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mj12games.com/forum → Starmada → SFU Unity
I just got my copy yesterday so I haven't done more than skim through them. The new rules look great for SFU but I'm disappointed that the construction info is missing for the new Ship and Weapon traits. 
Just got my copy. Bit confused about PP and how it is applied, per weapon type per battery or per weapon mount.
Example if I had a C8 firing all its Disruptors overloaded would it cost 12pp, 4pp, or 2pp? I suspect it's 12pp but could not 'prove' it.
May I second the request for the construction costs for the new traits?
Well, just contacted ADB, hoping they'll give me an upgrade as I bought mine at my FLGS.
PP costs are per individual weapon mount, paid at the time it is fired.
Okay, got my copy of SFB Unity.
Thoughts (of a Rules Lawyer):
New Traits (Engine Power Ratio, Tight Turn, Wide Turn, Anti-Drone) could stand to be put under their own heading for ease of looking up.
Power rules could stand to have their own section, or maybe a table summarizing what generates and uses power. (Likely needed more in future supplements).
Found the rules to be a little clunky, but then again I'm a Rules Lawyer so... :roll:
And as a rules lawyer (and someone with a whole bunch of SFB material eagerly awaiting conversion), was wondering if there's any ORAT/DRAT modifiers for the new traits (including #PP and Evp)? I ran several designs randomly through Drydock and found that for the most part they match values in the book; which seems to indicate that all the SFB stuff doesn't affect Combat Ratings.
I got the rules yesterday and I would like to echo the thought that the rules seem a bit scattered throughout the SFU section making it a bit more difficult to find/reference.
I like some of the stuff that is apparently SFU exclusive and like others I am a bit disappointed that there is no construction/cost info. I think it would be nice to integrate things into the rules rather than apparently saying "well these are specific to this one setting so the ships from this setting are balanced...but you can't really use in other settings because they are possibly unbalanced " or something to that effect. To me it undermines the Universal nature of the design system to have clusters of setting specific rules. For example, I think there are many settings that could benefit from the inclusion of the power management rules, and I think the Tight Turns/Wide Turns trait are a more elegant option for altering maneuverability than Graded Turns
I know that I can include anything I want from the SFU stuff in my designs and in the games, but I would just rather see them a official, cross-genre options.
Thanks for continuing to make a game I like and support the players the way you do!
Erik
Okay, having run almost all the ships through the DryDock, I've come to the following conclusions:
All new traits basically cost nothing. ADDs, PPs, Engine ratings, turns...everything but the Plasma Torp Evp trait ('cause there's no plasma ships to calculate). No effect on the combat rating at all.
There's obviously some sort of negative modifier on the Klingon and Kzinti Drone Racks; I'm guessing to account for the Rack-specific rules. Though it doesn't seem to apply to Federation Racks.
I'm going to fish out my old SFB sheets and see if I can't get a rough conversion guide going.
Just spitballing but thinking Fed racks "cost more" because of the defensive mode---though it shows up in the K&K racks as a lower cost rather than an increase on the Feds.
Erik
And of course it's the evp trait I want!
I realise there are no Romulans yet to back engineer the factors but I have always loved the Romulus Torpedo since I first saw the Original TV series in the Sixties (ooops). I have added it to nearly all my homemade backgrounds. I hope dan will add it to the main rules.
Evp has a 0.7 multiplier.
However, it is correct that for the most part the SFU-specific traits have no impact on the combat rating. I felt that they were mainly "fluff" rather than substantive changes to the manner in which the ships operate; e.g. SFU ships have to account for power, but for the most part they have enough power to do what they want. Further, since ALL ships in that universe have to deal with it, there is no inherent advantage or disadvantage.
At least, that was my thinking. YMMV.
Okay. So I spent the 40 minutes it took me to build a spreadsheet and crunch a lot of numbers. The conclusion I've sadly come to at this point is that there is no discernable straight way to convert from SFB/FC to SFB Unity. Stuff like weapons and traits seem to be really straight forward; but Hull, Engines, and Screens (along with EPR) just don't follow any set ratios. (And I tried combinations of things, believe me.)
