Compiled and Edited by Mark_XON
Xon Gaming
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Information here represents all the editions of the rules; 1st, 1.5, 2nd
and 2.5 version from the designers: FantaSimulations
Associates and FASA
MECHANICS
General | The RPG | Supplements | Starships | Starship Combat | Starship Construction
ANOMALIES
General | The RPG | Supplements | Starships | Starship Combat | Starship Construction
Sources FASA Used |
Sources
Borrowed from FASA
GENERAL
- More humor in the 1ed rules, and the designers seem to be chatting with you.
- The FASA dates are given in reference scheme C/YYMM.DD (century / year
month. day) This dating system was for simplicity's sake as at the time of publishing there
existed many forms of "STARDATES" as a result the canon Stardates system
was inconsistent.
- FASA's explanations for the inconsistencies in ST were
usually more often than not, better than the Paramount
explanations that they later themselves wrote for on screen
evidence.
- FASA's history and stories of the pre-TOS era
Starfleet is a great read.
- About Money In the Federation: The old saying "There's no money in the Federation" is generalized and we always
assumed everything was basically traded in the Star Trek Universe for the most part. FASA
used money in this system and provided pay scales for Federation Crew Members and for
other purposes. There was never an objection to money voiced by anyone at Paramount that
Fantasimulations Associates where aware about. There certainly IS money in the Federation,
but aboard most fleet starships you rarely dealt with it. Remember "The Trouble with
Tribbles" established the "Federation credit" as the unit of exchange in
the Federation. The same episode established Cyrano Jones as an independent trader, the
model for Fantasimulations Associates characters in "Trader Captains and Merchant
Princes."
- FASA's Ruling "...material printed later is the correct
source..."; Various past material was always in a refining process when older
material was used in later publications, especially to meet canons ability to contradict
itself.
- "The Final Reflection" and FASA introduced a Klingon naming
convention based on service. Klingons were given different names when they were born but
when they began their true service to the Empire, they changed their names. Those in the
navy began with the K (Krenn, Kelly), those in the marines began with an M (Merzhan,
Maltz) and those in administrative and support positions, scientists and the like, began
with an A.
- The Klingon/Human Genetic Fusion Theory is in FASA's authorized RPG
material and in a number of STAR TREK novels, including the definitive Klingon work,
"The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford. Also introduced is the
Klingon/Romulan-fusion, With Imperial Klingons as the full blooded.
- The FASA version of the Klingon language is called Klingonaase with the
homeworld named Klinzhai. The leaders where Klingon Emperors-thought admirals, and an
afterlife known as the "Black Fleet."
- Starfleet Service founded on FASA Reference Stardate 0/8910 (2146)
THE RPG
- The structure of STAR TREK: The Role-Playing Game is episodic in nature,
much like the television series itself. Settings cover the original TV series era the
2260s, the "original crew" movie era (upto STIV) of the 2280/90s and, skip
over to, the first year of the TNG era of the 2360/70s.
- The game system uses a d% system, it uses percentile dice for
randomization. Two special d10 dice where used, each numbered 0-9 twice.
- Character creation was done by rolling up seven attributes STR, END,
INT, DEX, CHA, LUC, PSI (The last three provide additional bonus for the characters, some
where adjusted depending on the characters race.) and skill points. All attributes and
skills are expressed as random-roll percentages. Range from 1 to 100, with more than 100
equaling superhuman.
- Characters that could be played are Humans, Vulcans, Tellarites,
Andorians, Orions, Klingons, Romulans, Caitians and Edoans. The last two come from the
animated series. Pre-rolled characters where available, including the main characters from
the series, such as Captain Kirk, Mr Spock, Lieutenant Uhura and Yeoman Janice Rand.
- A class system is used, in that each branch of service (career path)
had it's own training and class skills with a lot of variety. Created by putting them
through the Academy and actually selecting the courses they study. Everybody receives the
same basic training, and tour of duty, but they have specialties, with a good feel for
Star Trek Officers. Using a lifepath system that creates a believable, well-rounded
persona with a history! This Character system was nicely expanded in the second
edition's "Star Fleet Officer's Manual."
- Character generation is designed primarily for officers and
department heads, rules for enlisted characters isn't directly covered.
- No experience point system. Characters typically progressed based on the
number of years in service and certain promotions.
- Rules breakdown as many tasks into skills as possible. The
Communications Skill for an example into Communications Systems Operations (the use of the
communications gear) and Communications Systems Technology (the repair of the
communications equipment).
- The
skill-based system, uses basic percentile. For routine situations,
non-crisis non-combat non-critical "basic use" situations, the FASA
rules call for as follows:
If you have a skill of at least 10 you can
succeed normally (for an example, 10 in shuttlecraft pilot meant you
could fly the shuttlecraft and land it on a planet with no problem.),
For a skill of 9 or less you roll 1d10. You have the option to also
roll the percentile dice (2d10); if you roll higher than your skill but
39 or less a "close call" occurs and 40 or greater in a skill is
considered professional so no roll is required for routine use. Dice
modifiers for skill rolls are also provided and are required for use to
allow the skill system to work properly.
FASA Skill Resolution System:
Unskilled: 0 Semi-Skilled: 1-9 10-39: Qualified: 40-79: Professional level 80-94: Expert 95+: Acknowledged Leader
The Skill Resolution Chart 2a can also be summarized this way:
For Qualified, Professional, Expert and Acknowledged Leader Skill Levels, FASA denotes "degrees of severity":
Routine/Easy: +100 (-100% die modifier) Non-Critical/Challenging: +60 (+10% die modifier) Critical/Difficult: +20 (+20% die modifier) Dire/Nearly Impossible: +0 (+30% die modifier)
This reflects what the text says in the FASA RPG about certain skill levels automatically succeeding, etc.
Baring any situational modifiers:
Qualified skills will Automatically succeed for Routine/Easy tasks
Professional skills will Automatically succeed for Routine/Easy and Non-Critical/Challenging tasks.
Expert and above skills will Automatically succeed for Routine/Easy, Non-Critical/Challenging and Critical/Difficult tasks.
- The game is a D100 based system, which is really easy to use
and understand. You use percentile (D100) dice, and the goal is
to roll low. The game is skill based, with skills will be
ranging from 1 (barely know anything) to 100+.
On an
exceptional roll (a 5 or less) there is a chance of actually
improving the skill you are using, and on exceptionally high
rolls ugly things can. and often do, happen, and they don’t
always happen to you. There are modifiers that can adjust
your rolls up and down, of course, but a 100 on the die is a 100
on the die and is a massive fail no matter what, just as a 01 is
a massive success. A skill level of less than 10 means you
have incidental knowledge about the topic (you know something
about shuttlecraft or you can tell what language that alien is
speaking even if you don’t understand a word of it for example).
A 10+ means you are qualified (can pilot a shuttlecraft or have
a general conversation with that alien in that language with no
roll necessary under normal circumstances). A 40+ means you are
professional (you can pilot your shuttle under challenging
circumstances or give a speech to a planetary governing body in
their language without sounding like an idiot, considered
fluent). A skill of 80+ means you are expert (you can pilot your
shuttlecraft under extreme circumstances or you are completely
fluent with no accent and even have a regional dialect or two).
A skill of 96+ means you are a leader in the field (you can
successfully pilot your shuttlecraft under dire circumstances or
you know more about their language than their scholars do).
- 1ED to 2ED; There were a few skill changes, mostly renaming. For
example, Starship Navigation was renamed Astrogation. They separated the sciences into
categories. The Social-political index was changed....
- Personal combat use of APs is much simpler in the 1st
edition than the 2nd edition.
- Close combat could be played out using a counter (or miniature) based
"Tactical Movement" system featuring lots of possible weapons and actions.
