Federation Commander

Majestic · Ensign Joined: 08 Nov 2019 Posts: 2 Location: Seattle

Hello all,

I'm a new player of Federation Commander, though I used to play a ton of SFB back in 1979 (until the early 80s).

I'm just now thoroughly reading through the FC rules, and I'm liking how much more streamlined things seem to be. The laminated cards, color counters, and pretty much everything is gorgeous!

Today I just read the 'Historical Background' on p. 20. I do understand how things took a 'divergent' path since way back when, and how this continuity and history is completely different from that of the ST shows/movies.

My question, though, is how things are different by about three centuries?

For instance, in Memory Alpha it tells us that the Organian Peace Treaty occurred in 2267. Yet according to the FC Historical Background, it happened in 2556.

I figured there might be a discrepancy of a few years, perhaps even a few decades. But 289 years difference seems quite the huge difference!

Not a big deal. I'm guessing that in TOS they just used Stardates, so maybe back then nobody had any idea exactly how far in the future things were.

Looking forward to exploring this great-looking game! I'm sure I'll have some actual gameplay questions as I get playing.

Nerroth · Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2019 5:34 pm Post subject:

There's an article in Prime Directive Federation which goes into this issue in more detail.

To try to put a long story short, there are three "Chronologies" which may be used to measure time in the Star Fleet Universe, though only two are in real use. Federation Commander uses the "Valkenburg Chronology", which sets First Contact (between humans and Vulcans) in the year 2400 CE. The "Amin-Audeh Chronology", which is not really used in any of the current SFU game systems, sets First Contact in the year 2063 CE. Whereas the "Y-calendar", used in Star Fleet Battles and elsewhere, assumes that the exact date of First Contact is unknowable, and simply has a "new" calendar start with First Contact in Y1.

The main premise of the Star Fleet Universe is that it is derived from the same "U.S. Air Force data tapes" which were used as the conceit around which the Star Fleet Technical Manual was built. As noted here, there is no "post-1979" material from the Paramount/CBS Franchise in the SFU, and there are certain things from the "pre-1979" Franchise which are not here either. On the one hand, there is an Early Years era in the SFU, which has Terran ships - but no NX-01. On the other hand, the SFU take on First Contact between the Federation and Gorns involves two brash, young captains who fire first and face embarrassing questions later - but there are no Organian-like superbeings in the area to complicate matters.

If it helps, this is a file which details on how the SFU timeline unfolds in the Alpha Octant, and this map shows what the outline of the Milky Way Galaxy is in SFU terms.
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Majestic · Ensign Joined: 08 Nov 2019 Posts: 2 Location: Seattle

Awesome stuff, Nerroth.

Thanks so much for the info and links!

rogeracox · Ensign Joined: 19 Mar 2020 Posts: 3 Location: SC

Sgt_G · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:44 am Post subject:

For the Federation, here are the Year-in-Service (YIS) dates for the Heavy Cruisers:

WCA (Terran) = Y62
YCA = Y79
YCC = Y91
GCA = Y120
CA = Y130
CC = Y143
CAr = Y160
CA+ / CAr+ / CC+ = Y165
CF = Y168
APR->AWR refit = Y170
CB = Y175
CX = Y181

The WCA is a Warp-refit ship. Prior to about Y60, starships cold make FTL warp speed, but not in a combat environment. This became know as "Non-Tactical Warp", which any ship with at least one working Impulse engine can use to limp home.

The earliest "modern" saucer-&-cylinder ships went into production about Y120; these were soon relegated to the "national guard". The first Constitution-class ships began service in Y130. They receive two notable upgrades before the General War: in Y160, they received the aft phaser (Rear Refit, or R-refit), and then in Y165, the Plus-Refit added APR and a pair of Ph-3s.

The so-called Fast Ships were developed in Y168, just before the General War.

In Y170, they began upgrading the Auxiliary Power Reactors (APR) to Auxiliary Warp Reactors (AWR). [This is a SFB item as there is no difference between APR & AWR in FedCmdr.] All drone-armed ships in the fleet added more reload drones in Y175.

