Technology of the Star Fleet Universe

[Nerroth]

The Star Fleet Universe is both the collection of games published by Amarillo Design Bureau (to include the tactical starship combat games Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander, the strategic-level war game Federation and Empire, and the Prime Directive pen-and-paper RPG) as well as the fictional universe through which said games operate. The SFU incorporates certain elements of the pre-1979 on-screen Franchise, but its true origins lie in Franz Joseph's seminal Star Fleet Technical Manual. (Or rather, in the "U.S. Air Force data tapes" from which both the SFTM and the SFU claim to be derived.)

The purpose of this thread is not to refer to the games in and of themselves, or indeed to any of the associated products, such as the range of miniatures listed on ADB's Shapeways storefront: there are (or can be) threads for those over on the Trek Gaming portion of the forums. Instead, the onus of this thread is to discuss how the various technologies portrayed in the Star Fleet Universe function - which, in many ways, works differently to what one sees portrayed in the post-1979 Franchise.

I'll start with a post looking at how warp factors work in the SFU. But if it helps, there is a set of deck plan samples posted on the ADB website which might help visualize things as they apply in this setting; plus, each product page on the ADB Shapeways storefront (such as this one, for the Federation Vincennes-class CX) has a 3D viewer that might help in certain cases.

To clarify, I don't claim to speak for anyone at ADB, though I have had a few articles published in various issues of their Captain's Log magazine.

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EDIT: Here are some links to individual posts/topics:

Ship Systems:
Warp Movement
Power
Special Sensors
Breakdown Ratings

Alpha Octant Weapons:
Phasers
Photon Torpedoes
Disruptors
Plasma Torpedoes
Drones

Alpha Octant Unit Types:
Shuttles, Fighters, & Gunboats
X-Raiders
Tugs and Transports

Alpha Octant Technologies:
Paravians
Inter-Stellar Concordium
Lyrans
Hydrans
Orion Pirates
WYN Cluster
Nicozians
Vudar
Borak
Carnivons

M81 Galaxy Technologies:
Tholians
Neo-Tholians
Seltorians (M81 Galaxy)
Seltorians (Alpha Octant)
M81 Pirates

Andromeda Galaxy Technologies:
Andromedans (Part 1: Extra-Galactic Intruders)
Andromedans (Part 2: A Dark Future Unfolds)
Andromedans (Part 3: The Return of the Darwin)
Andromedans (Part 4: Operation Unity)
Andromedans (Part 5: Operation Concerted Strike)

Lesser Magellanic Cloud Technologies:
LMC Overview
Baduvai
Eneen
Maghadim
Uthiki
Jumokians

Jindarian Technologies:
Jindarians

Omega Octant Technologies:
Omega Overview
Mæsrons
Vulpa
Federal Republic of Aurora (Part 1: From Alpha to Omega)
Federal Republic of Aurora (Part 2: Consolidating the Republic)
Federal Republic of Aurora (Part 3: The Arrival of Kraknora)
Trobrin
Probr
Koligahr
Vari
Iridani
Bolosco
Zosmans
Drex
Ymatrians
Worb

Reflection Universe Technologies
Reflection Universe Overview

 

[Nerroth]

In the GURPS 4th Edition version of the Prime Directive RPG, a set of Tech Levels - modified from the "default" TLs offered in other GURPS-supported universes - is used to help frame the evolution of warp travel in the Star Fleet Universe.

At this point, I should note that there are three levels of warp speeds in the SFU.
"Tactical" speeds are those at which a ship is capable of maintaining a stable warp field in combat; this can be measured in terms of SFB hexes, which are 10,000km across.
"Operational" speeds are as fast as a ship can "cruise" under its own navigation; this can be measured in terms of F&E hexes, which are 500 parsecs across.
"Strategic" speeds are as fast a ship can "dash" along preset routes between what F&E refers to as "strategic movement nodes" (such as major industrial planets, starbases, and other sites of note).

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GPD Tech Level 9 marks the onset of the star-faring era for most Alpha Octant civilizations, as noted in the Star Fleet Universe timeline. In Earth's case, the first TL 9 flight was in Y1, the same year in which First Contact between Earth and Vulcan took place.

This is the era of what in later times would be referred to as "Non-Tactical Warp". NTW engines are capable of "operational" travel at Warp 5.5; a "cruising" speed of approximately nine parsecs per day. However, in "tactical" terms, NTW drives can go no faster than the speed of light (or SFB Speed 1) in combat. This still involves a degree of "space warping", thus avoiding awkward time dilation issues while fighting at high fractions of c.

NTW engines are fusion-powered, and would later be marked as Impulse engines in later technology eras. Thus, when a cloaked TL 9 Romulan ship would later be pursued by a TL 12 Federation cruiser made famous in a series of tri-video broadcasts, one could say that "its power is simple Impulse".

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Tech Level 10 marked a revolutionary step forward, with the onset of the first Tactical Warp drives, powered by matter-antimatter reactions regulated by those all-important dilithium crystals.

In "tactical" terms, TL 10 (or "W-era") ships can move as fast as Warp 2.5 (or SFB Speed 16). Crucially, the Romulans failed to develop tactical warp drive by themselves, leaving them at a severe disadvantage relative to the Federation and the Gorns for most of the next century.

Note that while there were Earth ships in this era, there is no NX-01 in the SFU. The first W-era ship in Federation space was in Y62, with a warp refit to a Terran light cruiser, of the type which would later be referred to as the Texas-class "old light cruiser".

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Tech Level 11 (or "Y-era") ships were the first to be designed and built from the keel up to incorporate Tactical Warp drives.

"Tactically", TL 11 ships can fight at Warp 2.88 (SFB Speed 24). "Operationally", they can "cruise" at Warp 6, or close to 12 parsecs a day.

In Federation space, this was the era of the first "saucer-and-nacelle" designs, such as the Republic-class early heavy cruiser (first launched in Y79) - a series of designs intended from the outset to serve in the United Star Fleet. With one major exception: it proved more cost-effective to simply continue upgrading the old Terran light cruisers rather than design and build a replacement "saucer-and-nacelle" light cruiser to replace them.

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The Y120s mark the onset of Tech Level 12, the era of the legendary Constitution-class heavy cruiser. Actually, the earliest TL 12 ships in Federation service were Texas-class old light cruisers, which appeared in their "modern" form in Y120; it would not be until Y126 before NCC-1700 USS Constitution made her maiden flight.

(On the SFU timeline, the "five-year mission" dramatized for tri-video was between Y154 and Y159; while the prior incident at Talos IV took place in Y142.)

