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April 2023
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS:
WEBSITE:
Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Simone Dale, our graphics director, continues to update the website, do covers for the new products, shut down pirate websites, help out around the company, and learn more about the game business.
TWITTER: VIDEOS: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 DOING VIDEOS OF THE SFU
A customer asked about posting "tutorial videos" for our games. We like it when people do that (and even give commendation medals) but you need to have us check the videos to make sure you aren't violating something somehow (or that you didn't make a rules error). Doing such videos to make money is not cool. Please drop us an email before you post the videos.
STARBLOG: STAR FLEET'S LEGIONS EXPAND: This month we feature Battle Group Hampton Roads, headquartered in Hampton, Virginia. CO William Phillips reports they play Star Fleet Battles and Federation & Empire. They also enjoy attending gaming conventions. Read more here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/battlegroup_HamptonRoads.shtml
Do you have a battle group? Be sure to report your activities here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/report.shtml
Do you want to see if there's a battle group near you? Check out the map here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/gather.shtml#US
Facebook Fan Pages
So join us on Facebook and get a fix of your favorite game there, too! As announced in Captain's Log #54, Jean Sexton Beddow's husband, Al Beddow has been appointed to take over the day-to-day of running the SFU Ranger demo team. He comes with a bit of experience both teaching various types of games as well as having been in quite a few demo teams (and ran/helped run a few). He is most familiar with GURPS Prime Directive but early on played ACTASF and spent Gencon 2012 demoing it in the Mongoose Publishing booth there. So, we are asking each of you to email Al at the address below with the following: - Name Al will add you to the Ranger group on the forum once he has this info, which will let you access our area there. He is looking forward to working with all of you to spread the news of the Star Fleet Universe! Current stats: We have heard from 22 of our Rangers and have three new ones! We are excited to see the Rangers becoming active as playing in person and cons once again start up. Jean Sexton Beddow Al Beddow Ranger Email: adbrangerhq@gmail.com FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/517647465103651/ ADB Forums: http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/phpbb2/index.php ADB BBS: http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/
JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships
Tenneshington Decals continues to produce decal sets made to fit Federation starships in ADB's Shapeways 3788, 3125, 7000 "Elite", and 2500 "Prestige" scales. A wide selection of ships are available, with sets for the CVo operational ("flatbed") carrier, CVA heavy fleet carrier, CF fast cruiser, and DDF fast destroyer recently added. The 3788 scale decals are also great to use on ADB's metal Starline 2400 ships and the 3125 scale decals can be used on ADB's metal Starline 2500 ships. Tenneshington will also continue to offer their legacy decals for Starline 2500 ships as special orders, for customers wishing to match their existing minis. As with all of their products, the names on the ships are up to the customer and all sheets are custom-printed to order. Additional decal sets are available for shuttlecraft and to sets to detail any ship with additional window blocks, sensors, hatches, and even phaser scars. For more information or to download the order sheet, check them out at www.tenneshington.com. Or if you prefer, email Will McCammon at: will@tenneshington.com or Tony L. Thomas at: scoutdad@tenneshington.com .
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Update to Sapphire Star IX: With Sapphire Star tournaments IX and X finished, XI is now running. The second Sapphire Crown tournament will kick off on 1 June with the four most recent winners.
DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES Due to the COVID-19 virus, many conventions have been cancelled. We encourage you to check out Star Fleet Battles Online where there is a free demo version. It is a good way to hang out with others who play Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander. Check it out here: https://www.sfbonline.com/index.jsp Star Fleet Battles games are played regularly in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday afternoons at the Soldiery. Lee Hanna is the contact person. Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: This monthly magazine repeated much of the same information that Hailing Frequencies does. December 2019 was the last month it was published. Old issues can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. Mini of the Month This is the 3788 Scale Lyran Java Tiger Heavy Command Cruiser (CCH) painted by Nick Samaras.
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New Releases EXTRAS FOR THE MONTH: You can look at Hailing Frequencies Extras here.
Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies.
Recently Released
SHAPEWAYS:
We’re now offering some of our miniatures and some new designs on Shapeways. You can check out the store here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc?sort=newest
PDF and EBOOK SALES:
RECENTLY RELEASED ON Warehouse 23
Ask Admiral Vanaxilth DRONES
Francois Lemay asks: Can drones just launched be involuntarily transferred if the drone-launching ship is placed in stasis on the impulse of drone launch?
