The Nerfing of the Starship Enterprise: Part IV

1979 saw the release of Star Fleet Battles as 'pocket edition'. The rest they say is history. The game is perhaps the single most popular and important sci-fi ship to ship game in the history of the hobby.

I used to play it all the time, often through multi-player 'campaigns' and consider myself to be something of a SFB master. It saw many supplements and editions over the years and is still in production today. Although the editions had slight differences, the game has actually seen little change in its core rules and concepts- something even D&D can't claim.

It has a well-founded rep for complexity and detail and many consider it a 'hard-core' game although IMO the basic rules aren't that bad. However when one is playing with everything, combat is often more determined by who remembers what obscure rule than by tactics.

I like the game. Really do. One of my favorites.

However, as a original Star Trek simulation it sucks.

It does have power allocation, and all the proper names. However like the Star Fleet Battle Manual before it, it took the Star Fleet Technical Manual as its model. So Dreadnaughts are in there and that opened a wedge that drove it truly where no man had gone before.

The shields are completely ablative. Hit a ship with 50 point shields with 50 1 point attacks, and that shield is no more.

It uses FTL combat with a segmented movement that HERO System would later in a way (perhaps not intended) copy. But speeds were limited to just a tad over Warp 3. Also it didn't use Warp Factors, just movement points where 1 MP = 1x light speed.

Weapons were cheap to power and fire, and you fired as many as you could at the same time (or nearly the same time).

Shuttles were FTL, and have a combat role never seen in the TV series- original or not. Indeed, I'd almost claim their use is key to any victory.

The expansions would bring in Star Fighters and carriers. Space Control Ships and Super Battleships that made the Dreadnaught look like a cutter. Missiles, Anti-Missiles and Cruise Missiles and Multi-warhead missiles. Mines. Nothing was off limits and the game became a kitchen sink of whatever its designers wanted.

And the designers wanted carrier battles in space, even going so far as to name and model fighters and weapons systems after planes and systems in the US Navy.

Sadly it quickly became a game design better suited for Star Wars than Star Trek. And on top of that it's point value system designed to produced balanced battles was a joke.

It all started off well, but the designer fell for a common enough temptation. The desire to expand and add on to a system to make more money. And to remake something according to one's own desire.

There result was a great game. But horrid Star Trek and the Enterprise become nothing more than a support ship for far sexier vessels fielded in the game.

To score it

1. Success: It was a Warp Speed warship best used in combat at FTL speeds.
2. Failure: Non-ablative Deflector shields, able to withstand (for a time) planet wrecking attacks and completely ignore attacks below certain power levels
3. Success: Shields were divided into at least four 'arcs' that were damaged and reinforced independently
4. Success: Phasers and photon Torpedos were FTL weapons. There were a number of weapon mounts pointing in different directions.
5. Failure: The phasers were fired 'one bank' at a time in a twin beam using all the ship's offensive power in a single attack. Torpedos were launched in spreads (typically in sets of double launches) and never fired at the same time as the phasers
6. Success: Ship's Power was critical in how the ship operated. Often balanced between needs it could divert for increased offense or defense.
7. Failure: Warp Factors were a cubic conversion times light speed (maybe with a constant added)
8. Failure: It was the fastest ship in Starfleet as warp drive was power intensive. Shuttles were sublight only.
9. Failure: The Enterprise was the most powerful, and most versatile ship in Starfleet

Simulation Quality: 4 of 9
Game Quality: 4 of 5
Nerf Score: 5 out 5.

Part: I, II, III, V, VI, VII, Conclusion