96-547: Star Fleet Battles (SFB) is a tactical board wargame set in an offshoot of the Star Trek setting called the Star Fleet Universe. Originally created in 1979 by Stephen V. Cole , it has had four major editions. The current edition is published by Amarillo Design Bureau as Star Fleet Battles, Captain's Edition . Star Fleet Battles is a ship-to-ship warfare simulation game, which uses cardboard counters to represent
192-584: A Star Trek game. Elements of these almost forgotten fan productions shaped many aspects of the game. The Technical Manual itself decided the main functions of the Federation Heavy Cruiser, and what other Federation ships looked like. A set of blueprints (probably those drawn by Michael McMaster in 1975) showed the Klingon D7 as having more phasers than the Heavy Cruiser, and disruptors mounted on
288-430: A '1999' legend at the bottom of the cover to show when they were printed. The time period between the last products from TFG, and ADB's announcement that they had re-secured the rights to the system were not entirely without new material. Bruce Graw published Star Fleet Times as an SFB newsletter about ten times a year, mostly during what was afterward called 'The Interregnum'. Its run ended with issue 50 in 2000, as it
384-441: A 32 impulse movement chart. Generally, a unit only moves one hex at a time, making 32 the maximum 'speed' in the game. Similar systems are used in games such as Steve Jackson 's Car Wars (which uses a 5 phase system) and is designed to more realistically simulate unit movement in an environment where the units can move a great distance in the time needed for non-movement functions (like weapons fire) to occur. Star Fleet Battles
480-460: A Federation CA and a Klingon D7 fighting it out. In the brief space of an hour long re-run, I had two SSD's, the proportional movement system, and the charts for phasers and disruptor bolts. All were to change drastically within a week and were to continue evolving for five years, but the start was made. The company JagdPanther closed down before SFB was finished, but the game was not forgotten, and when Steve Cole and Allen Eldridge decided to start
576-459: A full sheet and included extra record-keeping information, such as tracks for drone ammo and shuttles, and firing charts for all the weapons on the ship. A line of nine Commander's SSD Books were produced, the first few of which were mostly involved presenting new-style SSDs for the older ships, the last several of which had all new material. During this entire period, there had been a constant stream of Errata, and later Addenda (which amounted to
672-533: A large infantry force. In both the European and Oriental traditions of warfare, the advent of gunpowder during the late Medieval and Early Modern periods created a relentless shift to infantry firepower becoming "a decisive, if not dominant" arm on the battlefield, exemplified by the significant impact of massed arquebusiers at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. The synchronisation of the various fighting arms to achieve
768-409: A loss of power. Spock surmises that the ship has entered a sort of negative energy field that interferes with biological and mechanical processes. The Enterprise appears to accelerate of its own accord, and the ship's engines seem to operate in reverse: forward thrust slows the ship down. Kirk suggests that all available power be channeled into a massive forward thrust, in the hope of breaking free of
864-408: A new company (Task Force Games) Star Fleet Battles was one of several half-finished designs proposed to be published by them. While the initial format was small, and the number of ships limited, the game was still not simple . This was dictated in part by a desire to do the "definitive Star Fleet game". This meant that it included as much detail as possible from all the source material available. In
960-521: A series of Star Fleet Battles modules (and a playtest pack for Federation Commander ). Over two dozen empires have operated in this region; some remain a factor in the Octant throughout the modern era, others rise at an early time only to be crushed or sidelined, while still others only enter the scene at a later point in history. Notable powers include the Mæsron Alliance (a union of several species, like
1056-442: A shifting balance between the four tactical functions, generally based on the application of military technology, which has led to one or more of the tactical functions being dominant for a period of time, usually accompanied by the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry , artillery , cavalry or tanks . Beginning with the use of melee and missile weapons such as clubs and spears,
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#17330943476781152-631: A squadron or fleet, or a 'free-for-all' fight can be run. Ships represented in the game are typically starships from such classic Star Trek powers as the Federation, Romulan Star Empire , Klingon Empire, or purely Star Fleet Universe creations such as the Hydran Kingdom or Interstellar Concordium. The game system uses an impulse-based turn system, which is a departure from the traditional I-Go You-Go alternating system used by most wargames. A ship's speed determines how often and when it can move based on
