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June 2022
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS: The Return of Kommodore Ketrick Steven Petrick is back at his desk after five months of medical trials and tribulations. His vision has been restored by a medical miracle and he is working hard to update SFB Module R1. After that, he will produce another of the popular Master Starship Books. He has already approved a new Seltorian ship that will be the focus of the July Newsletter.
On June 1, 2022, ADB released a baker's dozen new items to its shop on Shapeways, which has over 2,800 items available in total. We featured the Federation, Klingons, and "general" items this month. Please note that all miniatures are available in both 3788 and 3125 scales, except when noted. 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 is proud to announce that, as of June 10th 2022, they are now accepting orders for 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 now, with more to come in the following months. 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 .
Jupiter IV Decals is a source of decals for the 2400 line and will do custom decals as well as all official SFB names. In the near future Jupiter IV will move into the 2500 line and will work to get every listed name on the Starfleet registry completed in both scales.
Their website is: JupiterIvdecals.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 Nick Samaras painted this 3788 Scale Andromedan Dominator
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New Releases EXTRAS FOR THE MONTH: SLAX Heavy Cruiser
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: 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. 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
CONSTRUCTION AND PRODUCTION Q: Does the rule (450.13) prohibiting the construction of minor shipyards in the capital include all hexes of a multi-hex capital, or only the hex with the shipyard?
A: Rule (511.0) defines "capital hex" to include all hexes of a multi-hex capital, so you cannot build minor shipyards in any of those hexes. Q: Can a half fighter factor be exchanged for two PFs under (442.21)?
A: If the players have a methodology to keep track of fractional fighter factors, then, sure. Q: Can an empire exchange leftover free fighter factors for PFs during the fall turn production phase? A: No, it must happen in the Spring turn (422.21). Q: Does Conversion During Repair (425.2) reduce the cost of converting a CA or CC to a CX by one XTP? The CX is showing that the base hull is a CA(3) on the SITs. A: A Federation CX has a base hull of CA(3), and so does the CA or CC. As such either could be used with Conversion During Repair (CDR) at a major conversion facility with a SBX to make a CX with a CA for (6-1=5) or with a CC (5-1=4) with XTP to make a CX. Q: Are area control ships considered CVAs for build limit purposes? A: No. Area control ships count against heavy fighter carrier and scout limits only. Q: Many of the NCAs have "minor" in their conversion column (from CWs) on the SIT. Does that mean that these conversions can be done at a starbase in one turn? A: Yes! That's the beauty of the NCA concept. Even better, some of the conversions to variants qualify for a two-step conversion and still are a three-point minor conversion capable at a starbase outside a major conversion facility location per (437.21). 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 MonthTARGET THE BATTERIES When selecting targets for Marine raids, don't overlook the enemy's batteries. These should always be prime targets for your Marines because they are used for multiple tasks. Disabling your opponent's last battery can be difficult using weapons fire because he can always take his last battery hit on frame, hence the value of using Marine raids to disable that last battery.
Consider the benefits of having a battery-less opponent. 1. If he has no batteries, he can't reinforce his shields. 2. It complicates his energy management options. It is vitally important to not run out of power in Federation Commander. Your batteries help with this important principle because if you arrive at the end of a turn with power that you kept in order not to run out of power, you can store some or all of it in your batteries. Without the batteries, you would have to use it or lose it; there could be no carryover. Also, it means that on later turns your opponent will be running in on your ship with just that few less points of power, which can be crucial.
3. In fact, the batteries are so important, he may well have to divert his damage repair points to repairing his batteries in preference to other systems.
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When fighting outside their transporter-link network, Ryn vessels suffer several serious disadvantages, not least of which is disrupted fire control for two impulses after each quantum transporter jump. Not only does this cut firing opportunities in half, but a jumping ship cannot control transporter-emitter missiles while its fire control is offline. Here is how to get at least partial use of these secondary weapon systems when "off the grid."
Let's say we have two heavy cruisers, Acinonyx and Bastet's Pride. On Impulse #1, both ships launch all their transporter-emitter missiles at an enemy. On Impulse #2, Acinonyx transfers control of its transporter-emitter missiles to Bastet's Pride, then jumps forward with its quantum transporters. After Acinonyx's fire control comes back online on Impulse #4, Bastet's Pride transfers control of all the transporter-emitter missiles to Acinonyx and jumps forward itself. On Impulse #6, the process can be repeated, with each ship retaining control of the transporter-emitter missiles while the other recovers from its jump. In this way two ships can combine their seeking weapon control channels to handle up to six transporter-emitter missiles at a time. It is not as many as could be controlled inside the transporter-link network, but half is better than none. (End of SFB Tactic of the Month)
When it comes time to bust up Alliance battle stations, consider committing one or two D6s to the battle. A force with a D6 as the leader, a F5S, and another D6 with an escort carrier group and a squadron of F5 frigates will provide the necessary combat potential to reduce an undefended battle station.
When taking damage, be sure to cripple a D6 after giving up the escort carrier group's fighters. After the battle, retrograde the crippled D6 to a starbase and use conversion during repair to convert it to one of the D6 variants. This way you get a discounted conversion plus the use of the hull in one of the smaller battles of the invasion. (End of F&E Strategy of the Month)
A Call To Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month These are immense clouds of gas, light years across. Nebulae are easily large enough to encompass the entire playing area and then some. When battles take place in a nebula, the ships suffer from these debilitating effects:
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