CAPTAIN’S LOG #47 — © 2013 ADB Inc. Page 1

STAR FLEET UNIVERSE SUPPLEMENTAL FILE

CAPTAIN’S LOG #47:SUPPLEMENTAL FILE

ONE JOURNEY DONECaptain’s Log #47 was done in between the long road trip to

rescue Jean (Operation Fetch) and the long road trip to Origins(with Jean for the first time). It was an intense time. Both SteveCole and Steve Petrick had leg injuries that made it hard for themto move around (Steve Cole spent all of Origins in a wheelchair)and everyone was just plain exhausted. Even so, with Jean’senthusiasm and Leanna’s gestures toward the balance sheet andthe lack of recent new products, we pursued the goal and won.

PUBLISHER’S NOTESThis was the third issue in the new 144-page format, and it

went very smoothly. The fiction story had been selected (but thekey fixes not made) before Operation Fetch. (But for my brokenleg, I would have had it done before leaving for North Carolina.)Jean being in the office for the entire process was something of anightmare as she kept re-re-re-proofreading everything. (She wasin the office for Captain’s Log #46 but mercifully went home be-fore we printed it.)

Steven Petrick’s hard disk crash meant that the SSDs (donemonths in advance) had to be done over. Most of the things StevePetrick does in advance were not ready as soon as they usuallywere due to Operation Fetch and the computer crashes.

So, let’s walk through the issue and let me share some back-ground and other thoughts.—Stephen V. Cole

HISTORYThe history (fiction) section of an issue always sets the mood

of the company, as we noted above (and many times before).Into the Eagle’s Nest: This was another unusual story for

Captain’s Log because it is about the police. The original draftwas a very “trek” episode with a lot of cinematic drama that didnot hold onto reality. In the process of explaining to the authorwhat was wrong and why it was wrong, the author and I hit uponthe idea of using the story mostly as it was and adding a scene toexplain why nothing made sense.

The Warrior’s Journey: This was another of the short sto-ries in the saga of Kommodore Ketrick, testing the theory thatserialized stories don’t work in Captain’s Log. Some things thathappened in the previous story (The Warrior Returns, CL#46)now make sense. (The Federation officials on that backwaterplanet didn’t have to worry about the detailed investigation be-cause other officials with better resources would check into them.)We did give Joan (the librarian turned intelligence analyst) acameo appearance. In the next story, Ketrick reaches the Klin-gons only to find his welcome not what he expected.

Snapshots: We did not have any one-page stories in thisissue. The only one ready for publication got squeezed out tomake space for other articles. Again, an article by Gary Carneychecked off the non-alpha box for this issue. The other (one deckof a Federation police cutter) was an unexpected surprise for allof us. Garth Getgen visited the office (he and his wife Celestiawent along on the annual wolf trip) and showed us the result of amulti-year effort. We were impressed and printed one deck.

COMMUNICATIONSNews: The reorganized pages that we created for CL#42

were updated here (i.e., we used the same format but updatedthe actual information). Between the issue being finished on 6June and the supplement being done on 22 June, things changedas Jean got us onto Twitter.

After-Action: As is now the standard practice, we used thespace in the issue for stuff about the products, and put the “everystupid comma we missed” stuff into this Supplemental File.

Command the Future: This is my article to write as it is thestrategic vision for the company. I have to be in just the rightbalance of optimism and realism to write it.

A Galaxy of Song: I had a song ready for this issue but itgot bumped when Jean compiled the list of 2012 awards forpeople who commented on the 2500 miniatures and that over-flowed the previous page.

Ten Questions: With Jean now in the office, we decided toask her what she thought she’d be doing here.

Star Fleet Awards: This is usually the first page started inany given issue and the last page finished because the awardsfor the issue itself go in here. These were even later than usualbecause Jean did not have time to compile the 2012 ribbons forthe 2500 miniatures until the issue was “finished” and just wait-ing for final proofreading.

Input Guide: Jean Sexton likes to write this even thoughshe is no longer compelled to get something published for herreal world career. Now, the Star Fleet Universe is her career!

Why?: This is one of my favorite pages, partly because I getto explain things and partly because it’s just about the easiestpage to do in the entire issue. I was actually disappointed to findvery few why questions posted since the last issue.

FEDERATION COMMANDERFEDERATION COMMANDERFEDERATION COMMANDERFEDERATION COMMANDERFEDERATION COMMANDERCommunique: This page is fairly obvious and easy. We just

remind you what we have done, and tell you what we plan to do.It was also a great place to promote the e23 product series. Speak-ing of that, new ePacks of ship cards have been posted.