1248-405: A whole had been on the decline since about 1980, and Task Force Games joined the list of established gaming companies that did not survive the '90s. The decline of TFG was gradual, and SFB suffered long before the company actually folded: Ultimately, however, the publisher was battered by market forces, a few bad decisions, and perhaps a lack of focus. The game system more or less disappeared from
1344-427: Is a subscription online client that allows a person to play SFB against other people on the internet. While it does still require a personal understanding of the rules to play, the client does contain all the record-keeping functions of the game, and provides for some easier handling of places that require 'simultaneous' decisions (which have always been difficult in normal face-to-face play). Star Fleet Battles On-Line
1440-399: Is as much a psychological function of tactics as a physical one, and can be significantly enhanced by the use of surprise. It has been provided by charging infantry, and as well as by chariots , war elephants , cavalry and armoured vehicles which provide momentum to an assault. It has also been used in a defensive way, for example by the drenching flights of arrows from English longbowmen at
1536-441: Is better equipped to handle the mission. Spock pilots the shuttle through the creature's outer membrane and makes his way toward the nucleus. Eventually, he reports that the creature is ready to reproduce, and suggests a method of destroying it, but the key part of the message is garbled. Kirk and McCoy meet to discuss the situation, and Kirk speculates that if the organism is like an invading virus, then an equivalent of " antibodies "
1632-487: Is better qualified. Kirk is reluctant to send either, arguing that it would be a suicide mission and that if anyone should go it should be he, the captain. But Spock points out that Kirk is not a science specialist and is much better served commanding the Enterprise . Kirk is then forced to choose which of his two friends to send out, with a realistic probability he won't return. Kirk ultimately chooses Spock, agreeing that he
1728-802: Is home to one rather adventurous space-faring race presented in the SFB Omega -series modules... The empires of the Triangulum Galaxy come in two distinct flavors, with a handful of older realms dealing with the consequences of several newly emergent species making their mark on M33. Three of these powers (the Helgardian Protectorate, the Arachnid Worlds of Unions and the Mallaran Empire) were presented in playtest form in SFB Module E2 , while
1824-458: Is labeled Module x , where x is a letter (and number, in a series), along with a name, and comes as a booklet of rules and a booklet of SSDs, with a sheet of counters and a color wrapper as the cover. The new empires of Volume II and III were presented in Module C1 and C2 . Captain's Log #8 devoted a substantial amount of space to explanations of exactly what the new edition meant, and how
1920-441: Is needed to destroy it. Kirk takes the Enterprise into the creature's body, and orders Chief Engineer Scott to prepare an antimatter bomb with a timer set for a seven-minute delay. The bomb is fired into the cell's nucleus and the Enterprise backs out using what little power remains. With seconds remaining, Spock's shuttle is finally located and Kirk orders Scott to tow it with a tractor beam. With power levels nearly exhausted,
2016-592: The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 which caused the horses of the French knights to panic. During early modern warfare , the use of the tactical formations of columns and lines had a greater effect than the firepower of the formations alone. During the early stages of World War II, the combined effects of German machine gun and tank gun firepower, enhanced by accurate indirect fire and air attack, often broke up Allied units before their assault commenced, or caused them to falter due to casualties among key unit leaders. In both
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#17330943476782112-618: The Burma Campaign but unsuccessful for the Germans at the Battle of Stalingrad . Following World War II, rotary-wing aircraft had a significant impact on firepower and mobility, comprising a fighting arm in its own right in many armies. Aircraft, particularly those operating at low or medium altitudes, remain vulnerable to ground-based air defence systems as well as other aircraft. Parachute and glider operations and rotary-wing aircraft have provided significant mobility to ground forces but
2208-658: The Drex Unity (A civilization of artificial intelligence who dedicate themselves by defend their creator's homeworlds against any threat), the Sigvirion Expansion (a species of living viruses that take over and use other species as their hosts), and the Federal Republic of Aurora (a collection of exiles from several Alpha Octant empires, involuntarily transferred to the Omega Octant and forced to find their own way amidst
2304-453: The battlefield . They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower , mobility , protection or security, and shock action . Tactics are a separate function from command and control and logistics . In contemporary military science , tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting, the higher levels being the strategic and operational levels. Throughout history, there has been
