Federation Commander

[cnuzzi]

I've been doing a lot of research recently on SFU history and ship lore via SFB, but there are a few questions I have regarding FC ships I have acquired that I have not found the answers to yet.

1 - Federation Medium Cruiser: This ship is not in any of the Starship Registries or the NCC List. Was it a one-off, a failed experiment? Is the small center warp engine mounted flush to the hull like on the Klingon C7?

2 - Federation Middle Years GSC - This ship does not have any special sensors, but the standard FC version does. According to the SFB SSD/ship description, these were part of the original design, not added in a refit. Were special sensors BoM at the time Briefing #2 was released, or are they absent for some in-universe reason?

[mjwest]

1. It is part of the "heavy war cruiser" series. All empires that had war cruisers tried to beef them up a little. They added some power and phasers, but it ended up costing an increased movement rate (2/3 -> 3/4). As a result, most of these were very low production runs that were not considered successful.

However, as expressed in Federation Commander, such ships become much more successful. The reason is because war cruisers already have a movement rate of 3/4 in Federation Commander, so the other additions end up having no cost (other than a higher point value).

As far as I know, there is nothing definitive as to how the tiny warp engine is mounted. It is the same warp engine used on the BC (and elsewhere), but I don't know if there are any pictures showing what it actually looks like.

2. "Historically" the GSC has special sensors in the Middle Years. So, in SFB, the ship always has special sensors from its introduction in the Middle Years.

The Federation Commander version was published in Briefing #2 before the special sensor rules were nailed down and introduced into Federation Commander. So, rather than give it extra boxes that have no game effect, they were simply left off. Also, since the Federation was the only one to be given a formal survey ship in the Middle Years in Federation Commander, this prevented the Federation from getting a massive advantage over the other empires.

Once special sensors were introduced into Federation Commander, it was decided to not change the Middle Years GSC. The underlying rationale for this decision is that, for all intents and purposes, there are no scouts or special sensors in the Middle Years in Federation Commander. This is not a "change" to the official history; it is just an abstraction applied to the Middle Years to keep things from getting to messy in Federation Commander.

Does that help?
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[cnuzzi]

Yes, thank you!

One more thing: we were discussing the Fed VT Corvette over on Facebook. I was wondering...given the VT's vintage, can it be used in a Middle Years setting? If one were to do so, should the drone rack be crossed out, perhaps?

[mjwest]

To make the Middle Years version of the VT, delete the reactor and drone rack. Reduce the Point Value by four points to compensate. The rest is unchanged.

It's a neat little ship.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy