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August 2018
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Star Fleet Universe News BIG NEWS: SHAPEWAYS at 1000
Our store on Shapeways continues to expand with 130+ new items released on 1 August (total 1000+ items!).
Ships released for both 3788 and 3125 scales include: Federation Battleship, FFG, POL; Klingon E5; Romulan Heavy Condor, KD5R, SparrowHawk-Mauler; Kzinti BCH, CL, MSC, Tug; Gorn DBC, DDC, DDW, Tug (with 1 or two pods); Tholian CSV, DNS with PFs, HDW, PBB with PFs, PFW with PFs, police DW, NDD, NDN, NFF, SDS with PFs; Hydran Cavalier, Cheyenne, Cossack, DWE, Gendarme, Mohawk-V, Scythian, Trooper, CWE; Lyran DWE, JagdPanther, Running Tiger; Seltorian BCH; Omega Iridani Caravel, Souldra DD, Vari Heavy Frigate, Ymatrian Horde CA and DD.
Omni scale units included in this release are: new dragons (male & female baby, old female), drones (I, IIIMW, IV, Dogfight); Federation F-111 and F-12 fighters; Klingon Auxiliary Carrier & Small Freighter, Z-KB heavy fighter; Tholian Spider-I, IVS, and VS.
Fighters in 285 scale include: Federation F-111 and F-12, Klingon Z-KB; Tholian Spider-I, IVS, and VS.
You can check out the store here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc
WEBSITE:
Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Simone Dale, our graphics director, continues to update the website, do covers for the new products, shut down pirate websites, help out around the company, and learn more about the game business.
TWITTER: VIDEOS: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 DOING VIDEOS OF THE SFU
A customer asked about posting "tutorial videos" for our games. We like it when people do that (and even give commendation medals) but you need to have us check the videos to make sure you aren't violating something somehow (or that you didn't make a rules error). Doing such videos to make money is not cool. Please drop us an email before you post the videos.
STARBLOG: STAR FLEET'S LEGIONS EXPAND: This month we feature Battle Group Tacoma, WA. CO William Z. Cohen reports that this group is active, playing Star Fleet Battles, Federation Commander, Federation & Empire, and A Call to Arms: Star Fleet. They are an active group, playing frequently and painting minis. They also have three Rangers in the group and page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Battle-Group-Tacoma-Star-Fleet-Battles-197549980818347/
Do you have a battle group? Be sure to report your activities here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/report.shtml
Do you want to see if there's a battle group near you? Check out the map here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/gather.shtml#US
Facebook Fan Pages
So join us on Facebook and get a fix of your favorite game there, too!
JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Tenneshington Decals continues to provide custom decals for all currently produced Federation Starline 2500 miniatures. For more information or to download the order sheet, check them out at www.tenneshington.com. Or if you prefer, email Will McCammon at: will@tenneshington.com or Tony L. Thomas at: scoutdad@tenneshington.com.
Jupiter IV Decals is a source of decals for the 2400 line and will do custom decals as well as all official SFB names. In the near future Jupiter IV will move into the 2500 line and will work to get every listed name on the Starfleet registry completed in both scales.
Their website is: JupiterIvdecals.com
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Masters 2018 is in Round 1 for the most part. About 11 of the 16 first-round matches have been decided. Andy Koch is the judge in this "just for fun" tournament. DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES StratCon 2018 was held in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was a great success!
With Gencon barely over, Randy Blair reports his games were enjoyed by all.
Star Fleet Battles games are held weekly in Tempe Arizona each Friday at Game Depot from 2:00 -7:00 pm. Eric Phillips is the person to contact.
Star Fleet Battles games are held regularly in Indianapolis, Indiana at Family Time Games. Anthony Harding is the contact person. For more information see: http://www.meetup.com/Star-Fleet-Battles-Indy/. Star Fleet Battles games are played regularly in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday afternoons at the Soldiery. Lee Hanna is the contact person. Games are held in Spokane, Washington on an irregular basis. Contact them to see if there's a game scheduled. They meet at The Gamer's Haven, 2114 N. Pines St., Suites 1 & 2, Spokane Valley, WA 99206, (509) 443-5992 http://www.thegamershaven.net/ Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. FC Forum Recent Posts
F&E Strategy of the Month Do not send an E4 into the Orion Enclave; send an E4A. This will cost you a four-economic-point ship versus a three-economic-point E4, but when it is captured by the Federation (503.5) an E4A is so much more useless to them. It is a 1-4 ship outside of a carrier group, instead of the 4-4 ship that an E4 is. Why give him the better ship?
