Federation Commander

[RIS_Mace]

Hello! I asked the question on the SFB Legacy board but I think it would be interesting to hear what some players here think . . .

What is the role of each ship class in FedCom? For example: what does a generic frigate do/what is its mission? Does it operate in a fleet or on its own -- and if both, how does its role differ? I have a feeling SFB/FC is more involved than just having each successive smaller ship being a less capable version of the size class above it, but I can't find any sources that spell out the role of each class.

Thank you in advance!

[terryoc]

The role for each class is not really represented at the tactical combat level. In the "real SFU", all the ships are continually patrolling, and doing all the jobs that a navy does. Fighting pirates, enforcing maritime law, rescue, and just hanging around to stop your enemies from thinking they can conquer you. You need small ships for that job because there's a lot of small jobs to be done, and they're cheaper than big ships (to build and run). You also need your heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts for combat and other roles that smaller ships can't do (or can't do and survive). I've noticed that in the Federation Admiral Local Level campaign rules, even really little ships like Prime Traders and Armed Priority Transports become very valuable, because they are so cheap and numerous compared to real warships.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[terryoc]

A more detailed answer, from smallest to largest:

Freighters, Free Trader, Prime Trader, Armed Priority Transport, Armed Freighter, Auxiliary Cruisers: Used by the fleet and thousands of local governments (usually planets) and corporations for local jobs, like rescue, priority transport, couriers, local defense against raiders and pirates, and the zillion and one jobs that are not glamorous but which must be done.

Police Ships: Police duties, sort of like the Coast Guard. In extreme emergencies, may be called up to fight in fleet battles. This happened during the Klingon Invasion, and other emergencies like the Juggernaut attack on Arcturus. Police ships see more action than most Fleet ships.

Frigate: Small ship for small jobs, convoy escort, raiding enemy convoys, screening, garrison, and as part of the "battle group" in fleet battles.

Destroyer: As Frigate, only a little bit more capable.

Light Cruiser/War Cruiser: CL's are a cheap alternative to a real Heavy Cruiser, and War Cruisers are pretty much all about combat.

Heavy Cruiser: Capable of doing any job, including standing in the line of battle in a fleet situation, or duelling an enemy cruiser. It has enough firepower to cripple an enemy of hte same class in one volley (which the smaller ships don't really have).

Command Cruiser: Used by admirals as command ships in peacetime. Commands squadrons as part of fleets in wartime.

Heavy Battlecruiser: Cheap alternative to a DN, has better firepower than a CA and excellent command facilities. May patrol alone sometimes when not commanding a squadron or small fleet in combat.

Dreadnought: Combat monster, spends most of its time docked at a starbase during peacetime, since they are so expensive to run. Stands in the hottest part of the fight in a fleet battle. Commands fleets (up to 12 ships). Never seen without consorts, they are too valuable to risk alone.

Light Dreadnought: specialised raider, intended to be able to kill anything it can't outrun and outrun anything it can't kill. Can act in role of DN in a pinch. May operate alone.

Battleship: A really really big dreadnought, for the most dangerous missions: assaulting starbases and the like. Can take and dish out tremendous punishment. Command ship. Always accompanied by other ships, such as destroyers or frigates, when not with a fleet, same as DN.

Light Battleship: as DNL, but can take on even a battlestation with a little help.

Mobile Base, Base Station, Battle Station, Starbase: Logistics and repair, also is a secure place to rally and retreat for ships, has long-range sensors that can detect naval traffic from a very long distance (hundreds of parsecs).
_________________
"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[DaveP.]

"Light Battleship"? I think I missed that one. Is that the Heavy Dreadnaught subclass?
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Don't turn your head to the left, because I'll pass you on the right. Don't turn your head to the right, because I'll pass you on the left. And if you slow down, I'll run right over you.

[terryoc]

No, light battleships, light dreadnoughts, and fast cruisers all are designed as raiders. They have "fast warp" engines and a reduced weapons load, due to the stabiliser requirements of the fast warp engines. The idea being that they can wreak havoc "behind the lines" on the enemy's logistics train and are fast enough to escape. In practice, not many were built and they weren't that successful in their intended roles, since most ships are capable of conducting raids if they get the chance.

Heavy dreadnoughts are just like regular dreadnoughts but with some combat improvements, IIRC they mostly get extra phasers and some extra power and that's about it. Mind you, the extra phasers can make a difference. With a regular dreadnought's weapons, the weapons smash through the shield and disable all the "stuffing" like labs and hull, and probably take out quite a few weapons and power as well. Add more phasers to the volley, and every single damage point from those extra phasers is hitting "good stuff".
_________________
"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[RIS_Mace]

Thank you TerryOC, that is exactly the kind of list I was looking for.

[Dal Downing]

In case it has not been brought up one more little detail about building fleets. You will hear old SFBers quote S8.0 sometimes when building fleets. It was left out of FedCom to "speed" the game up and get rid of some of the rule cluter. That said S8 was a useful guide that provide some key limits on building Fleets and how many ships or what type of ships you could take in one fleet. Some of the Highlights were,

1) There could only be one (Non Raiding) size Class 2 Ships (Drednaghuts, Heavy Carriers, Space Control Ships or Battleships) per fleet. And it must be escorted by a minimum of 2 other Units ( So you would almost never see a Lone Battleship on the Prowl . Nor would you see things like a Single Battle Ship Escorted by 9 Dreadnaughts)

2) Only one Heavy Battle Cruiser (Fed BCH or Klink C7) per Fleet.

3) You could only take One Command Hull for every 2 base hulls. And there was some limit on when you could take a Second CC but you were free to take a CC then a DDL like the Klink's D7L+2D7 then D5L+2D5 then add a F5C+2F5.

4) Size Class 4 units (Frigates, Destroyers, War Destroyers, War Cruiser, and Light Cruisers) could form Battle Groups. basicly Every 5th (or is it 6th) Sive Class 4 ship would not count aginst your Ship Command Limit so you could squeeze more of them in.

Some of the Non Fed Com stuff that was cover was limits on Scouts, Drone Bombardment Ships, Carriers and Fighter Squadrons, Gunboats and Gunboat Tenders.

So if you want to get into building fleets there is a who slew of things that come into play which Fed Com Skips.
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-Dal

"Which one of you is the Biggest, Baddest, Bootlicker of the bunch?"
"I am."
"ARCHERS!!! THAT ONE!!!!"

[terryoc]

There is also things like F&E command ratings and so on. A ship can command as many ships as its command rating, plus itself. So a CR 10 dreadnought can have 11 ships: Itself, plus ten other ships. There are also exceptions, like the "free scout" and "battlegroup" rules.

So a maxed-out Klingon fleet might look like this:

C8 (dreadnought, command ship) or B10 (BB, command ship)
C7 (BCH)
D7C (squadron leader)
2xD7
D6M (Mauler)
D5L, 2xD5 (light cruisers as part of battlegroup)
F5L, 2xF5 (part of battlegroup)
D6S (free scout)

For a total of 13 ships under a CR10 command ship.

Federation Commander ignores all this detail, it's perfectly OK to have two B10's in one force. And why not? Big ships blowing things up is fun
_________________
"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West