRAINING CENTERS
Origins release. Playtest reports are flooding in.
==================
MODULE R6: THE FAST WARSHIPS
Scheduled for GenCon. About half of it is in playtest.
All but a couple of pages selected.
==================
SHIP CONSTRUCTION MANUAL
In development.
==================
WARLORD BOARDGAME
Now set for release at GenCon.
==================
CAPTAIN'S LOG #18: THE CLASSIC FICTION OF SFB
Release sometime this summer.
==================
SQUADRON SSD BOOK
Summer release. Preparing lists of SSDs to be done.
==================
GIA SOURCEBOOK for Prime Directive
Working on draft for summer release.
==================
HIDDEN AGENDA: (Prime Directive Module)
In development for summer release.
==================
PRIME ADVENTURES #2 (Summer 95)
Several potential components in development.
=============================================
------------
Stephan Fassmann BYU SAS Computer Support
Internet: mailto:$ste...@sasb.byu.edu
GEnie: mailto:S.FAS...@genie.geis.com
Andrius Tamulis
What happened to "The Early Years"?
andrius tamulis
Joseph W. Butler
>What happened to "The Early Years"?
>andrius tamulis
It's on the back burner for now. People want the other stuff more.
Joe Butler
_____..---========+^+==========---.._____
______________________ __,-='=====____ =================== _____=====`=
(._____________________I__) - _-=_/ `---------=+=--------'
/ /__...---===='---+---_' Starfleet Operations & Training
'------'---.___ - _ = _.-' Utopia Planitia, Mars Colony
`--------' United Federation of Planets
Jim Henderson
>"Andrius Tamulis" <atam...@guava.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>>What happened to "The Early Years"?
>
No, that's not it. For one, there's no product I have wanted more and I know I'm
not alone on this. Two, they say they're having problems with an Avian race to
be included therein. I hope they get it together and don't decide (by themselves)
that people want other stuff. Personally, I'm not buying Marines and I haven't
bought the last few expansion modules.
JH
David Michael Kass
I second this statement. Right now, the Early Years sound the most interesting
to me. (I might consider buying R6, but it going to have to be mostly
useable ships--I was rather disappointed in R5, only a few of the ships
are really useable more than once...). I haven't bothered with the Jindarrins
or whatever they were, I was disappointed in X1 and C3 also.
I asked about Marines here on the net a couple of weeks ago and got almost no
response. It seems that no one is interested in it, the general replies were
that it was boring, with the most intersting part being the troop transport
ships (Gak why bother?)--The other major parts were the boarding diagrams
and rules (Why bother? The common action upon being borded is self destruct
if there are actually enough troops to be a problem...); and the ground
combat. (Someone also mentioned transporter artillery...?)
David
--
David Kass Caltech Grad
E-Mail: dk...@portia.caltech.edu Planetary Science
Research: dk...@venus1.gps.caltech.edu
Alec Habig
>"Andrius Tamulis" <atam...@guava.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>
>>What happened to "The Early Years"?
>
>
>It's on the back burner for now. People want the other stuff more.
That's too bad, and suprising. One of the most common variants experienced
people use in SFb is "let's use old ships only!". And the Early Years playtest
stuff is one of the few playtest modules I ever saw people play over and over
for fun. Of the non-miniatures stuff ADB has in the works, the only one I plan
on buying is the Early Years module.
--
Alec Habig, Indiana University High Energy Astrophysics
aha...@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu
http://astrowww.astro.indiana.edu/personnel/ahabig/
Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns.
Stephan Fassmann
>
>I must agree. I see absolutely NO use for marines. Nobody I know
>that plays SFB is buying Marines (around 15 people, so its not
>a bad sample). The module is useless. It only adds more time
>consuming-ness to an already too time-consuming system. Besides,
>its only useful in a very few special and very rare situations.
>Why bother?
Because it's fun. My group has been waiting for it more then Early
Years. WE like to try to capture ships. My group would hardly call it
useless, specialized maybe but then so are many things in this game, like EW
or fighters/PFs. Besides it works nice in a campaign, where capturing of
planets is very important. Can't really capture a planet from space.
>
>Early Years does have some interest inside my group. At least
>2 or 3 of the players would buy it as soon as it hit the shelf.
>And more important, ALL of us would play it. I Guess Cole put
>Marines out because it was already there basicly. No work, just
>send it to the press...