TL 12 ships have "tactical" speeds of Warp 3.1 (SFB Speed 30). "Operationally", they can "cruise" at Warp 7, or just over 18 parsecs per day. "Strategic" warp speeds are available for the first time; a TL 12 ship can "dash" at Warp 9.25, or just over 436 parsecs a day.

TL 12 can be split into two sub-eras.
The first, running through to approximately Y160, covers the "Middle Years". The Romulans were jump-started to TL 12 near the end of this sub-era, courtesy of the Treaty of Smarba with the Klingon Empire in Y159.
The second, which runs through to approximately Y180, could be referred to as "TL 12+", in which a host of refits, engine types, and technologies emerged across the Alpha Octant. These include "wartime construction" hulls such as the Federation Kearsarge-class new light cruiser; advanced attack shuttles such as the Federation F-111 "Aardvark" heavy drone fighter; and gunboats such as the (conjectural) Federation Thunderbolt PF.

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Tech Level 13 marks the onset of first-generation X-technology, embodied in Federation space by ships such as the Vincennes-class advanced technology command cruiser and the Einstein-class advanced Galactic Survey Cruiser. Note that X-technology requires certain elements, such as germanium and gadolinium, that were not used in prior eras of starship design; providing these elements required the jump-starting of entirely new industries and logistical networks across the Alpha Octant in order to supply them.

In "tactical" terms, an X1-ship has the same upper speed limit as a TL 12 ship. However, its more advanced warp engines (about 33% more powerful than their non-X forebears on average) enable it to maintain a faster "battle speed" closer to that limit. "Operationally", an X1-ship can "cruise" at Warp 7.25, or just over 20 parsecs a day. "Strategically", an X1-ship can "dash" at Warp 9.5+, or just under 470 parsesc a day.

Note that, in Federation space, no Constitution-class ship is given a direct upgrade to first-gen X-technology. The "class ship" for the Federation CX, NCC-1749 USS Vincennes, was a Gettysburg-class TL 12 heavy command cruiser that was extensively rebuilt in Y181 with the new X-technology. It turned out that it was better for the Feds to simply build new X1-ships outright; thus, all of the subsequent CXs, starting with NCC-1771 USS Revolution, were new builds.

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Tech Level 14 is essentially skipped in the Alpha Octant. It it used as a placeholder for "exotic" (mostly extra-galactic) technology that does not fit neatly in other categories, such as that used by the Andromedan invaders.

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Tech Level 15, the era of second-generation X-ships - the first to be designed from the keel up with X-technology in mind - is due to begin in Y205, and run through to the end of the SFU timeline in Y225.

There is no published data on this brave new era as of yet, though it should one day be addressed in Star Fleet Battles Module X2.

 

[trekkist]

>This still involves a degree of "space warping", thus avoiding awkward time dilation issues while fighting at high fractions of c.

I did not know that! I've never gamed, but own a number of SBD manuals and such (as well as 2 sets of all the little lead minis, and the full set of Franz Joseph minis. Fascinating universe.

>NTW engines are fusion-powered, and would later be marked as Impulse engines in later technology eras. Thus, when a cloaked TL 9 Romulan ship would later be pursued by a TL 12 Federation cruiser made famous in a series of tri-video broadcasts, one could say that "its power is simple Impulse".

Trek's use of words like "power" nearly always marked a rather fast-and-loose usage. "Power" is that which supplies energy to systems; "thrust" is the force applied to cause motion; "acceleration," the rate at which a ship's speed is changing. Throughout Trek, these terms seemed to be interchangable...and as for relativistic effects, was there EVER a reference to these even existing?

>they can "cruise" at Warp 7, or just over 18 parsecs per day

3.26 light years x 18 = 58.68 ly/day
21,418.2 light days/per day = W.7's SBD multiple of cee

7 cubed = 343
21,418.2/343 = 62.44 as the "factor cubed correction number"

Whereas in "That Which Survives," 990.7 light years took 11.337 hours (765,505 cee), with a Warp 8.4 correction factor of 1291.54

I'd no idea the SBD ships were so (relatively) slow, vs. canon...

To the best of your knowledge, would the Four Year War of The Series That Shall Not Be Named jibe with that of SBD?

 

[Nerroth]

Under the somewhat arcane terms of the licensing agreements which permit the Star Fleet Universe to exist, any "post-1979" on-screen Franchise material (from TMP onwards) is out of bounds. For that matter, only certain "pre-1979" on-screen material is applicable.

For example, the way the SFU timeline tells it, First Contact between the Federation and Gorns involved two brash, young captains who fired first and faced embarrassing questions later. However, there were no Organian-esque superbeings involved; that was an embellishment added to a later tri-video dramatization.

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To clarify, there is still a certain degree of time dilation involved in tactical warp combat. According to Star Fleet Battles, each "game turn" lasts approximately 1/30th of a second; however, for the crews aboard the ships involved, it appears that each "turn" takes about a minute to elapse.

Speaking of time, a given "game turn" at the Federation and Empire scale takes six months. So a "standard" TL 12 ship can use operational movement to travel six F&E hexes in a single turn.

In F&E terms, a given star empire only has so much logistical capacity to support ships moving at strategic warp speeds. The Federation, for example, can move no more than 15 ships by strategic movement in a single six-month "game turn"; medium-sized empires, such as the Confederation of the Gorns, can move no more than 10.

To clarify, the SFU map of the Milky Way galaxy looks like this; the area covered by the F&E hex map is shown here and here.

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According to the SFU timeline, the Federation and Klingons fought a brief border war in Y110-Y111, when both sides were still at Tech Level 11. While tensions would wax and wane along their common border in later decades, the next war - the one that ended with the Organian Treaty - would not be until Y156.

Note that in the SFU, the Organians brokered this treaty, but did not enforce it; in this universe, the Organian "mental powers" only extended so far as to enforce a no-combat zone in the region surrounding their home star system (in F&E hex 1913).

In any case, the Klingons had their hands full keeping tabs on their other borders; the Federation was seen as more of an economic threat than a military one, at least prior to the General War.

 

[publiusr]

Post TMP era designs were used in the Klingon Academy video games that harkened back to SFB. Before then, I had the idea that TMP tech was slowed by the greater number of combatants. The Discovery SNW Enterprise as an X ship maybe…Krause’s design…Lost Years era.


Lasers are nothing to sneeze at--they are getting better
https://phys.org/news/2022-05-diamond-mirrors-high-powered-lasers.html

"The selling point with this research is that we had a 10-kilowatt laser focused down into a 750-micron spot on a 3-by-3-millimeter diamond, which is a lot of energy focused down on a very small spot, and we didn't burn it," said Atikian.