2400-508: The video game series Starfleet Command (which combines parts of SFU with parts of canon Star Trek), the role-playing game setting Prime Directive , (currently available for the GURPS and d20 systems ), the card game Star Fleet Battle Force , and the strategy game Federation and Empire , as well as the recently released Federation Commander . The license Star Fleet Battles operates under does not allow for direct reference to
2496-400: The 'Doomsday Edition' was released as Star Fleet Battles, Captain's Edition in 1990. The long gestation, however, did give us time to plan an all-new edition. The publisher insisted that we should reorganize the game system into entirely new products. This was necessary to present the material to an entirely new generation of gamers in a more logical format (and to make dealers notice that it
2592-430: The 'pocket' format. When 'completed' this trilogy would cover the entire system." However, the real reason for this plan was that it had been impossible to acquire boxes at an affordable price. When a source of boxes was found, it was decided to do a revised, expanded version instead. The box contained about twice as many ships and scenarios as the original Pocket Edition, and was expanded upon itself by three expansions in
2688-647: The 18th and 19th centuries, personal armour had been largely discarded, until the re-introduction of helmets during World War I in response to the firepower of artillery. Armoured fighting vehicles proliferated during World War II, and after that war, body armour returned for the infantry, particularly in Western armies. Fortifications , which have been used since ancient times, provide collective protection, and modern examples include entrenchments , roadblocks , barbed wire and minefields . Like obstacles, fortifications are often created by military engineers. Shock action
2784-919: The Alpha Quadrant; in the Designer Edition the Attack Shuttle Carrier was unique to the Kzinti Hegemony. In the final years of the General War so-called 'Pseudo-Fighters' (later renamed 'fast patrol' ships; but retaining the 'PF' designation) were expendable 'attrition units' (like attack shuttles/fighters but larger with their own ship system displays) that operated from tenders, bases, or planets and hunted in flotillas of six. 'X-ships' or 'up-rated cruisers' featured altogether new technologies (like fast-loading torpedoes, overloaded phasers, oversize warp engines and high-capacity battery reserve power) based on
2880-767: The Alpha Sector to the Delta Sector, but only Alpha, Beta and Gamma (more specifically, the area covered by the Federation and Empire ) have been extensively explored by the major powers of the region. The Omega Octant runs from the Void in the Omega Sector through the Psi, Chi and Phi Sectors (though Phi is mostly off the detailed Omega map, as Delta is in the Alpha Octant), and is detailed in
2976-562: The Federation and ISC; its rise, collapse and renaissance helped define the Octant's history), the Trobrin Empire (composed of silicon-based life forms, who consider a 'Silicate Plan' to rule the galaxy as their only insurance against domination by 'carbonites'), the Probr Revolution (a species of genetically uplifted salamanders with an anarchist bent, who rose against their creators, then used their technology to forge their own empire),
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3072-931: The Fringe worlds lies the Chomak Cluster, a collection of stars only recently (in astronomical terms) captured by the Cloud's gravitational field. Module C5 for SFB presented five of the Magellanic empires: the Baduvai Imperium, the Eneen Protectorates, the Maghadim Hives, the Uthiki Harmony and the Jumokian Resistance. Others, such as the ancient Chomak Community and the reclusive Yrol Septs, await publication. In
3168-508: The Gamma 7A system, the Intrepid' s last known position. Ensign Chekov reports that the sensors show no life readings in the billion-inhabitant system. Meanwhile, Spock is examined by Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy in sickbay , where he explains he felt the combined shock and terror in the minds of 400 fellow Vulcans aboard the Intrepid as they died. McCoy is amazed that Spock felt anything over
3264-521: The Hydran Fusion Beam was too weak, and so the game designers changed the rules so that charged Fusion Beams could be held over from turn to turn. Another example was the many complaints that Plasma Torpedoes were too unwieldy to use as seeking weapons, and so the rules were amended to allow Plasma Torpedoes to fire as direct-fire weapons (the Plasma Bolt). The 'Commander's SSD' (Ship System Display)
3360-638: The Imperium was previewed in Captain's Log #23 . Many other empires are noted as being present in this setting, including the Human Republic (founded by a Terran colony caravan which was displaced from the Milky Way in -Y12). The Triangulum setting awaits formal publication in a "full" published module. Military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near
3456-502: The SFU takes place in the same continuity (other than alternate timeline scenarios), the lore is divided across several settings that have little to no contact with each other. The vast majority of products published for Star Fleet Battles is set in the 'Alpha-Octant' (sometimes called 'Alpha-Sector', but that is actually just a part of the area covered), which includes all the races known from The Original Series . Other settings include: In