Battle Group Commander: This is the third series of battlegroup articles for Federation Commander and was a chance toshow off the many monsters of the universe.

Email and Online: I am blessed to have Frank Brooks run-ning our play-by-email system and Paul Franz running our onlinegaming system. They do a super job, year round.

Tactics: I have never been at a loss for a Federation Com-mander tactics article because so many smart guys write themand send them in. This time, another new author provided it.

Scenarios: We have a bunch of Federation Commanderscenarios on file and with them now better organized, it was easyto find suitable candidates.

Command Notes: We really need people to write more ofthese, but at least we had a good selection for this issue.

Federation Plasma Variants: There has been an ongoingcampaign to print these for over a year, but other ships neededdoing first. Finally, it was time for the plasma ships, even if thatmeant we had to create new SFB ships at the same time.

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STAR FLEET UNIVERSESUPPLEMENTAL FILESFB SCENARIOS

The scenario file was officially empty when we began, butSteven Petrick was inspired by the new police variants to createsome scenarios to showcase them.

SFB DATABASEMonsters: Steven Petrick does another monster in each

issue. This issue, it was the turn of the Star Sheep. In the pro-cess we accidentally created Star Goats and Star Mammothsand rumor has it that Jean Sexton created Star Wolves.

Ask Admiral Vanaxilth: Here are more pages from the now-veteran Q&A guy Hydran Admiral Vanaxilth (Andy Vancil).

Background Questions: I love doing this page because(second only to Why) it’s about the easiest page to do.

Proposals Board: While Steven Petrick (having both risenand warmed to the task) now handles BBS proposals in a moreorderly manner, he suggested (and I agreed) that his analysis ofLoren Knight’s C-130 proposal had enough interesting observa-tions and calculations that it needed to be printed.

Update: We went looking for something to update, andSteven Petrick suggested that we provide what is essentially newmaterial (not just an update) for the ever-popular Frax.

Brothers of the Anarchist: These are amazingly easy todo (as long as I carefully pick empires with similar weapons).

SFB TACTICSVictory: We scheduled space for Paul Scott’s article but (real

life intruding) he was very late in getting it to us. While this causedutter chaos (we reached a final and stable page count only threedays before the issue was finished) we cannot complain becausePaul (like so many others) is essentially a volunteer and those ofus who chose SFU as an occupation rather than a hobby have totake whatever we’re lucky enough to get and make it work.

Primer: We can use more of these, but we did have a verygood one on file.

Term Papers: We had enough good papers for a decentsection this issue, but we need players to submit more of themso we can rebuild this section to its former four-page status.

Battle Group: This has become one of the most populararticles, now that it has evolved away from accounting and into aprimarily tactics article. As I edited the 18 battles, I was inspiredto do a tactics article of my own (the first Battle Group article Ihave ever written). Of course, in doing so I took another opportu-nity to tease Jean about the “ugly Fralli” but I also showed that insome cases, a hundred shuttles are actually better than a star-ship. (The juggernaut only has so many weapons and shuttlesthat can generate almost 400 points of damage per turn can killanything in short order.)

STAR FLEET VENUESStar Fleet Command: We continue to support the computer

game that refuses to die.Star Fleet Marines: Gary “Edges of the Universe” Carney

had written an article for Marines some time ago, and this was aperfectly good time to use it. The only Assault Note was one Iwrote and while it was given a passing grade, I didn’t want toprint just one paper.

PBEM and Online: What Frank Brooks and Paul Franz dofor Federation Commander, they have long done for Star FleetBattles, and they continue to do it with professional devotion.

Galactic Conquest: This time we had both Conquest Notesand an actual article.

Star Fleet Warlord: Paul Franz runs this system. One ofthe oldest of SFU campaign games, it was created by Bruce Graw.

Prime Directive: We promote the Prime Directive productline by publishing interesting articles, and this time we did a “plan-

etary survey.” Mike West wrote up a bunch of planets for thePrime Directive Traveller book and we used one of them.

Starmada: We needed to do something and Gary “Edges ofthe Universe” Carney suggested that I ask Daniel to do the ISC.Daniel was only too happy to oblige.

Star Fleet Battle Force: Joel Shutts, who has moved on tohis real-world job, came by the office for a visit and stayed longenough to create six new cards for this issue.

A CALL TO ARMSCall-Out Notes: These are tactical papers for ACTASF and

we’re getting more and more of them as the system grows.New Ships: Under our arrangement with Mongoose, we

printed these both in CL#47 and in Fleet Update #2.How to Play: Rather than doing more tactics, Tony L. Tho-

mas wrote an article showing how ACTASF actually works. I in-serted a few comments to make sure people understood the dif-ferences between ACTASF and SFB/FC.