 

[Nerroth]

The first two-and-a-half Starfleet Command PC games from Taldren operated under a "hybrid" licensing agreement, in which TMP-type graphics were grafted on to Star Fleet Universe starship designs. But even so, this does not necessarily mean that any of the Taldren material should be considered as part of the SFU proper.

For example, Taldren invented the Meskeen as a sixth member species for the Inter-Stellar Concordium, as portrayed in Starfleet Command II - Empires at War. However, the Meskeen do not exist in the ISC as portrayed in ADB's own SFU material. (Also, that same game swapped out the Kzinti Hegemony for Taldren's own Mirak Star League; as with the Meskeen, the Mirak do not exist in the SFU proper.)

 

[Nerroth]

Another key aspect of technology in the Star Fleet Universe is to do with power: be it the generation of power aboard ship, the holding of power in reserve, and the means by which power is distributed from one part of the ship to another.

In GURPS Prime Directive terms, each "power box" on an SSD in Star Fleet Battles (or on a Squadron Scale Ship Card in Federation Commander) produces or stores 3 GW of power.

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Firstly, there are different types of "power", and different systems which can generate them.

A ship's (tactical) warp engines produce "warp engine power", which is used to propel the ship at tactical, operational, or strategic warp speeds. It can also be used to arm weapons which require warp power to arm, such as photon torpedoes. Of course, it can be used for pretty much anything else a ship might be expected to use power for - to reinforce shields, to operate tractor beams, etc.

Note that while there are dilithium chambers in order to regulate matter-antimatter reactions, SFU ships do not have the massive floor-to-ceiling "warp cores" that are portrayed in the post-1979 Franchise. On the deck plans for the Burke-class frigate in GURPS Federation, main engineering is located just in front of the impulse engines.

Also, if one compares the warp nacelles on a Federation CA to those on a Klingon D7, the amount of warp engine power they can generate is the same; Fed nacelles are larger in part because some of this added volume is used to store fuel, whereas Klingon ships store their fuel elsewhere on the ship. (Also, while the D7 has its disruptor mounts on its nacelle caps, its "ram scoops" are on the wings of the secondary hull.)

Note that the amount of warp engine power needed to actually propel the ship is based on its Move Cost. Since a Federation CA has a Move Cost of 1, it would require all 30 warp engine boxes to fight at Warp 3.1.

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Impulse engines produce "impulse engine power", which as the name suggests can be used to move under impulse.

Tactically, a ship can add a single point of impulse power to move 10,000km (a single SFB hex); this is not adjusted by Move Cost the way that warp power can be. Actually, a ship can combine tactical movement from its warp and impulse engines; so a Federation CA can technically fight at Warp 3.14 (SFB Speed 31); thirty SFB hexes from the warp engines and an added SFB hex from the impulse engines. Impulse power can be used for any function that does not require warp power to arm; for example, a Klingon ship can use impulse power to help arm its disruptors.

Most Klingon ships have an "emergency impulse" engine in the base of the boom; they cannot be used to aid movement while the boom is still attached to the secondary hull, but do allow the boom to act as a giant lifeboat in case of boom separation. (Klingon-built ships in Romulan service usually swap these engines out for auxiliary power reactors, as they aren't intended to be able to separate their booms.)

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Beyond the warp and impulse engines, there are auxiliary power reactors and auxiliary warp reactors. Not every ship has these, and it is rare for a single ship to have both types at once. On the other hand, bases often have both APRs and AWRs installed.

As the name suggests, AWRs produce "warp power" (but not "warp engine power"; they cannot help move a ship, but can help pay expenditures - such as photon arming - that require warp power) . Power produced by APRs cannot be used for movement either (not even impulse movement), but can help pay for things that can accept power from any source.

On bases, AWRs are required to operate their positional stabilizers. (The actual energy cost involved is nominal.) Among other things, stabilizers prevent a base from being moved or towed by tractor beam, and provide the stable platform required to install and operate type-IV heavy phasers.

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Beyond these various forms of generated power, a ship or base also has batteries which allow it to hold power in reserve.

In SFB, a ship's generated power is assigned during Energy Allocation at the start of each game turn; the reserve power in batteries can be spent on a contingent basis in the course of a turn. In Federation Commander, any generated power unspent during Energy Allocation is kept as de facto reserve power; the batteries instead act as limiter in terms of how much of this power can be used in a single instance during the remainder of the turn.

Note that while warp power (and impulse power) can be stored in batteries, it cannot be retained as such; in SFB terms, any reserve warp power or reserve impulse power not used by the end of the turn it is stored in the batteries "reverts" to reserve power.

To put it another way: if a Federation ship stores a few points of warp power in its batteries at the start of a given SFB turn, perhaps in hopes of overloading a photon if the firing opportunity presents itself. If such an opportunity fails to present itself, the warp power stored in the batteries loses its "warp power" status; the Fed can use that reserve power on the next turn, but not for anything requiring warp power. So it's a use-it-or-lose-it circumstance.

Once you get to Tech Level 13, X-batteries can each store up to three points of power - but they still cannot retain warp power any better than non-X batteries. Even so, they significantly increase the amount of reserve power available to an X1-ship.

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In terms of power distribution, a ship's capacity to transfer power is limited more by the specific energy requirements of a given system, rather than any limits imposed by the power grid itself. (Although, in thinking about, it, I suppose part of the process of warp-refitting a "sublight" ship might be to ensure that the power grid can handle the transfer of warp power.)

However, things change once X-technology is on the table. It is possible to use "partial-X" refits in order to install individual X-systems onto TL 12 starships, but it's not possible to upgrade the power grid short of a full-scale X-conversion.

For example, if one installs X-batteries onto a non-X ship, the X-batteries themselves retain the ability to store three points of power - but the non-X power grid is still limited to transferring one point of power in or out of these batteries in the course of a single turn.

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Now, this is how generated and reserve power works for "standard" Alpha Octant empires, such as the Federation or Klingons. Things begin to get further complicated in more "exotic" circumstances - not least when considering the extra-galactic technologies used by the Andromedan invaders. But those are a topic for another time.

 

[Nerroth]

So your ship has various options in terms of warp and/or impulse engines to take you into trouble, plus a variety of generated and reserve power types to use once you get there.

But what exactly would you spend send of that power on? For one thing, how about arming phasers?