3552-617: The Star Fleet Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy is divided up into 24 sectors, each named for the letters of the Greek alphabet . Each sector extends from the galactic rim, and inwards to where star density and radiation problems cause ion storms , precluding travel. There are five 'void' sectors (Epsilon, Iota, Pi, Upsilon and Omega), where star and planet density is low, and which tend to generate large ion storms and radiation clouds, restricting travel from one set of sectors to another. This leads to
3648-861: The Tholian Will was M81 , a galaxy outside the Local Group . Before the Seltorian revolt, it was controlled completely by the Tholians, with the exception of isolated nebulae from which the Nebuline species helped support M81 piracy. In addition, this galaxy was once home to the Bolosco Merchant Guilds, later found in the Omega Octant. Adjacent to the Omega Octant of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Iridani Cluster
3744-869: The Voids separate the inhabitable portions of the galaxy are the Alpha Octant, the Sargasso Octant, the Xorkaelian Empire, the Sigma Octant, and the Omega Octant. The Alpha Octant is the primary setting of the Star Fleet Universe, being home to the United Federation of Planets , the Klingon Empire , the Romulan Star Empire , and all the other empires inherited from other Star Trek settings. It extends from
3840-460: The ambiguity between defense vs. offense, as well as the ambiguity between peace-keeping vs. war effort. The Immunity Syndrome (Star Trek) " The Immunity Syndrome " is the eighteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek . Written by Robert Sabaroff and directed by Joseph Pevney , it was first broadcast on January 19, 1968. In
3936-766: The box (later printings labeled it Star Fleet Battles: Volume I ). The separate Star Fleet Battles Commander's Rulebook was also available for previous owners of Star Fleet Battles . Most of the material (including the new empires) from the Expansions was reorganized and released as Volume II . The bulk of the fighter rules were in Supplement #1 , X-ships (now redone not to be based on ST:TMP and divided into two "generations") were in Supplement #2 , and PFs (now renamed as Fast Patrol ships) were in Supplement #3 . From there, Commander's Edition came out with new products for
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4032-587: The characters and detailed events of the Original Series . As such, official material does not include references to Kirk , Spock or use the USS Enterprise directly, though the latter is included in ship listings. This has not prevented oblique references, such as a comment about the first Gorn -Federation meeting as involving “two young captains who fired first, and faced embarrassing questions later.” Other references are monster scenarios loosely based on
4128-411: The damage by properly re-writing and re-integrating such a large and complex system into a new edition before doomsday , especially without bringing the product line to a halt while only new versions of old products were released. For a long time the 'Doomsday Edition' was a private joke amongst the staff that worked on SFB . Then it became a public one. Finally, it became an actual project in 1987, and
4224-419: The death of the system inhabitants and the Intrepid crew. Kirk has Chekov launch a sensor probe into the void. The probe transmits a piercing, high-pitched noise before contact with it is lost. Kirk orders the ship into the zone, and as it enters, the piercing sound returns and all the stars disappear from the viewscreen. Dr. McCoy then reports that the crew are getting worse, and Chief Engineer Scott reports
4320-521: The decades prior to the Andromedan arrival, several wars were waged between the three Magellanic Powers (Baduvai, Eneen and Maghadim), most notably for control of the strategically vital Neutral Worlds. Unfortunately for these empires, the Andromedans eventually sought to conquer the Cloud outright, in order to claim it as an advanced base of operations for their full-scale invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy. In
4416-495: The development of combined arms tactics has been dogged by costly and painful lessons. For example, while German commanders in World War II clearly understood from the outset the key principle of combined arms tactics outlined above, British commanders were late to this realisation. Successful combined arms tactics require the fighting arms to train alongside each other and to be familiar with each other's capabilities. Beginning in
4512-744: The development of types of soldiers or warriors through history: Greek hoplite , Roman legionary , medieval knight , Turk-Mongol horse archer , Chinese crossbowman , or an air cavalry trooper. Each – constrained by his weaponry, logistics and social conditioning – would use a battlefield differently, but would usually seek the same outcomes from their use of tactics. The First World War forced great changes in tactics as advances in technology rendered prior tactics useless. "Gray-zone" tactics are also becoming more widely used. These include "everything from strong-arm diplomacy and economic coercion, to media manipulation and cyberattacks, to use of paramilitaries and proxy forces". The title "gray-zone" comes from
