FEDERATION SPACE

A Precursor to Federation & Empire

Vassal Module by Craig68



This game was originally produced by Task Force Games back in 1981. It was, by all accounts, a snapshot of what eventually became Federation and Empire nearly five years later. I personally prefer this version since I don't work for NASA.

Those of you who have played F&E will undoubtedly notice how the map and complexity has progressed. There are noticeable changes in unit composition as well.


With that said, let me explain how the game plays and its functionality.

Starbases:

  1. All Starbases have the trait DOES NOT MOVE. However, RIGHT-CliCKING you can access its drop-down menu. Also, if you "lasso" the SB, and any ships that are stacked on top. you can easily drag the SB, and units, onto the TACTICAL COMBAT DISPLAY.

  2. The planet images have a menu as well. Hold down SHIFT then LEFT-CLICK, then RIGHT-CLICK to access menu.

  3. If you click on a ship, or stack of ships, the SB will remain in its designated hex.

OOB:

  1. Most of the OOB (setup) are from the original printed material. The Hydrans, Tholians, and Orions are from many different schools of thought. Those charts were not available in the original game. The rules stated that "these race's fleets are so small they can be set up anywhere within their boundaries."

  2. Orions: The Orion ships 'should' start in parking orbit around Orion. The Pirates of Orion scenario has them most everywhere! They may roam, and conduct business, anywhere except Hydra and Tholia. (see the Orion OOB for more details.)

Sequence of Play:

  1. The Sequence of Play is intact with the addition of an ECONOMICS PHASE. This was an option in the rulebook I decided to add just to give the game a bit more 'flavor.'

Planets:

  1. I have added a few planet graphics just to pretty up the original board. There is no difference between those and the yellow planets printed on the map itself. I only did the major 'players' in this game. Also, there is a Black Hole game piece on the map. I wanted it to send ships to some graveyard map if they entered the Black Hole, but my Vassal skills are not that great right now. Maybe the Brain Trust of the Vassal forum can figure that out. (Hint)

  2. The TACTICAL COMBAT DISPLAY also features this. Mostly because the diagrams for the base and planet system were very faded. Note: Make sure when you add units on top of the base and planet system that you 2x click to remove your ships, or else the base and planet system will move with you.

  3. The images (base and planet system are double-sided so you can flip the planet over to a base station and vice versa. You'll see why this is convenient as you play the game.

Stacking:

  1. As per the rules, only 6 'ships' may occupy a single hex. Well, I broke this rule. Some stacks are up to 8 'ships.' This is not necessarily a gamebreaker. These extra ships can be put in reserve, or, doubled up on other opposing ships.

  2. Per the rules, it stated in testing from players that 6 was a more manageable size. So what's the problem with 8? Remember, this was 1981 thinking. We can handle 8. The TCD handles up to 7 if you have fighters involved.

  3. Now the problem is: the more ships in a hex mean less are spread out on the map. So pick your poison.

  4. The fighter squadrons can be accessed in the FLEETS menu. Also, the Federation is the only fleet that carries 2 squadrons on its CV. So make sure you double up!

For the most part I tried to keep the 6 ship rule, BUT.....

Mostly, the excess ships are either Home Fleets or on a Starbase. The rules state the excess are "docked inside."

Task Bar:

  1. I added a Captains Log ( a simple notepad) and a Solitaire Directional Attack feature to aid you if you're playing this solo and need an unbias plan of attack. You can use this or come up with your own. I use it to keep me from having to deal with a split personality.

Romulan Cloaking Device:

  1. (For Romulan players only) I have included the Invisible trait for the Romulan War Eagle (WE) only. It's in the RIGHT-CLICK menu for the pieces (Cloaking Device). As per the 'official rules', you cannot fire while cloaked, and the To-Hit for your opponents is (-5) on the CRT.

The Borg (with actual Borg wav file) (Property sheet)

  1. Yes, I added them just for laughs. It is located in the FLEETS scrollable list section. According to Star Trek Lore, the Borg have been around for hundreds (thousands?) of years, so it seemed like the correct thing to add.

Just a few notes about fighting the Borg:

1. There are 5 ticks for shields. These need to be brought down first.

2. There are 4 Nods (3 ticks each). Once 2 are depleted, the Cube is damaged (flip over). When all 4 are depleted, the Cube is destroyed.

3. Each "D" on the CRT reduces 2 ticks -- each "X" reduces 3 ticks.

It's will have to be a 'multi-ship' pile-on to take the Borg ship down. As it should be!

SO,.... we will modify the rules: 'multiple ships (in a single box) can each fire INDEPENDENTLY. This ONLY applies to Borg ships.

Now this HAS to have an "honor" system for this to work.

This was the best I could come up with. If anyone has a better idea, I'm all for it.

I hope you enjoy this module. I was surprised this game had not been attempted, so I decided I would give it a shot. Hopefully I got it, somewhat, right. I'm still learning Vassal so there will be additions to this module in the future.



-Craig68

Questions or comments can be made here: craig68x@gmail.com