Star Fleet Battles

Star Fleet Battles

Wargame published by Task Force Games, Amarillo Design Bureau
No. of Players	2-6
Session Time	1 hour to weeks (~ # of ships)
First Publication	1979

Still in publication after 40 goddamn years, Star Fleet Battles is based on the original Star Trek teevee series, and includes the Kzinti from the animated series (because they had the rights to it because Larry Niven recycled one of his stories in TAS) but it spins off it's own Timeline (warning there are 20 pages of timeline data, welcome to SFB) where a great war happened between all the galactic powers (cuz how can you have a wargame without war?)

It's regarded as the most detailed simulation of ship-to-ship interplanetary combat, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. The five-inch thick starter book has rules for damn near everything, but it reads like the lovechild of your car's owners manual and VCR instructions. For those grognards that love Advanced Squad Leader, this is awesome, but for those who think of Axis & Allies as a serious wargame, these rules are impenetrable. (You won't need 90% of those rules for an average game, though.)

The game is played on a hex-map, no terrain other than the odd planet you might be flying around, or asteroid counters for hiding behind, but there are rules for fighting near a black hole that keeps pulling all the tokens, a nebula clouds that give automatic ECM defence or a pulsar that fires out massive damaging beams.

Vidya Games

In current year most SFB games are played on SFB Online because lets face it your LGS is has been over run by fat and greasy WH40K fans and while you may be a nerd, your not that much of a nerd.

With SFBOL your able to find a match when you have the urge+time. SFBOL has a very decent playerbase with varying levels of skill to accommodate both veterans of the game and new players. In fact there is a new player channel if your looking to learn in a forgiving environment and many tournament are held by both ADB and player leagues if your ready to play with the real men and win yourself a Rated Ace ticket for the big tourney at Gen-Con.

~~For some bizarre reason, nobody's ever tried to make a vidya of SFB, despite the fact that the rulebook already reads like a computer program.~~

Actually there WAS a video game series created based on SFB, Starfleet Command. The first game is available on Steam. While SFC3 is preserved on GOG. Dynaverse sells SFC2 and Orion Pirates on their own store. It's a bit ass that not all available on the same storefront but its the best your going to get with old PC games. All except 3 take place in the TMP era. As that was when Star Fleet Battles was first published. While the former is set in the TNG era before Star Trek Nemesis.

Win Factor 5

Among the win you can find in this game are:

Impulse-based turns instead of the I-go-then-You-go typical of tabletop wargames
Transporter bombs and fake transporter bombs
Using ship's laboratories to out-science monsters
Using your Tractor Beams to push another ship into a asteroid/planet/black hole
loading up one of your shuttle craft with anti-matter and ramming it into other ships
Wild Weasels ... where a shuttle gives off sensor data that fools electronics into thinking it's another full-sized vessel (this is the "Picard maneuver" that actually WORKS instead of just looking cool)
High energy warp turns with a dash of break downs and tumbling uncontrollably thru space
Boarding parties for Capturing or dishonourable Hit and Run attacks
Surprise buttsecks in the form of Scatterpack shuttles and cloaked nuclear space mines
Rules for fighters, torpedoes, mines, drones, probes, and the bestest weapon ever; the Mauler. Seriously if someone has thought of something there IS a rule for it already.
Effects of having legendary officers like having Scotty as your ship's engineer or Sulu as your helmsman
What happens when the slaves on a Klingon ship stage a mutiny during a ship battle.
Q-ships ...for those who aren't navy nuts, that's what looks like a civilian cargo ship, but when pirates show up it blows off the camouflage and all the cargo is missile-racks and phasers.
C'mon, who doesn't want Federation versus Klingons, Romulan cloaking devices and attacking starbases?
Gorn AND Tholians! And Hydrans and Lyrans and Kzinti and Andromedians and... well you get the idea
Cocaine fuelled pirates. Seriously. And it's exactly as awesome as it you think it is, until it kills you.

Play-styles

Oh yah this games got you covered fam!

How will you play? Which race best suits your style and attitude towards combat?

Will you play the noblebright Federation? The great overloaded photon torpedo salvo to the face at range zero? Turn your opponents into dust via the application of diplomacy thru superior firepower!
Will you be a true warrior as a skilled Klingon captain who must fight every turn with his fast firing but weaker weapons? Where one mistake can mean death but the victory is ever much sweeter. Honor goes to the victor remember and dying shows no honor.
Are you a sly and crafty Romulan who chucks homing plasma torpedoes at your opponent from long range and retreats into your cloak every time your opponent so much as looks in your direction? (until he get so annoyed he either makes a mistake and dies to end the game or physically picks you up and throws your ballet using ass out onto the street where it belongs)
Will you be a furry Kzinti? Throwing nuclear tipped missiles at your opponent until you overwhelm his defences and he dies in a massive explosion or you run out of missiles and bravely run away?
Or maybe your a Lyran the anti-Kzinti. Charge up your ESG feild to max and scream RAMMING SPEED as you plow into your enemies (and friends so watch out!) with frenzied laughter. Cloak? What's a cloak? just nail EVERYTHING in the same hex as you. Aiming is for monkeys.
Are you a stalwart defender of the Hydran Kingdom? Who's brave but not so bright fighter pilots will die gloriously in your opponents ships explosion after they empty their fusion beam cannons into him at point blank range because how much damage can some silly little fighters cause right?
Will you be a massive, sessile Gorn? Who tanks everything to the face until you get your opponent is locked in your tractor beams at zero range where you will beat him to death as he futilely tries to escape? You may be slow but you've got the endurance to last. And he who laughs last, laughs best.
Will you play a Tholian? Who are scattered refugees from another galaxy desperately fighting to keep your race alive? Your Webs will help you control the battlefield and dictate where and when you fight. Plus you know the frequency of the webs so your weapons are unaffected when firing on those trapped inside...your opponents? Well not so much. Sucks to be them.
Are you a cocaine fueled pirate? Who, for 4 turns, can out run, out fight and out maneuver any ship in the galaxy! But only for 4 turns as each time you double your engine output they get more and more damaged until your left with ashes and some very angry escort ships heading your way. Just remember there is no profit in dying and your green skinned Orion waifu wants her cut of the booty when you get home.
Will you play as the mysterious and unknown invaders called Andromedians? Whose bizarre and outlandish technology is beyond anything the galactic powers know. Shields? What are shields? Use the incoming fire to power your ship and move like lighting! Warp speed? Whats Warp Speed? Teleport around like a spastic epileptic on crack and never give your enemy a clear shot! Just make sure to use that power up faster then it comes in or you'll be the next champagne supernova in the sky. The locals may be primitive but they know war and your a long way from home bub.
Are you a champion of the Greater Good? Play as a ISC captain trying to bring sanity to a galaxy consumed by insanity. Fight in formation with your fellow brother captains as you try to bring peace to a galaxy forever at war (man that sounds familiar for some reason). You have the best of all weapons due to sitting on the sidelines and watching your neighbours go at each other like rabid dogs for decades but now your outnumbered and your enemies will put aside their differences (temporarily!) to make sure you never see your home cluster again. Fight smart and fight together or you'll be nothing but a footnote in history.

Common Abbreviations

Ship Classes

BB - Battleship
DN - Dreadnought
CVA - Heavy Carrier
CVS - Strike Carrier
SCS - Space Control Ship (super carrier)
BC - Battlecruiser
CX - Advanced Technology ship
CC - Command Cruiser
CA - Heavy Cruiser
CL - Light Cruiser
CR - Commerce Raider
LR - Light Raider
CW - War Cruiser
DD - Destroyer
DW - War Destroyer
DDH - Heavy Destroyer
DE - Escort Destroyer
FF - Frigate
FFV - Escort Carrier
FFB - Battle Frigate
FFE - Escort Frigate
PC - Patrol Corvette or Police Corvette
PF - Fast Patrol Ship

General Game Timeline

A very very brief overview of the timeline of the StarFleet Universe by ADB.