Why would you play Module Y? You can easily simulate it by playing
light cruisers and frigate without EW and Overloads. What's the big
deal? I have more fun with DWs then the YCAs.
AFAIK Marines was fairly easy to produce, since most of it existed
since 1988. But this is still only a game, and SVC does listen. Email him
that you want some product, if enough people say they want it it will get
higher priority. Lots of people write him but from what I can tell those
with the easiest access(email) give him the least input.
dani...@smartdocs.com
>No, that's not it. For one, there's no product I have wanted more and I know I'm
>not alone on this. Two, they say they're having problems with an Avian race to
>be included therein. I hope they get it together and don't decide (by themselves)
>that people want other stuff. Personally, I'm not buying Marines and I haven't
>bought the last few expansion modules.
>
I must agree. I see absolutely NO use for marines. Nobody I know
that plays SFB is buying Marines (around 15 people, so its not
a bad sample). The module is useless. It only adds more time
consuming-ness to an already too time-consuming system. Besides,
its only useful in a very few special and very rare situations.
Why bother?
Early Years does have some interest inside my group. At least
2 or 3 of the players would buy it as soon as it hit the shelf.
And more important, ALL of us would play it. I Guess Cole put
Marines out because it was already there basicly. No work, just
send it to the press...
--
Daniel Robert Glenn
dani...@smartdocs.com
!David / Kirsty Damerell
Stephan Fassmann <$ste...@sasb.byu.edu> wrote:
>In article <3qjddv$g...@warp10.smartlink.net> dani...@smartdocs.com writes:
>>that plays SFB is buying Marines (around 15 people, so its not
>>a bad sample). The module is useless. It only adds more time
>>consuming-ness to an already too time-consuming system. Besides,
>>its only useful in a very few special and very rare situations.
>>Why bother?
>Years. WE like to try to capture ships. My group would hardly call it
>useless, specialized maybe but then so are many things in this game, like EW
>or fighters/PFs. Besides it works nice in a campaign, where capturing of
>planets is very important. Can't really capture a planet from space.
I bought it for the commando SSDs and the ship-capture rules - the ground
combat rules are silly, given the timescale (it should be a matter of
finishing the SFB action and seeing who now has BPs on the surface: FFS,
one ground combat turn is about 900 SFB turns), and I never believed in
hit-and-run raids anyway, but the ship-capture stuff is great, and the
ground combat stuff can be used when one player has BPs on the surface
and the other has starships in orbit and wishes to capture the planet
without orbital bombardment - but heavily modified.
--
David 'Gotterdammerung' Damerell, GCV Sauricon. djs...@hermes.cam.ac.uk.
Trinity College, Cambridge University. CUWoCS President. All Hail Discordia!
|___| WOODHAL2.WAD ftpable from ftp.cdrom.com and the current mirrors. |___|
| | | I'm currently working on an as yet nameless WAD for Aliens-TC. | | |
John H Kim
Stephan Fassmann <$ste...@sasb.byu.edu> wrote:
>dani...@smartdocs.com writes:
[Re: Marines]
>>Besides, its only useful in a very few special and very rare situations.
>>Why bother?
>
> Because it's fun. My group has been waiting for it more then Early
>Years. WE like to try to capture ships. My group would hardly call it
>useless, specialized maybe but then so are many things in this game,
>like EW or fighters/PFs.
Hm? EW and fighters/PF's are usually major elements of the
game when they are used. Capturing ships is almost never a decisive
element unless the scenario is specifically set up to allow for a
capture (peculiar circumstances allow for lots of bording parties, or
victory conditions which revolve around the capture).
-*-*-*-
>
>Besides it works nice in a campaign, where capturing of planets is very
>important. Can't really capture a planet from space.
Well, you can't capture it with 200 marines. Small ground-based
stations are captured with marines. *Planets* are captured by threatening
them with orbital bombardment.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
>
>>Early Years does have some interest inside my group.
>
> Why would you play Module Y? You can easily simulate it by playing
>light cruisers and frigate without EW and Overloads. What's the big
>deal? I have more fun with DWs then the YCAs.
The problem is, there is a *very* limited variety of "old-style"
ships for this purpose. What is there is decent, but it needs more
variety. I am hoping the Early Years will give at least enough ships to
make for some decent fleet battles.