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There is a variety of phaser (and phaser-equivalent) types across different areas of the Star Fleet Universe. But in the Alpha Octant, there is a "standard" set of phasers one might encounter:

Type-I phasers (or "phaser-1s") are the "medium-calibre" weapons one might find on a Constitution-class heavy cruiser, as well as on most other "modern" (GPD Tech Level 12) starships. In Federation space, only the Vulcans had phaser-1s mounted on their ships prior to the Y120s.

Type-II phasers (or "phaser-2s") are also "medium-calibre" weapons, but are less powerful than a phaser-1. Technically-speaking, much of the mechanisms in both phaser types are the same; the main difference is that the phaser-1 has a more refined fire control suite. These were the standard phasers on most Early Years ships, such as the Republic-class early heavy cruiser. Andromedan ships have weapons which are functionally equivalent to phaser-2s, but which they (seemingly) cannot upgrade to phaser-1s.

Type-III phasers (or "phaser-3s") are point defence types, cheaper to arm but much weaker than a phaser-1 or phaser-2 and with a much shorter range. Still, sometimes a phaser-3 is just enough for the task at hand. It's possible to "down-fire" a phaser-1 or phaser-2 s a phaser-3.

Type-IV phasers (or "phaser-4s") are heavy phasers, which must be installed on bases with active positional stabilizers. It's possible to down-fire phaser-4 as a phaser-1, -2, or -3. Certain "monster" ships, such as the extra-galactic Juggernauts, have heavy weapons which are modelled as phaser-4s.

Beyond this, there are a few other phaser types to be found in different parts of the Alpha Octant: the phaser-G (which somehow crams four phaser-3 mounts into the space taken up by a single phaser-1 or phaser-2 mount) being the most well-known example of this.

Also, the onset of X-phasers, and how they tie into X-fire control systems, is worthy of note. A Phaser-1X can be "rapid-pulse" fired as two phaser-3s, but only at units smaller than a "true" starship - such as fighters or fast patrol ships. X-bases can "rapid-pulse" a Phaser-4X as two phaser-1 shots or as four phaser-3 shots, but again only at certain smaller unit types.

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In terms of actually arming these phaser types, there is a capacitor system in place (in SFB; that is; FC has you arm each phaser directly). The amount of power the phaser capacitors can store is equal to the amount of power it takes to fire each (operational) phaser mount on the ship once. X-ships have double-sized phaser capacitors.

For example: the "Middle Years" (unrefitted) Federation CA has six phaser-1 mounts. So long as none of these mounts are disabled, the ship can store up to six points of power in its phaser capacitors.

By contrast, the Vincennes-class Federation CX has 12 phaser-1Xs; it can store 24 points of power in its X-phaser capacitors!

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It's also worth noting that the range of each phaser type has an impact on how far away the battle can commence.

To put it another way: even the minimal amount of damage a given phaser type can do at maximum range is enough to destroy a ship moving faster than tactical warp speeds. So a ship has to slow to tactical speeds - whatever those happen to be for the ship in question - on the final approach to an enemy target.

Consider the issues faced by the Romulans prior to the Treaty of Smarba.

During the time of their earliest wars with the Federation and Gorns, both sides, with the exception of the Vulcan ships fighting on the side of the Feds, were armed with lasers and atomic missiles. Most battles would be fought at close ranges - and with no transporters and primitive tractor beams, with a more restricted set of tactical options. (Even with a fire control upgrade enabling them to fire at ships moving at tactical warp speeds, lasers are restricted to a range of 20,000kms.)

Once the Gorns developed "warp-class" weapons, the Romulans had to drop to Warp 1 (SFB Speed 1) much farther away - more than 500,000kms away from the nearest phaser-2, or more than 750,000kms away from the nearest phaser-1.

In the modern era, this is even more lopsided, with Gorn ships now equipped with phaser-1s, and with the phaser-4s on large Gorn bases reaching out as far as one million kilometres!

No wonder the Romulans invested so much effort in developing a series of "practical invisibility screens" in an attempt to even the odds...

 

[Unicron]

Just for my own curiosity, why would point defense phaser-3s be inherently weaker than starship versions? To help keep costs low?

I'm mainly wondering because I've seen a number of other systems (both Trek and non-Trek) where station or base mounted weapons often have the advantage of being more powerful than a starship model, at the expense of not having the ship's (or other unit's) mobility and flexibility. A starbase, as one example, could mount more phasers and give them a more powerful burst via its larger reactor. Its phasers would just have more limited firing arcs to offset that, putting the base at a disadvantage if its weapons or power systems were to sustain serious damage.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Just for my own curiosity, why would point defense phaser-3s be inherently weaker than starship versions? To help keep costs low?

I'm mainly wondering because I've seen a number of other systems (both Trek and non-Trek) where station or base mounted weapons often have the advantage of being more powerful than a starship model, at the expense of not having the ship's (or other unit's) mobility and flexibility. A starbase, as one example, could mount more phasers and give them a more powerful burst via its larger reactor. Its phasers would just have more limited firing arcs to offset that, putting the base at a disadvantage if its weapons or power systems were to sustain serious damage.

If you think about it logically, fixed installations like Star Bases should have redundant multiple shield systems and reactors to make up for the lack of mobility.

Extra weapon emplacements with overlapping firing arcs.

More Weapon emplacements then even normal StarShips.

Anything that is a "Fixed Installation" that can't just warp away or fly off at impulse because it needs to stay in position to defend something or be there for a reason would need to be tougher than normal.

You saw how tough the Scimitar was in ST:Nemesis, that level of toughness needs to be standard for fixed installations.

Look at the Cardassian Defense Turrets during the Dominion War.

When properly powered, they were a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Nerroth]

Phaser-1s and phaser-2s each cost a single point of power to fire; phaser-3s cost only 1/2 of a point of power to fire; while phaser-4s cost 2 points of power to fire. Phaser-Gs cost only 1/4 of a point of power for each of their four phaser-3 shots, making them more power-efficient.

Phaser-3s are physically smaller than phaser-1/-2/-G mounts, while phaser-4 mounts are larger. A given phaser mount functions the same regardless of whether it's installed on a ship or a base. But, again, a base with active positional stabilizers is capable of installing banks of phaser-4s, which cannot be installed on starships.

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There are various engineering constraints in play, in terms of where on a ship a given phaser bank can be installed, or how many phasers (of whichever type) the ship can operate overall. Plus, there's the question of what kind of targets the phasers being installed are expected to shoot at.

For example, in the case of the Middle Years Federation CA: by the time it first entered service, the main use of its phasers in combat would be to target enemy ships. Drones (a type of seeking weapon) were relatively slow; no-one in Star Fleet had ever seen a plasma torpedo; and the evolution of shuttles into fighters was, for most Alpha Octant empires, still several decades away.