- The man to man combat system uses a complex but effective action
point (AP) system based on your DEX. Its a tactical movement/combat board game system based
on a 1/2 inch square, Each square is 1.5 meters (aprox 5ft). These rules are based on FASA's tactical
mechanics for the Grav Ball Sport RPG. Often the majority of these rules can be over
looked and then only used during critical actions or events. All depends how fast you want
the game to move along.
- Utilizes a location system. This system, best seen in The Federation,
utilizes an x-y graph to locate the planetary systems of the campaign universe. The
central navigational beacon of the UFP is at location 0,0. Terra is core
ward of that
location, at 1.23 N, 2.79 W. The Federation is approximately 160 parsecs in diameter. Each
whole number on each axis is 10 parsecs, or 32.7 light years.
- FASA's galaxy map; Planetary Systems are laid out differently than other
trek maps, quadrants are numbered clockwise for 2D RPGing.
- The FASA Federation is only approximately 500 light years across.
- Planetary Generation exists with basic details.
- A new area to explore and role-play is FASA's invention of "The
Triangle" A lawless area bordering on Klingon, Romulan and UFP space.
- wide-angle stun setting for Phasers was added just before the 2nd
Edition rules. Briefly, it works like this: A wide-angle stun shot affects all targets in
three CONNECTED squares (any pattern chosen by the attacker). All targets must be within
the stated SHORT range of the weapon, and a clear line-of-sight must be drawn to EACH
TARGET SQUARE. A wide-angle stun shot drains FOUR TIMES as much power as a standard stun
shot.
A separate To Hit roll must be made for all affected targets. If the roll fails, the
target is missed (or at least unaffected), even though targets on either side (or in the
same square) may be hit. A 20 point bonus is applied, however, to all wide angle stun To
Hit rolls.
Only phaser-type energy weapons (not disruptors, police stunners, blasters, etc.) have
this setting, and it works only with the stun setting. (Wide angle heat is possible, but
it does no damage to normal living targets...) Resetting a weapon for wide-angle stun
requires performing a "reset weapon" settings action, as does returning the
angle setting to normal. There is no "wide angle heavy stun" setting.
SUPPLEMENTS
- The supplements and adventures were well written and for the most
part...captured the style & feel of classic Star Trek.
- The flexibility of the game's structure allowed any
supplement adventure to be "reconfigured" for any era,
regardless when it was originally set.
- Much of the Adventure Modules and Scenario's put the players in the
leading roles of Star Trek characters and the Enterprise.
- Bridge crew players visited Alien planets and became part of
the Landing Parties that would explore and address the Alien
people.
- Many of the Adventures are TV episode follows ups or an episode itself.
- FASA's The Triangle 'area' / ("triangular system"-Picard TNG)
is a well-thought out extension of the knowledge presented in the TOS original series and
the TMP era Star Trek movies. The Triangle area is original to FASA and Star trek and is a
great idea that made for a wonderful area to set a campaign.
- In the case of The Romulans Sourcebooks, Fantasimulations Associates had no such clear direction.
The original TV series episodes gave them only a very thin look at their culture, and the
novels out at the time had wildly contradictory views, none of which was accepted as canon
by Paramount. So FASA made it up. Lots of it. They had to. Fantasimulations Associates had
to have some unified vision, and there's was approved 100% by Paramount.
- FASA's Tricorder and Sensor Display use many 'founded <?> methods'
to provide a working game prop made of paperboard.
Methods Include:
"red filter method" with blue and green "coded" or
"cryptic" datastrips. The red filter (acetate plastic film); -absorb short and medium wavelengths. -block blue and green light (fasa uses a green/blue mixed color). -a green object viewed through a red filter will appear much darker. -a red filter lightens the red tones and darkens blues and greens. -make it difficult to detect blue from green from violet. -reduces total light.
- FASA introduced the whole mythos of the Klingons and the various clans
of the Klingons.
- FASA's role-play gaming materials referred to male Orions'
white/gold/green coloring being derived from varying amounts of melanin.
- Overall Rules and Supplements support upto and including STIV then skip
over to The first year of TNG
STARSHIPS
- FASA's Starship stats; The dimensions of the ships that
appear in any of
the ST films come from photos of the ship models FASA receives from Paramount. FASA makes
all the appropriate measurements to come up with the proper dimensions. The speeds,
weaponry and other data listed for the Enterprise, Constitution, Klingon D-7A, D-7M, and
Romulan Bird of Prey only came from Paramount. All others were created at FASA.
- FASA generated the weaponry for the Excelsior and the Klingon Scout from
the STIII movie, Paramount hadn't done this. All the information published by FASA has
been approved by Paramount and is therefore what should be used.
- FASA provided detailed histories for each of their ship designs.
- FASA provided a completely plausible background for the entire
Klingon/Romulan "technology exchange" events that took place after TMP and
before STII aswell as during STIII. This is based on a behind the scenes correction for
the History of the Romulan BoP starship in STIII and why it was in the hands of the
Klingon Empire. The "Bird of Prey" was Romulan Design traded to the Klingons
some time before STIII. This also included Romulan Cloaking Devices, this is when Klingons
finaly have the ability to posse and maintain a cloaking device, not make. (note: klingons
didn't have cloak in the TOS/TAS/TMP series).
- FASA provided the three original 'Klingon' "Bird of Prey"
class ships, K-22, D-32, L-42 each one representing 3 different STIII Effect
shots filmed in different scales. (There where actually 5 different sizes shown in that
movie) In doing this FASA started the chain of Klingon Bird Of Prey Class Sizes used by
Paramount in several later movies and series. FASA's K-22 is the Bounty, in STIV
Paramount 'fixed' this error by using the K-22 for all scenes.
- FASA had ignored allot of unofficial "established" Treknical
fandom and invented its own names for ship classes and explanations for how things worked,
and diverged from the "established" Star Fleet Battles speculation material into
consideration for there original speculations and expansions on the official Star Trek
universe. FASA takes no responsibility for remaining consistent with the unofficial SFB
system. SFB has no connection with the official FASA ST:RPG or Star Trek in any
manner, besides similarities. It was a good decision on FASA part, considering they had
official access to Paramount. It produces accurate information based on the series itself
rather than other publications. This may have been Paramount agreed decision aswell later
on.
- Popular FASA Federation Ship designs include; Andor, Baker, Larson,
Northampton, Chandley, Loknar, and Nelson classes.
- Many of FASAs starships [drawnings] use the primary hull of Constitution saucers.
STARSHIP COMBAT
- The 1st edition may have the best starship combat rules. It
is very similar to later versions from FASA with a few
differences: (FASA's starship combat systems after the STIII box
became increasingly number driven.)
NPC ships have an
abridged set of options. Instead of configuring every power
point power allocation is abstracted to a menu of choices - i.e.
lots of movement no shields or weapons, all weapons
armed/minimal movement/shields, etc.
No phases after
which shields recharge. Ships take turns spending each movement
point. Once a ship runs it no longer takes turns with other
ships. But all ships can fire at any time.
This is true
of the 2nd edition variants, but I wanted to reiterate it. I'd
forgotten how clever it was to divide roles in the way they did.
Captain gives the orders, engineer decides how to allocate
power, various officers use that power to best follow captain's
orders and make various rolls.
- The Starship Combat System (SCS) is available from three revisions within five products,
You have TRPG Box Set, the first installment of the Starship Combat Rules where introduced. These
rules are the original and a "abbreviated system" when compared to the
"Command & Control" rules found in the later released Starship Combat
Game products. Then the next four products where in their own standalone Box
Sets and sold separately. The final game (3rd Edition) of the Ship Combat Game Rules; 2003
Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator (STCS). (which
ultimately is the '5th installment').