4608-437: The distance involved, but admits there is a lot about Vulcans he still doesn't understand. Spock returns to the bridge just as Lt. Uhura announces she has lost contact with Starfleet. Kirk has Spock scan a dark zone that appears on the main viewscreen. Suddenly, half the crew are sickened or faint. Spock is unable to determine the nature of the zone, but suggests it is some kind of energy turbulence, and possibly responsible for
4704-568: The dominance between unarmoured and armoured forces and highlight tactical trends in each period. Massed volley fire by archers brought infantry firepower to the fore in Japanese warfare in the second half of the 13th century, preceding the rise of the English longbowman. The mobility and shock action of the Oirat Mongol army at the Battle of Tumu in 1449 demonstrated that cavalry could still defeat
4800-419: The early modern and World War II examples, the cumulative psychological shock effect on the enemy was often greater than the actual casualties incurred. The development of tactics has involved a shifting balance between the four tactical functions since ancient times, and changes in firepower and mobility have been fundamental to these changes. Various models have been proposed to explain the interaction between
4896-733: The engines. The latter became a common feature of Klingon shipbuilding, and the former led to the idea of less powerful phasers for the Klingons. The same blueprints also stated that an older, slightly inferior version of the D7, the D6, was what was sold to the Romulans, and the D7/D6 dichotomy has been at the heart of the Klingon fleet in the game ever since. Two of the novels gave mention of a phaser being mounted on shuttlecraft. This
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#17330943476784992-608: The episode, the crew of the Enterprise encounters an energy-draining, space-dwelling organism. The Federation starship USS Enterprise receives a garbled message from Starfleet mentioning the USS Intrepid , a Federation starship crewed entirely by Vulcans . First Officer Spock suddenly looks shocked and announces that he felt the Intrepid "die". Starfleet then succeeds in making contact, and orders Captain Kirk to investigate
5088-482: The face of this common threat, the rival powers formed the Triple Pact: a desperate, and ultimately doomed, joint bid for survival. Once Operation Unity succeeded in subduing the Andromedans, the surviving Magellanic forces (which had held out in exile among the Fringe worlds) took to re-building their fallen empires, though it would take a long time for any of them to approach their former glory. The original location of
5184-510: The game was based on, were supplemented by 'wartime construction cruisers' (simply called 'war cruisers'), relatively inexpensive substitutes built on light cruiser hulls yet packing the firepower of their larger stablemates. All fleets deployed 'Command Cruisers' which were heavy cruisers with additional weapons and power, and some races deployed 'Leader' versions of smaller classes, such as destroyers or frigates. Carrier starships with attack shuttles (usually called fighters) became common throughout
5280-438: The inclusion of aliens such as the Kzinti . Since the first publication of the game, Star Fleet Battles and the Star Trek universe have diverged considerably as the authors of the game and those of the films and television series have basically ignored each other. The resulting divergent world of Star Fleet Battles is known as the " Star Fleet Universe ". There are several notable games set in this universe, including
5376-518: The interiors, and other in-house machines do the binding and trimming. This ' print on demand ' process allows greater freedom in product releases, and warehouse storage, and all recent products use this system. Star Fleet Battles has its own background universe giving the stories of ships and empires. This started as the distillation of Star Trek lore at the time of SFB's creation, but soon started adding its own touches to fill in perceived gaps. The 'SFU' now diverges sharply from canon Star Trek , as
5472-462: The introduction of the rifled musket , used in the Crimean War and American Civil War , meant flatter trajectories and improved accuracy at greater ranges, along with higher casualties. The resulting increase in defensive firepower meant infantry attacks without artillery support became increasingly difficult. Firepower also became crucial to fixing an enemy in place to allow a decisive strike. Machine guns added significantly to infantry firepower at
5568-429: The kinetic or firepower function of tactics has developed along with technological advances so that the emphasis has shifted over time from the close-range melee and missile weapons to longer-range projectile weapons. Kinetic effects were generally delivered by the sword, spear, javelin and bow until the introduction of artillery by the Romans . Until the mid 19th century, the value of infantry-delivered missile firepower
5664-407: The latter stages of World War I, airpower has brought a significant change to military tactics. World War II saw the development of close air support which greatly enhanced the effect of ground forces with the use of aerial firepower and improved tactical reconnaissance and the interdiction of hostile air power. It also made possible the supply of ground forces by air, achieved by the British during
