This is primarily for those of you in the studio audience who aren't that familiar with Star Fleet Battles. I'm hoping that this'll make the page more fun and understandable.
I have simplified the definitions somewhat. I am leaving out most
of the exceptions and special cases SFB has generated over its 25 years
of life. If I put all those in, I might as well just post the game
rules, and that's about 1000 pages of reading.
Legend
Sometimes it's easiest to use a symbol than spell it out. I use:
# = any number or a set of numbers.
If I said "Phaser-#", I am talking about something which applies equally
to a Phaser-1, -2, -3, -G and any other phaser.
? = any letter in the same way # = any
number. If I write "plasma-?" I am referring to any or all plasma
torps, depending on the context.
SSD: = The topic's designation on a SSD comes next
| Administrative Shuttle (Also "Admin shuttle" or "Shuttle") | This is the standard shuttle used to transport cargo which can't use a transporter. For the sake of simplicity, every race's Admin shuttle is the same. Admin shuttles are slow (speed 6) and lightly armed (1 P-3). In battle, ships will launch them for the extra phaser; also as a Suicide Shuttles, Scatter Packs, Wild Weasels or as a fake seeking shuttle. Late in a battle a single P-3 can decide which was a fight goes. |
| "Death-Dragging" | Destroying a shuttle by tractoring it while moving at twice or more the maximum speed the shuttle can move. An Admin shuttle is death-drug at speeds above 12. If a shuttle's max speed is above 15, it cannot be death-drug because no ship can move fast enough to do it (see speed-#). |
| Drone | A warp-driven guided missile. Drones come in several varieties based on how many "spaces" they take up in a drone rack. 2-space drones are Type IV and V. 1-space drones are I, II, and III. There are also a 1/2-space drone, the type VI. X-technology introduced one new drone of each size: the VII (1-space), VIII (2-space) and IX (1/2 space) respectively. |
| Drone Rack (Also ?-rack; SSD: DRN-?) | As the name suggests these are drone launchers. The storage space in a Drone rack is measured in "spaces" (see drone). There are many types of drone rack (A - H). The most common drone racks are the A and B racks, which can each launch one drone of any size per turn. The difference between the two is size. An A-Rack holds 4 spaces of drones and the B-rack holds 6. |
| "Fake seeking shuttle" | An Admin Shuttle launched unmanned under remote control to make an enemy think it is a Suicide Shuttle or Scatter Pack. A ship's sensors cannot tell what is in a shuttle, only whether it has life-signs or not (which is why a fake seeking shuttle can't carry a pilot: neither a SP or SS has a pilot). Only when a shuttle is destroyed, can sensors determine what (if anything) the shuttle carried by the character of its explosion. |
| Fighter | A fighter is a shuttle specifically designed for combat. They are usually faster and more durable than non-fighter shuttles. Most fighters have weapons besides their phaser(s). Many carry drones, and some carry limited versions of ship-mounted weapons such as Disruptors, Fusion Beams or F-plasmas. These weapons are charged on the fighter's Carrier and loaded onto the fighter by the carrier's deck crews. Normally, a fighter has one shot with the weapon before having to return to the carrier for reload. The fighter version can only hold a standard load for such weapons, no overloads. The weapon's range is often limited too, usually to 10 hexes. |
| Fighter Box (SSD: FTR) | A fighter box is a shuttle box set up to service the needs of a fighter. Fighter boxes can also service Admin Shuttles if needed. These box contain support for whatever weapons the fighter mounts: Ready racks for loading drones and/or containment facilities for the fighter's Disruptor/Fusion/F-torp loads. (these weapons loads can only be used to arm fighters. They can't be used in the Starship's normal weapons). A single Shuttle Bay can contain both Fighter Boxes and regular Shuttle Boxes. Shuttle boxes can repair fighters, but not rearm them. Each fighter box is optimized for one kind of fighter. Any fighter can be repaired at a given Fighter box, but it takes twice as long to reload weapons on a fighter the box isn't optimized for. |
| Gorn Confederacy (also Gorns) | Gorns are heavy, slow reptilian beings. There are 3 primary races in the Gorn Confederacy, each from a different planet. Strangely enough, the fossil record for all three races goes back about 12,000 years to an identical creature. Just who transported the Gorn common ancestor to different planets isn't known. The primary Gorn heavy weapon is the plasma torpedo, which they share with their mortal enemies (and neighbors), the Romulans. Gorn ships are like the Gorns, themselves. They are slow to maneuver but durable. Gorn ships have some of the greatest "crunch power" in the game. |
| "Gorn Anchor" | A standard SFB tactic where a ship tractors an opponent to keep it from launching a Wild Weasel, limiting the ship's defense against seeking weapons. If successful, this tactic can be very deadly as seeking weapons overwhelm the ship's defenses. It is a favorite tactic of the Gorns, Romulans and Kzinti, but it is effective any time a lot of seeking weapons can be brought to bear on a ship. |
| Hit-And-Run Raids (Also: H & R Raids) | A Transporter is used to beam a Boarding Party over to a system box on another ship for a moment before pulling them back again. The Boarding Party has just enough time to take aim at the most important devices and fire their weapons before they leave. If all goes as planned, the system box is destroyed. A hit-and-run raid doesn't always destroy the target and it gets much harder if the defending ship has a Boarding Party of its own guarding the system being attacked. |
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