The interesting thing about the Early Years, IMO, is doing more
with the basic rules of the game -- rather than overflowing with option
boxes, fighters, etc.
IMO, many the more recent ships are generally "optimized" to the
point of boredom -- they are evened out and balanced so as to dull out
the peculiarities, strengths, and weaknesses of the races. BCH's and HDW's
are typical -- balanced out like tournament cruisers, so that no one
race has a bigger BCH than the others. For a long time, almost all of
the developments of the races have made them more alike rather than more
distinctive. Personally, I like racial peculiarities -- underpowered
Kzinti, one-shot Romulans, armored Feds, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim | "Whatever else is true, you - trust your little finger.
jh...@columbia.edu | Just a single little finger can... change the world."
Columbia University | - Stephen Sondheim, _Assassins_
!David / Kirsty Damerell
Alec Habig <aha...@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu> wrote:
>Joseph W. Butler <jwbu...@indy.net> wrote:
>>"Andrius Tamulis" <atam...@guava.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>>>What happened to "The Early Years"?
>>It's on the back burner for now. People want the other stuff more.
>That's too bad, and suprising. One of the most common variants experienced
>people use in SFb is "let's use old ships only!". And the Early Years playtest
>stuff is one of the few playtest modules I ever saw people play over and over
>for fun. Of the non-miniatures stuff ADB has in the works, the only one I plan
>on buying is the Early Years module.
We've played the Early Years playtest stuff quite a bit. I think it -
owing to the vastly reduced firepower - turns the game into more of a
duel and less of a slugfest. I like it.
--
David 'Gotterdammerung' Damerell, GCV Sauricon. djs...@hermes.cam.ac.uk.
Trinity College, Cambridge University. CUWoCS President. All Hail Discordia!
|___| Pulp Fiction: Sex, Drugs and Mayhem. What more could you ask? |___|
| | | "You give her the shot!" "No, no, _you_ give her the shot!" | | |
Stephan Fassmann
[...]
> Well, you can't capture it with 200 marines. Small ground-based
>stations are captured with marines. *Planets* are captured by threatening
>them with orbital bombardment.
Planets are not captured with OB threats, That may demoralize them,
it may reduce the number of defenders but you can't really control a planet
from the sky. It takes troops on the ground to compel the people to dedicate
resources toward your goals.
Look at the Gulf War. The US controlled the skies but that didn't
mean anything until troops were sent in to deal directly with the Iraqis.
Even Bosnia shows us the same thing, Control of the sky means very little,
all it does and can do, is limit access by other sky forces, and annoy the
people on the ground.
Blowing cities away with photons/disruptors/plasmas hurts you more
then them since you need the people to dig/plant/process materials. You have
neither the time or people to repopulate a planet after killing the previous
owners. You _might_ be able to do that once or twice, but it would take a
lot of people and a long time to restart production from that world, even if
you used bio/chem weapons to kill people and not destroy buildings. But what
would the planets do if you started doing that....
[...]
> The problem is, there is a *very* limited variety of "old-style"
>ships for this purpose. What is there is decent, but it needs more
>variety. I am hoping the Early Years will give at least enough ships to
>make for some decent fleet battles.
Well, from the playtest stuff it looks like we will only get three
kinds ships to play with YFF, YCA, YCC. With the difference between a YFF
and a YCA usually a couple of phasers and extra systems boxes, so there
doesn't seem to be a need for the DD/CL classes which would be too close to
an YFF or YCA. There are also none of the specialty classes since most of
the tech hasn't been moved to ships yet, so no scouts/minesweepers/troop
transports/mauler/SFG/etc ships.
So as far as I can tell the fleet can be made up of a YCC,
5xYCA, and 5xYFF, or some combination really close to that.
There are two exceptions; the Feds with a YCL in
addition to the YCA but only because the YCA comes out so late, and the Roms
with the sublight stuff the Hawk-S is about equal to the War Bird but uses
different weapons system. Having conjectual warp Rom stuff might be fun.
There does seem to be a potential for multiple Fed ships designs but
that would be only Fed, none of the other races are so diverse. There is the
Gorn area Avian race but remember it DIES. Not much fun in playing that race.
If you have some ideas I sure SVC would love to hear them.
[...]
> IMO, many the more recent ships are generally "optimized" to the
>point of boredom -- they are evened out and balanced so as to dull out
[...]