5760-419: The latter years of World War I when the advent of the tank improved mobility sufficiently to allow decisive tactical manoeuvre. Despite this advance, full tactical mobility was not achieved until World War II when armoured and motorised formations achieved remarkable successes. However, large elements of the armies of World War II remained reliant on horse-drawn transport, which limited tactical mobility within
5856-542: The market by the end of 1996 when ADB was unable to design new games without being paid for the previous ones. Two years of tedious negotiations were completed in January 1999 and Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. was born. Since very early on, the publishing duties and design duties had actually been split, with the Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) handling all of the product design, while TFG had published, and indicated what they wanted to produce. The end of TFG put everything under one house again, and ADB, Inc. spent some time picking up
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#17330943476785952-404: The mid-70s, this meant the original two series and a number of fan publications. Except for The Original Series itself, none of these materials are considered canon today, but at the time, they were all considered fairly authoritative, especially the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph , which had originally been blessed by Gene Roddenberry, and from whom Steve Cole got the license to do
6048-402: The new products would work. The release of 'Doomsday' was split into five phases: And the biggest change was: "We'll explain everything, but we won't change anything!" Doomsday promised an end to addenda. Loopholes might be closed, new things might still be added, but no previous rule would change as a result. The new edition was a success, but could not stop the march of time. Wargaming as
6144-566: The new versions of the Enterprise and Klingon battlecruisers seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . All races built 'Battle Stations', which were upgrades to the Base Stations deployed on territorial borders that were presented in the Pocket Edition (for their Starbases, each race used a modified generic SSD in the Designer Edition). Each race also received auxiliary units that used generic SSDs, such as police ships, freighters, Q-ships , Fleet Repair Docks and minelayers, for which comprehensive mine warfare rules were introduced. Until that point,
6240-450: The next half-decade or so. Two Reinforcements packs allowed the purchase of extra counters. Volume III added the Interstellar Concordium and the Neo-Tholians, as well as new ships and new concepts (such as heavy fighters). Nexus magazine was launched as a house organ for Task Force Games, and featured a regular SFB section which presented new material like scenarios, rules errata, and input and feedback from players. Similar material
6336-486: The nineteenth century, many military tactics were confined to battlefield concerns: how to maneuver units during combat in open terrain. Nowadays, specialized tactics exist for many situations, for example for securing a room in a building. Technological changes can render existing tactics obsolete, and sociological changes can shift the goals and methods of warfare, requiring new tactics. Tactics define how soldiers are armed and trained. Thus technology and society influence
6432-448: The only mines were the Romulan-unique “nuclear space mine” (NSM) and the smaller “transporter bomb” (T-bomb) used by all races. Many things were re-written, and each expansion included new elements that impacted how previous rules interacted, demanding a great deal of errata and making the entire system something of a jumble. "It was clear that issuing yet another 'expansion kit' that devoted half of its space to correcting previous products
6528-430: The overall force. Tactical mobility can be limited by the use of field obstacles, often created by military engineers . Personal armour has been worn since the classical period to provide a measure of individual protection, which was also extended to include barding of the mount. The limitations of armour have always been weight and bulk, and its consequent effects on mobility as well as human and animal endurance. By
6624-400: The pieces of nearly three years without SFB . The first order of business, in fact, was to reprint Basic Set and Advanced Missions which had been out of stock for about three years at this point. While they were at it, all the errata and questions were evaluated, and many sections of the rules were re-written in an effort to make the game clearer. These editions featured new cover colors and
6720-399: The planet killer from " The Doomsday Machine " and the space amoeba from " The Immunity Syndrome ". Star Fleet Battles was originally published as a 'pocket-game' in a ziplock bag as "Task Force Game #4" by Task Force Games in 1979. Steve Cole later recalled: The design of Star Fleet Battles began during 1975... Jim Brown... and I were playing a lot of Jutland .... One afternoon I
6816-402: The producers ignored anything from fan productions, and SFB's own license does not allow them to use any new material from more recent TV or film series. The SFU has re-interpreted several things, and in some places only bears a passing resemblance to the show that gave it birth. The SFU now has a history that covers (in various products) a span of about 130 years. While everything published for