- FASA's ship combat features a Tactical and Role Playing Style starship
combat system. As a Role Playing game, (Command and Control) you take the positions of one of the bridge crew.
Such as Captain, Engineer, Helmsman, Communications Officer etc with large control station paper sheets.
- FASA's Tactical Starship Combat is also a standalone strategy board game, the
idea is to out think your opponent more than guess about it. You have to figure out what
your opponent is likely to do, then you have to figure out where you want to be and what
you want to do, then perform your power allocation which includes the shields, you have to
figure out which shields need to be powered, since not all are at one time.
- FASA Starship rules are strict on power availability and amounts. Most
Starships can rarely raise shields to full strength (all the way around) with the amount of power the ships
have.
- FASA Starship rules don't natively support "all actual" phaser
bank mountings on the top and bottom of a Federation Starship saucer, and another pair of
banks on the dorsal and ventral. Its based on the TOS Tri-Configuration, the original
designs called for 6 phaser weapons mounted in 3 banks of 2 - one bank forward under the
main dish, one to port atop the dish, and one to starboard atop the dish. FASA later
introduced a newer optional rule that is based on Bank "PAIRS" and Fire Control
"PAIRS". Its a limited rule, it doesn't completely compensate for the lack of
native support, but its more 'canon' like. Also the rule is primarily written for Starship
RPGing rather than focused on the Tactical. These rules don't call for any revision to the
Starship Game or Construction Rules to use. *The FASA game is a 2d only
tactical game. To account for this they removed phasers from ships to
adjust for not having a “Z” axis in the games tactical system. For
example they have the TMP Enterprise listed as only have 6 or 8 phasers
(depending upon reference book). The actual studio model has 18 phasers
at various places all over the ship.
- Starship Combat has an optional rule; you can fire the entire standard
bank at once(considered two weapons), or each weapon in the bank individually. Results in
hitting different areas of a target and more rolls of the dice to determine what happened.
- FASA's STCS phasers outrange torpedoes. (In TNG series torpedoes greatly
outranged phasers.)
- In the simpler versions; STIISCS and the STIIISCG, they
have two sets of stats for ships; engine, weapon and shield
values are 1/3 the main value stats.
- FASA Starship rules support energy allocation that doesn't need to be
tracked between turns. A Turn contains several phases.
- In STIISCS and the STIIISCG there are 4 Phases per game
turn using the Basic Rules. There are 5 Phases to a game turn when
using the Advanced Rules. There is an optional rule to reduce the
phases to 3 per game turn to speed up play found in both games, Book
Two page 6; FIRING LIMITATIONS and Movement/Firing Phases table for the
reduced phases.
- In STIIISCRPG there are 4 Phases per game turn using the
Basic Rules. There are 5 Phases to a game turn when using the Advanced
and Expert Rules.
- The Advanced Course Rules for Combat in STCS follow this sequence in each game turn:
Power Allocation Phase - Steps 1, 2
Tactical Advantage Phase -
Step 3
Sensors Phase - Steps 4, 5, 6, 7
Movement Phase -
Steps 8, 9, 10, 11
Firing Phase - Steps 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Repair/Repower Phase - Steps 18, 19
Continuing the Game -
Step 20 (Repeat Steps 4-19 for the second time/phase) Step 21 (Repeat Steps 4-19 for the third and final time/phase for this turn)
Ending the Game - Step 22 (if victory conditions are met).
- FASA's STCS game balances movement with a ratio. It takes more power for
the big ships to move, so even if you allocated all power to the engines there is still a
limit to how much "speed" you could get out of it.
- Starship Combat Tactical is not based on actual speeds. It does not
directly support/translate actual speed Vs movement points. However Acceleration and
Deceleration is 'calculated' into The Movement Point System and Distribution Table for
simple board game use. The Scale of the games mechanics and the fact that actual speeds
are not used, makes it appear that a ship can go directly from a standstill to incredible
undefined speeds, which would be something like 5 or 10 movement points at once, BUT in
the terms of the game mechanics scale.
- Starship Combat is not based on timetables. No reasonable translation of
time can be obtained.
- The 'FASA Shield System' should be thought of as a globe, with
directional deflectors. Shields are assigned to locations around the ship.
(In TOS, TAS, TMP the shields are 'traced' around the skin of the ship.)
- Outposts and Bases can move at a high power cost of a 10/1 movement
point ratio, using thrusters. They rotate as well with minimum power.
- 1ED to 2ED; The Starship Combat System RPG was eliminated from the rpg
part of the game. They added a quick roll starship combat system as a separate product.
- The emphasis was more on trying to capture the feel of a
relatively short, and to the point, battle, like you typically saw on
TV.
- The Combat Simulator counters were colorful enough to do
the job, and just the right size. The hex shape is a nice touch.
- The counters are fabulous…the shapes, the colors,
everything. They look great.
SHIP CONSTRUCTION
- FASA's Construction Manual is intended to build ships for the Starship
Combat Games, only lists ratings for the Computers, Warp Engines, Impulse Engines, and
Weapons. Theres no data for accounting for the ships total construction(mass and
superstucture), like cargo bays, sensors, shuttlebays, cargo mass and small craft
mass, etc.
- FASA
splits all vessels into one of 20 weight classes. This system does not
affect gameplay, but does play a major part in Starship Construction
Rules. FASA's Starship Class Sizes is based on STAR TREKs official
Federation classifications, which is similar to the Terran
classifications of the late 18th century. During this time 1800 A.D. a
Frigate was the largest ship, such as FASA's Chandley Frigate, just the
opposite of the 1990's where a very small ship is considered a Frigate.
The FASA construction system has a maximum ship size of 700,000 mt. The
Baker is a Class IV destroyer (122,000mt), but is not considered heavy
by Federation standards, referring to the mission or tasks of the ship
type. It is possible for a destroyer to weigh twice as much, but is
unlikely.
- The Construction Rules are for Starships, they don't support Shuttle
Craft Creation.
- FASA's second edition construction manual(released 1986) supports up to
and around STIII, movie year 2285.
- FASA'a Starship Class sizes are limited by engine tables per race in the
Ship Construction Manual(2nd Edition). The largest numbers are: for the Federation Class
XX; Romulans Class XIX; Klingons Class XVIII; Gorns Class XVIII, and Orions Class X.
- FASA engine designations were the very simple FWA, FWB, FWC (Federation
Warp A, B, C, etc). There was no connection between the external appearance of the nacelle
and the designation given and if there was originally then its broken due to scales and
sizes of the engines.
- The 2nd Edition manual does not directly support construction of a three warp engine
starship. But does for single and dual. In the original official canon there is no such thing as a single warp
engine starship or a tri configuration in the Star Trek Universe. Apparently Single Warp engine ship
testing was abandoned some time shortly before the ST:TMP. Although in ST: TNG they have
shown single warp engine starships on bridge displays, including a ship from the late
TOS/early TMP period and some possibly from TNG era or slightly earlier. The Three engine
configurations where only shown on screen in Altered Timelines or Possible Futures only.
- FASA used a different
formula to calculate CE prior to the Second Edition of the Starship Construction
Manual. The Federation and Klingon Manuals WDF/D vary significantly with results from the
2nd ed Construction Manual CE formula. But in the Romulan Manual, the numbers matched. The
Romulan ships that appeared in the STCS rulebook also had corrected WDF/D.
GENERAL
- The 1st Edition book binding is overall very weak. It's not a
well-bound book. Most of the old used books require repair so the pages
won't fall out.
- FASA's early role-play gaming materials incorrectly inferred that Edoans were reptilian
and the creators of Saurian brandy.
- FASA dumped a bunch of ranks into their sourcebook, and failed to explain where they
exist.