You had better email SVC that you like it, because lots of people
have complained because they aren't so well balanced.
John H Kim
marines in SFB, in reply to Stephan Fassmann.
Stephan Fassmann <$ste...@sasb.byu.edu> wrote:
>John H Kim <jh...@sawasdee.cc.columbia.edu> writes:
>>Small ground-based stations are captured with marines. *Planets* are
>>captured by threatening them with orbital bombardment.
>
> Planets are not captured with OB threats, That may demoralize them,
>it may reduce the number of defenders but you can't really control a planet
>from the sky. It takes troops on the ground to compel the people to dedicate
>resources toward your goals.
> Look at the Gulf War. The US controlled the skies but that didn't
>mean anything until troops were sent in to deal directly with the Iraqis.
Stephan - I really don't think the analogy holds up very well.
The problem is simple *numbers*. In SFB, a troop ship only carries a few
hundred marines at most, and they are relatively rare in fleets (unless
_Marines_ completely rewrote the fleet compositions in F&E). The
population of an entire planet is in millions or billions.
Transporting enough troops across interstellar space to effectively
capture the planet seems totally unfeasable. Frankly, you have to use a
different, more ruthless approach than was done in the Gulf War. For a
parallel - look at the end of WWII. How was Japan captured?
Also, remember that a starship in orbit is very different than
fly-by's with fighters or bombers. It is virtually invulnerable (having
eliminated all ground bases capable of ship-level damage), and it can
continuously monitor the planet with sensors.
-*-*-*-
>
> Blowing cities away with photons/disruptors/plasmas hurts you more
>then them since you need the people to dig/plant/process materials. You have
>neither the time or people to repopulate a planet after killing the previous
>owners. You _might_ be able to do that once or twice, but it would take a
>lot of people and a long time to restart production from that world, even if
>you used bio/chem weapons to kill people and not destroy buildings.
Ummm, what about the concept of "surrender"? Do you really think
that a race who have to be killed to the last man from space would turn
around and work for you if you land a token force? Sorry, but it seems
ridiculous.
Ultimately, either the planetary population responds to threats,
or they don't. If they don't, then you just have to accept that you
cannot use this planet's resources except by transporting in your own
workers.
Troops may be useful in guarding select facilities on the planet
against sabotage and violence -- but for dealing with the general
population, there simply aren't enough of them to make a difference.
Andrew Apter
playing ship that a bit above hopeless it is a real challange. Try an
armed freighter or a Q ship or a six ship qroup for under 150 BPV
-
ANDREW APTER EGC...@prodigy.com
No quote today -- The Raven
HammerJohn
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KREBIZ-1 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING KREBIZ RULES:
THE KREBIZ: The Krebiz are a race of crustaceans, most generally looking
similar to terran soft shell crabs, except their shells are extremely
solid. Their shelled forms are about five feet in diameter and
approximately three feet high. When the Krebiz achieved space travel,
they quickly colonized their star's second and third planets (both
class-M). It is believed that this occurred several thousand years before
man ever left Earth. Krebiz are slow in their ways, not accepting new
technology or other new things. They seem to always reject change of any
kind. This happened when warp power was developed; the populace rejected
change. The Krebiz had developed warp power several hundred years before
any of their neighbors did, but it took them that long to convince the
taxpayers, who were ultimately the ones funding the space program, that it
was necessary. The first warp powered Krebiz ships were not seen until
several years after all the neighboring races had converted their
starships to warp power. The Krebiz went from being extremely far ahead
to extremely far behind.
THE SABOT: Shield Attenuated Boring Torpedoes (SABOTs) are carried by
Krebiz ships. They are considered the heavy weapons of the ship. This
weapon requires two consecutive turns to arm. SABOTs are fired in
sequential volleys which force more and more damage onto one target
shield. This shield is hit even if the target should turn away bringing a
new shield to bear.
