Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

[SuperPheemy]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

I agree. The FASATrek rpg had good ideas for Character generation and skill usage' date=' but the overall mechanics were very clunky. The background stuff was first class, though.[/quote']

 

Loved.. LOVED the Character history generator for FASA Trek. Not only did it give characters a broadly detailed backstory (wherein two players could compare careers and realize their characters might have served together on earlier vessels) but it also weighed itself in favor of generating a character appropriate to the position/ assignment to which they were destined.

 

One of these days, I'm going to come up with something like that for HERO... one day... oh yes...

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Little to no TNG and later content. FASA published a couple of TNG sourcebooks when the series first came out' date=' but lost the license shortly thereafter. Paramount then proceeded to crap all over FASA's work. Thus FASATrek is uncontaminated by the Voyager/Enterprise crapfest. So be it.[/quote']

 

Well. that is a matter of personal taste. I note that it seems to be obligatory for most Trekfans to bag everything about Voyager and Enterprise every single chance they get. For me, there are episodes in both shows that I consider excellent, and a lot that I just basically like.

 

Also, as I said on another thread, there are some that I like better than some TOS episodes (and not necessarily the latter's "dogs" either). Apples and oranges.

 

Oh, yes, and I consider John M Ford's treatment of Klingons to be exceptionally good, even if apparently superseded by the movies and TV shows later on. I highly recommend his two Trek novels - 'The Final Reflection' ("the" Klingon novel, a major source for the FASATrek Klingon supplement) and 'How Much For Just The Planet' (Kirk and co, and a rather similar Klingon crew, in a terrific action-comedy).

[Outsider]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Ah, yes, FASA Trek...

 

The game where one could spend an hour making a detailed, backgrounded character, only to discover that "Wide Angle Disintigrate" was one of the options on the standard sidearm...

[Nyrath]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

The main problem I found with making Hero Trek, is the sad fact that duplicating all the functions of a Star Trek phaser in the Hero system costs ten zillion points.

[Peregrine]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Loved.. LOVED the Character history generator for FASA Trek. Not only did it give characters a broadly detailed backstory (wherein two players could compare careers and realize their characters might have served together on earlier vessels) but it also weighed itself in favor of generating a character appropriate to the position/ assignment to which they were destined.

 

One of these days, I'm going to come up with something like that for HERO... one day... oh yes...

 

It's called Pointless Champions - that is, the implementation of the basic concept of a character entering play fully fleshed out rather than as a "starting character" just getting on the XP grind. Classic Traveller pioneered that mode of play, IIRC.

 

As far as a background generation system ala FASATrek/Traveller, the main challenge for doing so in HERO is to generate the background without taking too many character generation choices away from the players - the relative openness of such being one of the main appeals for HERO.

[Gary]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Just picked up Federation Commander. IMO, it's SFB done RIGHT. They stripped out all the crud and cumbersome rules that added little value and immense complexity and left a great streamlined game that keeps the flavor of SFB, but can be played in 1/4 the time and can be taught 10 times as fast.

 

The production values are a joy and the ship cards are well made and intuitively easy to use. My friend and I were able to dive into a game almost immediately between a Federation CA and a Klingon D7C.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Just picked up Federation Commander. IMO' date=' it's SFB done [b']RIGHT[/b]. They stripped out all the crud and cumbersome rules that added little value and immense complexity and left a great streamlined game that keeps the flavor of SFB, but can be played in 1/4 the time and can be taught 10 times as fast.

 

The production values are a joy and the ship cards are well made and intuitively easy to use. My friend and I were able to dive into a game almost immediately between a Federation CA and a Klingon D7C.

 

Groovy. I am going to have to look into grabbing a copy some time. The FLGSs here in Sydney don't seem to stock that stuff these days - maybe because they got burned on SFB.

[Edsel]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Little to no TNG and later content. FASA published a couple of TNG sourcebooks when the series first came out' date=' but lost the license shortly thereafter. Paramount then proceeded to crap all over FASA's work. Thus FASATrek is uncontaminated by the Voyager/Enterprise crapfest. So be it.[/quote']

I still think that Enterprise was second only to TOS. But I agree that Voyager was pretty dreadful. I'd rate them in this order:

1. The Original Series
   
2. Enterprise (especially the last season)
   
3. The Next Generation
   
4. Deep Space Nine
   
5. Voyager
   

[Gary]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Groovy. I am going to have to look into grabbing a copy some time. The FLGSs here in Sydney don't seem to stock that stuff these days - maybe because they got burned on SFB.

 

You can download basic rules and ship cards for 2 basic ships and run a sample combat if you want from their website and see if you like the system.

[Nyrath]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Just picked up Federation Commander. IMO' date=' it's SFB done [b']RIGHT[/b]. They stripped out all the crud and cumbersome rules that added little value and immense complexity and left a great streamlined game that keeps the flavor of SFB, but can be played in 1/4 the time and can be taught 10 times as fast.

Agreed.

 

One of the big drags on the original Star Fleet Battles was having to fill out that form (looking like an income tax form) before each turn, allocating power expenditures and pre-plotting your moves.

 

Federation Commander eliminates all that. It allows you to pay-as-you-go. Speeds up the game something wonderful.