- 1st to 2nd Edition Rule changes are overall minor (and they probably could have
developed a 3rd Ed to straighten out that hand to hand combat system.)
THE RPG
- There is no variable time for various branches, everyone graduates the
academy in 4 years. Each cadet cruise is a year. Department head and command
school are bundled into one tour lasting two years. (...something like command
school would have worked well, ex: for Saavik).
- FASA's Timeline is off by many years when compared to the
Canon Chronology Timeline. When the TNG series came out, it
pushed dates 300 years further into the future. This left FASA
RSD's needing the addition of years, sometimes it could be 52 years or 60 years, it all
depends in which part of the timeline you are trying to line up, if
varies. Basically you'll
be adding years to each date to align them correctly. (This is just a rule of thumb, you'll want to see the James
Dixon Timeline to read about how to adjust the dates and or look at the Design Consortiums
Date Conversion List.) Special note about the German FanPro version of the RPG, although it still
uses the FASA Reference Stardates, it uses the Paramount Timeline. So in other words the
dates are right on.
- FASA's Timeline doesn't include the now known adjusted years between TMP and STII. Typically and approximately 2271 to 2285.
- D-7 deckplans: The detailing was shoddy in places; problems with
them included miscalling individual floors, and stairways that led into
walls or machinery.
- The included decks plans in the core 1st ED set are only
7.5mm, thats too small for the larger size display counters that where
included. Although if one bought the larger 15mm deck plans made afterwards the smaller set could be used by the GM for his
needs, keeping the larger playing field for the players.
- On pages 24 & 37 of the Game Operations Manual book(2ED)
it says
for a characters Wound and Fatigue healing rates to be calculated as
follows: Wound - divide END score by 10 Fatigue - divide END score
by 20. This formula was obviously used to calculate the example character
of Lee
Sterling's healing rates (on the character sheet shown on page 2 of the
Cadet Orientation Manual,) but....
In the Starfleet Officer's Manual(2ED), as well as FASA's Romulan,
Klingon, Orion, and Starfleet Intel supplements as well as the second edition
of Trader Captains & Merchant Princes, the formula is reversed. Wound -
divide END score by 20 Fatigue - divide END score by 10 The
sample character sheet in the Starfleet Intel and Romulan supplements
also use this second formula. So, I think the Game Operations Manual is
in error. - With Man to Man Combat there is no way a person can avoid,
block or parry an attack made with a melee weapon. He has to
just stand there and hope the player misses: A short revision is
probably needed to the types of movement available as
opportunity actions, or alternately some sort of Block or Dodge
action.
SUPPLEMENTS
- "Graduation Exercise" pre-rolled Klingon PCs are poorly defined,
having a few skills but no specialties, and not at all following the "Klingons"
supplement.
- "Denial of
Destiny", On page 15 paragraph thee, there's a single line of text
that indicates that there is suppose to be a small map included, however
there is no map present in the manual.
- "The White Flame" rulebook contains drawings of Klingon-Human and Klingon-Romulan
Fusion Characters in Imperial Uniforms. When this isn't consistent with canon or
the games original definition of the Fusion beings.
- "The White Flame"
rulebook contains two known errors in the book,
pg5 indicates the last four scenarios are a campaign, when in fact the
previous four are. Also pg40 under Victory Conditions, the two charts
are mislabeled and placed in the wrong location, ex: Attacker Table
should be Defender Table and vice versa.
- "The Strider Incident" has Full deckplans of a scout-class ship -- 43
crew members and not a single bathroom.
- "The Regula Deckplans" are not really plans of Regula One from the
movie. They of a (not very) similar Invictus Defense Outpost which is
(supposedly) based on the same core station.
- "The Regula Deckplans" are at a 3-meter per square scale.
- "The Regula Deckplans" On page10 of the book it has a drawing of the R-1
Investigator Type. However it is labeled Invictus with weaponized stats.
That's not correct, it should read Investigator and have un armed stats. Page36 of the book has a drawing of the R-1
Invictus Type Orbital Defense Outpost with un armed stats. That's not correct,
it should read Invictus Type with weaponized stats. Page47 of the Deckplan book has the labels for the
Invictus and Investigator Types, reverse. The drawings labeled Investigator
are actually Invictus and those labeled Invictus are actually Investigators.
- The "Decision at Midnight" plans. Areas of the ship are classified -- like
"Officer's quarters" -- and the entire space is filled with a chunky rectangle
without any detail and the plans are not to scale.
- "STIII Sourcebook Update", FASA's
canon sourced book features the Type II-b Phaser
from the movies with a designed team prototype image(pg15). "The final Phaser products shown in the film
have some detail differences..." . In Mr. Scott’s Guide, The Art of
Star Trek and all other publications you’ll see the prototype II-b
Phaser builds as well. It seems the only available pictures are all from
the ILM-built proposal prototypes and not from actual finished
production photos.
- "The TNG First Year Sourcebook" Only later prints give stats for
the weapons (early prints have only how long it takes to reload one).
- The names of some of the FASA staff that worked on FASA Star Trek lent their names to
various "things" in the game universe: Proofreader Donna Ippolito's last name
was used as the name for (and home planet of) the Ippolito (horse guys). Babcock Class
Frigate named after a FASA employee, FASA's Baker class write up in the Fed Recog, 2nd
edition mentioned the USS Knutson (for FASA artist Dana Knutson).
- "The Klingons, 1st edition" Rules primarily focus on Imperial Marines. It only hints on
adventuring rather then going into details. Best used to create games where Klingon
crews are the focus of the action, or may be used to flesh out Klingon opponents for your
Star Fleet characters.
- "The Klingons, 2nd edition" Rules focuses on what you need to run adventures in the entire empire
with detailed worlds and ship info. Some of the information in these updated books
contradict previously published Klingon information, but its not drastic and won't
greatly effect previously published Klingon adventures.
- "The TNG Officers Manual" The entire book isn't particularly arranged as an RPG
book in its format. This book has no actual rule updates and few stats. Its more of a
descriptive book rather than a clear and understandable set of new game
rules/instructions. If any book of the Star Trek line has become uncanon, this one is it.
Paramount nearly completely ignored this book. Examples of clearly wrong information;
Betazoids do not come from Haven II, they come from Betazed. "Ultra Warp" does
not exist, nor does it come from Transwarp drive. Transwarp was later determined abandoned
back in ST IV. There's no Medusans Navigator/Pilot on board every Galaxy-class starship, no
matter how interesting an idea that might be. So the material in the ST:TNG Officers'
Manual was contradicted by Canon Sources, the First Year source book was also contradicted
by Canon Sources, the series actually contradicted itself. Even if some of the information
in this book may have been Paramounts Ideas for a new show, it was changed after the
writing of this book. This is evident when Paramount rush getting a series started and it
usually takes them 1 to 3 seasons to establish guidelines and process feedback and have a
laps of common sense. Plus FASA through allot of ideas in it as well.
This Book was pulled from further publishing when Paramount had a chance to look it over.
FASA didn't have official approval at the time FASA started selling the book. The book was
said to be recalled and destroyed. Many additional copies where printed or
salvaged before being destroyed, and sold.
- About The Making of the TNG 1st Year Sourcebook: Paramount disliked FASA's Star Trek: The Next Generation
Officer's Manual. FASA, in response to Paramount's order to pull the Next
Generation Officer's Manual off the shelves produced this First Season Source Book. Paramount
then approved the First Year Sourcebook with the included
disclaimer "Some materials in this book were created expressly for Star
Trek: The Role Playing Game, and may be invalidated by later episodes of Star
Trek: The Next Generation." Material
Paramount Officially Approved may also be invalidated later, Especially RPG Material.
- About FANPRO (publisher of the German Hardcover book):
Apparently Fantasy Production license, included the right to use the
whole of FASA's published material in 1997. Because of limited supply of
original graphics they used unlicensed material from "Worlds Of Star
Trek" and other books with trek fiction to create their included the
right to use the whole of FASA's published material. Because of limited
supply of original graphics they used unlicensed material from "Worlds
Of Star Trek" and other books with trek fiction to create their
WunderWelten magazine articles. (FanPro was sued because of this and
the unlicensed use of paramount copyrights), and were forced to
discontinue the production of their trek-products. Fanpro used to sell
the hardcover-book (the only item produced) at a loss (10 German mark
(approx. $4.50 at that time, 1997). All of FANPRO's information that
was not borrowed from other sources was invented in house by
"semi-trekkies".?
STARSHIPS
- The 4 year war module mentioned that when Garth of Izar captured Axnar, there was a T-3
transport on the planet. Yet the Klingon SRM clearly states that it has no landing
capability.
- Liberty Freighter information states "These freighters were
used extensively during the Four Years War to carry supplies
into forward areas..." Yet the appearances of them show them as
having TMP engines. Liberty graphics from the FSRM are 'off' in
terms of the era that the ship entered service. It should have a
TOS style saucer and warp nacelles.
- FASA's Monarch stats suggest a length of 200 meters while the official STIII size was 67
meters (smaller than the 88 meter BoP). However, in later appearances in the TNG episodes,
it looks to be much larger. The more playable size is the larger size.
- FASA's Lotus Flower Fuel Carrier (class ship of the Kobayashi Maru of 2285) overall
dimensions do not match those given in the STII:TWoK onscreen computer readout. FASA
disregard some of them, those figures call for a much squatter vessel.
- FASA's Romulan V-30 visual appearance changed in the 2ed rules unexpectedly without a
real history or understanding why. Now known to be a STIII story tie in.
- FASA's drawings of the TOS Canon V-8 Romulan Cruiser is inaccurate.
- FASA never really bothered with shuttles because most went sublight, and had movement of
1 hex a round (no move ratio).
- FASA's front view of the Enterprise Class Refit I think the warp engines are sitting to
high compared to the side view, the top view port warp engine is missing part of the
'wing' near the tail end.
- FASA's schematics and blueprints for the TOS Constitution Class Starship have a belly on
the the secondary haul. The TV Series Enterprise didn't have that belly, it was more like
an straight angle line from one end to the other, no under belly. (The Star Trek
Encyclopedia II also has this 'error')
- FASA's canon sourced starship profiles are all slightly incorrect.
- FASA's USS Excelsior miniature card #2517 has the torpedoes listed as FP-6, however the
STIII Sourcebook Update #2214 has them listed a FP-4, the FP-4 is the correct information.
- FASA's stats for the canon ships tends to be 1 or 2 Warp Factors too fast. (based on
what we now know of the movie WFs)
- FASA's Constitution Class stats has one Mk completely missing from the recognition manual
(I think it is the Mk3) and another Mk is mis-numbered as a result. On
the constitution page it lists three versions of it yet there is
notations of a mk IV version which is marked as the Mk III ,this
is a typo.
- FASA's stats for the Enterprise TMP where given less phasers than what was on the ST-TMP
blueprints. The Enterprise is the most powerful ship in FASA's game (excluding the
Excelsior) and that is only 6 phasers. It is possiable to destroy one in combat with a
little cunning and good tactics. If the ship were given any more weapons it would be next
to impossible to destroy and therefore lessen the play value (fun) of the game. The ship
would be too powerfull. The weight and warp capability also differ from the ST-TMP
blueprints, FASA didn't look at those plans when making there stats, but later made an
Enterprise MK III to correct this. ST-TMP blueprints: 18 phasers, 190,000mt, Emergency
Warp of 12.
- FASA's Ship Recognition Manual: The Federation 1st Edition has some errors regarding the
Loknar and Derf ships. The actual names of the ships and their color three-view placement
in the book is reversed. The Loknar is a frigate and the Derf is the Survey ship.
- FASA's THE KLINGONS 1st Edition has the D-10 heavy cruiser with one set of ranges and
damage information for the forward KD-9 disrupters, while the Ship Construction Manual 1st
Edition has different data. The D-10 statistics in the Construction Manual are correct.
The ones in the Klingon book are in error.
- FASA's Expanded Transwarp History and Ships where lacking but interesting. The expanded
history was made prior to canons decision to "fail the great experiment" in the
movies. Transwarp is now known to have been a helpful experiment in improving the
standard TMP era current Linear Warp Drive Systems and provide Starfleet Detailed
Information on Transwarp, which wouldn't be needed until the TNG era.
- FASA's 1 Edition Ship Recognition Manuals: Its clear that the
Klingons Manual was done BEFORE the Ship Construction Manual was
realized, and the Federation Manual done afterwards: the Klingon
Specs include weapons and turn stress charts, and lack the
3-letter codes for engines and shields, while the Federation
manual lacks the charts and uses the codes. This makes the
Klingon book more useful, since it is self-contained. The
Federation book is virtually useless without the Ship
Construction Manual.
- In the 1st Edition Rec Manuals the stats are done up only in
'Full Panel' form requiring six people to play, leaving the GM
to come up with the effort for his own short panels. The 1st
Edition Rulebook however does include GM panels, but not for the
ships published later on.
- FASA's ship designs are lacking in integrity and may come
to a matter of taste. They where not well thought out. It seems
much more work went into providing ship encasing graphics that
could have been used for other useful information, such as GM
panels.
- The ships. Most of them (particularly the Fed ones) were just plain
ridiculous, goofy and stupid looking. Some weren't, of course, but most
looked like crap. Like the one-winged Klingon ship, or the "Fat man"
battleship, or some of the more bizarre looking Feds. Favorites might be
the Chandley, Baker, Remora, D-10 Riskadh, Winged Defender and many
others.
- The Andor ship, is one of the worst casualtiys of the Fed
Ship Recognition Manual copy-pastry, the physical lead model
doesn't match with the source art, the source art doesn't agree
with itself, and neither makes sense with the ship dimensions
stated in the SRM.
- "Federation Starship Recognition Manual 2nd Edition Early
printing" There are two known printings of this manual.
Apparently some of the information was slightly changed between the
early print and the later print. To I.D. these books turn to page10
(Enterprise Class) and under MK I read the Weight under HULL DATA,
If the figure is 160,275mt then you have an early print, If the
figure is 150,275mt then you have the later print. Its unknown at
this time how much was changed through out the book.
STARSHIP COMBAT
- The STII SCS defeated the task of making things easier for
the Beginner player by reducing the stats on the ships from
there full range, it just over complicated the learning curve.
This was corrected in later editions of Starship
Combat.
- Some find that the balance of the game was off. Like ships and
cloaking devices. (But there is an in built balance calculation when
designing scenarios.)
- The Federation Rec books gave every advantage. The other races ships were always
out-gunned, out-ran and out-classed by the Federation.
- The Federation ships have better weapons all around. The damage
output vs power input was better. They were generally more accurate at
longer ranges when compared to the equivalent weapons of other races. I
think this was done intentionally.
- FASA's Starbase/Outpost Combat Games Rules where never completely finished and refined.
- FASA Starship Combat Warp rules are very limited as to the amount and quality of those
rules.
- Some find that the generous fire arcs and very long ranged weapons leave maneuvering
and tactics less of
important. (if weapon range were shortened and ships(and/or shields)
were toughened, it might help.) or (have the weapons do less damage,
especially the torpedoes.)
- The weapons have a long effective range compared to the distance a
ship could move in a turn. You could generally not get in and make a
decisive shot without taking an equivalent shot. There just wasn't much
you could do in the maneuver department to make a difference.