FEDERATION & EMPIREThe Front Page: This is fairly self-evident.Q&A: Mike Curtis answers questions on the BBS and sends

me packages of answered questions and questions requiringrulings. His work is so perfect that I save it until the very end justbecause I’m going to enjoy formatting it.

Tactical Notes: Prolific F&E players never stop writing themand we continue to publish them, but we need more of them.

F&E Why: The F&E game system continues to make gooduse of its very own “Why” space.

F&E Proposals Board: I was able to find some interestingideas on the BBS and report on their status.

New Ships: Some of the new SFB ships for this issue neededto be added to F&E so we included them on a small SIT.

Vudar: With Minor Empires the next product on the horizon,it was important to get another element from that product into thehands of playtesters, and the staff delivered. The SIT for the Vudarhas been free on the BBS for some time now.

SHIPYARDNew SFB Ships: Steven P. Petrick always comes wander-

ing into my office soon after a Captain’s Log is done to discussships for the next issue. He had a few ideas, some of which Iliked. One of those was variants for the Federation police cutter.His theory was that with more money than yard capacity and aspirit of free enterprise, the Federation (more than any otherempire) would consider building mission variants on the readilyavailable police hull. The F&E guys wanted a couple of ships(they always do) and the FC guys wanted a couple of ships thathad never been done for SFB; Steven Petrick obliged us and didthem all. The other ships were done in response to requests.

New Federation Commander Ships: As noted in the FCsection, the four plasma variants were included in this issue. Thisworked out well given Jean’s plans for more new FC ship packsfor the e23 PDF store. These four will end up in a future ePackabout Christmas time.

New Starmada Ships: I gotta love Daniel Kast, my first andbest joint-venture partner. No matter what I ask him for, he sendsit within a day or two. It’s great to depend on him. Thanks also toTerry O’Carroll for checking the ships.

New ACTASF Ships: As noted, several new ships for thisgame system are in the ACTASF chapter.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CL#47We have gotten to be about as good at doing an issue of

Captain’s Log as we are at mounting the expedition to Origins.

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CAPTAIN’S LOG #47 — © 2013 ADB Inc. Page 3

STAR FLEET UNIVERSE SUPPLEMENTAL FILE(At least we don’t have to become experts on driving across thecountry to rescue new employees from bad situations.)

We have a plan and we just have to execute the plan. Thisrequires long hours and hard work, and a lot of help from a lot ofstaffers, players, and other people. In the case of Origins, thereis a “to do list” and in the case of Captain’s Log there is a table ofcontents. Of course, it cannot be done in just a couple of weeksbut takes months of advanced work to make sure that when weare ready to start the final push to completion all of the parts arethere and ready to use (or at least select from).

We do need some help on that. We need tactical papersand scenarios for all of the games (including Starmada, Marines,and ACTASF). We need tactical primers, fiction, truly new ideasfor new ships. We need you to playtest the new rules (especiallyfor F&E) so new products can go to press. We need ideas forsnapshots (or the snapshots themselves). We need your com-ments on what we did and what you want to see in future.

THOUGHTS ON THE SUPPLEMENTAL FILEThis the the third time that we have used the expanded is-

sue of Captain’s Log to make the Supplemental File what it wassupposed to be: rejected tactical papers and assorted notes onvarious things. That allowed me to put it together in a few hours.Are there features you want more of? Are there features youwant less of? We don’t know if you don’t tell us.

JEAN SEXTON’S NOTESInto the Captain’s Log Furnace

Many factors combined to make working on this issue hotand fast. The Steves took a week off for Operation Fetch to bringme to Amarillo. I took the same week to prepare for the move.That means that ADB spent three “people-weeks” on moving me,not creating Captain’s Log. While the move will be beneficial tothe company, it certainly made working on the issue a time underpressure. We had to leave for Origins on Monday, June 10. Wehad to be printing the issue by Friday, June 7. We really didn’tget thoroughly started on it until May 7. That means we had amonth to create 144 pages — or we had to produce about fivefinished pages a day. This is complicated because few pagescan be finished in a day, so every day consisted of moving somepages from idea to draft, others from draft to formatted, othersfrom formatted to staff checked, and others to the final proofreadand ready for publication stations.

