SneakyPete
Mongoose
It seems to me they could have just scaled up the nacelles... there is no replacement for displacement.
New for Federation - the Big Ships...
- Thread starter MongooseMatt
- Start date
Some empires do that; the Gorns prefer to scale their engines up and down from class to class, for example.
For the Feds, using the same nacelles as the CA (and DD) had two advantages; it allowed the DN and BB (had the latter been built) to separate their saucers and still retain a degree of tactical warp capability (which can be done in SFB, but not in FC), and from a logistical persepctive allowed Star Fleet to benefit from economies of scale (and from increased redundancy).
Plus, in SFB and FC, having three (or four) engines instead of two (or one) has an impact in terms of how damage is allocated when a ship takes warp engine hits; something lost in the shuffle in the switch to ACtA:SF.
For the Feds, using the same nacelles as the CA (and DD) had two advantages; it allowed the DN and BB (had the latter been built) to separate their saucers and still retain a degree of tactical warp capability (which can be done in SFB, but not in FC), and from a logistical persepctive allowed Star Fleet to benefit from economies of scale (and from increased redundancy).
Plus, in SFB and FC, having three (or four) engines instead of two (or one) has an impact in terms of how damage is allocated when a ship takes warp engine hits; something lost in the shuffle in the switch to ACtA:SF.
Actually they couldn't.SneakyPete said:It seems to me they could have just scaled up the nacelles... there is no replacement for displacement.
You have to remember that ACTASF is the sith game set in the SFU.
Star Fleet Battles, Federation and Empire, Star Fleet Battle Force, Federation Commander, and Starmada preceed it.
Federation and Empire is the strategic level game where you control the entire empire fighting for victory in a sector wide General War. That includes control of the economy...
To greatly simplify thngs, each territory you control produces X number of economic points a turn. Those EPs are then used to priduce things... colonies, ships, diplomats, repair ships, and most importantly upgrade existing ships.
Since the game was designed bya licensed engineer, the simplest way was for the Federatio to produce three different saucers (frigate sized, cruiser sized, and dreadnought sized) and three warp engines (8 box, 12 box, and 15 box - this refers to the number of damage boxes each engine contains on the SSD). Then the various saucers and engines are put together in varying combinations to produce different ship classes. Need to create a battleship... use a larger secondary hull, a dreadnought sized saucer and 4 of the 15 box cruiser engines. Using standardized parts makes repair and upgrades simple.
Of course, later on in the war things got a bit wonky as the spade shaped saucers and "hot" warp engines were produced for the fast ships... but that's the gist of it.
What I'd really like to see would be... some smaller ships!
The pre-built sets are (as commented elsewhere) uuber-heavy.
There are dreadnoughts everywhere, which is according to the fiction completely a-historical.
Where are the fed DD's with one nacelle?
Did they get binned in favour of the two frigate options?
The pre-built sets are (as commented elsewhere) uuber-heavy.
There are dreadnoughts everywhere, which is according to the fiction completely a-historical.
Where are the fed DD's with one nacelle?
Did they get binned in favour of the two frigate options?
The problem with the single engine DD is one of royalties. The Franz Joesph estate has Royalty rights to their DN, CA, DD, SC and TUG designs. ADB has learned to produce the units they design first to prove that there is a market, and not owe money on items that ma not sell. Once sales have reached the point of "viability (whatever point that may be.) they then produce the ones they make a lower profit on.
Note that the DNG design produced so far is an ADB design not Franz Joesph's.
Note that the DNG design produced so far is an ADB design not Franz Joesph's.
Zarathustra Suicune
Mongoose
Cool, it would be nice to see more small ships just to have more options when you have 40-60 odd pts left to spend 
Zarathustra Suicune said:Cool, it would be nice to see more small ships just to have more options when you have 40-60 odd pts left to spend
I did try to put some ideas out there for "Commander's options", wherin you could buy special items, etc, to spend odd points. Didn't get any traction here, unfortunately.
nekomata fuyu
Mongoose
I think a few of us have - I certainly remember suggesting minor upgrades such one off experimental torpedo shots to chew up extra points.billclo said:Zarathustra Suicune said:Cool, it would be nice to see more small ships just to have more options when you have 40-60 odd pts left to spend
I did try to put some ideas out there for "Commander's options", wherin you could buy special items, etc, to spend odd points. Didn't get any traction here, unfortunately.