CAPSULE SEPARATION: The Krebiz originally constructed five classes of
starships: The kraken dreadnought, the claw cruiser, the mandible light
cruiser, the pincer destroyer and the clipper frigate. For approximately
two hundred years these ships were sufficient. As time progressed,
however, these old-style cruisers became weaker compared with the ships of
the Krebiz's neighbors. A minor refit to the cruiser hull was not
sufficient to bring the Krebiz ships up to par. The Krebiz had not
developed shield technology and if they didn't soon they would be
destroyed. It took considerable time and effort by the Krebiz Fleet
Directorate to convince the Krebiz people that armor just didn't cut it
anymore. The crimes committed by the oppressive governments (Klingon &
Kzinti) ruling them finally convinced a majority of the Krebiz people. In
Y160 the Krebiz developed shield technology and built their first command
capsule. This could have occurred as early as Y140, but even when facing
near annihilation by far superior foes the Krebiz stuck to their slow
unchanging ways. Undoubtedly their government had to shove this strange
technology down the peoples' shells. The command capsules were the only
way to improve the starships the Krebiz had, as the basic hulls had
already been maximized. Construction of these capsules was simple: They
could be built on the planet surface, launched into space and could
connect themselves onto the old-style cruiser hulls. These capsules gave
tremendous diversity to the small Krebiz fleet. After the advent of
command capsules, ship classes were determined by the type of capsule that
a cruiser carried. The ships, the rear portion minus the capsule, were
usually referred to as cruisers.
KREBIZ-2 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING KREBIZ RULES:
KRILL FIGHTERS: The Krebiz only produced 40 krill fighters (27 krill-Ss
and 13 krill-Fs). The krill-S and krill-F were armed with two fighter
SABOTs each. Four of the krill-Fs were later converted to krill-Es. The
krill-E electronic warfare fighter can sequence the fighter SABOTs of
other krills into one series. The krill-H heavy fighter is a conjectural
design for use on the larger conjectural carriers, presented for the
purpose of using the Krebiz as a major race. It would carry four fighter
SABOTs.
FIGHTER SABOTS: This weapon is armed by the carrier in the shuttle bay and
loaded onto the krill fighters by deck crews. Fighter SABOTs can be fired
in sequential volleys in the same manner as standard SABOTs are fired.
The krill-E fighter can sequence the fighter SABOTs of other krills into
one series.
KRAKEN DREADNOUGHT: The Krebiz originally constructed five classes of
starships: The kraken dreadnought, the claw cruiser, the mandible light
cruiser, the pincer destroyer and the clipper frigate. Krebiz-1 presented
the last four. The Krebiz built three Kraken Class Dreadnoughts: Two were
destroyed by the Kzintis, but one escaped and went into hiding. When the
Krebiz built command capsules, the C-DN size capsule was constructed to
permit operation on the kraken. This was a contingency plan for the
return of the sole lost kraken. The combination formed the Krebiz
battleship. When the lost kraken was located it began the Long Journey
Home (HS-18), but unfortunately for the Krebiz, never made it. Had it
survived, the Krebiz may have avoided complete annihilation.
KREBIZ CAMPAIGN NOTES: The Krebiz were destroyed by the Klingons in Y186
during the War of Annihilation (AKA: Krebiz Police Action in Klingon
circles). The campaign game (HC-2 & HC-3) is presented in Krebiz-3, but
the history leading up to it, timeline and order of battles are presented
here.
COMBINATION DESCRIPTIONS: This product also presents the ship descriptions
for every Krebiz cruiser / capsule combination built (and many conjectural
combinations). The location of each of their SSDs is also provided. Many
of the SSDs for these units are in the products Krebiz-3 & Krebiz-4
(Conjectural Ships).
KREBIZ BASES: The SSDs and descriptions for the Krebiz Base Station,
Battle Station, FRD, Ground Based SABOT Station, Ground Based Capsule
Facility and Defense Satellites are also presented within.
KREBIZ-3 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING KREBIZ RULES:
IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY: Krebiz X-1 rules are presented in this product.
While X-1 technology was conjectural for the Krebiz on the near side of
the galaxy, the Krebiz Capitalist Alliance on the Far Side of the Milky
Way galaxy built these powerful improved capsules and cruisers. The
Krebiz were able to improve the SABOT heavy weapon by decreasing the
number of volleys (from 4 to 3) needed to reach 100% activated target
shield damage. Additionally, standard (not overloaded) X-1 SABOTs can be
armed in just 1 turn. On the defensive side, Krebiz X-1 armor blocks
twice as much internal damage as standard Krebiz armor and Krebiz X-1
cruisers actually have shields.
X-1 SHIP DESCRIPTIONS: This history section defines all of the Krebiz X-1
units including: Four X-1 cruisers, four X-1 capsules, eight X-1
combinations and X-1 bases including the starbase, battlestation and fleet
repair dock.