6912-420: The questions of how best to deploy and employ forces on a small scale. Some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare: assault , ambushes , skirmishing , turning flanks , reconnaissance , creating and using obstacles and defenses, etc. Using ground to best advantage has not changed much either. Heights, rivers, swamps, passes, choke points, and natural cover, can all be used in multiple ways. Before
7008-523: The races were issued a full complement of ship classes, particularly dreadnoughts, fleet tugs and scouts, which in the Designer Edition only the Federation and Klingons deployed. Notably, only the Klingon Empire built the superheavy 'Battleship' B10 class (in the Captain's Edition Module R5 the other races were presented with conjectural i.e. non-historical battleship designs). Heavy cruisers, the starship class
7104-582: The reduced mobility, protection and firepower of troops delivered by air once landed has limited the tactical utility of such vertical envelopment or air assault operations. This was demonstrated during Operation Market Garden in September 1944, and during the Vietnam War , in the latter case despite the additional firepower provided by helicopter gunships and the ability quickly to remove casualties, provided by aeromedical evacuation . Military tactics answer
7200-448: The same thing). For a long time, the vast majority of the mail received was from the top few fanatical SFB players, who constantly campaigned for new rules, rules fixes, and rules changes. This became a source of discontent for most of the rest of the players, who did not appreciate a game that changed every few months, and needed a sheaf of notes along with the voluminous rules. However, it was generally believed nearly impossible to repair
7296-421: The same zip-lock format as the original (named Star Fleet Battles Expansion #1 , Expansion #2 , and Expansion #3 ), all of which were reviewed in issues of The Space Gamer . These expansions rapidly added many new ships and concepts to the system which are parts of it to this day: The Hydrans, Andromedans and Lyrans were introduced as new empires that fielded novel technologies peculiar to themselves. All
7392-505: The sectors in between to be grouped together in (generally) sets of three, termed 'octants', as three sectors are one eighth of the rim of the galaxy, and which are sometimes inaccurately referred to as 'sectors' themselves. The Storm Zone is unoccupied, as even bases cannot exist there due to the severity of the storms, and ships cannot penetrate the Radiation Zone. The Core of the galaxy has never been explored. The five areas into which
7488-407: The ship approaches the outer membrane just as the bomb explodes. Both the Enterprise and the shuttle are thrown clear of the organism as it is destroyed. The Enterprise is restored to full power and sustains only minor damage. Kirk, while glancing at a female yeoman, says he looks forward to recreation. Music from the episode " The Doomsday Machine " was reused in this episode. When this episode
7584-403: The ships, shuttles, seeking weapons, terrain, and information on a hexagonal map . It is a game system for two or more players (there are some solitaire scenarios). Typically, a player will have one ship in a game, though they can control an entire fleet, if they can keep track of the paperwork and options involved; multiple players can play as teams, with each team splitting up the work of running
7680-488: The tactical functions and the dominance of individual fighting arms during different periods. J. F. C. Fuller proposed three "tactical cycles" in each of the classical and Christian eras. For the latter epoch, he proposed a "shock" cycle between 650 and 1450, a "shock and projectile" cycle 1450–1850, and a "projectile" cycle from 1850, with respect to the Western and North American warfare. During World War II, Tom Wintringham proposed six chronological periods, which alternate
7776-423: The tactical mission is known as combined arms tactics. One method of measuring tactical effectiveness is the extent to which the arms, including military aviation, are integrated on the battlefield. A key principle of effective combined arms tactics is that for maximum potential to be achieved, all elements of combined arms teams need the same level of mobility, and sufficient firepower and protection. The history of
7872-404: The turn of the 20th century, and the mobile firepower provided by tanks , self-propelled artillery and military aircraft rose significantly in the century that followed. Along with infantry weapons, tanks and other armoured vehicles, self-propelled artillery, guided weapons and aircraft provide the firepower of modern armies. Mobility, which determines how quickly a fighting force can move,
7968-565: The warring factions of Omega). So far, only one empire has been revealed as originating from M31, but it has made quite an impact on the Star Fleet Universe... The Small Magellanic Cloud (referred to in-setting as the Lesser Magellanic Cloud) is composed of three main regions: the densely populated Core (shrouded by a dense radiation shell), a ring of provinces with "standard" stellar densities, and an outer Fringe region where stars and planets are much fewer and further between. Beyond
8064-427: The zone, but the effort succeeds only in bringing the ship to a halt. Their quarry is finally revealed to be a gigantic, multicolored object resembling an amoeba . Kirk launches a sensor probe into it, which reveals that the object is indeed made of protoplasm , and alive. McCoy believes that a crewed probe must be sent into the creature to gather data needed to destroy it, and volunteers himself. Spock insists that he