Y -7,000,000,000 - The universe is created. This is generally thought to be a bad idea by those involved.
Y1 - The humans discover warp travel and meet the Vulcans. The galaxy will never be the same.
Y4 - The Federation is formed by the Humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellerites.
Y36 - The 1st Gorn/Romulan war starts. It ends in Y39 with a Gorn withdrawal and ceasefire.
Y40 - The 1st Federation Romulan war starts, fought with lasers, rail-guns, armor and limited warp drives. War ends in the Federations favor in Y46
Y62 - Tactical (modern style) warp drives are developed by all races changing the nature of warfare forever.
Y68 - The Lyran-Kzinti "war" officially starts and goes on and on and on and on...
Y71 - The Starfleet is formed by the Federation. After lesson learned in the 1st Romulan war the Federation goes from each planet providing it's own style of ships to a unified design and supra-planetary permanent force.
Y76 - The Klingons meet the Hydran's and attack but quickly suffer a major defeat and withdrawal from Hydran space. Oddly enough the Klingon High Council doesn't execute the Admiral in charge but instead asks what went wrong. This results in the creation of the D series of warships.
Y79 - The Tholian refugee's arrive in galaxy after 800 years of inter-galactic travel and settle in space the Klingon consider theirs but go unnoticed and create the Holdfast.
Y83- The Klingons discover the Tholians and launch an attack but suffer badly due to the Tholain web technology. In return the Tholian's attack and wipe out several Klingon civilian colonies enraging the Klingons who announce a blood vendetta.
Y84 - The first Andromedian scouts arrive in the Milkyway
Y85 - The Federation encounters the Klingons and after 3 losses to new cultures the Klingons decide to not attack and rather to send in some ambassadors and diplomats to try to get a better idea on Federation strength. Some trade and treaties are signed but both races start competing for prime colony spots along their shared boarder and tensions start to rise.
Y87 - The Klingons launch a attack on the Hydran's using the new D4 warships and smash the Hydran forces in days and force a surrender of 90% of the Hydran worlds. The few remaining Hydran warships retreat to the "old kingdom" which lies inside a large nebula and thus goes unseen by Klingon forces.
Y88 - The Kzinit's attack the Federation over boarder issues and the Klingon's offer tactical knowledge as well as placing Klingon officers onboard Federation ships as advisors in an attempt to better understand Federation capabilities and tactics.
Y90 - The Gorns and Romulans renew their war which goes on for 5 years. Both side deploy the new Plasma Torpedo to great effect.
Y92 - The Klingons launch a massive attack on the Tholain Holdfast to wipe the species out but it ends in disaster after 10 years of fighting. Winning no territory but draining away Klingon resources. This is part of the reason for the oddly friendly Federation-Klingon relations. Unknown to the Klingons the Holdfast was on the verge of collapse at the time of the withdrawal.
Y94 - A Sunsnake life form infests the star of the Pavarian home world, who are the honored ancestors of the Gorn race, it goes nova destroying the solar system and eradicating the Pravarians. The Gorns are overcome with grief/rage and blame the Romulans and declare that they will repay the Romulans in kind no matter the cost.
Y110 - Recovered after the disaster of the Tholian war the Klingons decide now is the time to finally attack the Federation and launches a surprise attack on Federation forces on the boarder. History repeats as the new Federation weapon, the Photon Torpedo, proves to be a massive success and the Klingon quickly suing for peace after a series of defeats claiming it was all a "misunderstanding".
Y119 - The Orion Cartels are officially formed, well as official as a group of pirates can be. The galaxy is cut up into zones of control by the Pirate Council to limit internal conflicts. But like all good pirate the rules are treated more as suggestions then rules so if you can get away with it, it's yours. Profit is Profit after all.
Y123 - The Klingons attack the Kzinti again and place a squadron permanently on harassment patrol on the Tholian boarder.
Y126 - The famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Constitution class Heavy Cruiser is introduce by the Federation.
Y135 - The Hydrans of the Old Kingdom surge out of their protective nebula and launch an assault to retake their world from the Klingons. Armed with new Fusion technologies and the powerful phaser-G the new Hydran ships overpower the Klingon's forces who fall back to the old boarders in disarray. Tied up with the Kzinti war,the Tholian issue and heavy Federation presence on their boarders the Klingons admit defeat and withdraw all their forces back to their own boarders. The Hydrans reclaim all of their worlds and celebrate independence.
Y137 - The Lyrans and Klingons sign a mutual aid pact to off set the growing power and size of the Federation.
Y145 - A Kzinti taskforce attacks a Federation world without permission, slaughters and consumes the 3,000 colonists. The Federation is horrified and a vote is cast for war. The Kzinti Emperor, not wanting war, captures and executes all 1,500 of the individuals involved in the attack and turns their heads over to a Federation diplomat as a peace gesture. Oddly enough this event marks a thawing of Kzinti attitudes towards the Federation which results in a mutual defense treaty.
Y154 - The Romulans return to the Federation boarder in force and launch an attack on colonies in the neutral zone. War is avoided but the Romulans see this as a weakness on the Federations part.
Y155 - The Andromedians arrive in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud and begin construction of their Devastator starbase as a base of operations for the conquest of the Milkyway.
Y156 - The Kzinti and Hydrans sign a mutual defense pact to keep the Klingons at bay.
Y157 - The Federation and Gorns almost come to war as two captains come to blows but cooler heads prevail and a odd but fruitful alliance is formed.
Y159 - The Organians disappear without explanation.
Y160 - Tensions across the spiral arm start to increase as most major empires start a military build up program.
Y161 to Y171 - many, many small diplomatic incidences across the galaxy happen as military forces start to encounter each other on a regular basis. War is coming and most races are getting ready for it. All that is needed is the spark to set it off. (main setting of the game)
Y166 - The first sighting of an Andromedian ship is confirmed by a lone surviving crew member of a Lyran Destroyer that it attacked without warning.
Y171 - The General War kicks off with yet another Lyran Kzinti war which drags in the Hydrans and the Klingons due to mutual defense pacts. Knowing that the Federation will be drawn in the Klingons prepare a full fledged assault. The surprise attack by the Klingons catches the Federation off guard and many Starfleet ships are lost in the lopsided duels as the Klingons drive deep into Federation space. The Gorns honor their agreement and declare war on the Klingons and launch a small series of raids into Klingon space.
Y172 - A joint Federation Kzinti team develops the first "fighter" from a shuttlecraft using miniaturized warp engines. Unknown to them the Hydrans have been using fighters for years. Several heavy cruisers are quickly converted into carriers and launched into the war. The fighters are a surprise to the Klingons whose drive into Federation space is slowed and eventually stopped by the powerful CVA groups.
Y173 - The Klingons woo the Romulans into attacking the Federation by delivering them old Klingon D6 ships which are refitted into the powerful plasma armed KR series of ships. The Romulans attack across the full breadth of the boarder once again driving deep into Federation space.
Y173 to Y186 - The war drags on with every major race involved in massive fighting. Most pre-war ships are lost by now in the fighting and a new War Series of ships are introduced to speed up production by the Empires. Ships designed to be cheap and fast to produce to help offset the immense losses everyone is suffering. The age of attrition warfare begins.
Y178 - The Neo-Tholian ships arrive in galaxy just in the nick of time to save the Holdfast from the final Klingon assault. The original Tholian ships were civilian ships repurposed for war but the Neo-Tholians are warships from the old Tholian empire and after some quick refits are more then capable of throwing the Klingons out of the Holdfast territory but due to them being utterly irreplaceable the Tholians refuse to send them to assist in the General War.
Y181 - The Federation launches Operation Remus and scrapes up a huge coalition force to assault the Romulan homeworld consisting of one of the few remaining Federation CVA's; the USS MacArthur. The assault is successful but the task-force suffers massive losses in the final battle with the MacArthur itself going down above Remus, striking the planet causing millions of Romulan lives to be lost. The planet is devastated rendered almost uninhabitable. The Romulans are crippled emotionally and economically by this event and while the war isn't over the Federation Romulan conflict peters out. The Federation is horrified over this incident and offers to assist in the rebuilding of Remus after the war, easing Romulan feelings and starting a detente period.
Y182 - Operation Calvary is launched by the Alliance against the Klingon homeworld but after much fierce fighting the losses on both sides are immense and while all of the Federation territory is reclaimed the Klingons stop the task-force before it reaches it's goal.
Y182 - The Lyrans introduce the Fast Patrol craft to combat the fighters of the Alliance bringing the attrition warfare to a whole new level. All races quickly deploy PF's to bolster dwindling military forces. PF's are cheap to produce and train and are capable of taking down ships when in packs but have limited range and very limited survivablity.
Y184 - The Pleiades Turkey Shoot happens as the Klingons try to destroy the last operational Federation CVA group but fail and suffer the loss of much of their remaining fighting strength on the Federation front. All major powers are pretty much exhausted by this time with combat reduced to PF's raids and small scale battles. No power is willing to risk their few remaining capital ships without urgent and immediate need.
Y185 - The Organians return and put and end to the fighting. Most Empires are secretly happy for this enforced peace as they are exhausted by the decade of fighting and are at the limit of their endurance. This Organian Decree allows a "peace with honor". After 10 years of brutal fighting and billions of lives lost no territory is gained by any power. The war has been futile.
Y186 - The ISC begin their "pacification" of the galaxy by creating no go zones on the boarders of all the galactic powers. The ISC had sat out the war protected by distance but watching the destruction of the General War then decided that the galaxy was insane and had to be protected from itself. For their own reasons the Organians do not interfere and may indeed have aided the ISC.
Y190 - Out of no where the Andromedians begin appear in great numbers and catch the ISC forces scattered all across the galaxy quickly making short work of the isolated fleets. The Andromedians use technology that is complete foreign to the galactic powers and are almost impossible to stop due to the lasting effects of the General War. For the next 5 years the Andromedians rampage across the galaxy almost at will.
Y195 - The Federation survey ship "Essex" discovers how the Andromedians are able to move about so quickly and they freely spreads the knowledge to all galactic powers who move to attack the so named Rapid Transit Nodes and start to disrupt the Andromedains combat operations.
Y196 - X-ships are introduced to help combat the Andromedian menace. These ships feature new technologies and are extremely capable warships but due to high cost and complexity they are available in very limited numbers but are able to finally hand defeat to the invaders on a one on one basis.
Y199 - All galactic powers come to realize that unless they co-operate the Andromedians will not be defeated so Operation Unity is created.
Y201 - Operation Unity launches an assault on the Andromedian Devastator class Starbase in the Lower Magellanic Cloud and after much fighting they succeed in destroying it and the last Andromedian presence in the Milkyway galaxy. Aside from a few scattered survivors the Andromedians cease to be a threat.
Y202 - End of SFB game timeline.