Publishing is complex. You have to plan how many pagesgo to each “chapter” of the book (e.g., history, SFB tactics, F&E,ACTASF, SSDs, and so forth). That way you don’t suddenly findyou have 50 pages on one game, 50 on another, 44 on the thirdgame, and (whoops!) you have no pages to have a story, coverthe company’s news, and cover all the rest of the games. Youneed to make sure your authors submit their articles. You haveto write what needs to be written. That needs to be laid out andproofread, and in many cases you don’t know if a given article issix pages or nine pages until very late in the process (especiallyif the writer doesn’t do it on time). Art needs to be gotten andinserted. All those proofreading corrections need to be made andthe pages re-checked to make sure that “And” became “and,”not “snd.” In many ways, we start out with the raw ore and refineit in the furnace of publishing.

For me, I always enjoy the History section. I loved “Into theEagle’s Nest” because it showed some interesting glimpses intoa non-military part of the Federation. I liked “The Warrior’s Jour-ney” because it continued the saga of Targis Ketrick. We also getto catch a glimpse of Joan, first introduced in Captain’s Log #39and mentioned again in Captain’s Log #44. (She’s also in a non-canonical story in the Captain’s Log #42 Supplemental File.) Iadmit to having a fondness for her as a fellow former librarian.

I would like to work more on the Communications section ofCaptain’s Log, so that it has more news that you want to read. Ifyou have suggestions or requests or comments, please emailme at Jean@StarFleetGames.com and I’ll see what we can do. Iam trying to make sure that Combat Action ribbons are awardedappropriately, so I need to hear about your demos. We’re goingto rebuild the Rangers (I have just been named Ranger Com-mandant), so stay tuned for more information!

We always encourage people to write fiction for Captain’sLog. A good story is a joy to read and I get totally caught up in it.This Input Guide is designed to help you write dialogue better —well, at least to punctuate it better. Read carefully and you mayspot some of the people from Origins and the BBS used in theexample sentences!

Do you want to see your name in print? Do you want toadvance in rank from Cadet to Captain? You can write and sub-mit papers on strategies and tactics. Many of you know that Iplay SFB Galactic Conquest. If I can write something up andhave it pass the graders, then for the games you play, you can,too. Think of those clever tricks, devious traps, and fiendish ideasyou’ve used. Just explain them and there you are on the path tobecoming a captain.

Have you ever wanted to help expand Federation & Em-pire? Help us playtest the new Vudar rules in this issue ofCaptain’s Log. If you can break them, we need to fix them beforethey become part of Minor Empires.

Most of what I want in my capabilities of Marketing Directoris to hear from you. What do want us to do more of, to do differ-ently, to include, or to skip? What do you like in the issue? Popover to the BBS and let us know!

News Flash! This is so recent that we couldn’t include it inCaptain’s Log #47 because it hadn’t happened yet. We’re nowon Twitter and you can follow us at ADBInc_Amarillo. We hope tosee you there.

STEVEN P. PETRICK’SCOMMENTSOvercoming Adversity

Computer problems conspired to delay completion of myparts of this issue. While I had an idea for an article and series ofSSDs based on the police cutter, Mike Sparks’s computer choseto implode as I was working on them. I was on Mike Sparks’scomputer because my own had imploded. While a draft copy ofthe idea existed, I had to do the SSDs over again from scratchvery late in the process, and do them at the same time as theselection of the final SSDs appeared.

On the plus side, I had done the monster article earlier, so itwas ready, and enough computer power remained to get the battlegroup articles done. Getting the various tactical papers out forgrading was, however, greatly delayed. I have to thank the grad-ers for completing their work quickly in the time available to them.

With all of the above I was able to complete my various partsof the project quickly despite the time crunch the computer prob-lems created. This gave me time to proof other material and fin-ish assembling the Platinum Hat tournament report, and all thiswhile getting ready for Origins.

With the existing scenario file having been destroyed in thecrash, assembling new scenarios was done in a hurry. (I havesince received a few new scenario ideas from our players that Iwill be looking at developing over the next couple of weeks aswe rebuild a pool of scenarios for the next issue.)

As always, as I look at things, I need to once more plead formore term papers, tactical notes, command notes, assault notes,conquest notes, and other papers to build up those files. There isvery little in them now, and not much is being submitted.

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STAR FLEET UNIVERSESUPPLEMENTAL FILE

REINFORCEMENTS ATTACKREINFORCEMENTS ATTACKREINFORCEMENTS ATTACKREINFORCEMENTS ATTACKREINFORCEMENTS ATTACKMike West writes: It has come to my attention that rule (5L9)

Ground Bases was not included in Reinforcements Attack. I apolo-gize for missing that. Here it is from Captain’s Log #43:

(5L9) GROUND BASESFew of these bases have batteries, but are so small that

shield reinforcement really isn’t going to matter all that much.