- Some find that the shield system is too weak vs the weapons used in
the game. (Others prefer a fast games/quick battles.) Your ship dies
much faster in FASA's game vs other similar games. There is little time
for developing intricate situations.
- Some say that battles revolve around the same tactics for every
race: Fly towards your opponent with foreword shields on and fire with
everything when you get close and is slow, clunky and has wonky rules
for powering weapons and especially torpedoes.(But others find it more
playable than SFB, record keeping is minimal)
- FASA's Standalone STCS Box rules and the STCS book packaged with the Deluxe rules have
minor differences. Latter revisions where produced with no indication that they actually did update a few things...
- FASA's STIII Starship Combat Game is the STII Starship Tactical Combat
Game but with new Ships and Ship Data, no new rules. Just minor typo's
fixed.
- FASA's STIII Starship Combat Role Playing game (Second Edition) has improved rules over
the STIII Starship Combat Game.
- FASA's STCS, has some un updated rules left over from the
previous installment of Starship Combat. Especially Command and Control
rules, where counters/control panels are called for that aren’t even
included in this edition of the game.
- FASA's STCS, Crew Casualties page 36 Has some left over
(from STIIISCRPG) rules regarding casualties. The example in the
rulebook given under 'Effects From Engine/Superstructure Hits' is at
odds with the rest of the crew casualties examples. The passage
reads:
“A warp engine has been hit, causing structural damage to the ship and
crew casualties. The total damage is divided in half as evenly as
possible between the appropriate warp engine and ship’s superstructure…
For example, damage of 5 points is given. When halved, the result
is a 3 and a 2; the warp engine receives 3 points of damage, while the
superstructure receives 2 points, and the crew loses 2 percent
casualties.”
However, the Effects From Crew Casualties section right below says to
determine casualties based on the chart. The fix is to simply follow
the section 'Effects From Crew Casualties' and consult the chart as for
any other Crew Casualty result and ignore the example given.
- In the STCS, there seems to be a mis-numbering of the Weapon
Firing Sequence on page 19 (Alternate 2A and 2B).
STARSHIP CONSTRUCTION
-
"Ship Construction Manual 2nd Edition 1st Printing" has several Errors
and Typos.
-It lacks page 39 (the page that describes vessel crew allocation and the
summary for understanding the tables) and 40 (the page with the blank ship
readout) that are in the 2nd and 3rd printings.
-The tandem warp MPR tables for the Fed and Klingons are on a single page as
opposed to 2 pages.
-The Fed tables, the 'Single Warp Engine' table only lists up to the FWG-1
as being available for single warp engine use while the MPR table for single
warp engines has stats listed for the FWG-2, FWH-1, FMWA and FTWA engines.
The FWG-2 engines aren't listed at all in the single or dual warp engine
tables and there are no stats for the FWG-2 in the dual warp engine MPR
table while there are stats for the FWG-2 in the single warp engine MPR
table.
-The dual warp engine MPR tables only go to class XV while the single warp
engine tables go all the way to class XVIII.
-Along with the 'missing' pages, it throws the page numbers off going
forward into the chart section.
-This printing has five extra ship construction forms in the back of the
book, so the overall page count is the same as in the revised 2nd printing.
-Klingon weapons are on page 55 (not 59).
-The WDF for the KP-6 is 5.9 (not 11.8.) for 2 point Klingon torpedoes, the
lower WDF on the 2 point Klingon torps was a mistake. -Warp engines
FTWA-1 produce 38 Power, the FWF-1 and FWG-1 produce 20 and 26 Power. (The
2nd printing has 48 Power producing FTWAs, 18 an 20 Power producing FWF-1
and FWG-1, and the FWG-2 producing 22 Power). -There is no FWG-2 provided
in Warp Engine Types Table, however it appears in the MPR Single Engine
tables.
-Everything else is identical including the copyright dates.
No official Errata was ever published. Corrections where issued
(un mentioned to consumers) in the 2nd printing of the book.
- FASA's Fleets where created much larger than what 'canon' partially establish later. Too
many classes built in large numbers, built for the same role at the same time despite
clear differences in the combat effectiveness of the class. This of course is FASA feeding
the desire from fans to see what other ships where out there never seen on screen, at that
time.
- FASA's construction manuals lacked rules for static power plants, such as found in
starbases.
- FASA's Starship Construction Rules can not build or replicate the FASA Provided Ship
Stats. They can be recalculated but not all ships with convert correctly, additional
tinker is required. The Federation and The Klingon Ship Recognition Manuals where
calculated with an older formula. However the Romulan Manual was built with the updated
2nd Edition SCM formulas.
- FASA Nacelle Sizes; The "cut and paste" method of kitbashing used in the FASA
Starfleet Ship Recognition Manual partially obscures the fact that the nacelles (and, in
some cases, the primary saucers) used in the ships are of different sizes. A measurement
of each picture based on the stated size of the ship represented will show this to be the
case. Many nacelles come out to a unique size. (The connection between the appearance of
the nacelle and the designation was broken.) The identical-looking FASA nacelles fall into
roughly seven different sizes.
- There are two versions of the 2 Edition Construction manual. See the
FASA Parts List item number FAS2204 for more details on how to identify
which version you have.
- In the MPR tables, some of the info wasn't spaced correctly. For example, the data for a
3/1 MPR for a particular class (engine type, WER
& warp speeds) was actually listed one column over in the 4/1 class. You could find
the mistakes by looking at the engine availability: if an engine is available at 3/1 at
Class 5, not available at 4/1 at class 5 and then available at 5/1 at Class 5, chances are
the 3/1 data goes in the 4/1 column. You can check this by calculating the WER value and
comparing it to the printed value. The values should be close (were talking tenths). If
not, then calculate it at another MPR and you've got your misprint/misalignment.
[?1.43 perhaps?]
WER= (1.45 X power of engine X number of engines)/MPR
- In ST:TMP the technology suggests and implies that power is derived from the warp
nacelles themselves, FASA's Engine power calculations are also presented as if the engines
or nacelles are the source of the ships power, and the number of nacelles a ship has
determines the maximum power output, but more recent Warp Treknology lore indicates
that warp power is derived from the matter-antimatter reactor, otherwise known as the warp
core. FASA's construction rules are set on the premise of TOS/TMP as "The Warp
Engines" representing the entire warp system (the reactor core, warp engines/nacelles
and other components) and how efficient it is. If one choose too they could separate the
warp core reactor system properties from FASA's 'Engine' mechanic properties, doing so
would force you to make new components and possibly adding rules to the Starship Combat
Game, resulting overall more complex.
- Couple of different things to understand about warp engines in
FASA. First, what engines you can use are dictated by the class of ship
being built. Second, each engine type produces a set amount of power
given in points. Third, for each engine type and ship class pairing
there is a movement point ratio, this indicates how many power points
it takes to move the ship 1 hex. Finally, each engine is rated in terms
of maximum safe cruising speed and maximum speed (on the movement point
ratio table in the ship construction manual this appears at the bottom
of each engines stats as something like 7/9.
Regardless of what warp speed you say a ship is travelling at, it takes
the same movement point ratio to move 1 hex. So in terms of
playability, warp speed Is really inconsequential. The ship
construction manual was primarily designed to go with the RPG
supplement known as the Starship Combat Tactical Simulator, where hex
movement is all that really matters. In terms of the RPG, warp takes as
long as you want it to take regardless of the actual speed.
But back to your actual question - how do you know what warp speeds a
particular engine is capable of that found in the tables labeled
"Movement Point Ratio Table" the format for each engine stat os as
follows
Engine Type (FWG-2) Power Points (15.5) Warp Speed (8/9)
Btw, that entry is on page 44, under 4/1 mp ratio for a class IX ship.
