Originally, the idea seemed to be to map the ships in a given book to those from a given set of modules for
Federation Commander (another game set in the Star Fleet Universe; it was launched by ADB back in 2005, and is more closely related to
Star Fleet Battles mechanics-wise). For example, the ships in book 1 of
A Call to Arms: Star Fleet are from the first four
FC modules;
Klingon Border,
Klingon Attack,
Romulan Border, and
Romulan Attack.
This overlap echoes the one which the Star Fleet adaptation of Majestic 12's
Starmada game system has followed; the first two books for both the
Admiralty and
Nova editions of the
Starmada game engine which cover the SFU are
Klingon Armada and
Romulan Armada, which each have the ships from the two "border" and "attack" modules mentioned above.
This structure was also reflected in the ship selections for the Starline 2500 squadron boxes, which map directly over the same numbered boxes in ADB's older Starline 2400 series. The idea being that the first twelve squadron boxes are mapped to ships from the first 4
FC modules, the first 2
Starmada books, or the first book for
ACtA:SF.
Also, the "sub-set" of weapon and system options in both
Starmada and
ACtA:SF are mapped from
FC, not directly from
SFB proper. (
FC has no proximity photons or enveloping plasma torpedoes, which means that neither
Starmada nor
ACtA:SF do either.)
Even the ship stats are based on the (Squadron Scale side of their) Ship Cards from
FC, which are slightly different here and there relative to their respective
SFB SSDs. For example, Klingon Ship Cards in
FC have no security stations, since they are not a factor in that game; so neither
Starmada nor
ACtA:SF bother to add them back in. (
FC Ship Cards also have a Fleet Scale side, which is closer to the
SFB Cadet scale. For the most part, conversions to
Starmada and
ACtA:SF are based on the Squadron Scale side, though the number of Marine squads in
ACtA:SF more closely echoes the listing in Fleet Scale.)
However, this degree of overlap seems to be less of an issue with wave 2 of the Starline 2500s, and also for book 2 of
ACtA:SF.
For example, ADB have posted a few 3D previews from
the work-in-progress Lyran fleet. In
FC, the Lyrans were introduced alongside the Hydrans, WYNs, and LDR in the
Distant Kingdoms and
Hydran Attack modules, both of which were combined into the
Distant Armada module for
Starmada. So, if it were reasonable to assume that the same kind of mapping was in play here, those same ships and empires would seem to make for good candidates in
ACtA:SF book 2.
However, it is not yet clear if this will be the case. While we may get the Lyrans in wave 2, we may or may not get the Hydrans or WYNs at the same time; there's been no confirmation either way. (In
FC, the LDR ships are integrated as optional variants on the Lyran Empire Ship Cards, as shown in
this example from the
FC Commander's Circle. It's not stated yet how they might be treated here, though.)
But before wave 2 (and book 2) can move forward, things have to be straightened out for wave 1 (which is still not fully released yet) and for the revision/reprint/PDF upload for book 1.
In terms of miniatures, ADB at present will not authorize any more "preview" ships (such as the Federation
Star Tiger-class DNL) until all of the remaining ships from the first batch of ships is made available (which includes the Tholians and many of the civilian units, if I'm not mistaken).
But in terms of rule revisions, ADB has voiced its concerns about how well, or otherwise, the current version of
ACtA:SF accurately represents the way things are supposed to work in the Star Fleet Universe. (One issue of note is how seeking weapons currently work in this game system.) Until the matter is resolved between ADB and Mongoose as to what the upcoming revision of the core rulebook will look like, the line as a whole cannot move forward the way it ought to.
The joint venture has had more than its fair share of "teething troubles", and this sort of isssue really needs to be settled before it gets any further out of hand. (I would hope the recent collapse of the efforts to try and establish a joint venture between ADB and Ad Astra games would act as a warning in this regard.) But despite everything, I do hope that these matters can be laid to rest, and that both Mongoose and ADB can get on with the business of making both
A Call to Arms: Star Fleet and the Starline 2500 miniature range (and
Traveller: Prime Directive, which is still awaiting its own formal publication) as much of a success as they deserve to be.