ANSWER: I sent this one to Kommodore Ketrick who replied: Yes, per (F3.41). The fact that a ship guiding drones is placed into stasis is as much an involuntary release as if the ship were blown to Hades or any of a number of other involuntary release conditions occurs during a given impulse. Francois Lemay asks: Let's say a Kzinti battlecruiser already has six drones on the map and launches four more. Can four of the drones on the map be involuntarily transferred to other ships or do four of the drones lose their tracking? ANSWER: The Kzinti battlecruiser can only control six drones, so if it is already controlling six drones it cannot launch any drones, period. In order to launch four more drones, it would have to first release or transfer control of four of the six drones already on the map, during the 6B6 Seeking Weapon Control Step, which is prior to launch. This would be a voluntary release or transfer. Francois Lemay asks: A Klingon C8 at Speed 31 has a Kzinti battlecruiser (Speed 20) in a tractor at Range 1; both are heading in the same direction. The battlecruiser also has a Speed 20 ECM drone following it. The C8's pseudo-speed is now 19 and battlecruiser's pseudo-speed is eight. It is Impulse #4 and Speed 8 and Speed 19 both move. The C8 moves forward. Does the battlecruiser's ECM drone move as well? ANSWER: Yes, if the battlecruiser leaves its hex, the ECM drone will immediately speed up to 20 and seek the hex of the battlecruiser. Follow-up question: On Impulse #5, the battlecruiser will move as required, will the ECM drone move again? If so, the Speed 20 ECM drone is basically moving at Speed 27. ANSWER: Speed 20 moves on both Impulse #4 and Impulse #5, so the ECM drone will move both those impulses if it needs to in order to keep station with the battlecruiser. Now, if both ships keep moving the same direction, the ship will eventually leave the drone behind. However, it should be noted that the ability of an ECM drone to change speed, instantaneously, as many times as it needs to, can lead to it moving more hexes in a turn than its rated speed under certain circumstances. Follow-up question: The battlecruiser has launched four Speed-20 drones at the C8 while tractored on Impulse #6. On Impulse #7, Speed 19 and Speed 20 move. The C8 can do a sideslip or even turn. How are the four launched drones handled? According to (G7.9433), the drones are carried along when the C8 moves whether it is a sideslip or turn. Do the drones then move or must they wait until Speed 20 is called for and not Speed 8 or 19? ANSWER: The drones are carried along in the tractor tunnel when the C8 moves. They will move again, advancing along the tractor tunnel, when their movement is called for. They do not miss their move just because the tunnel moved. Andrew Granger asks: I am still a little fuzzy on how labs are used for identifying drones. Can someone give me a quick example or short explanation? ANSWER: In the Identify Seeking Weapons Step of stage 6B4 of the Sequence of Play, the player operating the labs elects to make the attempt. Because this is after the Operate Tractors Step, if the player wishes to tractor drones, he must do that without knowledge gained by seeking weapon identification on the same impulse. The identifying player selects the drones he wishes to attempt to identify (G4.2), and assigns each drone a lab. He may make more than one attempt on any given drone (using separate labs), on the same or different impulses, to improve the odds of a successful identification. The player attempting the identification then rolls a die for each attempt. There are no modifiers to the die roll. If the roll is greater than the range to the target, the drone is identified (a drone at Range 1 would be identified on a two or higher). The procedure can be used at Range Zero, in which case it is automatically successful; however in this case the drone would have had to be targeted on something other than the ship doing the identification or it would have already been "identified" through more violent means. A successful identification reveals the target of the drone, its frame type, all modules and armor installed, any damage it may have suffered, its endurance, and whether it has automaic terminal guidance. An identification of a shuttle will identify if it is seeking or manned; if seeking, what its target is, but not what it is carrying or even if it were a suicide shuttle or a scatter-pack shuttle. Identification of plasma torpedoes provides the least information of all, revealing only the target (but the warhead strength is always known). Labs cannot distinguish a pseudo-plasma from a real one, but will identify the target of a pseudo-plasma torpedo. Each lab can only perform one action on each turn, so an identification attempt cannot be made the same turn the lab is being used for emergency damage repair, scientific research, or any other function. A lab can attempt to identify only a single seeking weapon each turn. There is also an eight-impulse delay between using the lab for identification and for other purposes on the next turn. However, each lab functions independently, so a Federation heavy cruiser, with eight labs, might use three for emergency damage repair, two for scientific research, and three to identify seeking weapons, all at once. The attempt does not require active fire control or a lock-on, but cannot be done while using erratic maneuvers or while cloaked. Special sensors use a similar procedure, but can be used at extended range and do not use up as much lab capacity (G24.25). Because special sensors can also attract or jam drones, identification is better done by labs. However, sensors can make more attempts to identify than to jam or attract.