(5L9a) Types: These “small ground bases” come in three basictypes:

(5L9a1) Weapons Bases: The standard ground base is usedto protect colonies on planets from enemy raiders (or monsters).They have weapons which fire “up” in a 180 degree arc (as theyobviously cannot fire through the planet they are sitting on). Youcan place one ground base on a large asteroid and give it a 360degree firing arc.

(5L9a2) Infrastructure: These include outposts (which mightbe scientific research posts or military posts along a border towatch for enemy invaders), agro stations (the hub of farmingactivity in a given area), or mining stations (which are the surfacestructure for deep mineral mines).

(5L9a3) Support Bases: These include power stations(which provide more electrical power to other bases nearby) andmilitary garrisons (which provide more ground troops to helpnearby bases resist invasions or ground raids as well as a com-fortable place for senior officers to hang out).(5L9b) Function: Ground bases function as small ships that hap-pen to be “landed” on a planet. They cannot move or take off. Aship cannot tractor one and drag it away into space. Building aground base takes much longer than a scenario, so any scenariowith a ground base means that the base was built earlier. It isunlikely for two enemies to have ground bases on the same planet,but even if this happens, the ground bases cannot attack eachother directly. (They could use shuttles and ground troops.)

(5L9b1) Firing Arc: Ground bases have a 180° firing arc;they can fire “up” but cannot fire through the planet they are on.

(5L9b2) Operation: Ground bases take damage and man-age energy like ships. They do not use Damage Allocation; theowner can mark damage on any box he wants. (Due to spacelimits, you will have to use the Energy Tokens to keep track ofenergy.)

(5L9b3) Status: Ground bases can be said to be “localized”or “remote.” Remote bases are not connected, even if they hap-pen to be on the same hex side of a planet. Localized bases arewithin a mile or so of each other, and have a unified energy grid.While they take damage as individual bases, they all use thesame pool of Energy Points.

(5L9b4) Attack Limit: Because of camouflage and groundclutter, no ship or other unit can fire on (or launch weapons tar-geted on) a ground base from a range greater than five hexes.

(5L9b5) Transporters: Ground bases pay 1/2 Energy Pointfor transporters (1/4 point in Fleet Scale).(5L9c) Weapons: The standard ground bases have four phaser-3s for self-defense, and one “main weapon” which could be ei-ther a phaser-1, phaser-2, phaser-4 (+6), phaser-G, disruptor,

photon torpedo, drone rack, fusion beam, hellbore, plasma-F,plasma-G, plasma-S, plasma-D, particle cannon, ion cannon, ionpulse generator, or web generator. The bases of a given empirecan only use the weapons common to that empire. (You coulduse an anti-drone or phaser-3, but why?) ESGs are impracticalfor use by ground bases. Webcasters and PPDs are too rare forground bases to use. Plasma-Rs are too big. Adjust the pointvalue of the Ground Base by the chart in (5L1b).

STAR FLEET MARINES: LAST STAND:There is no errata for Last Stand; indeed, Last Stand is ef-

fectively a revised Assault rulebook as many things were clari-fied and other things were added.

CAPTAIN’S LOG #47Page #41 Command Notes: Some thought that Paul

Williamson should have been listed as an ensign rather than acadet, as his was the “best paper” in the issue and worth twopoints for promotion purposes. Any time your first paper is a bestof, you are still listed as cadet as this indicates that you scoredon your first try. It has always been done that way.

Page #117 F&E Q&A: under New Rulings, the rule begin-ning with the number (443.4) should be to (433.4). Rule (443.4)is Commercial Convoys, while (433.4) is base construction.

Page #130 (R11.A23) The damage track for the heavy trans-port shuttle shows 14 damage points for a non-advanced shuttle,and 16 damage points for an advanced shuttle. The damage trackshould be 12 damage points for a non-advanced shuttle and 14damage points for an advanced shuttle.

Page #135 (R52.A1) The damage tracks for the heavy trans-port shuttles show 14 damage points for non-advanced shuttles,and 16 damage points for advanced shuttles. The damage tracksshould be 12 damage points for non-advanced shuttles and 14damage points for advanced shuttles.

OPERATION FETCHThis was the secret mission to extract Jean Sexton from a

difficult situation in North Carolina. Without going into a lot ofdetails or bad-mouthing anyone, there was a (very) ex-boyfriendinvolved who did not want Jean to leave the state, and mighthave done something (who knows what) to stop it, or at leastcause a lot of trouble. Everything had to be planned to get Jeanout of the state before he knew she was packing to leave. Hekept close tabs on her (almost every day) and watched like ahawk for signs of an impending departure.

