• Registered: 2018-05-27
  • Posts: 129

Topic: SFU History

As a history buff, both real and imagined, the history of the SFU is of intense interest to me. For those who share such leanings, there is a wealth of information available on ADB's website, on the page titled Historical Downloads, at:  http://www.starfleetgames.com/historicaldownloads.shtml. Two documents which you'll find there that are required reading for those who want to know more about the background of this setting are History of the General War, which is an overview of the Alpha Octant-spanning conflict which forms the crux of SFU gaming, and the Universe Timeline, a highly detailed historical chronology of the major races in the SFU and their interactions, dating from prehistory to the aftermath of the Andromedan War. There are also numerous maps and a section of technical readouts.

One note: the dates in these documents use the SFB system, where everything is calculated from a hypothetical "year zero" when humanity first contacted the Vulcans. FC and Starmada use a different system, where first contact occurred in the year 2400. To convert SFB dates to Starmada dates, just add 2400 - e.g. Y152 becomes 2552.

Also, even if you don't use minis, check out the ADB Shapeways site at: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarill … bureau-inc. Select an Empire on the left and click on the ship images to go to a page offering detailed info on the history and capabilities of that particular ship class, along with a 3D model you can rotate to get a really good look at the design. You can pick up a lot of ship lore by browsing around there.

  • Registered: 2018-05-27
  • Posts: 129

Re: SFU History

I might also recommend the PDF book "Introduction to the Star Fleet Universe: Prime Directive and Roleplaying." While ostensibly an intro to ADB's Prime Directive SFU RPG (wow, that's a lot of acronyms!), it is also a beginner's guide to the SFU that contains a lot of information regarding the history and "geography" of the SFU. It is available for free from w23 at: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/int … oleplaying.

While you're at w23, you might also want to check out "About Federation and Empire," another free PDF that describes ADB's strategic SFU wargame. You'll find it at http://www.warehouse23.com/products/abo … and-empire. It contains a Timeline of the General War that you can mentally "plug in" to the Universe Timeline I mentioned in my original post. This timeline, like the General War history article I mentioned above, can give a player many ideas for scenarios to play out with Starmada.

Speaking of which...I'll discuss scenarios in my next post.

  • Registered: 2018-05-27
  • Posts: 129

Re: SFU History

In a post above, I incorrectly stated the following:

the dates in these documents use the SFB system, where everything is calculated from a hypothetical "year zero" when humanity first contacted the Vulcans.

First contact between Terrans and Vulcans occurred in Y1, not Y0. In the SFB date system, as in the BC/AD system we use today, there is no "year zero" - i.e. the year before 1 AD is 1 BC.

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: SFU History

One minor detail: there is also the more PC dating system of BCE/CE, which is similar (okay, maybe exactly--I haven't researched the subject exactly, just heard it in passing) the same as BC/AD, but stands for Before the Common Era and Common Era, which is felt to be more appropriate for non-Christians who might not want to make a reference to the year of our Lord (which is, of course, what AD means).

Not too major a point, but when details like that might cause offence, I try to step in and sort it out [and I also try not to make those mistakes myself--if I give offence, I want it to be deliberate, not accidental  smile ]