Wow thanks that was a great review! And you called it in every respect, too.

The Nanuchkas are little convoy raiders. they lurk in dust shoals and creep into the convoy lanes to ambush the fleet train or the unwary merchants. In Fleet engagements they hang back until everyone is worried about the bigger boys and then creep forward to fire and run.

The Beam frigates in my setting are actually refitted Orbital Beam weapons that were too vulnerable to attack. When the First wave of satellites were swept from the skies by Republic Orbital Fighter squadrons, the PAE had nearly 30 of the Beam arrays built for satellite deployment. Rather than let them go to waste they constructed an armored hull around them and commissioned them as fire support Frigates. The Shang-B was an attempt to overcome the cool-down issues of the Shang-A's main gun. The extra mass is primarily taken up by more Heat Sinks and Liquid Nitrogen tanks.

All of these are scratchbuilt models and are set in my "Legacy of the Homdur" universe (If I ever get the books finished, lol) They were originally constructed as a design exercise to work out the feel of the forces graphically. I have about 10 more classes that I don't have pics up for yet as well.

All ordered and paid for Dan me lad! (Whip Sound) get that sucker shipping!

It's a silly article from the get-go.

I started gaming in 1978 with a copy of AH's "Bismarck" and followed by the original pocket copy of TFG's "Star Fleet Battles" and have never looked back.

There are more games (Historical and fantastic) on the market now than at any time in HISTORY. That means people are playing them. Back in "The Day" there was ONLY AH, SPI, TFG, Metagaming, and TSR. That was basically IT.

Mini games were limited to Chainmail and Nappies or Civil war stuff.

Now, at our last con (Millennium Con X in Austin) there were 150+ different games played, most of which were minis games! I don't think there were any clickies at all! (There may have been a Star Wars minis game).

And what about Clicky games? It brings novices into the notion of moving toy "Soldiers" around a table/map. WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH THAT? Personally, all i think it does is widen the gene pool.

And I do love Iron Stars.

SO. I am thinking Disruptors go to:

ACC 3+ I1 D1 with RNG-based Damage. That way up close they do more damage up close than far away, but they are still more accurate than Photons at long range...

If this is licensing SFB to produce a Starmada version then it will require mirroring, in Starmada fashion, SFB style major mechanics and systems.

This would include Drones and Fighters (As far as Fighters, go to Youtube and  search for "Sacrifice of Angels" and you will see Federation fighters in Squadron strength (Multiple Squadrons) engaging Jem'Hedar and Cardassian ships.

Even if they did not show them in any show AT ALL, if ADB says they need to support them, then they will have to be supported. And since Starmada already has good fighter rules why not?

The whole purpose of licensing the SFU is to add an additional revenue stream to ADB's income. This includes their miniature lines (And yes, each race has a carrier or three).

Having said that it behooves us to think out how the choices and ships in the SFU shape tactics and how best to capture that feel without bogging down in the granularity of the SFB system.

I for one think that we should just make the weapon in scale slightly more powerful and not mess with Overloading at all.

Absolutely! I was reading back through my old "Captain's Logs" and it really is astounding how much material there is to draw from.

I think it is nothing but good that they are licensing the SFU.

As I understand the Licensing agreement from Paramount to ADB (I have not seen the actual agreement, but I am friends with someone who was peripherally involved on the Paramount side) ADB ONLY has rights to the "Star Fleet Technical Manual" ship era representations.

They contractually CANNOT use ANY OTHER Star Trek settings or official ships. They are free to create new ships that pertain to that setting but not duplicate anything in other series or movies (Including the upcoming JJ Abrams Trek Prequel movie).

If they were to publish anything that violated that licensing agreement, Paramount would be within rights to (And almost certainly would) revoke the agreement and sue both ADB and MJ12 for damages.

Star Trek is a hugely expensive license to obtain, as well, so I doubt they would have the $$ on-hand to re-negotiate. (Although Dan MIGHT be a secret wealthy billionaire dallying in the hobby. Who knows?)

PLUS we have to look at ADB's point of view. What good is licensing the game if they do not use the ship designs? The point is to help spur their Miniatures' sales, not just to help MJXII sell games. In order to do that MJXII will need to replicate the Ship designs at some level. HOPEFULLY this will be by massaging the Starmada designs to get the feel and general tactical utility of the original ship design.

If you are looking at this deal in the hopes that there will be "Official" Klingon Birds of Prey and Negh'var cruisers smashing NCC-1701-C it just ain't going to happen with this licensing deal.

Balance of Terror, Journey To Babel, and Elaan of Troyius all referred to numbered shields IIRC.

Here's a stab at a Kzinti Drone Frigate:

(333) Kzinti Frigate

Hull: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1               
Engines: 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 1               
Screens: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1               
Weapons:
1:X 2:Y 3:Z 4:Z 5: 6:

X: Disruptor: 4/8/12, 1/3+/2/2
[AB]

Y: Phaser I: 5/10/15, 1/3+/1/1
Range-Based ROF; Increased Hits
[ABCDEF]

Z: Phaser III: 2/4/6, 1/3+/1/1
Range-Based ROF
[ACE][BDF]

Special: Hyperdrive; Carrier (45); Carrier (45); Carrier (45); Carrier (45); Marines (6); Teleporters (2); Cargo (9)

A little bigger sized than I would like. The Carrier (45) entries are Drone racks.

I agree, cricket, and nahuris that's an interesting idea (Until you get below 6 Screens on the damage chart!)

The whole thing that makes SFB unique (Other than 10.5 zillion pages of rules) is the real need for maneuver outside of weapon arcs.

ROFL <shudder> i HATED fighting Kzinti. Almost as bad as attacking a Tholian Starbase.