Sequence of Play

1. Energy Allocation Phase

Your ships engines only produce so much power and it will never be enough, so how will you spend it? How far will you move and how fast? What weapons will need power to fire? What shields will you re-enforce with how much of your ever dwindling power reserves?. Will you use ECM or ECCM to shift the odds in your favor? That cost power too. Don't forget life support or your battle will be over before it starts! You want Tractor Beams? Shuttle-craft or Transporters? Pay up! Most of the game is won or lost in the EA phase as you can't spend power to react to your opponents moves during your turn, with some exceptions, it all has to be planned out beforehand. There are different types of power being; warp, impulse, reactor and batteries. Each has uses and restrictions (as an example photon torpedoes need warp power while phasers can draw upon any energy source. Movement faster then speed 1 always requires warp power)

2. Impulse Movement Phase

Ships move depending on the speed they paid for and the distance they want to travel. Slower ships move less often and speed changes are allowed if planned out during the EA phase. Ships may move at the same time and the faster ship gets to move after his opponent. Depending on your ship and your speed turning can only happen at certain times. Maneuver is the heart of combat in SFB due to weapon arcs. Just cuz your got yourself a tonne of photon torpedoes don't mean you can fire them willy nilly!

3. Combat

After the end of any impulse you may declare an intent to fire. You must say which weapons you are firing then calculate range, roll the dice and pray to the RNG gods. The catch is that most weapons, unlike in the movies, have restricted arcs on where they can fire. If your opponent isn't in the arc of the weapon all the snake eyes in the world won't make a difference.

As an example;

A FED CA (think TOS Enterprise) has 4 photon torpedoes which, if they hit, pack quite the punch but are not only energy intensive to charge up (2 points of power each for 2 turns on a ship that will have about 24 total power) but also have a limited forward (FA) firing arc. So if your opponent isn't in front of your ship at the end of turn 2 your sitting on those puppies until your lumbering Fed CA can trundle is chonky ass around to get that naughty Klink D7 into arc. Fed ships are know for decent forward shielding and heavy forward firepower but turn like overweight hippos after a night of raunchy sex. To be fair the Feds have poor turning rates but there are much worse ships out there. (Say hello Mr Gorn!)

The Klink D7 cruiser is the exact opposite. It has great arcs (some are so good they can somehow fire THROUGH the ship itself) for its Disrupters/phasers and great maneuverability but Disrupters do half the damage the photons do (but can fire twice as often) so the Klink has much less trouble keeping the Fed in arc to plink away but has to work to keep himself out of the photon's arc or he's not going to like the results when 4 overloaded photon torpedoes cause his ship to have a rapid unscheduled disassembly event.

Phasers are more flexible being mounted all over the ship to give some coverage in all directions with differing races having differing idea's about what "proper phaser coverage" looks like. Phasers are incredibly energy efficient but damage rapidly drops off with range (except the bastard ship killer PH-4 which can and will reach out to touch your no no bits at range 100! But they are only found on Starbases and certain monsters thank Jeebus)

Most ships carry Drones (think missiles) as a secondary weapon but so named Seeking Weapons have a rule set all their own and can fire in any direction but must move according to the Impulse chart and can be shot down by phasers. The Hydrans have a nifty little weapon called a Gatling Phaser that yes does exactly what you think it does. Plus they stuck it on their shuttles, fighters and bombers! Woe to the fool who ignores a incoming Hydran fighter group cuz how much damage can 1 shuttlecraft do right?

4. Damage Allocation

So you've managed to get your weapons in to arc and have put the pain train on your opponent. So now what? Well each ship will have shields to adsorb incoming damage to a limited amount. Shields trade strength for damage reduction point per point. (we're not going to talk about Andro's and PA's cuz that too in depth for a summary) Shields start the game fully charged but damage is not repaired unless you spend power to repair said shield and for various game rule reasons it's better to re-enforce said shield then repair it. As so long as a shield has at least 1 point left it's still considered to be "up" for game rules. Each ship has 6 shield each facing one of the cardinal directions. You can "knock down" one shield without affecting any of the others as each shield facing is treated independently with it's own shield rating.

So your Fed CA has successfully got that clueless Klink D7 into your FA arc and have now delivered what SFB players call the "Great Mace to the Face" (ie 4 overload photon torpedoes right in the kisser). No doubt the Klink shield you struck is now nothing more then a vague memory and your follow up phaser salvo has opened up the Klink hull like a tuna can. So now what? Well there is a chart for this! The Damage Allocation Chart in fact. You now take all the extra damage that the shield didn't manage to adsorb and roll on the DAC to see what systems were hit and so on. Each system/weapon/engine has a certain number of "boxes" on the ship to represent itself and once each of those boxes are gone the system is no longer usable until it is repaired. If you apply enough damage the ship will just explode though most players will concede once their ship has been rendered combat ineffective. No point in dragging events out to the bitter end.

Once the combat phase in that Impulse is concluded you go back to the Movement Phase and repeat until one ship either gets destroyed, surrenders or many hours have past and you both hate each other.

That's a game of Star Fleet Battles in a (very small) nutshell.

Getting Started

Well your in luck. ADB (Amarillo Design Bureau) isn't like most other game company's in the fact they're not trying to milk their player base continuously for money (unlike some other companies..GW *cough cough*). SFB is a passion project by two people who love the game and so want the most people possible to enjoy it. That said going all in will cost a fair bit as the game has continued to be updated for 40+ years with new ships, new races and even new non-galactic areas.

To this end there is the Cadet Handbook which is pretty cheap (about $10 US) that comes with a basic rule booklet that covers the necessary rules but without going very deep. You get a map, dice (2 D6's), a Federation CA (heavy cruiser) and a Klingon D7 (also a heavy cruiser) so you can test out the waters and see if SFB is for you.

Now if you like what you tasted then 1. Welcome to the Trek Nerdom 2. Get ready to shell out some serious coinage.