The decision was made over two years ago that when thetime came, Steven Petrick and Steve Cole would rent a car, driveto her house, trade the car back to the rental agency for a truck,load up everything she owned, and drive the truck and her carback to Texas. During her visits over the last two years, planswere made (e.g., she hunted for an apartment) and everythingwas in readiness. We did not know until a few months before themission that this could turn into a “hot extraction under fire.”

Then it got worse. Jean reached a point where she had toschedule her official retirement date, which could have been 1May or 1 July. Obviously, we wanted Jean here before Originsand she wanted out of where she was as fast as possible. Oncethe date of 1 May was locked in and could not be changed, fatedealt us a cruel blow — Stephen V. Cole fell and broke his leg.While there might have been time to change plans, he was con-vinced he would be healed by late April. Not only was he stillcrippled, but Steven Petrick blew out his own knee while jogging.Undeterred, Jean recruited local help and two SFU players(Howard Bampton and Chris Sanchez) and the mission wentahead. As proof that there is a God, the mission succeeded andJean arrived in Texas without her departure being discovered.

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HONORABLE, IF NOT DISTINGUISHEDIn every issue of Captain’s Log, there are tactical papers

that just don’t reach publishable status. Some are just wrong(these are published anonymously) and others are valid but don’treach the level of being truly unique, innovative, and elegant.

These are their (unproofread, unedited) stories.

STAR FLEET BATTLES

Shoeing Through the Eye of the StormXander Fulton, USS Oregon

Due to the increasing acceleration towards a black hole(P4.1), battles around them often treat the five-hex diameteraround the black hole as a solid object. Seeking weapons firedon the other side of this area will inevitably fall into the blackhole, as within two hexes radius of it, the weapon would bedragged into the hole every impulse, a speed even the fastestdrones and plasma cannot outrun — normally.

Plasma empires in the late General War have an option todeal with this, in the plasma sabot arming mode. As a plasmasabot fires the torpedo as a “super-fast weapon” that can movemultiple times per impulse, the (P4.11) procedure that would nor-mally stop a weapon’s advancement cold within two hexes of theblack hole will still let a sabot plasma torpedo pass through.

This disparity of the most severe terrain “storms” costing nomore than a single hex of movement in any impulse — whether ablack hole, nebula random movement (P6.5), or others — allowsa saboted torpedo to move through the “eye of the storm” withbetter accuracy than standard seeking weapons. (Although, ofcourse, this may prove to be the biggest surprise for opponentsused to the otherwise-impassable area around a black hole.)

While the paper was valid, the graders thought it was of lim-ited application and fairly obvious from the rules themselves.

FEDERATION & EMPIRE

The D is for DefensePatrick Sledge, USS Ohio

So the year is Y173 or later, you have just finished a bloodybattle, and it is time to leave with a full battle line or more ofcripples. Thanks to (307.31) you get to choose three uncrippledships to include. But which three?

One of the best choices in this situation is an interdictioncarrier group. Since an interdiction carrier only requires two es-corts, the entire group can be used within the limits of (307.31).The oversized fighter squadron on an interdiction carrier (12 fac-tors for most empires) also provides a high amount of damageabsorption in the event your opponent chooses not to use di-rected damage in the hopes of making you self-kill more ships.

Density for an interdiction carrier group is relatively high;even empires with low combat potential escorts like the Federa-tion will achieve the same combat potential with a interdictioncarrier group that they would with three cruisers. As an additionalbenefit, using an interdiction carrier group also leaves your for-mation bonus position available to protect a valuable crippledasset. Later in the war, a division control ship (or area controlship) can be used in the same role to provide even more fire-power and additional electronic warfare support.

This tactic was valid but was a repeat of a paper published

in Captain’s Log #29. Gary Quick, USS Minnesota, submitted asimilar paper that was dismissed for the same reason.

Emergency Capital DefenseTed Fay, USS Texas

Upon rare occasion you may find yourself having to defendan under-defended capital system, whether because you blun-dered or because your wily opponent has out-maneuvered you.Nevertheless, it is likely you have one or more APTs and PTRs,and a few warships (too few) available to defend against the im-pending assault.

When you do your capital split, be sure to assign some APTsor PTRs to the mobile defenders. Also, make sure you have yourheaviest unit in the mobile defenders.

Assume that you have very few defenders and that everydefending ship is precious. So, your strategy is to put up a line ateach planet with planetary defense units consisting of your heavi-est ship and at least one APT or PTR. Preferably you should putup only one such unit, for reasons given below. The APT or PTRis a second “ship” that allows you to put your heavy unit in theformation bonus position, where it is less vulnerable. If the battleis ultimately going to be close as to who wins the hex, your oppo-nent will be much less likely to “waste” damage by directingagainst your heavy unit in the formation bonus position at thethree-to-one damage ratio.

