At the moment, there are no monsters in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet; though there are several types available for consideration in both FC and SFB, be they based directly from the on-screen source material or created from whole cloth in the SFU proper.
One of the most interesting type of "monster", in my view at least, is the Juggernaut. Originally created in concert with an old fiction story published in the very first Captain's Log, the first known ship of this type (now classified as Juggernaut Alpha) was a gigantic starship of extra-galactic origin, with an advanced AI commanding a robotic crew; its (presumably) organic creators having long since died (or been killed off by their mechanical creations). The battle of Juggernaut Alpha saw command ships from four neighbouring powers work together to try and bring the beast to its knees. Juggernaut Alpha was eventually brought over to Federation Commander; you can see its low-toner Ship Card at this link. (As always with FC Ship Cards, focus on the Squadron Scale edition only.)
(It also made a recent appearance in Starline 2400, where it's the biggest model currently available in the whole line!)
Fast forward to Captain's Log #33, and we find that a second such ship, Juggernaut Beta, had set a course for the Arcturus system, threatening the lives of billions of Federation citizens. This time, Beta has a couple of tricks up its sleeve; a pair of devastating Shriek missiles, seeking weapons far larger than any drone, much harder to kill, and far deadlier on contact. Fortunately, Beta only had a pair of these weapons on hand in any given engagement (and couldn't reload them, since they were apparently converted from the ship's complement of shuttles); but the lessons which Beta learned prior to its eventual demise (along with those it had once recieved in turn from Alpha) were passed along to the incoming Juggernaut Gamma... and then on to every other ship heading in its wake towards our corner of the Milky Way Galaxy.
In CL35 and CL41, more ships from the (hypothetical) Juggernaut fleet were added; with a missile variant of the Juggernaut "dreadnought" (its cargo bays stripped out and replaced with Shriek missile silos) and a range of hull types from the frigate all the way up to the fearsome Juggernaut Battleship; a unit that costs no less than 768 BPV over in SFB, and that's before you start adding in those Shrieks!
CL41 also included Fire in the Deep, a scenario (with related fiction piece) that postulated the fate of the Star of Redemption; a Seltorian Hive Ship that was reported lost in the face of powerful opponents on course from the Star's target galaxy back to M81.
In game terms, the Ship Card linked to above should give a good indication of just how dangerous even one Juggernaut Empire ship can be. The "standard" Juggernaut DN has the same turn mode as a Klingon D6, enough hull and cargo boxes to produce a staggering Damage score in ACtA:SF terms, electrostatic armour that regenerates hits on any hits scored (except, crucally, from the aft), a rotating shield that can be swung in any direction, an array of phaser-4s mounted on the hull (the only known empire to manage such a feat), and a forest of phaser-1s and -3s to add insult to injury. And once you actually kill one, you have to make sure you're well out of the way of its immense explosion strength; a far higher value than normally accounted for in the game system.
And that's just for Alpha; before we get to adding in those lovely Shrieks...
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So, in terms of rules, there would be four new additions JE ships would need; the electro-static armour, the rotating shield, the increased explosion strength and the Shriek missiles.
*The armour could perhaps be abstracted out into a general Shield score; with a note stating it cannot block hits aimed at the A arc. (JE ships have a limited auto-regenerate ability, so perhaps they could have an automatic equivalent of the Boost Energy to Shields! special action; which could roll to repair the armour, but should not be able to reinforce beyond their starting armour score.)
*The rotating shield is a fixed block, that the JE player could allocate to any given arc at the end of the movement phase (or the start of the attack phase; I'm not sure which). The shield would have to stay in that arc until the same point in the next turn, but could be switched to any other arc (or left in place) at that point. (Alpha had an over-ride locking the shield in an arc which suffered a heavy enough volley of fire in a given impulse, but Beta and later Juggernauts discarded that coding.)
The rotating shield generator should be listed as a (non-italicised) ship trait, too, so it can be disabled under the right circumstances; with an X value based on each ship class' starting shield strength.
*The explosion strength could be covered by doubling (or tripling) the number of AD generated per each roll; plus there woudl need to be a rule disallowing wrecks. (Juggernauts reduced to zero damage would automatically self-destruct.)
*And as for Shrieks; rather than drones, I would treat them more like shuttles (not least since athey replace shuttles when taken, on a one-for-one basis). Make it speed 24, give it 4-5 damage points, make it harder to hit than a normal shuttle (and immune to anti-drones), and give it 5 AD, Devastating +1, Multihit D6 if it impacts an enemy ship.
There should be a strict limit of three in flight per launching ship, though; the JE command and control systems seem unable to handle more than three in flight at any one time. (And launching a regular shuttle should count against this limit, too.) This will be an important factor to remember should the Missile Dreadnought end up on the table...
Any thoughts so far?
EDIT: I forgot to add, apparently the Juggernauts have some sort of teleporter that doesn't work anything like the kind of transporters we know about. They aren't on the Ship Cards (or SSDs), but they allow, I think, two hit-and-run actions to be launched per turn; which can go through the armour and back (but not through the rotating shield). If I'm not mistaken on that one.