The CB was the ultimate version of the Command Cruiser ... until the Heavy Battlecruisers (BCG/BCF/BCJ) came out a few years later (Y177/Y178/Y186), followed by X-Tech ships in Y181.

Hope that answers your question. Cool

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Nerroth · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 6:51 pm Post subject:

If it helps, there are playtest Early Years rules for Federation Commander in Captain's Log #39 and the CL39 Supplemental File. However, as of yet, there are no playest W-era Ship Cards, though one could try using the relevant SSDs from the three Y-modules for Star Fleet Battles as stand-ins for Squadron Scale Ship Cards (with a few adjustments required).

In SFB terms, a W-era (GURPS Prime Directive Tech Level 10, c. Y62-Y78) ship has warp engines that can push the ship no faster than Speed 16; one could perhaps represent that in FC by preventing the ship from setting a Baseline Speed of 16 or 24.

Similarly, the Y-era (GPD TL 11; c. Y79-Y119) hulls have warp engines capped at Speed 24 in SFB; the playtest Ship Cards for FC represent this by preventing them from setting a Baseline Speed of 24.

As for the Middle Years (a sub-set of GPD TL 12, c. Y120-Y159), those rules and Ship Cards are presented in FC: Briefing #2, which is available both as a black-and-white print volume and as a set of downloadable colour PDFs.
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rogeracox · Ensign Joined: 19 Mar 2020 Posts: 3 Location: SC

Thanks very much--I need all the early/Middle/Later years info I can get as I'm trying to sort my scenarios and ships that way. They are pretty good about printing "Early" and "Middle" years on ships, and I do have every product so far, except some of the e-packs (Frax packs and such--being a computer novice, I've been afraid to purchase "files" ever since I purchased some sheet music online and never did figure out how to move it to my printer! I've also been looking for X ships and found that I have a big hole in that department. I do seem to have Gorn, ISC and one other (Hydran maybe?) X vessels that all came from a Captain's Log, but I've not found a Federation X ship from that issue. Did they just put a few X ships in the issue and not one for every race? I'm also still looking for the most recent table of contents. I know I found it at the ADB site years ago, because section 8 listed all the scenarios from every source (up until the date it was made available)and I'd like to get an updated table of contents hor all 8 sections. I'd like to get a list of every ship, but I don't know if that exists. I have a multi-color thing that lists all the ships thru CL 45, but not ships from Communique. And maybe not including ships from CL -- I'd have to check. Anyway, I appreciate the help you folks have given me.

Nerroth · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:48 pm Post subject:

The other playtest X-Ship Cards have been presented in various issues of Communique. For example, the Federation DWX can be found in Communique #147. (The playtest X-rules in Captain's Log #53 includes a list of where these other playtest X-Ship Cards may be found.)
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Maldus · Lieutenant JG Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 26

This seems to have been answered already but I missed something.

I suspect each ship in FC had a date it was first introduced and perhaps a date it was no longer produced. Is that info available anywhere?

Also wondering about the FC timeline...I can't seem to locate that to better understand the historical background. Maybe there is even historical writeups.

I always loved scenario design and was hoping to be able to have references to provide the necessary background. Thanks...
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Savedfromwhat · Commander Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 657

I believe all the dates of service were removed from FC. All the ships are basically available at any time. There are some early years play test ships and rules, as well as briefing two the middle years. Those products split the timeline into eras effectively, but there are no exact years associated with the ships. That can be found in SFB though.

mjwest · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 3:27 pm Post subject:

Yes, that is basically correct.

Federation Commander has two "settings": the main setting and the Middle Years. (Technically, there are three; there is also the Early Years, but there are very few of those ships, all published in relationship to a single Captain's Log, which number I forget.) Any ship can be used at any point within their "setting". If a particular ship can be used in both settings, it is noted in the ship description. Otherwise, the ship is only used in its setting.
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Maldus · Lieutenant JG Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 26

As I plowed through more of the forum last night I noticed a few more topics on this subject. G3 Annex and Steve's suggestion to look up the F&E data were mentioned.

I can see where dates would be an enormous amount of work to maintain and since it can be found elsewhere, saves a lot of time to let it lie. Appreciate the responses and guidance!
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