• Registered: 2011-09-30
  • Posts: 69

Topic: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks Conversions

It's an old favorite from my youth, and you can download it for free! (http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered)

It's also one of my go-to games to convert ships from to test out Starmada in the incarnations I've known of it.

So, let's start with the ubiquitous Assault Scout. The Stiletto class is one of the most common ships in the UPF, with a small crew and it's own hyperdrive to allow it to serve as a great vehicle for small scale operations and scouting duties. While it packs a powerful alpha strike capability in the four Assault Rockets that it mounts, once those are depleted, it relies on a relatively weak Laser Battery.

Star Frontiers allows Assault Scouts to rearm at a station or a carrier, like an over-sized fighter. Not sure how I'd model that, in S:NE. Also, it should only ever be able to fire one Assault Rocket at a time, another rule option that's no longer valid, with the change from Ammo to Expendable. Might be time to sacrifice accuracy of conversion for convenience, lose the Expendable, and make it a single battery instead...

UPF STILETTO-class Assault Scout  (90)
ARMOR  [_][_]    [_]    [_]
HULL   [_][_]    [_]    [_]
THRUST  [7][5][4][2][2]   WEAPONS   [_][1][2][3][4]
ECM     [_][_][_][_][_]   SHIELDS   [_][_][_][_][_]
Hyperdrive; Scout
WEAPONS     ARCS                    RANGE   ATTACK DICE     -4      -6      -8     -10
Assault Rockets (Exp/Skr)
            [FR4][FR4][FR4][FR4]    2-4-6    12    8    6    4    3    2    2    1    1    1    0    0
Laser Battery (Dfs)
            [TR]                    4-8-12    1    1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
  • Registered: 2011-09-30
  • Posts: 69

Re: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks Conversions

Going in the opposite direction, I've built the battleship design from the game, giving it a class name of Excelsior. It is covered in weapon systems, though some of them come out better than others.

Heavily armored, and with a ridiculously heavy screen, the Excelsior class battleship is designed for rough play. Mounting a Disruptor Cannon forward, three laser batteries and three charged particle beams (a compromise on Electron and Proton beams, which in SF:KH are impacted differently by different kinds of screens), the ship has lots of interesting firepower to toss around. Supplementing this are the expendables, four flights of drones (called Seekers, coincidentally, in the original game), eight heavy Torpedoes (again, should only have one in the air at a time) and ten Rocket Batteries, very fast, short ranged rockets with lighter warheads. Finally, it mounts twelve interceptor missiles, designed for point defense and intended not to be useable against other ships, only against seeking weapons.

<IMG src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65191280/UPF%20Excelsior%20Battleship.png">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65191280/UPF%20Excelsior%20Battleship.png</IMG>

  • Registered: 2011-09-30
  • Posts: 69

Re: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks Conversions

Oh, and if anyone is paying attention, which do you prefer? My hacked attempt at Drake notation, or the screenshots? The SS's are easier, actually, than fiddling with spaces...

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,575

Re: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks Conversions

I'm hoping to add a plain text option for the Drydock...

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website