You will want the Captains Set for the complete game rules. This will cover everything basic from simple movement to crazy stuff like Hit and Run raids on your opponents bridge or using your transporter to lay mines.

The letter modules A-M to get you all races, ships, weapons and SSD's of said ships. (honestly you can skip the N,O,P modules as they contain the weird shit like a new extra galactic area full of new non-Trek races for bored veterans. Not that they're not interesting and fun to play around with but they're just extra and not central to the main game).

Grab any Captain Log's that strike your fancy for the fun scenarios they contain.

And do yourself a favour and pick up an extra counter set of drones, fighters, plasma torps and shuttles as once you start messing around with Heavy Carriers (CVA) and Space Control Ships (SCS) your gonna need 'em.

But that's it. ABD doesn't really change the rules very often as this game has been play-tested to hell and back over the decades and they don't introduce power creep just to sell you something new. In fact the current Captains Rule set was originally printed in 80's. So once you have the rule set and the modules of your favourite races your pretty much done buying unless you want ship miniatures (which look awesome) or fancy toys like 3D asteroids or planets to make your game prettier.

One final chunk of advice for new players. Buy the rule books unbound as you'll be best off placing them into a 3" 3-ring binder so you can slot the module rules into their respective place. The 2 Stevens (the creators) were military men so rules look like;

1.1.21.64.14 Blah blah blah see 1.1.22.23.42 to blah blah blah. Rule 1.2.3.4.5.6 also cover situations that may occur when trying to do 4.2.5.13.45. For more info on generally accepted practices see 4.2.3.56.

So you either need to integrate the modules rules with the captains rules or get used to pulling out which ever module your using anytime you want to look something up.

Super Basic Tactics

Here are just some very very VERY basic tactics to help you get started. Each Empire will have it's own unique heavy weapon and thus their own preferred tactic to employ but most of them will be a variation of these bellow 3.

Oblique Pass

This is the standard opening tactic for most races. You approach your opponent at a angle off the main #1 shield (usually #2 or #6) then reach the range you want to fire at, fire and turn away to reload.

This is the Klingon's favorite tactic to wear down their opponents before they move in for the kill.

Differing races will have differing preferred ranges to exchange fire. The idea here is to set up a range where you can hurt your target but take minimal return fire but not to commit to a knife fight at short range by turning in. Hydran Hellbore ships love this tactic as their ships are designed around it; get to range 14 where your Hellbores have a solid hit chance and where for anyone but a Klink returning fire will be wasteful, dump some PH-1's to scratch a shield (preferable the #1) dump the Hellbores and watch the now weaken shield get crunched. Turn away, reload and repeat until your opponent cries enough and dis-engages.

The main catch to this tactic is your ship needs to be fast enough to get away from your opponent while charging it weapons, as you just shot your wad so your opponent is free to close to what ever range he's likes (most likely 3 or less) and dump his overloads on you without fear of reprisal. As well as be nimble enough to able able to turn around and re-engage without giving up too much ground.

Luckily the ships that tend to use this strategy are able to do this. The Klinks, the Hydran Hellbore ships and the Andro's all have the speed and turn rate (Andro's have the DD to literally teleport away) to get in and get out while pulling away. Don't forget the fancy Klingon phaser arcs if your getting followed! They can be a nasty surprise. If you have to delay rearming to speed up then consider it. Also fun tip you can roll a T-Bomb (or Nuclear Space Mine if you got one) out the shuttle bay as a nasty surprise if your opponent follows right behind you. Fun fun!

Many plasma users will aim to have their torpedo's meet you at ranges 18 to 14 to stop this tactic but if your smart you'll hit range, dump your shots then speed change and zoom away. Watch as the poor Gorn player weeps as his expensive torps fade away in your rear arc. Remember it takes 3 turns to re-arm a plasma launcher but your Disrupters can fire every turn and your Hellbore only take 2 turns.

Battle Pass

A battle pass has a lot in common with the oblique approach with the exception that the engage ship wants to get into close range (4 or less) and stay there. In SFB a close range slug out battle with overloaded weapons is called knife fight and ships with heavy 1 turn firepower (ie alpha strike) tend to use this tactic. Sometimes called the Fox and Hound style.

A Klingon is a great example of a Fox ship, they want to control the range and the timing of the fire exchange because they do not have the alpha strike to win one on one. They need to soften up the enemy for a few passed first because even if they overload their Disrupters they will typically come out of the exchange worse off then their opponent and even worse they will then be stuck at low speed and close range for a turn or two due to the power demands of overloading their Disrupters. A Fox wants to end his turn at around 15 to 20 range so he has the space and time to get his shot in and maneuver away without the Hound getting to overload range (range 8).

A Hound ship is a ship that wants to get in close and duke it out. A Federation ship is typical of this style. They have the alpha strike (few ships can eat a overloaded photon salvo and follow up PH-1 barrage and be in any combat effective state if not be outright destroyed). The "Anchor" style ships (Gorn's and Kzinti mostly) also like to use this approach as they tend to need to get to Tractor range to lock down their opponent. At close range your powerful weapon's suite will quickly knock down shields and savage your opponents internal before he can do as much damage to you. After that it's a down and dirty fight at close range typically with slow speeds, lots of ECM and HET's.

Of course this is easier said then done as the Hound must chase and catch his opponent before any of this happens. Fox ships will tend to be faster and more maneuverable then Hounds and and experienced Fox player will control the flow of the battle using his superior turning radius and energy curve. Hound users have to be able to read their opponents energy "state" to know when to dumping everything into a speed burst to get into killing range. Remember as a Hound you can exchange equal fire with a Fox and come away the victor. You can't afford to let the Fox pick away at you until all your forward shields are in tatters and you've lost a heavy weapon or two.

A Hound ship will tend to want to end the turn within 6 to 8 hexes with weapons fully overloaded. Then you'll boost speed for the first 8 impluses to get into and keep in range while you blow your load. After this you'll use your superior close in weapon suite to savage your opponent. If done right you will get hurt but he'll get crippled.

For many players the Fox style is very rewarding as it takes practice, timing and skill to dance around your opponent properly to get that win. But one mistake, just one, and it's all over.

Over-run

The over-run is exactly what it sounds like. Your goal is to run right thru the hex your opponent is in. This will allow an exchange of fire at zero range and the ability to zoom past him and get away (theoretically as most fights will end at the over-run with one or both ships going boom).

When you think of an over-run ship a Fusion Beam or ESG ship should pop into mind. The Hydran Fusion Beam ships and the Lyran ESG ships all want to get right up into your grill and do you seriously harm. A Fusion Beam ship at range zero will kill you, no if's and's or but's. You might be able to cripple them in return but that's small consolation to your dead crew and the burn out hulk that was your ship.

An over-run is fairly straightforward in theory but much more challenging in practice as any semi-experienced player will do everything to keep you at range. A Hound ship will try to dump his overloads on you at 4 to 6 hexes and attempt to either HET (High Energy Turn, a snap turn that costs movement power) away or turn and run. A Fox ship will try to keep you at 9 hexes, fire and dance away. (sabre dancing)

Again the knowledge of your opponents energy state and power curve are necessary as you need to know when you can afford to charge those weapons and fire or shove everything into speed and run him down. Luckily the ESG has a capacitor that you can charge up before hand and holds for free. And the Fusion Beam is a one turn weapon that can be armed and fired but then has a cool-down timer. Both of these weapons types allow for high speeds either before charging or before firing to allow the ship to get into position.

A successfully executed over-run is usually a game ender. If you've got a fusion ship sitting on you at range zero, well you might as well throw in the towel rather then drag it out to DAC rolls and spend 30 mins coloring your ship red.

Miza Effect

The Miza effect is named after a early SFB player who realized that the way the Damage Allocation Chart was arranged meant that the first few hits are always the worst. Having a high chance to land on WEAPON, PHASER, SENSOR or ENGINE. This means that the best way to degrade your opponents combat capability is to launch small 5 point damage volleys every impulse rather then one large damage volley (this effect is so pronounced that the ISC PPD is designed around it). Now this isn't always possible but if you can spread out your fire over several impulses and stay on a down shield you will hurt your opponents ability to fire back at you more then if you hit him with one big blast. In game this is seldom a real opportunity as anyone with a brain will do anything to get that down shield away from you but it is something to keep in mind when deciding how much of what to fire.