THE WAR OF ANNIHILATION CAMPAIGN GAME: This campaign reenacts the battles
leading up to the destruction of the 'local' Krebiz by the forces of the
mighty Klingon Empire. The 'Krebiz Police Action', as it was called by
the Klingon Admiralty, was a devastating mission of domination used
against 'unruly subjects' to return the Krebiz System to tight-fisted
Klingon rule. The scenarios in Krebiz-2 (HS-17 through HS-20) were just a
prelude to the War of Annihilation campaign game.
THE KREBIZ SCAVENGER HUNT: The Krebiz Scavenger Hunt is a mini-campaign
which preceded the War of Annihilation and can be played independently or
as part of that campaign.
ARGONIANS-1 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING ARGONIAN RULES:
THE ARGONIANS: The Argonians are located in a large, 1500 parsec nebula
with many scattered asteroid fields. These conditions enabled the
Argonians to remain hidden from their neighbors for hundreds of years.
The nebula located on the borders of the Romulan, Gorn and ISC territories
was always avoided as it made travel dangerous. This nebula, called the
Argonian Nebula, is the reason that Argonian ships are so different from
those of other races; Argonian ships needed to be very versatile and have
specialized equipment. In Y134 Argonian scientists made a horrifying
discovery: The nebula, their hidden home, would start deteriorating within
twenty years and would be completely gone after forty years. They were
defenseless, they had no warships, no protection. The Argonians acted
fast and approved the construction of a major starfleet.
THE ENERGY FLUX: This heavy weapon requires 3 consecutive turns to arm. A
devastating weapon, energy builds up around the target ship over an 8
impulse period and when released damages from 3 to 6 of its shields. In a
matter of impulses the Energy Flux can rip down shields leaving the target
ship unprotected. This powerful heavy weapon requires 3 turns to arm and
a total of 10 energy. There are 3 different ways of firing the energy
flux, called modes.
PLASMA PHASERS: The plasma phaser, as developed by Argonian scientists,
functions identically to a regular phaser except when fired at a plasma
torpedo. The phaser itself is identical; it is no more powerful than a
standard phaser. The tracking system, however, is extremely accurate when
confronted with the energy emissions of plasma torpedoes. This extreme
accuracy allows the phaser-P a greater damage potential when fired at
plasma torpedoes.
THE STROBE: This system was originally invented by the Argonians as a
scanning system in the Argonian Nebula. It was later discovered that the
strobe could be used to inhibit the scanning abilities of other ships.
Modifications were made to make the strobe function exclusively in this
manner. All ships within range are affected, both friend and foe.
HULL ROTATION: Argonian ships function essentially the same as other ships
with respect to movement, except for their ability to perform hull
rotations. No other race has this ability. A hull rotation is simply
turning the hull of the ship 60 degrees while continuing to move in the
same direction. The engines on most Argonian ships are not fixed in
position - - - they can rotate about the ship. This allows the ship's
hull to rotate while the engines remain in position.
THE ARGONIAN NEBULA: The Argonian Nebula is located where the Romulan,
Gorn and ISC borders intersect. This nebula was similar to other nebulae
until Y154 when it began to deteriorate. Over a period of twenty years
the Argonian Nebula slowly dissipated. It grew weaker and weaker until,
in Y175, it no longer existed.
ARGONIANS-2 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING ARGONIAN RULES:
THE ARGONIANS: The Argonians are located in a large, 1500 parsec nebula
with many scattered asteroid fields. These conditions enabled the
Argonians to remain hidden from their neighbors for hundreds of years.
This nebula, now called the Argonian Nebula, is the reason that Argonian
ships are so different from those of other races; Argonian ships needed to
be very versatile and have specialized equipment. In Y134 Argonian
scientists made a horrifying discovery: The nebula, their hidden home,
would start deteriorating within twenty years and would be completely gone
after forty years. They were defenseless, they had no warships, no
protection. The Argonians acted fast and approved the construction of a
major starfleet. This product defines 70 more Argonian units and provides
SSDs for 32 of those units.
THE ARGONIAN FIRST REPUBLIC: This history section explains how the
Argonians traversed the galaxy through a stable wormhole and how they
established themselves within the Argonian Nebula, which had leaked
through this wormhole over a period of tens of thousands of years.