In the years leading up to the General War, the tactical environment had changed considerably. So, Star Fleet worked up a series of refits intended to respond to these threats: an "R" refit (which installed a pair of aft-firing phaser-1s); a "plus" refit (which, among other things, added a pair of 360-degree phaser-3s, a drone rack, and a pair of auxiliary power reactors); and an "a" refit which upgraded the APRs from the "plus" refit to AWRs. Thus, a CA with all three refits is designated as a "CARa+". (A later refit upgrades the drone rack to a type better suited for anti-drone defence, but that is a topic for another time.)

As shown in the 3D model on this page, the aft-firing phaser-1s of the "R" refit are installed on the top of the secondary hull, just behind the warp nacelle struts; whereas the 360* phaser-3s of the "plus" refit are installed at the bottom of the secondary hull.

The result is a ship that is somewhat more capable of dealing with enemy seeking weapons, and which is able to maintain a slightly faster battle speed since the AWRs help reduce the amount of warp power needed to be diverted from the warp engines in order to arm the photon torpedoes.

 

[Nerroth]

There are a great number of direct-fire heavy weapons in the broader Star Fleet Universe. But of those, there is one in particular which Federation captains need to master: the photon torpedo.

Note that unlike in the post-1979 Franchise, Klingons here don't use photons. "Saucer-and-nacelle" Federation ships mount their photons below and in front of the bridge on the top half of the saucer, in keeping with the layout seen in the Star Fleet Technical Manual. There are a handful of Fed ship types with an auxiliary "gun deck" on the top-front of the secondary hull, but only a few of these have photons in them. It's rarer still for a Fed ship to have any aft-firing photon mounts, but the conjectural Mars-class battleship has (or would have had) a pair of those.

On a side note, Klingon hulls mount their disruptors on the front of their warp nacelles; the booms of Klingon ships house the main navigational deflector.

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Over in the post-1979 Franchise, photon torpedoes tend to be portrayed as distinct "munitions", which on occasion are shown to act as seeking weapons.

This is not the case in the SFU. Here, photons are direct-fire weapons only. While there is a physical component to the torpedo itself, the key thing to keep track of is the amount of warp power being used to arm or hold it before firing.

When photon torpedoes were first developed in the Early Years, they had a single size of warhead, and had to be armed with warp power over the course of two consecutive turns. At the time, few Federation ships could spare enough power to both move and arm their photons at the same time; thus, a series of "Fighting Instructions" encouraged the more power-starved ships to not bother re-arming their photons after the first volley was fired in a fleet engagement.

In the Middle Years, photons gained two notable advances. First, they could be overloaded, up to 200% of a standard load, but with a maximum range of 80,000kms. Second, they gained the ability to have a proximity fuse installed on a standard load warhead (in SFB, but not in FC); this increased the accuracy at medium to long range, but reduced the effective warhead strength by half. They still took as long to arm as before, however.

On first-generation X-ships, X-photons can be fast-loaded in a single turn, but the resulting warhead has its maximum range reduced to 150,000kms (in SFB; things work a little differently in FC).

The key factor regarding photons is that, while the warhead remains the same strength at any given range, its accuracy drops off considerably. If diverting a significant amount of warp energy to a heavy weapon that has a good chance of missing its target sounds problematic, well... you're not wrong. But when it does hit, that's another story.

On a side note, while the Feds use a single size of photon torpedo warhead in the Alpha Octant, there are light and heavy photon types in service over in the Omega Octant, which produce half-sized and one-and-a-half-sized warheads respectively. The folks who use them over there tend to install light photons on small- to medium-sized ships, but cannot install heavy photons on ships smaller than a dreadnought.

-----

Back in Federation space, the number and type of photons on a given cruiser class changed over time.

The Republic-class early heavy cruiser had a pair of Early Years photons, plus a suite of six phaser-2s. It was one of the few Federation ship types of its era which could "walk and chew gum" at the same time, but its effective battle speed was not all that high.

The Constitution-class heavy cruiser had four "modern" photons, which could be overloaded or equipped with proximity fuses. Together with its more powerful phaser-1s, it could pack a significantly greater punch at close range... if enough of its photons hit their targets, that is.

The Vincennes-class advanced command cruiser has four X-photons, plus a significantly more generous amount of warp power with which to arm them. Better still, X-ships gain a to-hit bonus in favourable electronic warfare environments, making it that much easier to actually land hits with those fast-loading photons.

 

[Nerroth]

As noted in my last post, Klingons in the Star Fleet Universe do not use photon torpedoes; their primary heavy weapon is the disruptor bolt. Disruptors are also used by a number of other factions, such as the Kzinti Hegemony and the Lyran Star Empire - but not by the Romulans, who use various types of plasma torpedo instead.

On a side note: while the disruptor bolt is the primary form of "disruptor" weapon in the Alpha Octant, the Carnivons (a wolf-like species distantly related to the Kzintis and Lyrans) had deployed the disruptor cannon as an alternate branch of this technology. While Star Fleet Battles Module C6 shows what a "modern" version of the disruptor cannon would have looked like had the Carnivons survived into the Middle Years and beyond, they had historically been driven to extinction in the Alpha Octant before then. Although there are rumours that a group of Carnivon exiles might have escaped to the distant Sargasso Storm Zone.

-----

Unlike photons (or Carnivon disruptor cannons), disruptor bolts are single-turn arming weapons. Also unlike photons, a disruptor bolt need not be armed during Energy Allocation; it can be armed and fired immediately during the course of a turn using reserve power. Further, disruptor bolts do not require warp power to arm.

However, while a photon retains its warhead strength at a distance, the impact from a disruptor bolt is weakened over distance - though its accuracy as a weapon is greater. Another contrast: disruptors cannot be held prior to the onset of first-generation X-technology. Disruptors installed on cruisers and dreadnoughts tend to have longer firing ranges than those on smaller ships, but otherwise function in the same manner.

In the Early Years, disruptor bolts appeared on Klingon (and other) ships, in parallel to the Federation deployment of photon torpedoes.

In the Middle Years, disruptors gained the ability to be overloaded, but only to a range of 80,000kms. A few decades later, the Klingons (in SFB) developed a pair of new systems designed to increase disruptor accuracy at certain range brackets: the Ubitron Interface Module (or UIM) and Disruptor Extended-Range Fire Attenuation Control System (or DERFACS). There are no UIM or DERFACS present in Federation Commander.