F&E Q&A
OPERATIONAL BASES Q: My opponent wants to destroy my OPB and I want to withdraw it from the battle before combat (302.1) using a tug. My opponent used a prime team mission to cripple the tug, blocking this, but there is a second tug (not the one that originally carried the OPB) in the hex. Can it evacuate the OPB by (302.1) despite the fact that it is not the "assigned" tug?
A: There is nothing in (453.2) or in (509.0) that says a OPB has to have a tug assigned to it. So, if you have two unassigned tugs in the hex and one is crippled as mentioned in this question or any other way before (302.1) you can use the other one to assist the OPB in withdrawing. If a tug already assigned a mission is used to rescue the OPB, it gives up that mission including abandoning any pods it was carrying. Q: I used a tug to take an operational base (OPB) to a hex and set it up. Now, the situation is dire. Does the OPB do a "slow unit retreat" or can the tug withdraw the OPB before combat under rule (302.1)? A: An OPB doesn't require "setting up" or "packing up" like an MB does. It can retreat on its own as a "slow unit", but can only use (302.1) Withdrawal Before Combat if carried by a tug. Q: Can an operational base, using slow retreat towed by a tug, use the formation bonus? It is a base, which is disallowed (308.74), and it is "treated like a set-up mobile base in combat" by rule (453.32), so no. However, it is a slow unit which can be in the formation slot, as can towed FRDs. A: The fact that it is a base is specific while the fact that it is a slow unit is general. The specific overrules the general, so, no, it cannot use the Formation Bonus box in combat. Q: If an operational base retreats with a tug does it use slow movement or (since the tug is towing it) does it use normal retreat rules (453.24)? If the operational base is in slow unit pursuit combat, is it considered set-up? A: The term "withdraw" in this rule refers to withdraw before combat (302.11) not retreat (302.7) and the subsequent pursuit (307.0) even though a unit that withdrew during (302.11) can still be part of (302.7) and (307.0). An operational base that retreats with a tug would be considered a slow unit, but, per (453.22) it would be considered "set-up" for the subsequent combat. Q: Rule (453.12) in SO says that OPBs can have a repair module in one of the positions. I can't find a cost for a repair module. A: Repair modules are not in the game, yet. Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool". We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website: Wallpapers STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page FC Tactic of the MonthUSING DIRECTED TARGETING WITH BURN THROUGH It is generally accepted practice to declare Directed Targeting for most volleys, especially when there is a chance of a burn-through point. The idea is that when using Directed Targeting, you have a 50% chance of your burn-through point hitting an "important" system of your choice: weapons or power, which are, generally regarded as "important" systems. Because of this, it is usually considered preferable to include no overloaded weapons in a volley where you expect burn through, in order to allow directed damage. However, there is more to it than that. Please allow me to explain.
If you declare "targeting power", there is actually a 67% chance of your burn-through point hitting something important, just so long as you don't mind whether it's weapons or power. If you roll a "one", a "five", or a "six", you will get a power hit as usual - fair enough. However if you roll a "two" you will get a phaser hit - still an important system and much better than lab or transporter. However, if you target weapons, there's still only the standard 50% chance that you will get an important hit. And there's more. Because you can hit a phaser on a "two" or a "six", and a warp engine box on a "one", there is still a 50% chance of your burn-through point hitting something important even without using directed damage, just not something that is necessarily your choice. This means that a burn-through damage point always has at least a 50% chance of scoring an important hit, whether it's targeted or not. Therefore, if the odds are not good that you will score a burn-through point this impulse without using overloads, you should actually go ahead and use overloaded weapons. You have the same 50% chance of scoring an important system hit with your burn-through point as you would if it were targeted. You should therefore feel free to use overloads if by doing so you will get a burn-through damage point, even though you can't target that burn-through point. The odds are pretty similar, and pretty good, whichever way you do it. Also this allows you to overload, say, your one disruptor, rather than using two, allowing you to use your unfired weapon later.
The small and large collars used to convert Maghadim frigates and destroyers into their larger and more powerful stable-mates each add a third tachyon beam to their "vanilla" configurations. In the case of the battlecruiser and light cruiser (formed by mating a large collar to a destroyer or frigate respectively) as well as the older cruiser (a destroyer paired with a small collar), the resulting ship is balanced enough to operate all three tachyon beams adequately. Unfortunately for the Maghadim, the heavy destroyer (formed by combining a small collar with a frigate hull) is not capable of following suit. Like the New Jersey-class battlecruisers of the Federation Star Fleet, the heavy destroyer runs the risk of triggering shock effects when it attempts to use all of its heavy weapons in the same turn.