One of the most interesting type of "monster", in my view at least, is the Juggernaut. Originally created in concert with an old fiction story published in the very first Captain's Log, the first known ship of this type (now classified as Juggernaut Alpha) was a gigantic starship of extra-galactic origin, with an advanced AI commanding a robotic crew; its (presumably) organic creators having long since died (or been killed off by their mechanical creations). The battle of Juggernaut Alpha saw command ships from four neighbouring powers work together to try and bring the beast to its knees. Juggernaut Alpha was eventually brought over to Federation Commander; you can see its low-toner Ship Card at this link. (As always with FC Ship Cards, focus on the Squadron Scale edition only.)
(It also made a recent appearance in Starline 2400, where it's the biggest model currently available in the whole line!)
Fast forward to Captain's Log #33, and we find that a second such ship, Juggernaut Beta, had set a course for the Arcturus system, threatening the lives of billions of Federation citizens. This time, Beta has a couple of tricks up its sleeve; a pair of devastating Shriek missiles, seeking weapons far larger than any drone, much harder to kill, and far deadlier on contact. Fortunately, Beta only had a pair of these weapons on hand in any given engagement (and couldn't reload them, since they were apparently converted from the ship's complement of shuttles); but the lessons which Beta learned prior to its eventual demise (along with those it had once recieved in turn from Alpha) were passed along to the incoming Juggernaut Gamma... and then on to every other ship heading in its wake towards our corner of the Milky Way Galaxy.
In CL35 and CL41, more ships from the (hypothetical) Juggernaut fleet were added; with a missile variant of the Juggernaut "dreadnought" (its cargo bays stripped out and replaced with Shriek missile silos) and a range of hull types from the frigate all the way up to the fearsome Juggernaut Battleship; a unit that costs no less than 768 BPV over in SFB, and that's before you start adding in those Shrieks!
CL41 also included Fire in the Deep, a scenario (with related fiction piece) that postulated the fate of the Star of Redemption; a Seltorian Hive Ship that was reported lost in the face of powerful opponents on course from the Star's target galaxy back to M81.
In game terms, the Ship Card linked to above should give a good indication of just how dangerous even one Juggernaut Empire ship can be. The "standard" Juggernaut DN has the same turn mode as a Klingon D6, enough hull and cargo boxes to produce a staggering Damage score in ACtA:SF terms, electrostatic armour that regenerates hits on any hits scored (except, crucally, from the aft), a rotating shield that can be swung in any direction, an array of phaser-4s mounted on the hull (the only known empire to manage such a feat), and a forest of phaser-1s and -3s to add insult to injury. And once you actually kill one, you have to make sure you're well out of the way of its immense explosion strength; a far higher value than normally accounted for in the game system.
And that's just for Alpha; before we get to adding in those lovely Shrieks...
-------
So, in terms of rules, there would be four new additions JE ships would need; the electro-static armour, the rotating shield, the increased explosion strength and the Shriek missiles.
*The armour could perhaps be abstracted out into a general Shield score; with a note stating it cannot block hits aimed at the A arc. (JE ships have a limited auto-regenerate ability, so perhaps they could have an automatic equivalent of the Boost Energy to Shields! special action; which could roll to repair the armour, but should not be able to reinforce beyond their starting armour score.)
*The rotating shield is a fixed block, that the JE player could allocate to any given arc at the end of the movement phase (or the start of the attack phase; I'm not sure which). The shield would have to stay in that arc until the same point in the next turn, but could be switched to any other arc (or left in place) at that point. (Alpha had an over-ride locking the shield in an arc which suffered a heavy enough volley of fire in a given impulse, but Beta and later Juggernauts discarded that coding.)
The rotating shield generator should be listed as a (non-italicised) ship trait, too, so it can be disabled under the right circumstances; with an X value based on each ship class' starting shield strength.
*The explosion strength could be covered by doubling (or tripling) the number of AD generated per each roll; plus there woudl need to be a rule disallowing wrecks. (Juggernauts reduced to zero damage would automatically self-destruct.)
*And as for Shrieks; rather than drones, I would treat them more like shuttles (not least since athey replace shuttles when taken, on a one-for-one basis). Make it speed 24, give it 4-5 damage points, make it harder to hit than a normal shuttle (and immune to anti-drones), and give it 5 AD, Devastating +1, Multihit D6 if it impacts an enemy ship.
There should be a strict limit of three in flight per launching ship, though; the JE command and control systems seem unable to handle more than three in flight at any one time. (And launching a regular shuttle should count against this limit, too.) This will be an important factor to remember should the Missile Dreadnought end up on the table...
Any thoughts so far?
EDIT: I forgot to add, apparently the Juggernauts have some sort of teleporter that doesn't work anything like the kind of transporters we know about. They aren't on the Ship Cards (or SSDs), but they allow, I think, two hit-and-run actions to be launched per turn; which can go through the armour and back (but not through the rotating shield). If I'm not mistaken on that one.