[Egyptoid]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

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[Ghost Archer]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

SFB has been a favorite of mine since I picked up that little zip lock version in August of 1979. I'd played the Lou Zocchi version of Star Trek ship combat and was pretty fired up about this new game. Well, over the years, I taught more people to play SFB than Champions and thats saying something. When F&E came out the group I gamed with at the hobbyshop decided to use it as a strategic addition to SFB with galactic movement taking place on the F&E map and the battles being worked out at a tactical level with SFB. We ran three campaigns over the years, each lasting between six and nine months and involving as many as 15 players. After over a thousand battles, I pretty much have the rules etched on to the surface of my brain.

 

Federation by default, since no one else wanted to play them. Something about warp engine power and photons and two turn arming. I never found it a problem. And not many ships of a comparable class can take a well-timed Alpha Strike from a Fed ship and still be effective.

[Old Man]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Federation by default, since no one else wanted to play them. Something about warp engine power and photons and two turn arming. I never found it a problem. And not many ships of a comparable class can take a well-timed Alpha Strike from a Fed ship and still be effective.

 

It was the lack of maneuverability that turned me off from the Feds. Anytime I accelerated one of those past speed 15 I always felt like I was hurtling out of control off the map.

 

No, the Tholians and Klingons were my faves. Especially the former if I can get hold of a web caster. With one of those I am invincible.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

It was the lack of maneuverability that turned me off from the Feds. Anytime I accelerated one of those past speed 15 I always felt like I was hurtling out of control off the map..

 

Another Fed player here.

 

We always played SFB with floating maps - I even hand-made a bunch of map tiles for this. That a battlefield in the depths of space would typically be "boxed in" in any way made absolutely no sense to us.

[Old Man]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Well, I misspoke--instead of "off the map", I often felt like I was hurtling out of the battle. We always played with floating maps too.* SFB for me was a game of maneuver and turn mode D just didn't cut it.

 

 

*Which annoyed the hell out of me sometimes; we had one Romulan player who always wanted to start the game moving speed 10 in reverse. In fact he was the reason I got into web casters. They're about the only weapon in the game that sort of let you run down a retrograding plasma ship.

[Sundog]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Always loved the Kzinti myself. Drones, drones, drones! PLUS as many disruptors and phasers as the average Klingon. Not as maneuverable, true, but still better than a Fed brick.

[Curufea]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

I was always a fan of the Andromedans myself I just like knife fighting with TR beams and PA panels.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

For SFB knife fights, I have just four words - Hydran Fighters With Gatlings.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

For SFB knife fights' date=' I have just four words - Hydran Fighters With Gatlings.[/quote']

 

I'll take that knife fight and field a few Fed Lemon Ships (CLC?) with 6 prox-loaded Photon Torps, 6 phaser 1s (downgraded to Phaser 3s) and 4 of its own Gatling Phaser 3s... or a couple of Lyran Pocket Battleships!

 

Of course I have NO IDEA if those numbers above are actually correct. It's been a decade (or 2) since I really played.

 

Man!!! I'd forgotten how much I love this game!!!!!!!!!

[Old Man]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

I was always a fan of the Andromedans myself I just like knife fighting with TR beams and PA panels.

 

Before or after they got horribly nerfed?

 

I'll take that knife fight and field a few Fed Lemon Ships (CLC?) with 6 prox-loaded Photon Torps, 6 phaser 1s (downgraded to Phaser 3s) and 4 of its own Gatling Phaser 3s... or a couple of Lyran Pocket Battleships!

 

I never cared for knife fighting myself, except as a coup de grace after I have effectively defeated my opponent with superior maneuver and tactics. I never liked Lyrans because ESGs suck. I'm not seeing the gatling phasers on the CLC, are you putting those in the option mounts or something?

 

 

Man!!! I'd forgotten how much I love this game!!!!!!!!!

 

You've probably also forgotten how much you hate damage allocation, wild weasels, and a million other bizarre and minuscule rules gotchas, all thoroughly documented in a rulebook that fills a 3" binder. Seriously, this is a game with more rules than even Hero.

[Vulcan]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

He's probably referring to an escort cruiser variant.

[Curufea]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Before or after they got horribly nerfed?

Pre-nerf. I pretty much stopped playing it after Doomsday.

[Old Man]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

Pre-nerf. I pretty much stopped playing it after Doomsday.

 

I can see why you liked playing them then. I quit shortly after the publication of the Seltorians and Frax. Anyone get any mileage out of those?

[Spence]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

I can see why you liked playing them then. I quit shortly after the publication of the Seltorians and Frax. Anyone get any mileage out of those?

 

Not me. I was a Klingon man myself. I was a deft hand at controlling multiple triplets of Klingons in an action (we played with plotted movement). I could allocate power and plot movement pretty darn fast for up to 9 ships as long as they were all comparable classes. M'ost of the time I was the first one ready since I always had a plan and didn't need to dither.

 

Of course I remember ripping a Fed fleet a new one Playing Roms. Yep a couple of War Eagles and a large number of Pelicans can ruin the day of a pompass Feddy.

[Curufea]

Re: Reminiscing About Star Fleet Battles

 

I do recommend you guys try out Attack Vector: Tactical (or Squadron Strike, or Saganami Island) though - it has the plotted movement/fuel consumption rather than energy allocation - but with added physics so you can actually comprehend how it works

And of course - 3D

 

It reminds me of early 60's scifi, like X-Minus 1 - the crew in ships in space behaving in a similar manner as any dramatic scene of a submarine crew.