Considering that as soon as you send the E4A into Orion territory, the Federation loses 10 economic points of income, it should not matter to the Klingons if they send a three-economic-point ship or a four-economic-point ship. Why not spend one economic point to prevent the enemy from having three combat factors?
Mini of the Month Barton Pyle painted this Gorn Destroyer (3788 Scale, Smooth Fine Detail Plastic).
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New Releases Communique #152 has been posted to the Commander's Circle Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released To be released in 2018
A new Starmada book for both editions.
Federation Commander Reference Starship Book
Traveller Prime Directive Core Rulebook
New starships for the 2500 (1/3125) range including Klingon B10
New starships for the 2400 (1/3788) range including heavy war destroyers and the jumbo freighter.
SHAPEWAYS:
We’re now offering some of our miniatures and some new designs on Shapeways. You can check out the store here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc?sort=newest
PDF and EBOOK SALES: RECENTLY RELEASED ON Warehouse 23
Space is vast and the galaxy has been around for billions of years. A species that has studied the sky for a few centuries need not imagine that they have seen everything that can happen. Some stellar events, for example supernovae, happen often enough that one or two are observed every year. Events that happen only once a century are recorded in history books and quickly identified by new generations of astronomers. Even events that happen once in a millennia are the subject of legends and a modern astronomer realizes he was not the first to see it. But things that happen once in a million years, those things are truly new wonders, unpredicted by scientists who thought they knew how the universe actually worked.
In the case of the event that caused the so-called Battle of the Starblazer, it had (like everything else in space) been a long time coming. The event was set in motion 20,000,000 years earlier when one star (ejected from the star cluster where it had been born) spent a million years or so passing another. That passage perturbed the location of the smaller, older, white star, and sent it in a spiral dance with a younger, larger, but less stable red star. After 20,000,000 years of circling each other in tighter and tighter orbits, the two stars collided, but it was not a collision of a type seen before. The younger and larger red star had reached the point of its death and was rapidly expanding in the early phase of becoming a nebula. It was the size of Saturn's orbit, and one could have argued whether the "surface of the star" was actually the surface of the star or the wave front of an exploding hypernova that had yet to reach the point of critical luminosity. The smaller and hotter white star barely noticed passing inside the red star's outer shell and (a few tens of thousands of years later) it collided and merged with the shrunken core of the larger red star. That collision turned the combined white star and red core into a very hot and very dense star that quickly collapsed into something even smaller, denser, and hotter. That object, for it was arguable if it were still a star, quickly erupted a near-lightspeed jet of hot matter out of its north and south poles. This jet burst through the still growing shell of the expanding red star, exciting its surface and resulting in waves of light, radiation, and gravity in combinations no existing civilization had ever seen before. By accident of geography, four such civilizations saw the event at nearly the same time, for the event that became known to Federation scientists as Y170E47X, and to others as "The Starblazer," happened in the Neutral Zone between the Federation and the Tholians, and was seen by patrols of the Klingons and Romulans. (Continue reading here)
Ask Admiral Vanaxilth Jindarian Bombers, Part II
Wayne Douglas Power asks: I can have three attrition bomber squadrons allowed by (S8.32). How many Jindarian external bombers (J16.FB2) can I place on an asteroid ship? I would think all three squadrons worth, or are there limits similar to the hybrid carrier variants (R16.R2)?
