Proposing Variants: The Background can Matter
This is Steven Petrick posting.
Star Fleet Battles is a big game, and it is obvious that many ships appear in very small numbers of variants. It is easy to propose that a variant of a ship be done, but you run into the problem that no matter how easy it might be to do the variant, you have to decide if it is "real" or not.
The Star Fleet Universe is large and diverse but also interconnected. Add a new variant, and you have to ask what, if any, impact it will have on Federation & Empire, or Galactic Conquest. When considering the design, you have to think about A Call to Arms: Star Fleet, and Starmada. Fortunately most ships do not have a major impact in the various role-playing modules (although more than one player has his own "avatar" that he assumes in game play) and there is seldom any effect on Star Fleet: Battle Force.
If you are working with a ship class with a long service life (say one that entered service, as a class, between Y120 and Y130) there are openings for it (it does not necessarily have to impact the General War). But this means that it was probably a "failed design" no matter how much the designer might want to make it a "super ship" (one of the most difficult aspects of design is trying to strike a balance and create a workable ship, not a demon that is so good it would clearly remain in production and be converted to an Advanced Technology Design).
So if your basic ship is an old one, then look at similar designs. Why did the different variant remain in service if your new variant is clearly so much better. Why is your new variant not the standard for the start of the General War?
Does this mean you have to build a ship that is unworkable?
Not really. Often you can look at the background and find a reason. Perhaps the ship was a good design, but the conversion was too difficult and expensive, so only a few were built and they were lost before the General War began, but of course that leaves open at least the possibility of later production. Perhaps your variant is a good design, but the empire you want to build it in is full of political back stabbing, and it is just too bad that your "house" fell out of favor with the praetor and the design was cancelled in favor of a more prominent house. Perhaps the design is good, but the Holdfast needs to build more standard Cs and cannot spare hulls and so none were ever built.
In short, consider the background and how your design will fit.
Star Fleet Battles is a big game, and it is obvious that many ships appear in very small numbers of variants. It is easy to propose that a variant of a ship be done, but you run into the problem that no matter how easy it might be to do the variant, you have to decide if it is "real" or not.
The Star Fleet Universe is large and diverse but also interconnected. Add a new variant, and you have to ask what, if any, impact it will have on Federation & Empire, or Galactic Conquest. When considering the design, you have to think about A Call to Arms: Star Fleet, and Starmada. Fortunately most ships do not have a major impact in the various role-playing modules (although more than one player has his own "avatar" that he assumes in game play) and there is seldom any effect on Star Fleet: Battle Force.
If you are working with a ship class with a long service life (say one that entered service, as a class, between Y120 and Y130) there are openings for it (it does not necessarily have to impact the General War). But this means that it was probably a "failed design" no matter how much the designer might want to make it a "super ship" (one of the most difficult aspects of design is trying to strike a balance and create a workable ship, not a demon that is so good it would clearly remain in production and be converted to an Advanced Technology Design).
So if your basic ship is an old one, then look at similar designs. Why did the different variant remain in service if your new variant is clearly so much better. Why is your new variant not the standard for the start of the General War?
Does this mean you have to build a ship that is unworkable?
Not really. Often you can look at the background and find a reason. Perhaps the ship was a good design, but the conversion was too difficult and expensive, so only a few were built and they were lost before the General War began, but of course that leaves open at least the possibility of later production. Perhaps your variant is a good design, but the empire you want to build it in is full of political back stabbing, and it is just too bad that your "house" fell out of favor with the praetor and the design was cancelled in favor of a more prominent house. Perhaps the design is good, but the Holdfast needs to build more standard Cs and cannot spare hulls and so none were ever built.
In short, consider the background and how your design will fit.
posted by Federation Commander at 8:05 PM
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