Factions

United Federation of Planets

The Federation CA is the original ship the game was built around and just about every new players go to. We all know it and we all love it. Nothing more needs to be said about it's history because if you don't know what the Federation is how the hell did you end up here?

The photon torpedo is an incredibly flexible weapon being able to be fire close range for massive damage, medium range for sold hit chance and solid damage or as a proximity charge at long range for decent hit chance and low damage. But still some damage; a proxy fired photon can reach out and do damage at 30 range with a 50% chance to hit (that's amaze balls trust me). All on the fly, which allows you to adjust your plan to your opponents actions. Photons also have a fixed damage if they hit which is nice for calculating your attacks. All around the photon torpedo can meet any other races heavy weapon equally.

Pro tip: never ever EVER narrow salvo your photons. I know that having every photon hit is tempting but remember if you roll bad every photon in the salvo will miss. Then your opponent laughs as he over-runs your unlucky ass. (Ok OK Ok...you can narrow salvo photons at an Andro at mid-range. That way you either do damage or nothing to avoid feeding him more power to kill you with (but I wouldn't recommend it. Even if you hit your then allowing the Andro the ability to then close to range 4 and savage you with it's TR's.))

In game the Feds offer some seriously solid ships armed with the supremely flexible Photon Torpedo as their heavy weapon. Backed up by a excellent phaser-1 suite, decent shields and generous hull levels as padding to protect those vital systems. In Late War games they can even boast plasma torpedoes or drones as secondary weapons bringing a lot of options to the player.

Downsides are slow turning radius, poor power curve, restricted forward arcs on the heavy weapons and a slightly heavier BPV cost but even with that the Feds are a solid choice for any BPV battle.

The Klingon Empire

Again nothing needs to be said; it's the Klingons. You know them. Proud and aggressive warriors ect ect. Keep in mind in the SFB timeline the Klingons were never neutered and remain an aggressive empire building race who use slaves to crew their ships.

The Klingons were designed to be the opposite of the Federation ships. Featuring high manoeuvrability, fast firing weapons and speed. They're armed with the quick firing Disrupter that is great at mid range fighting, having a decent hit chance and decent damage for low power cost. Backed up by only OK phaser-2's and OK drones until Late War when they can change in the phaser-2's for the excellent phaser-1's. Good forward arc shielding and great firing arcs allow a good Klingon captain to bring more of his firepower to bear per pass then his opponent thus wearing down his opponents ship before moving in for the kill.

Used properly the Klingons can dominate the movement phase of the fight. Taking shots at their best range and denying their opponents the opportunity to return effective fire. The Klinks are one of the hardest races to play well simply because they lack the 1 turn punch of most other races so any mistakes will probably cost you the game. As a Klink you have to dominate the fire exchange, you cannot let your opponent trade equal fire with you so you must always keep control of the range and ensure you come out ahead in the exchange. Your Disrupters are great for firing at 9 to 14 range, cost almost no power to use and can fire every turn. Sure when overloaded they hit like a wet noodle compared to other races overload but the whole point of the Disrupter is to NOT allow your opponent to fire off those costly overloads. Played right you can deny him any real chance to hit you with more then nuisance phaser fire as he'd probably rather hold onto the heavy weapons and try to catch you all the while your Disrupters are chewing away at his shields. Then after several turns of unequal exchange his shields should be severely weakened and you can turn in and go for the kill.

Downsides are low alpha strike output and mediocre weapons, mediocre phaser suite and hull levels. If you end up trading equal blows with your opponent you will come out on the losing end. Plus you always have to be aware of a slave revolt if too many of your Security stations get taken out which can quickly end your battle.

Romulan Star Empire

It's the Romulans. You know em you love em. In SFB the Klingon-Romulan alliance holds and keeps the Federation at bay during the General War.

Romulan ships are pretty weird. The early ships are terrible. No joke. The WB and WE can barely charge their weapons and move at the same time. So any early year match will be interesting to say the least. They do boast the most powerful Plasma R's to help but it's still very challenging to win. However once you get access to the KR (Klingon-Romulan Hybrid) ships you go from weak to equal footing and when you get to the Hawk series you get access to, hands down, the best ships in the game.

Romulan ships are armed with the best weapon in the game; the Plasma Torpedo. As it's a seeking weapon it does 90% of the work for you and while easy to counter any mistake on the receiving players end means pain. And lots of it. A solid phaser-1 suite, decent all around shields and decent turning radius allow for the (in)famous Plasma Ballet where a Romulan tosses plasma at his opponent then retreats into cloak to rearm. Never allowing the opponent a clear shot. It's super frustrating to play against so use that to your advantage and push your opponent into making mistakes.

The cloak can be an incredibly powerful tool if used correctly or a huge disadvantage if used improperly. Learning when to cloak is essential if you want to succeed as a Romulan player. It's not a get out of jail free card and has some major downsides that you need to take into account when playing.

The downsides are high BPV cost for the Hawk series and KR ships compared to equivalent size opponents. (And if you play the plasma ballet game people WILL hate you.) Just don't play the warbird series unless you want a serious challenge.

On a personal note I always felt that the Rommies were done dirty by the Dev's. Yes we know the Feds are the good guys and the Klinks are the heroic bad guys but only the Rommies for some reason got shit on. There are several hero Klingons but nary a Romulan with a name let alone a legacy. Hell by the end of the General War most Empires are back to square one cuz status quo but not the Romulans. They get butt fucked royally. Not only do they lose most of the Empire to the Feds but in the final climatic battle over Remus they not only barely win but the Fed CVA MacArthur gets crippled and somehow ends up smashing into Remus itself. Killing millions and irradiating much of the planet. Sucks to be them I guess.

Kzinti Hegemony

These guys are straight out of Larry Niven's Real Space novels. Basically warrior furries that look like anthropomorphic tigers who eat their captives. Somehow allied to the Federation despite this unsavoury dining habit.

Kzinti are the masters of Drone warfare. Their ships can throw out more Drones in a single turn then any other race and thanks to Drones costing no power to launch they have plenty of power for speed and EW. Their ships tend to be lightly armed with low shielding and hull levels with Disrupters as a secondary weapon. A good phaser-3 suite for defending against incoming drones round out the kit and a decent turn rate makes for a solid choice of ship.

Drones really need their whole own section but lets do a quick breakdown. Drones are an incredibly flexible weapon. They come in 3 parts (drive,hull,warhead) so a Drone user can customize their Drones to their needs. Facing off against a Hydran, whose PH-G's make a mockery of your Drone waves? Put phaser capacitors in the warheads and punish that Hydran for waiting until range zero to fire. Make him spend power to kill exhausted Drones. Facing off against a Gorn or ISC? Don't waste points on fast speed save BPV and buy the medium speed and put the points elsewhere. Planning on a Anchor attack? Buy a set of slow speed Drones and fill the scatterpack with fasts. Is that ESG getting you down? Buy a few slug drones (all armour) and crash that ESG. Do you have an opponent who math-hammers every wave? Invest in a few fast drones with armour and mix them in with the medium speed waves and watch him rage as his phaser barrage fails to kill them all. Low on power? Buy a ECM Drone or two and have them follow you and force your opponent to spend power for a clear shot. Keep in mind a smart opponent will use his Labs to identify your Drones but even knowing what they are isn't always the answer.

Drones are your main weapon so tailor them to your tactics and more importantly to your opponent.

With the Kzinti you need to master drones. Just like a Klingon captain needs to master maneuver or a Romulan needs to master the cloak, you need to master drones. Your ship can easily overwhelm opponents with wave after wave of drones all while chipping away with your Disrupter suite. The problem comes when you start to run out of drones and your opponent is still not crippled. Then your best bet is to run as you can't go toe to toe with BPV equivalent opponents and emerge victorious.

Downsides are high cost for top of the line drones, which you will need in late year battles, making your ship pretty expensive. Low shielding and low numbers of hull padding means damage really hurts and if your out of drones your in real trouble as your Disrupters lack the numbers to be effective.

The Lyran Star Empire

Think Kzinti but Lion. Like Romulans are related to Vulcans Lyrans are related to Kzinti (or vise versa) but never bring that topic up in the presence of either. Federation diplomats are ordered to never stand between a Kzinti and Lyran as violence is a certainty as the races hate each other and have been at war for centuries. Lyrans are a member of the Klingon-Romulan alliance.