- If this where a 3D game; the 'FASA Shield System' should be thought of as a globe, more
closely resembling the visual effect of the TNG era 'bubble' Shield System that was used
later. But based on TAS; "Deflector Shields" are both visually shown to be just
above the 'skin' of the ships hull and hits are shown effecting the entire shield grid,
something like the bleed off effect you would see in TNG when the shields
"spread" the damage over nearby shield locations. Although Live TOS and TMP era
ship shield special effects are never shown, countless movie bridge displays and material
confirm the 'skin' formation of the shields for TOS/TAS/TMP era ships. Technically the
TOS/TMP era true "entire shield grid" effected and TNG's bleed off damage
"spread" are not represented in the 'FASA Shield Mechanics'. Either FASA didn't
know or they simplified the construction and game rules.
If one choose too they could devise a new game rule and/or modify the construction tables
to supplement FASA's shield system properties, resulting overall more complex.
- Another Shield flaw appears to be that each side of the shields are very weak in
comparison to the amount of damage an enemy ship could output. While they can be raised
instantly, they are recharged slowly. I would make shields many times more powerful, but
limit their recharge rate. To correct this one could simply modify the
maximum power a
shield has with a balanced recharge ratio.
- FASA's construction and game rules clearly make torpedoes have a hugely superior damage
yield when compared to the alternate energy-gulping and less powerful phasers and
disruptors. So much so, after awhile you wonder why the ships don't have more
torpedo
decks and amounts. The primary advantage of an energy weapon over a projectile weapon is
obviously logistical. A phaser never runs out of bullets, where as torpedoes are finite.
This is a major fault of the game, to correct this one could simply modify the photon
torpedo damage yields while leaving the phaser damage alone. Phasers in Trek are more
effective against deflector shields, while torpedoes are more effective at destroying
hulls. A good system would reflect this.
- An Interesting loop-hole, one might notice that the impulse engines have
a huge advantage in the power-generated to weight ratio compared to any
warp engine. Therefore, you can build I gigantic uber-battlecruiser
bristling with banks and banks of torpedoes and phasers by adding an
extra 4 dozen sublight impulse drives. Power problems solved! Sure, it
could barely break warp 4, but nobody fights at warp speed anyway. Of
course a ship like this could be used to defend a specific area of
space, not intended to travel at high warp.
- The overall rules never really take into account for any speeds, sub-light or warp.
Speeds in the game are loosely based on the amount of movement one has, The more movement
points a ship expends the faster it is moving. The specs and stats of the ships
already take into account "Balanced Movement" to some degree, <more>
Renegade Legions: Interceptor by FASA. While not as fast as some of the other systems it
has possibly the best vector movement and damage control sheets. The damage sheet
actually has a wire diagram flow chart so if your engines get whacked you can short
systems in the cockpit or elsewhere as a result.
- Possible math error in the cargo ratings, Possibly all the cargo tonnages for FASA
ships are off by a factor of 10, According to the Construction Manual, 1 Standard Cargo
unit (SCU) is 6.75 cubic meters. Also, according to the book 1 SCU is assumed to have a
mass of 50 metric tons, which is considered to be about 3/4th the mass of water. Water has
a mass of 1 metric ton per cubic meter, so if 1 SCU has the mass equal to 3/4th that of
water it should be around 5 mt, not 50. Either someone multiplied the number by 10 or was
using (water is around 63 pounds per cubic foot, and 3/4 of that would be around 50 pounds
per cubic foot).
Some ships would be unaffected. The big effects would be on ships that drop a Class or two
and wind up with better engine performance, or worse, become too small to support their
components. For example the MkI Constitution-class drops down to Class X and a 3/1 MPR,
making the old Connie more maneuverable than the later version with the more powerful FWF
Engines.
The best fix would simply to assume that the cargo holds are designed to hold something
with around 10 times the specific gravity of water, say Silver, or a Tungsten-steel alloy,
or some sort of fictional hull material like duranium, with sg10. That would allow the
cargo hold stuff to be used as is. It would also make a lot of sense since many things
that a ship could be carrying as cargo are denser than water.
The only way to get to the 50 mt that a SCU represents is to have a nice cube that's ~3.6
meters on a side. This will get you to the 50 mt per
SCU at the weight of water. Unfortunately, it's only 3/4 the weight of water...so of
course it's less. It's just easier to accept that a SCU is a nice cube that's 3x3x3. It's a
good bit wider than the current standard, but in the long run it's easier than trying to
change everything.
- You will find that all
printings of the 2nd Edition Construction manual will have typos and errors.
Some tables that do not have corresponding MPRs for some warp and impulse
engines in particular weight classes.
To get around these particular errors
Concerning the warp and impulse MPR tables, take the engine and it's IER or
WER value from the next lowest weight class and apply it to the 'missing'
value in the next higher weight class. You can figure which values should
have been listed by checking the size/weight class of a given piece of
equipment.
This material is that what was suggested or mentioned by the FASA ST Designers
for background info or reference.
- FASA did not use the Franz Joseph ship designs but in The Four Years
War and Romulan War sourcebooks most of the ships listed except the
Tikopai and Achernar are from the Spaceflight Chronology
(1979) by
Stan and Fred Goldstein (illustrated by Rick Sternbach) and Franz Joseph's Technical Manual. They did reference
the Hermes and Ptolemy, and also listed sub-classes of both of these and
the destroyer as separate classes. Most of these ships listed had "real
world" analogs.
- FASA's The Federation sourcebook features one illustration of the
U.S.S. Patton, the name is a "Spaceflight Chronology" ship. However the
design FASA used was not that of the "Spaceflight Chronology". In
FASA's other publications, there are no Romulan War ERA drawings
associated directly with any starship descriptions. The Marklin class
destroyer appears on the front cover and is the only illustration of this
ship.
Several other ship profiles where lifted for inclusion in "The Four
Years War" and "The Romulan War" sourcebooks.
- FASA timeline and historical information includes some elements of the
Goldstein Spaceflight Chronology book except for the shameless twisting
and manipulation of the the SFC material for "The Romulan War."
- Contributions of Shane Johnson.
- FASA's Federation Recognition Manual 2ed components (some components)
are traced from the
Enterprise blueprints set published by Del Rey back in 1980. The
drawings were larger than Forest and Dana needed but they were able to
reduce them to the size needed for paste-up.
- FASA used many of the of the Animated Series happenings and details
that didn't conflict with the live TOS Series.
- FASA used John M. Ford books for the Klingon Background, The Final
Reflection (1984) -Paramount License- and unpublished author notes. (some of the background
material given in the players's book is presented as excerpts from
An Informal Guide to the Klingon Empire, by J. Ford and E. Tagore.
This fictional book was published during the time of the Enterprise's
five year mission, and was based on the findings of the 'Committee on the
Klingon Estimate, a UFP study group. These excerpts are set off from the
rest of the text)
This book actually was written at the same time of FASA's Sourcebook and information was
shared between the two.
(some of the background material given in the
player's book is presented as excerpts from
An Informal Guide to the Klingon Empire, by J. Ford and E. Tagore. This fictional
book was published during the time of the Enterprise's five year mission, and was based on
the findings of the 'Committe on the Klingon Estimate, a UFP study group. These excerpts
are set off from the rest of the text)
"The Final Reflection" and FASA introduced a Klingon naming convention based on
service. Klingons were given different names when they were born but when they began their
true service to the Empire, they changed their names. Those in the navy began with the K
(Krenn, Kelly), those in the marines began with an M (Merzhan, Maltz) and those in
administrative and support positions, scientists and the like, began with an A.
The Klingon Genetic Fusion Theory is in FASA's authorized RPG material and in a number of
STAR TREK novels, including the definitive Klingon work, "The Final Reflection"
by John M. Ford.