On another side note: "modern" Carnivon disruptor cannons would have been able to use DERFACS, but not the UIM, the latter requires a physical component that risks burn-out with each use for disruptor bolts, but would be too fragile for any sort of use with disruptor cannons.

X-Disruptors don't gain any particular increase in firing rate, as their non-X forebears already fire every turn. Instead, several types of disruptor-armed X-cruiser are capable of installing half again as many X-disruptor mounts.

-----

The Klingon equivalent to Star Fleet's Republic-class early heavy cruiser was the D4 early battlecruiser. It was armed with phaser-2s, a a pair of (non-overloadable) disruptors, and drone racks.

In the Middle Years, the Klingons deployed the D6 heavy cruiser, which was soon outclassed by the D7 battlecruiser. Both the D6 and D7 look similar from the outside, but it was not possible to upgrade a D6 to D7 standards. Both ships installed a set of four overloadable disruptors, but those on the D7 had a longer range - at least until the D6 was given the "-B" refit starting in Y165. The Empire was slow to refine the improved fire control systems needed to upgrade phaser-2s to phaser-1s, however, forcing them to rely more heavily on them for a longer period of time compared to the Federation.

In Shapeways terms, most "modern" Klingon ships are presented in "classic" forms, representing the cleaner lines of the original on-screen D7; and "Mongoose" forms, based on alternates that had been worked up for the Starline 2500 miniature range in collaboration with Mongoose Publishing. Those are listed as the "-B" and "-K" variants on the Shapeways storefront, but the differences are purely cosmetic; there's nothing to stop anyone using the Shapeways D7B as a D7K, or vice versa.

In the era of first-generation X-ships, the DX advanced command cruiser (as portrayed in both "classic" and "Mongoose" forms) has six X-disruptors, eleven phaser-1X mounts, and a pair of X-drone racks.

In each era, the difference in tactics between a Federation captain and their Klingon counterpart is perhaps comparable to that in Earth's medieval era between a European heavy knight and a Mongol horse archer. The Star Fleet captain has a less agile ship but a more powerful offensive punch; the Klingon captain must use their greater maneuverability and heavy weapon accuracy at medium range to line up successive disruptor volleys in order to gradually wear down their opponent.

 

[Nerroth]

As noted above, the Romulans in the Star Fleet Universe do not use disruptors; instead, they rely on the plasma torpedo. They aren't the only ones: plasma is a staple of the Confederation of the Gorns, the Inter-Stellar Concordium, and those Orion pirate cartels operating in Romulan, Gorn, and/or ISC space. A small number of Federation ships operate imported Gorn plasma launchers during and after the General War.

-----

In contrast to direct-fire weapons such as phasers, photon torpedoes, or disruptor bolts, seeking weapons can do one of two things: score damage on an enemy target (if the weapon actually hits), or force the target to maneuver (so as to avoid being hit, or at least lessen its impact).

Plasma torpedoes (and other plasma-like weapons) represent one sub-branch of seeking weapons in the SFU. The other sub-branch, drones (and drone-like weapons) are a topic for another time.

In the Alpha Octant, there are four main types of ship-mounted plasma warheads in the "modern" era, with two more added in the era of advanced technology:

Type-R torpedoes, as dramatized in a well-known tri-video episode, are the largest and most powerful - and most power-hungry - torpedo types. As the name suggests, they are most commonly employed by the Romulans, but the Gorns have a few hull types with plasma-Rs installed.

Type-G torpedoes are smaller warheads, with launchers that take up about half of the space of an -R launcher. Gorn cruisers had these installed during the Middle Years (hence the -G designation), but it wasn't uncommon to find them in Romulan or ISC space also.

Type-F torpedoes are smaller still, with a launcher one quarter the size of that on an -R. These are more commonly seen on frigate- or destroyer-sized ships in Romulan, Gorn, or ISC space. Also, the limited number of plasma launchers exported to Fed space by the Gorns are of this size.

Starting in Y170, it was possible to swap out the plasma-G mounts on cruisers and dreadnoughts with plasma-S launchers. The type-S torpedo is larger and more powerful than the type-G; it's often a better option to take two plasma-S launchers than a single plasma-R. Size Class 4 ships cannot upgrade their plasma-Gs to -Ss prior to the onset of first-generation X-technology.

Speaking of X-technology, the type-L launcher is the size of a type-F launcher, but can produce a warhead the size and strength of a type-G. There is also the plasma-M: a launcher 3/4 of the size of a plasma-R, producing a warhead that sits somewhere between an -S and an -R in terms of size and power.

A given launcher can be downloaded as a smaller warhead - well, with the exception that you can't "download" a non-X launcher to launch an X-plasma warhead (so a non-X type-R cannot arm a type-M warhead, for example).

There are smaller plasma types used for (or against) fighters, plus plasma types seen outside of the Alpha Octant - but the main focus in this post is on the ones mentioned above.

-----

That said, the fearsome type-R plasma torpedo dramatized for tri-video in a famous pre-1979 episode did not appear overnight.

There were two parallel courses of evolution which led to the "modern" plasma torpedo: the first, by the Romulans and Gorns (who developed different aspects of plasma technology at different points of time, but who were influenced by each other's developments); and the second, by the five species which founded the Inter-Stellar Concordium (who were aware of each other, yet unaware of other warp-capable species until much later in time).

For the Romulans and Gorns, the first application of plasma technology was the plasma bolt. Bolts are a direct-fire application of plasma, which lowers the strength of the warhead by 50%. Further, during the Early Years, Romulan and Gorn plasma bolts are limited to a range of 50,000kms for their first few decades of use.

The Romulans, who one might recall were stuck with non-tactical warp and warp-targeting lasers in this era, were strongly motivated to develop seeking plasma in order to do some of the maneuvering for them. The Gorns, on the other hand, did have tactical warp and phasers, yet were slower than the Romulans to develop a seeking function for their own plasmas. Nevertheless, both sides had their "modern" plasma launchers in place by Y120 or thereabouts.

For the planets which would form the Inter-Stellar Concordium, each of the five species involved developed their own W-era plasma weapons: three of them (the plasma blaster, plasma cannon, and plasma-vortex launcher) were direct-fire weapons; the fourth (the plasma drone, or plasma-P rack) was a drone-like seeking weapon; while the fifth (the plasma-V torpedo) was a seeking plasma type with no bolt capacity.

As the five species settled their earlier differences and began the long process of establishing the ISC, it was clear that the psychological effect of the plasma-V made it the best candidate for further development. As a result, once certain elements of the direct-fire plasma weapons were factored in, the first wave of "two-prong" Y-era hulls built from the keel up to serve in the unified ISC Navy and Police were equipped with bolt-able type-F and type-G torpedoes. (The plasma drone fell by the wayside, and remained so even when the ISC later learned of drone-armed empires such as the Klingons and Kzintis.)

