Forum

[Jack7]

Like all things the game has advantages, and drawbacks. Complication can be one depending on how you approach the game.

I like some of the advice so far about how to develop rules familiarity. But it is certainly no more difficult than gaining familiarity with a role play game.

However these are the absolutely fantastic elements of the game to me.

Once you know it the it is extremely easy to develop ship designs for new aliens, or modifications on previous designs for already existing fleets. All you need is graph paper and a good design model or process.

Same for weapon systems, electronic systems, censoring systems, etc. Over the years I developed an advanced Aegis defense system, several stealth systems, time mines, a defense shielding system based upon the transporter system, the tractor beam and the deflector grid all working in concert, various spatial and temporal displacement weapons, a probing system that allowed advanced targeting and better Intel on enemy ship capabilities, reactive armor, an active misdirection field that produced false sensor data, and assorted alien weapon systems. It is an easy system to create for.

You can play it strategically, as part of an on-going war-campaign, or tactically, as ship to ship combat.

You can play environmental obstacles in space, black holes, neutron stars, gravity wells, temporal distortion fields, mine fields, sub-space displacement fields, etc. Few things are as fun as seeing players run into wholly unexpected background situations, and scramble to try and adapt when they are not even really sure what the problem might be.

You can play with just two players, or you can use a referee.

It is the single richest tactical naval combat/ship to ship combat game I've ever seen with a whole host of weapon systems, defenses, electronic warfare possibilities, cloaking, stealth, etc. It renders a huge variety of tactical combat possibilities, and variations. I even developed a Tactical Manual, sort of like the real world Tacticon, that I used in order to fight different species. It described the best ways I had found to fight every different alien species encountered in the game. (You wanna fight Lyrans a lot differently than you fight Romulans.) And I developed a Commander's Option Sheet (I recommend developing your own, you won't forget what you can do that will cost you a fight) that I could consult quickly, and that reminded me of all of the tactical and technological ship and combat options that I could employ during any given battle situation.

It is easily modifiable in any number of ways.

You can more or less easily adapt it to any Star Trek or related RPG. We play Spheres of Influence as the ST RPG, and just use Star Fleet Battles whenever we fight ship to ship combat. So it can be easily overlain practically any Star Trek RPG. You just replace the RPG ship to ship combat system with SFB and you have a much more interesting, detailed, and tactically sharp combat system.