Now, I don't know of this accidental or by design because ADB has set down rules to MJ12 about conversions.
The good news is that for those of us with scores of source material, designing variants is relatively simple, it should be as simple as playing with the weapons loadouts.
Also, for those who do want to try the Plasma Torps; the following quick converstions are:
Romulan KR - As Klingon D7 except: drop Phaser-2 LW & RW, Disruptors, Drone Racks, and Anti-Drone; Change Weapons to 11-9-7-5-3; Add Plasma-S Torpedo LP & RP (1); CRAT 200
Romulan K5R - As Klingon F5 except: drop Disruptors, Drone Racks, and Anti-Drone; Change Weapons to 8-6-3; Add Plasma-F Torpedo LP & RP (1); CRAT 135
Romulan K7R - As Klingon D7 except: change Phaser-2 LW & RW to Phaser 1, Phaser-2 now (2), Phaser-1 now (3); remove Disruptors, Drone Racks, and Anti-Drone; Change Weapons to 16-13-10-7-4; Add Plasma-S Torpedo LP & RP (1); Add Plasma-F Torpedo LP & RP (1); CRAT 220
Romulan K9R - As Klingon C8 except: change Phaser-1 to 2FX, 3LLF, 3RRF, 2LLR, 2RRR (6), remove Phaser-2, Phaser-3, Disruptors, Drone Racks, and Anti-Drone; Change Weapons to 20-18-16-14-12-9-7-5-3; Add Plasma-S Torpedo LP & RP (1); Add Plasma-F Torpedo LP & RP (1); Add Plasma-R Torpedo FA (1); CRAT 335
This is what I've come up with so far for converting SFB to unity.
Unity Hull: From the SFB SSD take the total number of boxes in the ship outline, add the excess damage boxes and divide by 10. There are only 2 ships that this doesn't work for and they are only off by 1 hull. (D7 comes out at 10 instead of 9. Large Freighter is 8 instead of 9.)
Unity Engines: Take the total power for the SSD, subtract the arming cost of all weapons, divide by the move cost, and then divide by 3.33. For ships with move cost of .33 add 2 to the final total. This works for about 70% of the ships.
Unity EPR: Looks like it maps straight to the SFB Move Cost.
MC EPR
1.5 6
1 4
0.75 3
0.66 3
0.5 2
0.33 1
0 1
Unity Screens: Fore and Aft match to shields 1 & 4, total shield boxes divided by 3.33. Starboard and Port add shields 2 & 3 or 5 & 6 and divide by 6.66. This works for about 70% of the shields.
Clearly there are some factors that I am missing in the Engines and Screen calculations. But most of the numbers are only off by 1. The exceptions are the Front screens on the Burke FF, low by 2 (5 instead of 7), & Texas CL low by 3 (5 instead of 8. I think this is because the armor was added to the front shield.). Also the Engines of the FD7 Swiftsword calculate high by 2 (8 instead of 6. I think the 6 should have been a 7 like the other Fast cruisers.).
The conclusion I've sadly come to at this point is that there is no discernable straight way to convert from SFB/FC to SFB Unity.
Actually, they do. 
All conversions are based off of Federation Commander:
* Hull is equal to the total number of FC damage boxes divided by 10.
* Front shields are equal to 30% of FC Shield #1.
* Port/Starboard shields are equal to 30% of the lower of FC Shields #2 and #3.
* Aft shields are equal to 30% of FC Shield #4.
* EPR is 4 times the FC movement cost.
Starmada engine ratings are a little more complicated. They are based off of how much power is left for movement in FC after all weapons have been powered. This number is divided by the EPR to obtain the engine rating.
All conversions are based off of Federation Commander:
And there's the missing factor why my numbers don't always work out. I was using the regular SFB ships and they are a little different than FC. 