Additionally, it describes how the Argonians occupied both ends of this
wormhole and how their fleet was split in two when the wormhole collapsed.
This triggered tremendous political upheaval within the Argonian Republic
and one devastating environmental effect: The deterioration of the
Argonian Nebula.
FIGHTER ENERGY FLUX RULES: This rules section defines how to use Argonian
fighters and the powerful fighter energy flux. The carriers arm fighter
energy flux charges in freezers located within the fighter bay. These
charges are then loaded onto the Wind Tactical Dogfighter and Gale Heavy
Fighter by deck crews.
INDIRIGANS-1 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING RULES:
FAR SIDE PHASERS: Four all new types of phasers used primarily on the Far
Side of the Milky Way Galaxy. Carried by the Indirigans and many other
races, these phasers provide and require new and different strategies.
The four types are Mid-Range, Short-Range, Multi-Purpose and Long-Range
phasers.
BOOMERANG TORPEDOES: The Bi-Tritium Boomerang Torpedo is a new type of
seeking weapon carried on Indirigan Nomad ships. The boomerang is more
similar to plasma torpedoes than to drones. It is fired at targets in the
FH arc, but the boomerangs are launched out the back of the ship and they
must curve around towards the target. This accomplishes several goals:
The boomerang needs time to build strength and speed before striking its
target.
FUSER MECHANISMS: The fuser is a device which was developed to strengthen
the Bi-Tritium Boomerang. The fuser itself is a mechanical piece of
equipment on the ship. Fuser mechanisms are small one-use mechanical
devices, 'charges' if you will, which the fuser uses to enhance the
boomerang. The net effect: Fused boomerangs are twice as strong as
standard boomerangs.
BOOMERANG RACKS: Boomerang racks are specially designed racks used to
carry up to 4 ready to use boomerang torpedoes.
INDIRIGAN SPECIAL RULES: This rules section provides rules for
Phaser-Option mounts, cargo packs, huge ships and special ship
construction rules used by a race with no bases or shipyards.
INDIRIGAN HISTORY: The Indirigan Nomads left their terrestrial lives
behind in Y145 when they abandoned their planets and assumed a completely
non-terrestrial existence. The many Indirigan Tribes wander space in from
1 to 10 starships plus several freighters.
SCENARIOS: Four unique scenarios are presented displaying various
Indirigan encounters. They include: Social Encounter, Anti-Social
Behavior, Not Your Average Planetary Assault and Defending the Wormhole.
SSDs: 24 companion SSDs display Indirigan Units from the Huge MC-3
Battleship to the lowly small freighter. A tournament cruiser is also
provided.
PLAY AIDS: Photocopyable Boomerang Declaration Cards and a Boomerang
Tracking Chart are presented to improve playability.
FAR SIDE-1 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING RULES:
FAR SIDE OPTION MOUNTS: Complete rules are presented for filling Far Side
option mounts with either near or Far Side technology. Additionally,
percentages are given for use of Far Side technology in near side mounts.
VARIABLE LEVEL PLASMA: Variable Level Plasma is used by the Corporation on
their fleet ships. These plasmas can be launched at one of eight
different strength levels. The strength level is determined by drawing a
number of charges from the charge bank equal to the strength level
desired.
WARP FIELD DESTABILIZATION GUN: This device is used primarily by the
Corporation. If it hits, the target's speed is halved for eight to twelve
impulses. Warp Field Destabilization Guns are used to slow an opponent
down, allowing the Variable Level Plasma to impact.
WARP FUNNELS: Warp Funnels are a new type of terrain feature. Warp
funnels accelerate warp operational units to excessive speeds where they
are ripped apart and destroyed. Most warp funnels appear sporadically;
the only known permanent one is the Tuforeous Dead Zone on the Far Side of
the galaxy.
DEFLECTION/TRANSFER DEVICE: The Bolaar Pirates stole this defensive system
from the Clydon Empire. It allows a ship to transfer some incoming damage
from the facing shield to the other five non-facing shields. This allows
a ship to take a significantly larger volley of damage before taking
internals.
THE BOLAAR PIRATES: The first of two new races presented in this book, the
Bolaar are a race which turned to piracy to survive. After the Indirigans
abandoned their world the Bolaar had just 12 dilapidated ships with which
to defend themselves from 4 major powers vying for their planetary system.