Kommodore Ketrick replies: Jindarian asteroid ships are not excepted from the rules for putting small or medium ground bases on asteroids [see introduction to (P3.4)]. You cannot have more than one unless the rules make a special exception. (Jindarian asteroid ships are never going to have such an exception as the mass of an asteroid and more than one small or medium ground base would result in a movement cost off the scale.) So the answer is you can place one squadron of up to six bombers on an asteroid ship. Note that in order for the bombers to be a "squadron" and use the bomber/heavy fighter electronic warfare rules all must operate from the same base, so all six must operate from one asteroid ship. The rules allow for "consolidation" during a scenario so three shot-up squadrons could land on two of the bases and combine into one or two full squadrons. This is, however, much less important than with size-1 fighters, as even if only two bombers of a squadron survive, one can always be fitted with the electronic warfare software. Gregory Flusche asks: I do wonder about external bombers on Jindarian asteroid ships, as they would advertise that asteroid and make it a target. They could, I am thinking, be hidden as the Size-Class-4 ships can be when docked to the asteroid ships. Now, for a raid or some such, basing the bombers on the exterior of the ship might be a good plan. According to the last paragraph of (R16.FB2), the presence of bombers docked to an asteroid ship does not reveal the presence of the asteroid ship for any purpose, even if the bombers launch (R16.1C6) as they may be launching from a normal bomber base. Kommodore Ketrick responds: The reason to have bombers on the exterior of an asteroid ship is that their presence does not reveal the asteroid ship if they do not launch, and being on the exterior of the ship they do not interfere with or reduce the operations of the prospecting shuttles, and otherwise they can be used for security patrols.
(End of Admiral Vanaxilth) Follow-up question: Would carrying six bombers on a Jindarian heavy battlecruiser make the ship a true carrier? Kommodore Ketrick replies: The use of bombers by Jindarians on a non-carrier has to be regarded as using them in the role of a casual carrier (J4.62). The description of the bomber base on an asteroid ship is pretty clear that it is just a landing site with reload capability, not a full base and thus a carrier in its own right. Same with stuffing them in the shuttle bay. Follow-on question: So, if I put external bombers on my Jindarian heavy cruiser, the heavy cruiser becomes a casual carrier. But, casual carriers do not need escorts, correct? Kommodore Ketrick replies: Casual carriers do not require escorts, and yes, adding the bombers to a non-carrier asteroid ship makes it a casual carrier. The limit in (S8.0) is to squadrons of attrition units. You could have three asteroid cruisers (standard combat versions) each with up to six bombers carried externally as each squadron of bombers counts as a dozen fighters towards the allowed total of 36 attrition units. The limit is on squadrons/flotillas of attrition units, and fighters and fast patrol ships (and bombers and Interceptors) are counted within that limit (see however "Federation Third Way"). If one of your three asteroid ships is a carrier, then its fighters count against the total number of attrition units you can have. As a bomber counts as two size-1 fighters, you could have a light carrier (eight fighters) carrying two bombers externally for a total of 12 of your allowed 36 attrition units, and a regular light cruiser carrying six bombers for another 12. The light carrier is a true carrier and must be escorted, the light cruiser with external bombers is a casual carrier and does not require escorts. Gregory Flusche asks: According to (J14.231), a heavy bomber could carry up to four electronic warfare pods (two built-in and two on the rails), giving it up to eight points of electronic warfare. A ship can only have up to a maximum of six electronic warfare points total. According to (J4.91), a given fighter cannot use more than six points of ECM or more than six points of ECCM, including points from all sources. So, can the bomber with four pods have six points of ECM and two points of ECCM? ANSWER: Remember, the bomber has two points of built-in ECM and two points of built-in ECCM, per (J4.47). So, with its two built-in electronic warfare pods, and two more on the pod rails, it would be operating at six ECM and six ECCM. F&E Q&A
CONVERSIONS Q: Can an empire convert an unlimited number of drone ships into scout versions of drone ships (assuming money and conversion capacity) in a single turn?
A: Let's refer to the rulebook. (701.1) May make one scout substitution per turn, and any number of scout conversions. Empires that use drone bombardment ships have different rules defining how they are built, but in this case you are not building a drone ship, but converting a ship into a scout, which is not limited. Therefore, converting an existing drone ship into a scout-drone version of that same base hull does not constitute building a drone ship. (End of F&E Q&A)
ASK AUNT JEAN
Dear Aunt Jean, I have a gaming group that plays Prime Directive. Do we count as a battle group? A: Of course you do! Just register here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/application.shtml
Send questions to Jean at marketing@StarFleetGames.com and she will answer as soon as she can.