In case you missed it.
https://www.facebook.com/AmarilloDesignBureauInc/posts/10155487822048280
They can send freely the pdf for those who bought the admiralty editions. Coooolll.
Marc
Federation BURKE-class Frigate, pg 47
The FC FF SSD has shields equal to 18 on all shield facings.
So that gives a shield rating of 18 x 0.3 = 5.4 = 5
So the 7 front shield is wrong, unless theres a different version of the FF out there.
The example in the Engine Power Ratio section, p34
movement orders 3L1(4) should be 3L1(5), the left sideslip adds one to speed.
I'm trying to work out the costing if any and the conversion values for
science rating, marine rating, wide turn and tight turn. So if anyone
knows, let me know.
Cheers
How does the 'free PDF' work? I mean, I got the Admiralty edition version of RA, but from cricket as the version I paid for didn't come through (still hasn't--I guess someone round here has a free copy of the book).
I've gotten mine from ADB by emailing them at marketing@starfleetgames.com.
They replied and asked for the email associated with your DriveThru RPG, or Wargame Vault account and a selfie of you with the product.
Had the PDF within a day.
Federation BURKE-class Frigate, pg 47
The FC FF SSD has shields equal to 18 on all shield facings.
So that gives a shield rating of 18 x 0.3 = 5.4 = 5
So the 7 front shield is wrong, unless theres a different version of the FF out there.
Starmada Fwd = Shield #1 x 30% (rounded up)
Starmada P/S = lower of Shields #2 and #3 x 30% (rounded off)
Starmada Aft = Shield #4 x 30% (rounded down)
If the total Starmada shields do not equal 20% of the total SFB/FC Shield Boxes, a further modification is made, adding one to the forward shields or subtracting one from the Aft shields, as appropriate. In the case of the Burke, there should be 22 shields (108 x 20%), but the calculations only yield 21, so the Fwd shield gets a bump.
I'm trying to work out the costing if any and the conversion values for
science rating, marine rating, wide turn and tight turn. So if anyone
knows, let me know.
Science rating is a bit fiddly, using the ratio of Lab boxes to total boxes in SFB/FC and equating that to a percentage of space units in Starmada.
As noted in the KA/RA book, 3 SFB/FC marine boxes = 1 Starmada marine squad.
Ships with an FC turn mode of AA or A get the Tight Turn trait; turn modes of E or F yield the Wide Turn trait.
I've gotten mine from ADB by emailing them at marketing@starfleetgames.com.
They replied and asked for the email associated with your DriveThru RPG, or Wargame Vault account and a selfie of you with the product.
Had the PDF within a day.
Thanks for telling me. Unless there's any actual rules I'd need from the book that would only be from that book, I probably won't bother--the email route is unlikely to yield results, and I'm not that keen on doing selfies or having pics taken of myself. I'm sure I'll probably be losing out, but I really don't like pics taken of me.
... and I get rid of the old admiralty books. Well, too bad, but it's so easy to create our own ships.
marc
Thanks for telling me. Unless there's any actual rules I'd need from the book that would only be from that book, I probably won't bother--the email route is unlikely to yield results, and I'm not that keen on doing selfies or having pics taken of myself. I'm sure I'll probably be losing out, but I really don't like pics taken of me.
Just did a quick perusal of my email and there's nothing there, so it looks like I'm going to have to admit defeat. That's really annoying
the email route is unlikely to yield results, and I'm not that keen on doing selfies or having pics taken of myself. I'm sure I'll probably be losing out, but I really don't like pics taken of me.
Do what I did - get you hand holding the book, and a piece of your chin. 
Jean must have figured that was enough 'cause I got my pdf from her (and I just sent another one for Romulan). You do need a DriveThru RPG or Wargame Vault account though.
Hmmm, I'll see what I can do. I really ain't keen on taking pics of me though (to the level of "huge pit opening in stomach"--I do my level best to not have pics taken of me if I can help it), and just wondering how else I could do it so's I don't have to inflict myself on some poor unsuspecting individual...
mj12games.com/forum → Starmada → SFU Unity
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