Lyran ships use the Expanding Sphere Generator as a main weapon with Disrupters and Phaser-1's to complement it. Lyran ships are powerful individual combatants with great forward arc shielding and firepower but due to the ESG and it's somewhat indiscriminate nature they are much weaker in fleet type situations so they tend to suffer on the larger scale.

The ESG is a powerful tool for offence or defence and useful in pretty much any situation a Lyran captain will find himself in. Good shielding, strong Phaser-1 suite and a great power curve make for some pretty capable ships overall.

However the ESG is also your biggest weakness. As it's 100% indiscriminate in it's damage. If your ESG field comes into contact with something it will hit it (no roll needed). Friend or foe. Which is awesome sauce for hunting down cloaked ships or dealing with pesky Kzinti drone waves or those dangerous Hydran fighters but it will also hit your teammates, your own shuttles, mines, T-bombs or even near-by asteroids. Making using it in certain situations quite dicey and you know your opponent will make those situations happen. It also has a unique interaction with the Hellbore launcher (the Hellbore auto-hits because the ESG field is so damn big). This can be awesome when you want to use your ESG as an extra shield against a Hellbore armed ship and not so awesome when a Hellbore crushes the ESG field an impulse before you planned to smash into something.

An offshoot of the Lyran Empire is the Lyran Democratic Republic, a part of the empire that broke off for a few years and somehow aligned themselves with the Hydrans who where kind enough to give them Gatling Phaser technology. Now that ESG overun is doubly scary. Sadly the LDR only lasted a limited time before getting reabsorbed by the Lyran's. At least the LDR destroyed the Phaser-G tech before they surrendered.

Over all Lyran ships are good, solid duelists but suffer in fleets. Also the ESG interactions complicate your plans making for FUN times. BPV costs are in line with comparable sized ships.

Hydran Kingdoms

The Hydrans are a strange little people who resemble mini-Cthulhu's who breathe methane with 3 tentacles for arms with a trinary social structure. Mirroring their physical structure they have 3 sexes (don't ask) and 3 life stages. As to an empire they are squashed between the Klingons, Lyrans and the Kzinti and border the Federation and have fought wars with all 4 to stay independent but are part of the Federation Alliance for the general war. Their ships are split between the knife fighting Fusion Beam, fighter carriers and the sniper style Hellbore Cannon ships. Meaning if you want to master Hydran's you've got to master two opposing fighting styles. But played properly each style of ship, while super specialized, are powerful in their niche.

All Hydran units from Battleships to the lowly admin shuttle is armed with the dangerous Gatling Phaser (PH-G) which fires multiple times in a single impulse (if you want) so drones are much less dangerous and it turns a shuttle in to a ship mangler and when paired with fusion beams of a Stinger class fighter it turns a shuttle into a ship killer.

Hydran ships are built around very specific tactics but in that niche they do tend to dominate. No ship can put out the raw damage a fusion ship can and the Hellbore is one of the supreme snipers in SFB. While a Hydran heavy carrier can strike fear into the heart of the doughiest warrior.

The fusion ships are armed with the Fusion Beam weapon. A weapon that does massive damage at short range (it will out damage any other weapon when overloaded) but is useless past range 5. Fusion ships are very simple to play, they win, hands down, if they get to range 1 or zero with their fusion beams intact. The ships have heavy forward protection to assist with this and are very speedy after they fusions are charged. These ships will also carry Stinger class fighters who are also armed with the very same fusion beams as the ships so a Stinger squadron coming at you is quite scary. So the typical fusion tactic is to protect your forward shield while closing with the enemy. Your fighters can either serve as a back up killing blow to be shat out just before you strike or out in front as a "shoot at me and the ship kills you or shoot at the ship and we kill you" deal. Fusion ships are simple to play with a very specific play-style that the ships are literally built around. Fun times if you like straight forward punch you in the face style.

The other style of ship is Hellbore Cannon armed.

The Hellbore is an odd weapon; it's a great sniper weapon that damages all the targets sheilds while having a deadly secondary effect, it does extra damage to a weak or down shield facing so once you have a down shield those hellbores will really start to hurt as all the maneuvering in the world won't mean dick as the hellbore will still pour in the internals. However the hellbore lacks killing power so you can easily chase off your opponent but getting in a killing blow can be challenging. A typical fighting tactic is a turn 1 oblique pass with phasers to damage the #1 shield then keep range open and sandpaper away until your opponent flees due to you stripping away his weapons, engines and sensors. Hellbore ships tend to be vulnerable to damage as the cost of a hellbore per BPV point is fairly high so you'll have less heavy weapon then your opponent and the loss of a single hellbore launcher can be fatal.

Hellbores also have a unique interaction with ESG fields (they auto-hit at any range and the range is calculate to the edge of the ESG field not the ship) so if your opponent is a Lyran and puts up his ESG at anything other then zero width...punish him for it as any extra damage you inflict on the ESG field goes straight to his #1 shield. One of the few times an overloaded Hellbore can be useful. On the down side an Lyran can use that ESG as an extra shield vs you so plan accordingly, otherwise you'll end up trading Disrupter salvo's with ESG damage only and come out on the losing end as he can re-energize that ESG easily but you cannot refill those holes he put in you.

Over all the Hydran ships are powerful in their niche but suffer due to their specialization against non-historical opponents.

The Gorn Confederacy

The Gorn Confederacy is made up of two identical species that somehow evolved on separate planets from a precursor race. The Gorns believe that some great power moved their ancestors to different planets for mysterious reasons. All Gorns honor their less evolved ancestors which they named Pravarians (who are sub-sentient). Gorn space borders on the Federation who they are friendly with having never fought a war with them (despite a rather...rocky first contact), ditto for their other neighbor the ISC (who are pacifists) but the last neighbor is the Romulans with who the Gorns have had many conflicts with since first contact.

Physically Gorns are 8ft tall 500lb walls of walking muscle that resembles a upright dinosaur. While they may be ponderous in movement they are actually quite intelligent and inventive with a rich culture belying their outwardly dull appearance. Their ships have a reputation of being slow and having a poor turning radius but this is somewhat undeserved. Gorn ships can be quite fast once they are done charging their plasma's and all ships are equally bad at turning at high speeds so this "handicap" isn't all that much if an issue if handled properly.

Gorn's use the Plasma Torpedo as their primary weapon with a strong suite of PH-1's on generous firing arcs to back them up. With good around shields and decent hull levels for padding, not quite up to Federation standards but generous by any other comparison. A solid power curve rounds it out making Gorn ships quite a dangerous opponent. The plasma's seeking ability can do much of the maneuver/chasing for you but you need to known its limits and remember big plasma launches can be easily countered and despite those big juicy numbers at close range most plasma torps weaken quickly with range so firing at a rapidly moving away target is pointless.

Key point: always remember that your plasma's take 3 turn to armed so never fire them lightly as you will be giving up the initiative to your opponent once they're on the map. Use your Psuedo-plasma's sparingly bu DO use them, baiting out that Wild Weasel is a major priority as there is nothing like a WW launch to mess up your day.

Gorn players need to understand the tactic named, fittingly, the Gorn Anchor. Where a seeking weapon user closes to 3 hexes and locks his opponent in a tractor beam. This stops the enemy from running away allowing those plasma torps to hit hard. Of course this is much easier said then done with many different avenues to get your ship into tractor range in one piece. Also know the wild weasel rules clearly as you will face players who use them.

In the end never forget Captain S'Thresssh's famous words;

"I fire one hundrrred points uf plasssma...you die".

The Tholian Assemby

Tholians are not a native species to the Milkyway. They are intergalactic refugees from a unnamed galaxy where they once had a massive empire that was overthrown in a revolt so large that the Tholians had to flee their own galaxy to ensure their survival as a species. In fact in Y178 some former Tholian vassal race calling themselves the Seltorians contacted the Klingons looking for assistance in tracking them down. And of course the Klingons were more then happy to point these newcomers in the right direction.

Their "home planet" of Tholia is actually a small Dyson sphere that once served as a provincial capital. In a remarkable feat of engineering, they managed to bring it with them when they fled from the other galaxy.