THE CORPORATION: The Corporation was a mega-corporation performing many
operations for the Indirigans. When the Indirigans departed, the
Corporation seized control of several planetary systems within the newly
forming Free Trade Zone. It was the first time that a business operated
as a galactic government. The Corporation soon saw the need for a less
politically bound fleet and formed the Corporate Pirates to fill this
slot.
SSDs: 18 Companion SSDs display 19 Bolaar and Corporation Units.
PLAY AIDS: Photocopyable Variable Level Plasma Declaration Cards are
presented to improve playability. Additionally, 8 pages of Fleet Data
Tables are provided giving ship statistics for most of the Far Side
empires.
MECHAD-1 from Companion Games
INCLUDES - THE FOLLOWING RULES:
MECHAD HISTORY: The Mechad homeworld had been known as Arretia, a planet
with a very peaceful worldwide government where the people lived lives of
leisure and luxury thanks to free-willed computer intelligences and other
advanced technology. Unfortunately, the Arretian's first encounter with
another galactic empire in Y53 ended in violence; paranoia gripped both
the living and artificial citizens. The first organic deaths caused by
the dangers of the unknown conditions of space travel later forced the
machine-majority to pass a benevolent but ultimately stifling referendum:
Organic Arretians were banned from such dangerous journeys, forever. And
as time passed, the living citizens lost more and more of their
self-determination because of the machine-citizens' smothering desire to
protect and nurture them. In Y100 the organics lost the right to vote and
were eventually reduced to a type of pampered-slave status.
MECHAD SHIPS AND CREW: Mechad starship crews are entirely non-organic.
Most crew units are built-in pieces of equipment. The Mechad usually have
some androids for use when direct contact with alien organics is
necessary. Most Mechad ships are smaller than equivalent classes used by
other empires because very little of their internal volume is devoted to
living space and organic life support. The solid construction of the
ships makes them very durable and they can take more hull stress than most
starships.
TRANS-WARP MISSILES: Not quite a seeking weapon, not quite a direct fire
weapon, TRAMs are fairly short-ranged. A TRAM is launched like a seeking
weapon, can be fired at by the target or other units in the same hex on
the impulse of launch, and if not destroyed will automatically impact and
score some damage on the next impulse. TRAMs are a unique device which
demand equally unique tactics.
DISTORTION CANNON: Found only on Mechad capital ships. The distortion
cannon is a long range, rapid fire weapon that rips the fabric of
spacetime in a large area, scoring damage on all units in a single hex.
At close range, the firing ship takes damage, too.
SUBSPACE WHIPS: The Mechad use subspace whips instead of phasers. The
Mechad ship uses its own warp field to lash out at opponents. After the
ship's warp field is properly tuned to an opponent ship's energy
frequency, its whip will become more accurate as long as the ship's own
warp field is not disrupted by excessive use of the whip function.
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD: Mechad ships use an electromagnetic field defense
instead of shields. The EMF provides protection from any direction and
can be rapidly reenergized, but does not block transporter activity. A
Mechad ship's power distribution nodes are used to multiply energy applied
to the electromagnetic field.
SCENARIOS: An exciting scenario depicts an historical conflict between the
Mechad and their Far Side neighbors.
SSDs: 29 Companion SSDs display the most commonly used Mechad ships and
some other Mechad units.
COMING SOON from Companion Games
Argonians-3, Krebiz-4, Indirigans-2, Mechad-2
(above products are all the last in their series)
Far Side-2, Vektreans-1, Scorpead-1
Stephan Fassmann
>I would almost like to see a bad (poor design) ships module. I like
>playing ship that a bit above hopeless it is a real challange. Try an
>armed freighter or a Q ship or a six ship qroup for under 150 BPV
There is talk of something like this, and the April issue of
StarFleet Times had several goofy ships, that look like fun to play.
Especially the WYN Scrap Cruiser:-)
Jim Pritchett
> different, more ruthless approach than was done in the Gulf War. For a
> parallel - look at the end of WWII. How was Japan captured?
He omitted a very long and very bloody (at least for Japan) ground and sea
campaign before we got close to Japan proper. The A-Bomb expedited the
Japanese surrender, but it didn't win the war by itself.
Jim Pritchett
UUCP: rwsys.lonestar.org!caleb!jdp "I am the way, the truth, and
the life; no man cometh to the
Father, but by me."
John 14:6