Paramount was pleased enough with Ford's "The Final Reflection" prior to
distribution of the book, and had ask to have his unpublished notes submitted to Paramount
so that future authors could work from them. Fantasimulations Associates also used these same notes
in the creation of this RPG supplement. Paramount accepted "The Final
Reflection" as canon (something done with very, very few other novels) and encouraged
FASA in their decision to base their view of the Klingon Empire on it as well as the
series episodes. It was based solidly on accepted canon and Paramount's plans AT THAT
TIME. (prior to TNG when Klingons and everything about there story from the
beginning
changed drastically)
Among some of the material used in STIII are the manuscript by John M. Ford,
The Final
Reflection and FASA's The Klingons Supplement.
- FASA featured all the classic Matt Jeffrey's starship designs.
- FASA adopted most of Greg Jein's attempt (from his T-Negative
article) for their Constitution
registries list.
- The artwork on the asteroid counters used in the combat simulator
games was the same artwork first used on the asteroids from FASA's
Battlestar Galactica boardgame.
- The book, The Making of Star Trek showed profile views of the
same plans of the Constitution and D-7A Class that FASA used. (Note: The
profiles probably came from the writers guide. The display can be seen
from the TOS episode "Enterprise Incident" in 1968, in this scene, they
referred to the D-7A as a Romulan ship borrowed from the Klingons.
- Spacegamer #64. It has about a 5 page review of the 1st edition
Star Trek game. In it, the reviewer complains about a few things he
thinks should have been included. Those very things are included in the
2nd edition update!!
-"evasive" action in the AP system (2nd ed: Dodge, Evasion and Duck
Thrown Object),
-modifiers to Attacker's To-Hit # for movement should be added (2nd ed:
includes these), the reviewer complained that Checkov's To-Hit numbers
were lower than Rand's (2nd edition: fixed this).
- The primary source used for the Star Trek universe was Bjo Trimble's ,
The Star Trek Concordance (1976, 1995 Revised) book. Professionally written "Trek
Fiction" and other references where used as well. Plus that of "Fan
Wisdom."
This book (1976
edition) was used by FASA during the making of the RPG. The A-To-Z Guide to the Classic Original Television Series and Films
More than 400 illustrations and covering all 79 episodes of the original series, the
animated series and all six movies. A Lexicon, Star Trek vessels with their parts and
sections, Astronomical References, an Actor cross-reference.
- FASA's own Grav Ball game was used for the man-to-man combat
system for its quick play and simple mechanics, particular the easy to
use action point system. Use of a square grid further simplified play.
- A nod to Lord of the Rings; The Loknar class ships were named
after cities, provinces, etc. in the Federation. NCC 2974 is christened
the Hobbiton... obvious LotR reference.
Ptarth (2763)seems to be from Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Warlord of Mars
(The Martian Tales)! Epcot (2711) seems obvious, Epcot stands for
Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow! Lactra (2748) is listed;
Lactra VII was discovered in 2269 and was "featured" in the TAS episode
"The Eye of the Beholder".
- GDW's Traveller RPG appears to have influenced the character
creation system.
- FASA used the Star Trek Maps
product from Bantam Press (1980) for the basis of its map. The map of
the "big three" looks almost exactly like FASA's - complete with the
boundaries of the original Federation. That product has the Romulans so
far away to the right and the Klingons to the left. That product also
uses one square = 10 parsecs. It even uses the four quadrant system for
the Federation.
- About the Alien "Efrosian": Was given to the alien race introduced in "ST
IV: The Voyage Home" by the Makeup Dept. and named for Paramount's Mel Efros. FASA
Adapted that name.
- ..more...do you know of more? , please let me know.
This material incorporates some information and follows FASA Star
Trek TRPG.
- Shane Johnson, in his Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise,
(1984, 1987 Revised STIV) -Paramount
License- borrows
heavily from FASA and many of his technical terms and dates are direct lifts. A good
addition for FASA players.
A tech manual for the TMP-STIII movie-era
Enterprise. It contains detailed diagrams, and a thorough discussion of ship's systems.
There are many photographs of the ship from the films, and many movie pre-production
sketches portrayed as prototype drawings by the ship contractors in the Trek world.
Ties in fairly heavily with FASA's Star Trek RPG, using the same calendar (TOS in the
2190s and the films in the 2210s) and the names of companies supplying parts (such as warp
nacelles).
The book was written before/during STIV, and takes some early official concepts in a
different direction than was later changed or established by "canon". An example
would be mounting TransWarp Engines on the Enterprise-A. Something fans where expecting
for the next movie but didn't happen....
- Paramount often referred to details from the RPG during the early days of planning on
ST:TNG, the First season especially.
- Okuda adopted FASAs Constitution registries list in the current official
Paramount list.
- John M. Ford book, The Final Reflection actually was written at the same time of
FASA's Sourcebook and information was shared between the two. Ford also wrote blocks of
highlighted text for the game supplement "in conjunction with" one of the
characters from the novel.
- Among some of the material used in STIII are the manuscript by John M. Ford, The
Final Reflection and FASA's The Klingons Supplement.
- Gray Morrow and Howard Chaykin was using FASA material when he did some issues for DC's
Star Trek series
Who's Who in Star Trek #1- DC Comics Mar '87 and Who's Who in Star Trek #2- DC Comics Apr
'87 are replete with FASA Star Trek material. No ads, but material:
-Front Cover of Issue 1: Star Fleet Command symbol from the ST:RPG boxed set.
-Enterprise entry, Issue 1 (page18-19): mentions Enterprise has 33% power increase-just
like the entry in the 2nd edition Federation Ship Recog.
-Orion entry. Issue 2 (pg11): Wilkerson class "wannabe" in artwork?
-Romulans entry, Issue 2(pg17): Nova class renderings!
-Starships entry, Issue 2(pg18): Reliant class (not Miranda, indicating it is a fasa
reference)
-Back cover of Issue 2: FASA Romulan symbol AND reprint of Whitewind cut away from the
Romulan Ship Recog.
- VGA Planets pc game borrowed many FASA ship designs.
- X-Com series of computer games (X-COM: UFO Defense; X-COM: Terror from the Deep,
etc) use a tactical combat system virtually identical to FASA's AP system. The system is
turned based, with one side's team member (a choice of any on that side) goes first, then
the next side goes, until all have gone. Also, each action that a character may perform
has a cost (I believe the "unit" they use is seconds instead of AP, although
really the action has nothing to do with time per se) and a character may save
"seconds" for opportunity actions (mainly firing). The higher a characters
"dexterity", the more actions he can perform. If you've ever played, you know
what I mean. It really helps one understand how the FASA AP system should flow.
- In Star Trek Armada II, a version of the Deathgame Station appears as a Klingon
reasearch station. In the game Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Bridge Simulator for SEGA
Genesis 32x, it appears as the navigation icon for a Gorn shipyard.
- Many other computer games used FASA designed ships, including ST Legacy which
used Romluan and Klingon designs, aswell as some ship names for other models. One example
is they made a battleship out of the Romulan M-4 assaultship.
- The Ranger Class Scout look-alike appeared in a animated movie called Starchaser:
The Legend of Orin in 1985.
- Klingon Officer Rank Notes: These ranks, and insignia have been observed, in a number of
TNG episodes, that some Klingons were wearing pins on their collars just as described in
the FASA game.
- Star Trek ENT: The Romulan War Beneath The Raptor's Wing Book
credits FASA's Romulan War Module.
Some of FASA's books include Designer Notes which explain some of there
reasoning for doing something a particular way in the game versus another way. Also some
Stardate Magazines include a Q&A section which the designers of the game answer some
common questions.
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