These parallel developments continued until Y160, when the ISC learned of the existence of the Romulans and Gorns for the first time.

-----

A good way to look at how plasma developed going forward is to see what the different empires did to incorporate various advanced in plasma technology before, during, and after the General War.

Prior to the Treaty of Smarba, the Gorns reached down to the level of their enemies in terms of starship designs. Their heavy cruiser had only two type-G plasmas and an array of phaser-1s spread across multiple firing arcs; which was fine for dealing with sublight Warbirds, but more problematic once the Romulans started fielding warp-capable ships. Faced with these challenges, the Gorns upgraded their CA to the far more powerful battlecruiser: upgrading the type-Gs to type-Ss, adding side-mounted type-F launchers, and developing the plasma carronade - a new firing mode for the plasma-F that can be used to help flush out cloaked ships. They also developed a series of "wartime construction" ships such as the heavy destroyer (which is actually a war cruiser) with more aggressive plasma launch arcs. Perhaps most surprising of all, they somehow managed to get the notoriously frugal Gorn legislature to pay for all of this!

Once the ISC was shocked by the revelation that warp-capable empires were indeed capable of fighting each other, they set out a plan to design and field an entirely new series of "three-prong" ships to serve in the ISC Navy and Police, as well as a new "Echelon" doctrine by which to deploy them. While the fleet yards ramped up production of the ships themselves, and the scientists and engineers worked on developing the powerful and long-ranged direct-fire weapon (the plasmatic pulsar device) needed to make the Echelon doctrine work, the ISC Star Cruiser became the vanguard of the fleet. Initially armed with type-G plasmas on the two outer "prongs", the ISC later added a PPD (or a third plasma-G) to the central "prong"; upgraded the type-Gs to type-Ss; installed side-firing phaser-3 banks to help deal with fighters; and added banks of aft-launching plasma-F torpedoes to help handle fast patrol ships. (These type-Fs have a distinct fire control system that restricts their use against ships, but not against smaller units such as fighters or PFs.) While the ISC sat out the General War, the Alpha Octant at large would gauge just how powerful these ships could be during the subsequent Pacification Campaign - which, alas, left all too may of them caught far from their home space once the Andromedan invasion began in earnest. Speaking of which, the ISC had its own "wartime construction" blueprints on file as early as the Y170s, yet did not bring the likes of the war cruiser into full-scale production until the Andromedans forced their hand.

For the Romulans, no less than three series of starship designs would make their mark in the post-Smarba era. The old Eagle-series ships would be upgraded to tactical warp technology; this would find its penultimate expression (as in, prior to the onset of X-technology) in ships such as the King Eagle command cruiser. Meanwhile, the Klingon-built Kestrels, such as the KR heavy cruiser (a conversion of the Klingon D6), appeared to provide fresh tactical options - and fresh logistical headaches. However the Romulans soon fund that the Eagles were too small and outdated to build a "modern" fleet around; whereas the Kestrels, having not been designed with the cloaking device in mind, had relatively high cloaking costs. So, an entirely new series of ships, the Hawks, were drawn up and put into service: not least of which being the SparrowHawk light cruiser, a ship which clearly reflects Klingon design influences yet does so in a distinctly Romulan fashion. Alas, Romulan Great House rivalries being what they are, it was politically impossible to simply drop the Eagles and Kestrels in favour of the Hawks. Thus all three series would serve together throughout the General War, the subsequent Romulan Civil War, the ISC Pacification, and the Andromedan War.

 

[Nerroth]

While plasma torpedoes are the preeminent type of seeking weapon in the "eastern" potion of the Alpha Octant, drones are - for good or ill - the dominant type of seeking weapon for the "western" side of the Federation and Empire hex map.

While drones are used most heavily by the warships of the Kzinti Hegemony, they also appear in the fleets of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the WYN Star Cluster, and those Orion pirate cartels operating in those regions of space. Indeed, even certain factions which do not use ship-launched drones are liable to deploy them from Klingon-sourced fighters: namely, the Lyran Star Empire, the breakaway Lyran Democratic Republic, and the Seltorian Tribunal (that is, for the Tribunal expedition operating in the Alpha Octant during the early-to-mid-Y180s).

-----

Drones differ from plasma torpedoes in a number of important ways.

For one thing, drones are "munitions" in the way that plasma torpedoes are not: a given drone rack only has so many drones it can carry before it runs out. On the other hand, while the warhead strength of a plasma torpedo degrades over distance (and due to phaser damage), a drone warhead remains the same until the drone itself impacts, is destroyed, or goes inert. But then, there are more ways in which a drone can be targeted: for example, drones can be held in a tractor beam, whereas plasma torpedoes cannot.

Also, while plasma torpedoes require several turns' worth of energy to arm and/or hold, drones are self-powered; the ship itself does not have to spend any energy to launch them - and can launch a drone once per turn. (Certain older Klingon ships had a more restricted launch rate prior to the onset of the B-refit.)

Most types of plasma torpedo are self-guiding, in that the launching ship can turn off (and/or re-cloak) and leave the warhead to do whatever it is going to do. Most types of drones, by contrast, are not self-guiding; they require the launching ship to use a seeking weapon control channel in order to guide the drone to its intended destination. (In Star Fleet Battles, a given ship can transfer seeking weapon control to an allied ship; in Federation Commander, this is not allowed.)

There are a great many types of drones in Star Fleet Battles, as well as different types of drone racks from which to launch them. Most drone racks have a certain number of reloads.

In Federation Commander, it's a different story; there is only one size of drone available there, and only two types of rack available for ships in the "modern" era: the "type-A" rack (which holds four drones at once) and the "type-G" rack (which holds two drones and four anti-drones).

On a side note, an anti-drone is a short-ranged direct-fire weapon designed to shoot down drones. Most empires with access to anti-drones use dedicated ADD racks to fire them; the Federation prefers to use the aforementioned type-G rack instead.

-----

In the Early Years, the first users of "standard" drones (as opposed to "sublight" atomic missiles) were the Klingons and Kzintis. In Federation space, the Andorians developed their own distinct type of drone, which they used in place of the photon torpedo; elsewhere, the Q'Naabians (one of the five species which founded the Inter-Stellar Concordium) developed a distinct type of "plasma drone"; while the Carnivons (a wolf-like species distantly related to the felinoid Kzintis and Lyrans) developed a drone-like seeking weapon called the death bolt.