However, by having a real warship on the line you receive anumber of defender benefits.

First, you can set your battle intensity rating, as opposed tothe attacker setting both battle intensity ratings at an undefendedhard point.

Second, you can do a bit more damage to the attacking playerby having a little more combat potential on the line.

Third, you may draw your opponent into “wasting” damageat three-to-one by directing on a unit in the formation bonus slot.

Fourth, you can take any damage on the fixed position (plan-etary defense units, possible starbase incremental damage sys-tem steps, plus 10 points to devastate the planet) to preserveyour precious ship.

Be very careful when using this tactic.First, be sure there are adequate fixed defenses that can

take the damage your opponent will likely do. If your opponent islikely to wipe out whatever units you put on the line plus the fixeddefenses, the cost is likely not worth the defense. Thus, if youropponent can put up lines of 110+ combat potential you will prob-ably only want to defend planets with three or more planetarydefense units.

Second, you cannot take damage voluntarily on APTs. Thus,your warship must take damage before you kill any APTs.

Third, do not place all APTs/PTRs you have on the line; pref-erably use only one. Your opponent can kill as many as he wantswith an extra directed damage attack, and suddenly you mayfind yourself unable to use this strategy at other planets in thesystem. Or all units may be wiped out if the opponent does enoughdamage and lets the damage fall. The only benefit to you mightbe that he “wastes” damage in a hotly contested hex by usingdirected damage on the APTs at the two-to-one damage ratio;however, you gain nothing at all if the opponent manages to doenough damage to annihilate everything at the planet. If you onlyput one APT/PTR on the line, or at least the minimum allowed bybattle force rules, that is the only one at risk. Thus, your ability to

THE TACTICS BOARD

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STAR FLEET UNIVERSESUPPLEMENTAL FILEuse this strategy at other planets is preserved no matter what.

Finally, your capital system likely has a starbase with a rapidcombat repair capacity of four. Thus, selection of a heavy unitthat can be repaired with a capacity of four (five in the case ofRomulans, Gorns, and Inter-Stellar Concordium) can allow youto cripple and repair the unit (or be crippled) once and then rep-resent the same ship on the line at another planet.

Note it is possible your opponent may object to the use ofAPTs/PTR to allow you to use the formation bonus for the heavywarship on the basis that an APT/PTR is a “non-ship unit” in vio-lation of (308.722). However, under (539.12) or (539.22) APTsand PTRs are treated as “ships” — except for the enumeratedexceptions within those specific rules. As the formation bonus isnot listed within these exceptions, APTs and PTRs are “ships”and are not “non-ship units” for purposes of (308.722).

Senior staffers felt that the designer never intended theseunits to be used in this manner and that the game rules shouldnot allow this kind of use. Rules clarifications now prohibit thetactic from being used. PTRs are another ship in the formationbut are not really warships integrated into the fleet.

Kzinti Escort Leaders!By virtue of the war destroyer leader rule (303.52), if you

have three Kzinti frigates in a battle force, one of them is as-sumed to be a leader variant and gets an additional plus one toits attack factor — even if they are being used as ad-hoc escorts!

This paper violates a recent ruling that a “leader” cannot bean ad-hoc escort.

A CALL TO ARMS STAR FLEET

INITIATIVE SINKS— Tony L. Thomas, USS Tennessee

Initiative plays a very big part in ACTASF. Although someplayers will disagree about its importance, I think it can be as biga factor in ultimate victory as fleet planning and strategy. At thestart of each turn, both players roll 2d6 for initiative. Whoeverloses this roll must move first in the “you go/I go” alternatingmovement sequence required by the rules and whoever winsinitiative is allowed to nominate a ship to fire first following move-ment. Taken together, these provide a pretty big advantage tothe winner of the initiative roll. While there is not a lot that can bedone about the first fire opportunity, short of not being in range orarc; there is something that can be done about movement order.

The loser will always have to move first, which allows thewinner to react to his movement, unless you happen to havemore ships than your opponent. The force with the larger num-ber of ships will have units left to move once the smaller forcehas completed its movement and these units then get to, and infact must move, before the turn can progress to the Attack Phase.Many times during fleet composition planning, it may be advan-tageous to stock up, as it were, on small units. A Federation playerfor example, who already receives no bonus to initiative can taketwo police cutters for fewer points than one heavy cruiser. Hav-ing more units than your opponent means that if you lose theinitiative roll and must move first, you can move one of the non-crucial, smaller ships first. Once your opponent moves his firstship, you can then react to his movement. But beware, a wilyopponent may stock up on small units of his own.