8160-429: Was a new edition). The changes were sweeping. There were two boxed sets (in a smaller format than former boxes), the first of which, Basic Set , was roughly the same as Volume I . The second, Advanced Missions was different in that it only introduced new rules and ship types (more ships than any other single product in fact), but stayed with the same selection of basic empires as the first box. Nearly everything else
8256-448: Was also published in ADB's in-house (but widely distributed) Starletter newsletter from 1982. Of lasting importance was the launch of Captain's Log , a continuing semi- periodical journal dedicated to Star Fleet Battles that is still running. It was noteworthy that the game developers at ADB were very receptive to input and feedback from SFB gamers. For instance there were complaints that
8352-485: Was based on the Star Trek universe as of 1979 and includes elements of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series . Federation elements were heavily based on concepts from The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual . Unlike the mainstream Star Trek universe, Star Fleet Battles seems to consider some, but not all of The Animated Series , as being a canon material source, thus leading to
8448-444: Was considered that the internet served the same purpose (a regular way for the fans to keep in touch) much more efficiently. Since then, ADB, Inc. has gotten everything back in print, released a number of new products, and has seen the number of SFB players slowly grow again. This is in part due to the fact that it has a strong on-line community, encouraged by the company forum, and the existence of SFBOL . Star Fleet Battles On-Line
8544-422: Was filmed, George Takei was filming The Green Berets and therefore unavailable to portray his character, Lt. Sulu . John Winston 's character, Lt. Kyle, occupied Sulu's helmsman's seat, wearing a gold command tunic instead of his usual red engineering tunic that he wore as transporter chief. However, Kirk repeatedly mispronounced his name in this episode as "Cowell". Robert J. Sawyer of TrekMovie.com felt
8640-413: Was for most of human history limited by the speed of a soldier on foot, even when supplies were carried by beasts of burden. With this restriction, most armies could not travel more than 32 kilometres (20 mi) per day, unless travelling on rivers. Only small elements of a force such as cavalry or specially trained light troops could exceed this limit. This restriction on tactical mobility remained until
8736-516: Was included, as much to give a reason to use shuttles as anything else. This proved to be the wedge that allowed the introduction of fighters to the game; a feature popular with many players, but also led many to believe that Star Fleet Battles was no longer Star Trek . Later in 1979, Star Fleet Battles was re-released in a boxed set known as the Designer's Edition . The original plan had been to produce "three interlocking games, all to be published in
8832-553: Was introduced. SSDs had just been a half-sheet diagram of the ship's systems. Some combined ship classes that were differentiated using shaded boxes which were to be ignored to represent the smaller ship class (for instance the Klingon D6 and D7 cruisers were presented on the same SSD sheet with shaded boxes indicating the phasers and shield boxes that the D6 lacked). The new Commander's style SSDs (which did not appear in Volume I or II ) took
8928-431: Was not high, meaning that the result of a given battle was rarely decided by infantry firepower alone, often relying on artillery to deliver significant kinetic effects. The development of disciplined volley fire , delivered at close range, began to improve the hitting power of infantry, and compensated in part for the limited range, poor accuracy and low rate of fire of early muskets . Advances in technology, particularly
9024-403: Was not the answer." Commander's Edition was, effectively, a ground-up rewrite of the rules. The old rule-number system was discarded in favor of a completely new alpha-numeric system. The three Expansions were scrapped and re-packaged. However, other than the new (bigger) reorganized rulebook, the initial 1983 release of the boxed set was mostly unchanged from the Designer's Edition , including
9120-519: Was originally developed by Gregg Dieckhaus and Paul Scott of Online Game Systems and is currently maintained and supported by Franz Games, LLC In the meantime, ADB continues to try to serve the SFB community with new products, and new ways to manufacture and distribute products. Currently, they only have to go to a regular printing company for counters and color covers. These are then stockpiled, and when an order comes in, in-house (black-and-white) printers run
9216-457: Was studying the Jutland battle that was in progress on my floor (left from the previous evening) when the [ Star Trek ] re-run of the day came on. I began to consider the possibility of doing a space game on the Jutland system. JagdPanther was in operation at the time, and I had vague thoughts that I could somehow get a license for the game. By the time Jim came by to collect me for dinner, I had
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