Universe of Babylon 5 Preview

[MongooseMatt]

Is now up at;

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=1615

 

[DigitalMage]

Is now up at;

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=1615

heading over there now!

 

[DigitalMage]

Interesting! Not sure about the greyscale background, it made some of it difficult to read (especially the Referee Note), also the ship plans are teeny tiny!

Other than that it makes me want this book now! Looking forward to seeing the timeline specific events tables

 

[Da Boss]

thanks for the heads up

I like the idea of a dedicated timeline/events to help people fit their characters in the B5 universe - I wonder how wide a period it covers and for how many races - nice

So its B/W then? ah well no cool colour pics / screen shots............

Ships - so we are keeping the idea of any odd shaped bits of a ship just being full of fuel sloshing around
Must admit thats quite disapointing...........also ship diagram is very hard to read?

Map looks useful but very dull and old fashioned - any reason did not go with the very shiny one from the front of the ACTA fleet book?

very minor thing - shouldn't it be EarthForce rather than Earthforce - I have made that mistake myself a few times............

 

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't IPX be a variation of the Scout Service...hmm or perhaps the Adventurer career from Spica. Cannot wait to see this out, thanks for the preview.

 

[EDG]

Deckplans are still problematic - you seriously need to use vector formats for them. You're really losing a lot of resolution there, the text is hard to read (though not impossible).

Unless that's just the image compression you're using on the PDFs (in which case, ratchet that back a lot because it's destroying the images - that fuzziness around the text is down to compression blocks).

 

[crazy_cat]

Ships - so we are keeping the idea of any odd shaped bits of a ship just being full of fuel sloshing around
Must admit thats quite disapointing...........

Agreed.

The station itself runs off reactors so I'd always asssumed B5 ships did too. I was expecting some sort of modified drive/fuel system for B5 given the use of hyperspace and gates instead of standard jump, rather than just the standard traveller system re-hashed.

This book is now a take a look in store and maybe buy rather than a must have. Shame.

 

[lastbesthope]

The Deck plans are too small, the numbered text for Staterooms et al is almost unreadabel, and the legend of symbols is pretty much unreadable as well.

Also the Minbari sector jump paths DO NOT match those of the 2257 system map in the 1E download as also featured in the original main book.

LBH

 

[Paladin]

I hope the fuzzy deckplans are just in the scaled down pdf preview. The lack of clarity ruins them.

Ships - so we are keeping the idea of any odd shaped bits of a ship just being full of fuel sloshing around
Must admit thats quite disapointing...........

Agreed.

Agreed

 

[EDG]

You know something's not right when a preview puts people off buying the book...

 

[nezeray]

After looking at the preview I see what you guys mean about the maps, I'm guessing they'll be clearer in the full PDF and rulebook.

I'm not a fan of the trend toward "everyplace that you can't walk and isn't an engine is full of fuel." I can live with the maps but I'll just assume there are electronics, sensors, lifesupport in those locations instead.

James / Nezeray

 

[AKAramis]

After looking at the preview I see what you guys mean about the maps, I'm guessing they'll be clearer in the full PDF and rulebook.

I'm not a fan of the trend toward "everyplace that you can't walk and isn't an engine is full of fuel." I can live with the maps but I'll just assume there are electronics, sensors, lifesupport in those locations instead.

James / Nezeray

That's the general quality in the PDF's I've purchased, James....

 

[EDG]

I'm not a fan of the trend toward "everyplace that you can't walk and isn't an engine is full of fuel."

Plus, it's just plain dumb from a design perspective. If you get a hull breach, you're venting fuel. If you get a breach that goes all the way through to the habitable sections, then you may have cryogenic liquid hydrogen gushing into the corridors and rooms as well.

Also, why isn't this just called "Babylon 5 Universe"? Why is the "of" even remotely necessary? Or even just "Babylon 5 Setting Book" or "Babylon 5 Campaign Guide"?

 

[Gee4orce]

My comments:

- the funky font used for some of the headings is - um - not nice.
- the grey background needs lightening by at least 50%
- the even darker grey background of the sidebar box needs even more lightening
- ditch the deckplans. Just ditch them. Have a look at the DP9 'Ships of the Fleet' books for ideas how to present ship schematics, but deckplans like this are worse than useless. (the are unreadable, take up space that could be used to print something else or save trees, and are pretty silly designs anyway).
- was there really a world in B5 called 'Abba' ? Super-trooper !

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

The Funky Font is from the Series. They used a variation of English lettering. It matches what I saw on the show and on the station and I have no problem with it. Sure it's different, but it's SUPPOSED to be different.

 

[Gee4orce]

The Funky Font is from the Series. They used a variation of English lettering. It matches what I saw on the show and on the station and I have no problem with it. Sure it's different, but it's SUPPOSED to be different.

I think, ironically, it would look better if it were used for MORE of the headings - it's the way it's only used of a particular heading level that makes it look weird.

 

[Vile]

I think, ironically, it would look better if it were used for MORE of the headings - it's the way it's only used of a particular heading level that makes it look weird.

I agree, it's not so much the font itself (although it is a bit unclear, but that's forgivable as it comes from the series), but the fact that there are different fonst used for different headings. Less is more, said Mies van der Rohe.

I'd prefer to see the special font reserved for the really big headings, like chapters, and everything else to use the same font as the text.

 

[whtknght]

Wouldn't IPX be a variation of the Scout Service...hmm or perhaps the Adventurer career from Spica. Cannot wait to see this out, thanks for the preview.

I would think survey or exploration branches only.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

We know that EarthForce has an exploration branch. The Explorer class ships are EarthForce after all. So, just roll your Scout Characters into EarthForce along with the Navy and Marines and GROPOS.

 

[darktalon]

- was there really a world in B5 called 'Abba' ? Super-trooper !

Yes. Homeworld of the Abbai, one of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Which if I'd read the preview when I posted this I would know was actually mentioned in there. They're the pinkish female aliens we sometimes see in scenes involving the League, anyway.