After an unknown amount of time in intergalactic space they eventually found refuge in a hospitable solar system near the edge of our galaxy. Sadly for them it was space that the Kligons had claimed long ago. It was years later that the Klingons would discover their new tenants and react predictably. The Tholian group that made it to our galaxy were a small unit of civilians so they lack the ability to build any real warships (relying on the small Patrol Class corvettes) and so never venture away from the Holdfast where they are safe behind their massive Web network. Tholians are renown for being arrogant to the point of ridiculousness to the other races of the galaxy which they see as lesser primitive species. Even after the Federation gave them photon torpedo technology for nothing they still asked the Feds to thank them for the opportunity to serve. Gee I wonder why their subjects rebelled.

Tholians are unlike any other galactic species as they are silicon based and resemble a man sized red crystal spider (and you thought the Hydrans were strange).They live in comfortably in temperatures that would melt steel beams and at radiation levels that would cook a lobster in seconds. Which makes the Klingon territory issues rather pointless as neither race inhabits the same type of planet or has the same physical needs but Klingons will be Klingons.

Tholian ships are broken into two types; the old Patrol Corvette style ships which are under gunned and out matched anytime they're forced to fight on equal terms. Lacking shields, internals, and armed with only Phasers and a Web Generator they are only able to hold their own behind preexisting Web networks. They eventually are given Photon Torpedoes by the Federation to help combat the Klingons and salvaged Disrupters technology from Klingon wrecks but no matter how many PC hulls the Tholians weld together (the Tholian CA is 3 PCs literally welded together) they are no match for any equal BPV ship.

The second type of Tholian ship are the Neo-Tholians. Who arrived at the height of the final attack by the Klingons in the Holdfast to save the day. They are a remnant of the old Tholian Empire space fleet and so were deigned for combat and they reflect this but in lore, since they are unique and irreplaceable assets, are never seen outside the safety of the Holdfast's Web network. Neo-Tholian ships are warships that are more then capable of winning battles with their Web Caster/Fist, photons and powerful phaser suite. Good power curves, middle of the road manoeuvrability and good shielding makes for a solid combat ships.

The primary weapon of the Tholians is the Web. Which is a tractor beam based technology (kinda, the galactic powers don't really understand it and the Andro's TR beams and DD's laugh at it) that act like a spiders web. If your ships (non-Tholian, Tholian ships ignore Webs) movement power is less then the strength of the Web in your hex you ain't going no where. In fact if your going too fast and hit a extremely strong Web your ship will suffer the effects of a HET breakdown. Now Webs do need to be powered as their strength decreases every turn. Webs also block direct fire weapons and degrade plasma torpedoes quite effectively, all in all the Web is a great defensive tool.

A good rule of thumb to remember about firing through webs is; "in to or out of but not across".

The Neo-Tholians have a device called a Web Caster that allows them to lay web anywhere within a certain radius of their ship. No more shitting out webs behind you as you go whoohoo!. This is a very powerful tool to control the board and restrict the movement of your opponent. A typical stratagem is to lay a web straight down the middle of the map and force your opponent to choose a side to go down. You fly down the opposing side and use your phasers to snipe the enemy while remaining pretty much immune to return fire (remember only Tholian phasers can fire thru webs without penalty). Just be aware your opponent may dive into the web to take a shot at you (remember in to or out) but then he's stuck sitting there until he can power his way through the Web hex. The Web Caster can also fire a strand of Web directly at the opponents ship doing high damage but is usually more useful to cast web to control the map.

Tholian ships are only really effective when fighting behind pre-set Web networks and suffer from low power curves, low firepower, low shields and decent manoeuvrability. When fighting behind Webs your at least dangerous but your opponent will usually dive into your Web, chase you off and then allow the Web to decay. Repeat ad nauseum until your out of Webs to hide behind and your forced to fight a warship in open space. Not good times. The Neo-Tholian ships are powerhouses. Great map control through the Web Caster, good power curves and good weapon arcs with solid shields and decent manoeuvrability. The heavy phaser-1 suite and photon torpedoes make for a great and flexible knife fighter. Just remember only your phasers can fire through Webs without penalty. Those photons need to be planned for. The Neo-Tholian ship are supposedly restricted by being irreplaceable but in game who cares about lore issues (unless it's part of the scenario) so that's not really a negative.

Overall the Tholians offer a very unique play-style but be warned they do suffer a lot more then other races at the hands of the Andromedians. As the Andro DD allows them to literally hop over a Web without a pause or happily slamming right into a Web hex to drain it's power into their PA's then use said power to chase you down and kill you. Oh those wacky Andro's!

Orion Pirate Cartel

The Orion Pirates are the Star Fleet Universe's premier criminal organization, heavily involved in piracy and smuggling throughout most known areas of the galaxy. Due to their historical origins they are collectively given the label "Orion," but members of almost any known starfaring race can be found in Orion crews. Orions themselves are basically humans with green skin and loose morals.

In the early years of the Federation members each fielded their own fleets and ship designs. When joint action among these disparate fleets proved unworkable, Earth began pushing for a unified Federation Starfleet and a common ship design. In exchange for supporting the proposal, the Orions received the right to keep using their own ships in a separate Planetary Guard fleet that would be responsible for patrolling their own space. In Y113, shortly after the Orions decommissioned their last deep space fleet, there was a mutiny in the Planetary Guard; 16 ships disappeared from anchorage along with over 9,000 veteran fleet personnel. These mutineers became the core of the Orion Pirates.

Being a loose association of criminals, the Orion Pirates do not have one centralized government. Raiding and smuggling operations are controlled by independent cartels. Each cartel has its own territory and fleet of ships, as well as its own shipyard and other hidden bases where their ships are built, outfitted, and maintained. A cartel is usually run by a crime lord or powerful family, who exclusively authorizes and controls all pirate activity within its territory. As of Y175 there were eleven major cartels that collectively covered the entire map except for Tholian space. The Tholians being more then capable of keeping out everyone including those few pirates brave enough to try a blockade run.

In game Orion ships are primary commerce raiders (CR's and LR's) first and warships second. While the Cartel Lords do have "Enforcer" (CA's and BC's) ships that are primarily warships first, to keep the other pirates in line, even these enforcer ships are smaller in size then your typical galactic warship which means anytime your going into a fight you'll be outclassed but not out gunned because... well the Orions have a trick or two up their sleeves to even the odds.

Any Orion ship may choose to double the output of any or all of it's engines. This allows any Orion ship the ability to overwhelm their opponents by mimicking the power curve of much bigger ships. But there is a catch and it's a doozy. Each time the engine is overloaded it suffers damage and after enough times the engine becomes useless. It's called the "Cocaine Rule"

Math-Hammer time:

Say a Orion ship has 2 warp engines each outputting 10 power per engine under normal circumstances for 20 total warp power. If you double the output of both you'd end up with 40 power for the 1st turn. Next turn your engines take a damage point each so you now have 2 warp engines with 18 output. Doubling again (turn #2) you get 36 power and next turn (turn #3) you take another damage point so they engines now have 16 output with 32 power and so on. By the start of turn #5 even with doubling your engines your only sitting at about 24 total power. Next turn (turn #6) with doubling your back to your original 20 power.

This is why it's called the Cocaine rule; one you start you can't stop and eventually it kills you. However without engine doubling the Orion ships can't compete with actual warships so your caught in a vise. The rule of thumb is to only overload one engine at a time and only if you need it for that turn. Also plan to exit the fight be the end of turn 5 while you still have the power to disengage before the opposing warship's superior durability allows it to overcome you. Remember your a lover not a fighter.

The other trick up your sleeve as an pirate is weapon choice. Ever wish you could have Photon Torpedoes and Disrupters? Well now you can. Orion ships feature weapon mounts where you the player get to choose what weapons go where. Want drones and a ESG? You can do that! (I don't know why you'd want that but hey to each their own!) You want some Plasma-F's and Hellbores? Go right ahead. Technically in Lore pirate ships are limited to the weapons in their operating area but in practice you can take what ever weapons you like. They don't even have to be paired. Want 2 Photons upfront, a Disrupter on the left and a Phaser-G on the right? You can do that. Want a cloak? Be my guest!. BPV costs must still be paid but you have the choice to tailor your weapon suite to your tastes. The only limit is no Andromedian tech, sorry no Displace Device or Power Absorbers for you.