However, the unorthodox fire/fire/cool arming cycle of the tachyon beam allows a careful Maghadim captain to shuffle through his trio of tachyon beams in order to maintain a stable, dangerous and persistent series of volleys. For example, he can elect to arm and fire mounts A and B in a given turn (leaving C fallow). Then, in the subsequent turn, he may decide to fire mount A again (its second shot in the arming cycle) but use mount C (which is still freshly cycled) instead of B (which can be left to cool). In the third successive turn, he would then be forced to leave mount A to cool, but would still have the second shot from mount C, and a freshly-cleared shot from mount B, available to maintain the same overall weight of tachyon beam fire over the three successive turns. (In theory, he could continue this first-shot/second-shot/fallow cycle indefinitely, but the ability to do so in practice will no doubt depend on what actions are taken by the enemy in question.) In terms of power constraints, this will maintain a consistent budget of eight energy points from turn to turn, not counting any pre-allocated or reserve power set aside for overloads (which cost two points of power to add to a standard load). Since the power can come from any source, this amount of power can be fairly manageable for the heavy destroyer, not least compared to its Baduvai rivals capped by the warp power requirements of their charged particle accelerators. Other Maghadim ships with three tachyon beams can make use of this method, as for that matter can larger Jumokian Pirate hulls taking these weapons in their option mounts. (In squadron or fleet actions large enough to allow the Jumokian force to reach the 30% quota imposed on "foreign" technologies, which Maghadim weapons always count as under regardless of the operating area). However, the heavy destroyer's shock limitations make it the main beneficiary of this practice, if only to get around the threat of self-imposed breakdown. A typical Maghadim captain prefers to get his ships up close and personal; the tachyon shuffle can help a heavy destroyer to demonstrate why it is not a good idea to let him stay there. (End of SFB Tactic of the Month)
Monitors are an interim solution to provide defenses to a planet until a base can be built. Rule (519.11) says that the monitors in an empire's initial order of battle must be deployed at non-capital planets in the empire's territory. So, the question becomes where to best deploy the monitors?
Monitors are a stand-in for a regular base and should be viewed as more than just a slow unit with dreadnought firepower. Therefore, they should be used to fortify planets that are on an invasion route. For the Alliance, this means defending a planet to slow down the initial Coalition onslaught. For the Coalition, it is a way of preparing for when the tide of the war turns against them. On its own, a monitor is not much of a deterrent to anything other than a commando raid (320.46). However, adding a fighter pallet to the monitor results in a combat potential of 10(6)-6, which is only two less offensive combat potential than a battle station without fighters. In conjunction with a minor planet's two planetary defense units this results in a battle force with a total of 34 combat potential and two electronic warfare points. An invader cannot ignore such a defensive position. You get all of this for only eight economic points, or two economic points if you use the free fighter factors for the pallet. For the Alliance, it is kind of tricky to get this defense set up as the fighter pallet must be built on the first turn and then delivered by the legendarily "efficient staff officers" to the monitor. If the monitor is isolated, then the additional fighter strength cannot be delivered. As a slow unit, monitors are vulnerable to drone raids (320.332), but at least that is one less drone raid on another target in such cases. The Kzintis should deploy their monitors at the planets in hexes 1202, 1504, and 1001. The planet in hex 1105 can be considered as an alternate to the one in hex 1001 if it looks like the Lyrans might be very aggressive. On the Alliance Turn #1, the Kzintis can build as many monitor pallets as they need without affecting other carrier production (519.424).
The Hydrans can use monitors to harden the planets in hexes 0416 and 0519 and the Federation can build up the defenses of their outer ring of minor planets plus the ones in hexes 2509 and 2610. When the tide turns against the Coalition the Klingons and Romulans can do the same thing with their monitors but by then they will be using space control ship pallets. The initial deployment of Coalition monitors can be done without fighter pallets; the space control ship pallets can be added later. (End of F&E Strategy of the Month)
A Call To Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month When playing a multi-ship engagement, do not lose track of the damage and which weapons enemy ships have fired. If a unit becomes crippled, there is a chance that it may have lost the ability to fire some or all of its weapons due to critical hits to its weapons systems. Another aspect of being crippled is there is a coin-flip chance that a unit will lose any special traits that it could use for defensive fire such as anti-drone or tractor beam.
At a time like this, a seeking weapon (be it a drone or a plasma torpedo) will automatically hit a crippled unit making it a sitting duck. This may make it more than worth your while to chunk a seeking weapon or two at him. Even if you do not manage to outright kill him on impact, you still have a fair chance of causing more critical hits, which can push its escalation level higher resulting in its destruction in the end phase. (End of A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month)
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