I guess the playtesters will be the first to know if it ever does get trialled for a future supplement...
SneakyPete
Mongoose
Yeah I too would love to see single nacelle destroyers in the game, where playing a 300 pt mission with them and bringing a CA would be like bringing a DN to a 800 pt game.
Then again I look forward to playing with the new Battleships in the game as well.
If the little DD's are never released as minis I could kit bash a few if the approved data sheets were released.
The only thing I don't look forward to are fighters..... :twisted: .... save them for Star Wars.
BTW, does anyone have a ballpark estimate of how many points a Fed or Klink BB is going to cost?
Then again I look forward to playing with the new Battleships in the game as well.
If the little DD's are never released as minis I could kit bash a few if the approved data sheets were released.
The only thing I don't look forward to are fighters..... :twisted: .... save them for Star Wars.
BTW, does anyone have a ballpark estimate of how many points a Fed or Klink BB is going to cost?
Greg Smith
Mongoose
SneakyPete said:
They are in the 4-500 range.
Stu-- said:Franz who?
presumably /not/ the emperor of Austria from way back when...
Franz Joseph Schnaubelt, the man who created the Star Fleet Technical Manual; the book from which the Star Fleet Universe was originally derived.
The ships that appear in that book are referred to by ADB as the "Franz Joseph" designs; since they have specific licensing requirements (in terms of where they are portrayed in ADB products), they tend to be grouped into a single place per game system. So, in Federation Commander, the Ship Cards for them are grouped with some of ADB's own "home-grown" variants in Booster #91; while the five FJ ships are packaged together in FC Squadron Box #91.
(The FJ minis are white plastic minis from Lou Zocchi, which have been around in one form or another for decades; though I supoose you could say they have been grandfathered in to the Starline 2400 product line.)
If we were to see the FJ hulls in Starline 2500, I would imagine them having to wait until a 2500-series take on Squadron Box #91 was on the cards.
ericpaperman
Mongoose
Zocchi made eight ship models for use with his game Star Fleet Battle Manual. There were five Fed ships in white plastic and three enemies (Tholian PC, Klingon Battlecruiser & Romulan Warbird) in lead. The models I bought from Zocchi in the 1970's represent a significant fraction of my collection. It sounds like I may have to make up my own stats for the DD, Scout & Tug if I want to put those models to use playing ACTA.Nerroth said:
Well, at least I have the Fed CA to work from. That puts them ahead of the quarter of my collection that is Starline 2200 models of Hydran and Lyran ships. I wonder when we'll see rules for them.
ericpaperman said:
The Lyrans have been noted as being a part of wave 2; you can see a few WIP 3D models for them over on this corner of the ADB BBS.
No word yet on when the Hydrans will show up; though given how the Lyrans and Hydrans have been offered as a pair in SFB, FC, and Starmada, it would be conspicuous if this rivalry was not emphasised in ACtA:SF.
No can do, Mark. That's too much like ST:TNG, which isn't within the license agreements. Besides, the minis have to work in SFB/FedCmdr, and the SFB rules allow the saucer to separate from the rest of the ship (due to damage, not just because the Captain thinks it would be good tactics) and fly around with two of the warp engines still attached.
because really it is SFB, just scaled down and simplified with a different combat system. the ships and their corresponding stats are all SFB just slightly adjusted to the call to arms game system. If you want the Next gen stuff their is a clix based system that kinda blows. And as far as getting next gen style stuff in this or any game system paramount is not only very protective of their property but also very proud. They charge a very hefty license fee for the usage.
Zarathustra Suicune
Mongoose
Saw the clix one at the McM expo yesterday, gods it looked bad, especially the models....
It's a shame paramount are so jealous/greedy, as a similar game for the other periods would be nice if only so we coudl get nice/good quality ship models that are not the large £30/60 plastic ones.
It's a shame paramount are so jealous/greedy, as a similar game for the other periods would be nice if only so we coudl get nice/good quality ship models that are not the large £30/60 plastic ones.