Orion ships tend to be smaller per BPV point then other races and so they suffer from lower shield strength and lower internal volume in comparison. Which mean any internal damage start to add up real fast and each warp engine hit is extremely detrimental. The idea around the Cocaine rule is to allow you to win the fight fast by over whelming your opponent and keeping damage out by using that extra power to reinforce your shields and maintain superior speed and EW levels.

One last advantage is the inherent +1 ECM stealth field Orion ships get anytime they're not doubling engines. It's not much but it's there so don't forget to use it.

Over all Orion ships are extremely powerful combatants but suffer from being under the clock. You can out fight just about any opponent but you have to do it quickly as each turn that passes your getting weaker. If your opponent isn't on the ropes by turn 5 definitely consider getting out of there. Your not a warship you can't trade blows and expect to win. You have to hit hard and overwhelm your opponent and take no damage in return or your career will be over before it starts.

The Interstellar Concordium

The Interstellar Concordium or ISC, are very similar to the Federation in that they are a conglomeration of races unified under an overarching interstellar government. The worlds located in what is now the home sector of the Concordium, Veltrassa, Pronhoula, Rovilla and Korlivala, gave rise to a range of sentient races which eventually discovered each other and set a course of peace and common cause by founding the Interstellar Concordium on a Declaration of Ideals of 'peace, order and good government', with Veltrassa established as the capital world and location of the main fleet shipyards.

The ISC spread throughout the neighboring sectors of space, incorporating several additional alien races, colonizing worlds and protecting several worlds populated by pre-warp races, to allow their natural development to interstellar travel – and the eventual prospect of Concordium membership. The ISC expected that any race capable of warp drive would be similarly inclined to peaceful – and profitable – means of conduct, yet this illusion would not soon last once the Concordium began to venture towards the borders of the Gorn Confederation and the Romulan Star Empire.

The ISC first came into contact with the Gorn and Romulans and were disturbed to find the two races at war with each other (the ISC found it hard to believe any sane race of advanced spacefarers would resort to warfare) and were even more shocked upon learning that all of the other major powers of the region, from the far distant Hydran Kingdoms to the Klingons and Federation, were involved all in a war which was devastating known space. In the eyes of the people of the Concordium the rest of the galaxy was filled with violent psychopaths who simply could not be trusted to act in a civilized manner so plans were drawn up to enforce a peace to save the savage races of the galaxy from themselves. However before the ISC could launch their so named War of Pacification the Organians returned and ended the General War. After much internal consultations the ISC decided that both the Coalition and the Alliance were merely biding their time and rebuilding in order jump at each other's throats again in another ten years. (a not entirely unfounded accusation, we're looking at you Klinks!) So when the Organian Peace was in place the ISC decide to now was the time to move and separate the savage races from each other for their own protection. The launched their War of Pacification on the 14th of February of Y186.

During the years of the General War the ISC fleet was designed and built specifically to outgun any matching "savage" warship and by the end of the General War the ISC fleet were a match for any three of those of the belligerents of the General War combined and unlike those races the ISC had not had their considerable economy, the only one in known space which could rival the size of the Federation's, exhausted by nearly 2 decades of war. With the development of the new weapon and Echelon tactics the ISC was ready to bring peace to galaxy whether the other races wanted it or not.

In game terms ISC ships are true powerhouses. They were designed specifically to over-match their "savage race" equivalent class ships. A ISC CA is thus more then a match for any other races CA and you should always consider a ISC ship one class higher. Thus a ISC CL is a match for a CA and so on. The exception to this is the ISC frigates who are designed to operate within the Echelon and are designed weaker but still a match for the other races frigates. Now this doesn't come for free as BPV costs are still inline so as an ISC captain you must always expect to end up fighting larger ships in duels but thankfully you have the tools you need to come out ahead in just about any fight with the savages.

During the General War the ISC carefully studied the fighting and developed both weapons and tactics to counter thier expected foes. To this end they developed the powerful Plasmatic Pulsar Device (PPD) which fires several "pulses" of plasma at it's target over 4 impulses which splash across 3 shield facings. Backed up by class S and F Plasma torpedoes and a strong, forward focused Phaser-1 suite and strong forward shields the ISC ships can take on all comers.

The second part of the ISC tactic is the Echelon where ISC ships move in a chevron formation facing the enemy. The smaller ships guard the flanks and the heavies pound away at the enemy with multi PPD's. The ISC ships are specifically designed to work in this formation with weapon arcs designed to spit large volumes of fire at PF's or fighters trying to flank the formation. The ISC ships also feature Plasma D multi-racks on the rear arc, who do have special restricted firing rules, that will quickly devastate any small craft attacking from the rear. In game terms the Plasma D's can only fire once at ships larger then PF's but can rapid fire at PF's and shuttle. Any PF squadron thinking that they can rush in from behind and overwhelm a ISC ship is in for a bad time.

The ISC ships are very strong in fleets when in Echelon as that's how they were designed. While the CL,CA and BC's are powerful duelists. The ISC DN is a monster of a ship that really only works well inside a fleet but in that role it's a beast with it's 6(!) PPD's that can and will rip smaller ships apart in a single firing. In duels ISC ships they will always be out "classed" because of BPV costs but don't let that bother you as a ISC CL is really a CA in disguise. The PDD will rip down the entire front shield arc of it's target then your Plasma-S's and Phaser-1's can finish the job and any flankers will meet with a wave of Plasma-F's and D's if they attempt to close.

Overall the ISC ships are very strong but that ability is reflected in thier BPV costs.

10 Tips for New Players

If you don't know what your opponent will be flying choose a Federation ship. They are the best all-a-rounder ships in the game. The wunderweapon that is the photon torpedo will allow you to meet any threat if handled properly.
On a Point per Point basis the Romulan Hawk series (SparrowHawk, FireHawk, NovaHawk ect) are the most powerful ships in the game. Do not underestimate them. Don't bring a SparrowHawk-J to a friendly match or it won't be friendly very long.
If your new to SFB choose to fly Klingon. The Klinks don't have the raw one turn firepower to alpha strike and win so you will have to learn to throw your ship around properly to win. Once you've master the Klinks the other ships are cake.
The cloak is not a I-win button. Your under serious tactical penalties every time you turn that sucker on and experienced players WILL know how to handle you. Cloak only if you have too, not just because it's there. If enemy fighters are on the map NEVER cloak.
The ESG has zero Friend or Foe discrimination. Make sure when you crank that field to max your not killing your own shuttles or teammates.
If your playing Orion think about putting PH-1's in the mounts. You'll be surprised at how effective they can be and you may not need to use your Cocaine rule until it's time for the kill.
Conversely if your playing Orion remember the Cocaine rule. If your opponent isn't at least crippled by turn 4 it's time to leave. Don't stick around with half your engines gone just because your opponent is hurt. Your not a warship you can't take hits and keep fighting.
Smaller ships are fun. Frigates and Destroyers have great power to speed ratio's making for a fun and fast moving game. Don't just focus on the big boys.
Don't listen to the manual. ISC ships CL and larger don't need to be in an Echelon they're perfectly OK on their own. Quite dangerous in fact.
Hydrans come in 2 flavors; Fusion Cannon and Hellbore and they play exactly NOTHING alike. Be aware of what your flying and play appropriately.
Know the Impulse chart. Don't let yourself accidentally enter Overload (range 8) because you thought you moved when you don't.
Know your opponents weapons. You can guess your opponents move range based on the type of weapons they carry and what stage of arming it's at. For example you know that for the first 2 turns a Fed CA will be slow as it's forced to use a lot of power to charge up those juicy photons but in turn 3 suddenly it's able to move faster as holding photons is pretty cheap compared to overloading them.
Failing to plan is planing to fail. Have a way in and a way out and a way to get out if things go wrong.
If you don't know ASK! See below
Have fun! It's a game with friends not life or death.

Gallery

Seal of Approval. Unless it's the one with an Armadillo
Babby's first Starfleet Battle
All those hitpoint boxes, and only eleven don't have special rules when you cross them off
Galaxy map. This was made in the period after TOS and before TNG, when all the books were written. Notice Klingons and Romulans aren't neighbours before TNG changed the map.