(End of Ask Aunt Jean ) Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool". We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website: Wallpapers STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page FC Tactic of the MonthBORING IN ON THE THOLIANS Wardroom, Romulan SparrowHawk Formidable
"And so I said 'Son, you could have at least taken your jacket off' and left the room," Sub-Commander Fenius said with a laugh. The senior officers around his table joined in the laughter. "Sub-Commander," a voice said from beside him. Fenius looked up to see one of the yeomen standing there. "What is it?" he tried very hard not to be annoyed. The young woman, a daughter of one of the other Great Houses, would not have interrupted his meal if she had not been told to do so by the officer on watch. It would be that officer who paid if the interruption were unwarranted. "Ante-Tribune Decentius said to give you this." She handed him a datapad. Fenius took the pad and flipped through the pages. Decentius had done his job well, organizing the data for quick review. The last page was a situation map, with patrol zones, nearby ships, and fuel status marked. Fenius was impressed. "Gentlemen," he said to the senior officers at his table, "it seems a unique stellar event is happening in the far end of the Neutral Zone between the Federation and Tholians. We may well go over there and gather scientific data." He passed the datapad to his first officer. "Young lady, please give my compliments to Ante-Tribune Decentius for his excellent work. Tell him to take the ship to full speed and head for this event. Advise him that I will contact Squadron Command in order obtain the necessary permissions, and that we should have an answer before we reach the limits of our patrol sector." Fenius then returned to his dinner. The chief engineer, now reviewing the datapad, had concerns over burning a full 40 percent of the ship's fuel to reach this exploding star at top speed, but Fenius observed "We're not at war, Tribune, and we carry that fuel just for things like this." The other officers were quite happy. Taking a brand new ship, one of the first of a new class, that far away from home was a mark of confidence by the captain, and (if they approved) the fleet commanders. Besides that, a port call at a Klingon planet promised to include some interesting diversions. By the time the ship reached the limit of its patrol area, squadron command had already approved the extended mission. Before the day was out, Romulan diplomats in the Federation were advising Star Fleet that the Formidable would be arriving at the scene of this event for innocent scientific inquiries. The Federation sent back a message welcoming the ship's support for the joint scientific investigation. Fenius knew that the Federation would offer port facilities (wanting a closer look at his ship) and that fleet command would be very unlikely to accept that invitation. Subspace messages were also sent to the Tholians, who acknowledged the messages but did not reply to them.
The Andromedan dissection beam from Module C3A: The Andromedan Threat File is a terrifying weapon, capable of slicing ships into pieces. It does have some limitations, however, beyond those annoying Ronco commercials.
Firstly, the firing ship must be holding the target in a tractor beam for maximum effect. Secondly, any shields at all, even a single box, will stop all damage from a dissection beam. That requires the Andromedan player to be sure the facing shield is down before firing the beam. That can be hard for the Andromedans, whose weapons (tractor-repulsor beams and phaser-2s) have low "crunch power." On top of that, the Andromedan unit may need to use one of its tractor-repulsor beams as a tractor, reducing its firepower even further. Fortunately, the plasma pods also featured in Module C3A synergize with the dissection beam. Plasma torpedoes yield plenty of damage, which makes bringing down a shield easy. With the target held in a tractor beam, it cannot launch a wild weasel or run from the plasma torpedoes (which must be launched on passive fire control from a point at least five hexes from the target, giving the target time to react). The plan is as follows: the dissection-beam-armed ship tractors the target in anticipation of slicing it up. Plasma torpedoes are launched at the target, maneuvered so they will hit the shield facing the dissection-beam-armed ship. After the plasma torpedoes hit, the facing shield will be either down or weakened enough for phasers and tractor-repulsor beams to bring it down, and the dissection beam can carve the roast. This will cost a lot of power for the tractor beam and deployment of the plasma torpedoes, so it works best on the largest Andromedan ships, or two ships working in tandem. It also gives the Galactic fleet time to react and protect the tractored ship, so be ready to deal with that. A mauler ship can also be used in place of the plasma torpedo pod, but it will cost more BPV. (End of SFB Tactic of the Month)
A Call To Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month (End of A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month)
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show our games and to teach potential players some basics. 