In this era, drones were slow, with only half of the warhead strength of "modern" drones. But then, this was in the context of ships with slower battle speeds and weaker shield defences. The Kzintis leaned much more heavily into drone usage than the Klingons, not least since the Kzintis were slow to gain access to disruptor bolt technology. The use of the drone-like death bolt ended with the Kzinti and Lyran xenocide of the Carnivons in the Alpha Octant, though Star Fleet Battles Module C6 provides a set of rules to show how this weapon would have evolved into the "modern" era. (That said, rumours abound of a "last command" of Carnivon exiles escaping to the distant Sargasso Storm Zone.)

In the Middle Years, the number of drone users decreased for a time, as Andorian drones (and Q'Naabian plasma drones) were retired from service and the Orion pirates began to make use of optional weapon mounts in order to more fully integrate the types of weapon available in a given cartel's operating area. And even then, the Klingons still saw their drones primarily as a counter to Kzinti drones; for their part, the Kzintis used drones in wars against the Federation, Klingons, and Lyrans, as well as in their various internecine feuds.

In the run-up to the General War, however, the threat from and subsequent use of drone racks increased substantially. In Star Fleet Battles terms, the standard type-I drone could be upgraded to a type-IM, or from Warp 2 (Speed 8) to Warp 2.7 (Speed 20). This in and of itself was enough to make drones a lot more dangerous, let alone the various weapon and system refits that were being added to the ships launching them. Not coincidentally, this was the time at which Star Fleet began to take a more serious look at drone technology, and when both they and the Klingons began to se a greater value in fielding dedicated drone variants.

The Y180s saw things progress yet again, when the type-IM was further upgraded to the type-IF - with a speed of Warp 3.2 (SFB Speed 32). And that was for non-X-ships; first-generation X-ships (in SFB, but not in FC) replaced the type-I with a new type-VII "X-drone" that was also Speed 32, and was both more powerful and harder to kill than a type-I.

-----

If one were to look at Early Years and Middle Years Kzinti ships, you might wonder if they were designed to fight each other, rather than other empires - and you'd not be far wrong.

Compared to Federation or Klingon ships of these eras, the Kzintis relied more heavily on banks of phaser-3s, which were intended for use against drones being launched by... other Kzinti ships!

It didn't help that, in the Middle Years, the Kzinti strike cruiser (their nearest equivalent to the Klingon D6) not only had only two disruptors compared to the D6's four, but had less powerful warp engines that could only go as fast as Warp 3 (SFB Speed 27).

In the years leading up to the General War, the Kzintis were able to upgrade the strike cruiser to the much more dangerous battlecruiser: upgrading two of the CS' phaser-3s to phaser-1s, as well as adding two more disruptors, more powerful warp engines, and new types of drone racks. Even so, the Kzintis would need every scrap of added combat power they could spare, in order to fend off two full-scale attacks on their home world by the Klingons and Lyrans in the opening years of the General War.

Once first-generation X-ships entered the scene, the Kzinti X-battlecruiser emerged as an excellent ship of its class, fully the equal to the Klingon DX in battle. Not least since all of those phaser-3s on the Kzinti BC could now be upgraded to phaser-1Xs...

But then, the end of the General War offered scant respite for the Kzintis, as they were plunged into yet another civil war (the War of Return), faced with the ISC Pacification campaign, and then confronted by the extra-galactic Andromedan invaders.

 

[publiusr]

"Saucer-and-nacelle" Federation ships mount their photons below and in front of the bridge on the top half of the saucer, in keeping with the layout seen in the Star Fleet Technical Manual. There are a handful of Fed ship types with an auxiliary "gun deck" on the top-front of the secondary hull, but only a few of these have photons in them.

Now I think this was true with FASA as well that had the Connie fitted with an accelerator cannon (railgun) called a FAC before photon torpedoes---pushing it farther back tech wise. SFB would have that pre-Consittution.

Now, the old Romulan Bird of Prey blueprints have missile tubes in wings.

Did SFB ever spot them drone racks in the same location?

Being self powered---it would look to me like you could fire while cloaked though the trail would give your firing position away...

BTW I always envisioned the ISC's plasmastic pulsars looking like the Defiant's bursts.

 

[Nerroth]

Bear in mind that the FASA material was published under a separate (and quite different) licence to those under which the Star Fleet Universe operates. So any material created by FASA themselves, or which had been sourced by FASA from the post-1979 Franchise, is ineligible for use in the SFU.

The Romulans themselves never used drones, as their development of "warp-class" heavy weapons led them away from atomic missiles and towards plasma weapons instead. However, there is a sample set of four "Black Eagle" SSDs in Captain's Log #49, to represent an alternate timeline in which the Klingon Empire had conquered the Romulan Star Empire and converted a number of captured Romulan ships as a stop-gap measure. But even then, the presumption is that these ships would have been phased out once the Klingons reconfigured the captured Romulan fleet yards to enable the construction of Klingon starships. (By which I mean "home" Klingon designs such as the D7 and F5; the "Kestrels" would not exist in such a timeline.)

There is a "simulator empire" known as the Frax, which has "submarines" with a limited capacity to fire certain weapons (such as the direct-fire axion torpedo) while "submerged" (under cloak). However, the Frax do not exist outside of the various Academy simulators; there are no "historical" ships or weapons in the SFU that can fire while under cloak.

 

[StarCruiser]

Yep - TFG/ADB had a license (originally) from Franz Joseph rather than Paramount. All of their SFU products were therefore based off of the Star Fleet Technical Manual. While that - technically - was considered semi-canon in the 1970's, all of that changed in the 80's to 90's.

FASA got their license directly from Paramount in the early 1980's and kept it until Roddenberry objected to their overtly militaristic approach (?!? As compared to SFB?).

 

[Unicron]

Apparently it also had to do with FASA publishing TNG stuff without consulting with Paramount, although I don't know the exact details on that. I don't see why exactly FASA would want to deliberating risk the license by deliberating creating issues/problems between them and Paramount, as some of their flaws were genuine mistakes. The TNG Officer's Manual for the game had the Betazoids coming from Haven, which is an error, and also had Data lacking normal toes even though the structure was partly visible in "Datalore."

But I will admit FASA weren't necessarily immune to making dumb decisions, as happened with the whole Unseen problem in Battletech. Long story there. Certainly the military aspect would have been an issue, especially in early TNG when Gene wanted humans to be utopian and perfect.

 

[StarCruiser]

^ Oh yes - the whole Battletech/Macross disaster. Obviously stolen designs tend to - eventually - lead to lawsuits...