While this paper is perfectly valid, the subject had been cov-ered by the author in previously published articles.

BASES AND SPECIAL ACTIONS DEFENSIVELY— William Stec, USS Pennsylvania

Bases must minimize the damage they take from enemy firevia proper use of Special Actions. For this example, assume thatthree Klingon D7 cruisers are attacking a battle station. Assumeall drones have been shot down. Each case is taken in isolation

and damage taken in the previous case is not used to influencethe best option.

Assume that all of the Klingons use an RX-style attack (lin-ing the target on the boundary between the Fore and Port/Star-board firing arc to ensure that weapons bearing on the Port/Star-board arc can fire upon the target). Also assume that disruptorsare fired first and phasers second. The base also has a plus onemodifier for fire against it due to having the Immobile trait.

Now, let us examine both the Boost Shields! and Close BlastDoors! special actions to see which will be most effective at mini-mizing the damage taken at various ranges.

Case 1. Range 24, 12 disruptors fired, 8.04 hit, of which twopenetrate the shields. This equals 12.08 shield hits (6.04 x 2damage each) and four internal damage (2 x 2 damage each).

If we choose Boost Shields! (+11 shield average) then thebase takes 1.08 shield hits (12.08 – 11 Boost Shields!) and 2.68internal damage from disruptors (4 x .67) after rolling to miss thearmor. Total damage taken is 3.76. If we choose Close BlastDoors!, the station takes 12.08 shield hits and 1.8 internal dam-age from disruptors (4 x .67) after rolling to miss the armor. Totaldamage taken is 13.88. Clearly, Boost Shields! is superior here.

Case 2. Range 12. 12 disruptors fired, 10.08 hit, of whichtwo penetrate the shields. This equals 16.16 shield hits (8.08 hitsx 2 damage) and four internal damage (2 hits x 2 damage). Ninephaser-1s are fired, for 7.56 hits (9 x .84), of which 1.5 hits pen-etrate the shield. Twelve phaser-2s are fired, for 8.04 hits (12 x.84), of which two penetrate the shield. Total damage scored is28.26 shield hits (16.16 + 6.06 + 6.04), four internals from dis-ruptors (2 hits x 2 damage each) and 3.5 from phasers.

If we choose Boost Shields! (+11 shield average), the basetakes 17.26 hits to the shield (28.26 – 11), 2.68 internal damagefrom disruptors (4 x .67) and 2.94 internal damage from phasers(3.5 x .67) after rolling to miss the armor. Total damage taken is22.89 points. If we choose Close Blast Doors!, the base takes28.26 damage to the shields, 1.8 damage from disruptors (4 x.67 x .67), and 1.96 from phasers ( 3.5 x .84 x .67) after rolling tomiss the armor. Total damage taken is 32.02 points. Clearly, BoostShields! is still superior here.

Case 3. Range 4 with overloaded disruptors. Twelve disrup-tors fired, 10.08 hit (12 x .84), of which two penetrate the shields.This equals 32.32 (8.08 x 4 damage each) shield hits and eight(2 x 4 damage each) internal damage. Nine phaser-1s are fired,for nine hits (x2 for Killzone), of which 1.5 hits (x2 for Killzone)penetrate the shield. Twelve phaser-2s are fired, for 10.08 hits(12x .84) (x2 for Killzone), of which two penetrate the shield (x2 forKillzone). Total damage scored is 63.48 shield hits (32.32 + 15 +16.16), eight internal damage from disruptors (2 x 4 damageeach), and seven internal damage from Phasers [(1.5 x 2) +(8.08x 2)]. If we choose Boost Shields! (+11 shield average), the basetakes 63.48 hits to the shield, downing it and inflicting 5.36 dam-age from disruptors and 24.76 damage from phasers after rollingto miss the armor. Total damage taken to the base is 60.12. If wechoose Close Blast Doors!, the base takes 30 hits to the shields,downing it and inflicting 4.63 internal damage from disruptorsand 21.48 internal damage from phasers after rolling to miss thearmor. Total damage taken to the station is 56.11. Clearly, CloseBlast Doors! is superior here.

One thing that is a benefit of using the Close Blast Doorsaction is its ability to reduce by 1/3rd extra hull damage causedby Critical Hits. I have noted that bases seem to succumb tocritical hits and the extra damage they cause more often than notrather than by running out of hull damage points.

So in summary, it appears that Boost Shields! is the supe-rior option to Close Blast doors at most ranges for bases, exceptat overload range where the enemy is doing tremendous amountsof internal damage and Close Blast Doors! is the better option.

While this paper is valid, it was given a low score due toexcessive length. Some felt it was just an explanation of the rules.

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