Romulan SRM

Now that the TOS SRM is out, I'm curious as to the current standing of the Romulan SRM. Is it still in proofreading, or has it moved on from there?

The testreading and such was done a long time ago. I just have to find the time to make the corrections and get the manuscript ready for final layouts. That won't be for a while yet -- but people have the SRM: TOS ERA to chew on for a while. :)

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

Cool. Was just curious, no hurry of course. :D

Hi Steve,

First off I would like to thank you for the DWS-A great effort-top quality and should be published.


I'm curious about how you decide statistics like crew complement
and deck size. In paticular with the D'deridex class Warbird-do you use just Icon/Coda Rpg based statistics or do you draw from other (Non -RPG) "official" sources.

The Nemesis internet site has listed the first non-rpg statistics I mean as in precise numbers for a Warbird-

1,650 crew, 115 decks.

Given that most "official" sources are vague,in most cases just approximations-this stands out. Would you use them in place of the established Icon/Coda statistics? The LUG warbird is listed as:

Crew: 1,700, 83 decks.

This has me wondering the crew figures are so close where do the RPG people get their info-or is it possible that the Nemesis site is taking from the RPG info!

I in anycase eagerly await the Romulan SRM

:)

Where there's no canonical information, typically we make the best estimate we can based on what we do know, comparisons to other ships, and so on. There's no secret repository of information that licensees get ahold of, sadly. My guess is that the Nemesis info comes from the same source -- educated guesswork.

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

Steve

Thanks for the prompt reply.

(Sigh) I was hoping there would be this mysterious repository of Warbird information:)

In anycase may I ask how you came up with your statistics for the warbird? I mean the your process of educated deduction:)

While I have got your attention, can you give me a hint of how many different classes of ships you have in the Romulan SRM?

Do you ever base any on those Star Trek Computer Game ship designs or the old FASA game?

Hi everybody.
Is somebody able to provide me 3D views (not the plans) of the romulan ships featured in the "Way Of D'Era".
Thx
Alexandre

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In anycase may I ask how you came up with your statistics for the warbird? I mean the your process of educated deduction

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Well, there's not really that much to it. I simply watched all the episodes I could find with Romulan ships in them, making note of anything I considered important. Then I read whatever material I could find on the subject that seemed worth reading (like the Star Trek Fact Files or Star Trek: The Magazine, to name just two), and again made notes. Then I reviewed all my notes and statted up the ship appropriately, sometimes making comparisons to ships I considered roughly equivalent, to make sure there was a relative degree of parity.

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While I have got your attention, can you give me a hint of how many different classes of ships you have in the Romulan SRM?

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There are 21 military ships, two civilian ships, and four allied/threat vessels (including two Taurhai ships) -- in addition, of course, to the usual ship type analysis and ship construction chapters. :)

Thanks Steve for the SRM information.

I have some more questions (Sorry to be a pest)

Are you going to wait until Nemesis comes out and incorperate the Reman vessel in the SRM? The "Script" (Yes I know this is highly dubious-but it does tend to be supported by the Trailer/Images and text officialy released so far.) has Worf reciting its weapon capabilities: Its Disruptors are listed to number in their 50's! If this is the case, would you construct the ship to match those-as it comes from on screen?


Another tidbit that came from the Nemesis site: There are Advanced Warbirds that are faster-thats not a direct quote-does the LUG/Coda system allow for "Uprating" a ships statistics to reflect that?

Do you utilise or consider the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual and the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual as a good source information?

I don't have specific plans to wait on NEMESIS, but if I don't get the book out before then, I'll definitely incorporate whatever information is available. If they've got as many disruptors as you say, they'll probably blow my SU limits for various Size categories right outta the water, but no system's perfect. :)

It's certainly possible to "upgrade" a Spacedock starship. It's usually just a matter of swapping one system for another; most ships have enough SUs left over for expansion/alteration that it doesn't cause problems.

I generally consider the Tech Manuals good sources of info, and as close to canon as you can get without actually being on the screen. Some allowance has to be made for divergence between the books and the shows, or for various errors in the books, but generally I find them to be excellent information sources. I hope Rick Sternbach can eventually work out a deal for a Voyager TM, but I'm not holding out any hope.

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

Hi Steve

I forgot I have used your system of SU's to make a "Mirror Universe" Galaxy Class for a game I ran! Sorry-it is ideal for my proposed minor uprating of the warbirds for a campaign I'm creating.

There is one other question are you using CODA Ship stats now or will you? See I'm have yet to buy the new books as here in Australia our dollar is worth only 57 US Cents-Thus our "Pacific Rim Peso" situation means RPG books (Especially Hardback) go for $60-80 Australian!

So from casual glances in the store the ship layout looks similar.

Now I thought I would give the Scimitar Reman Warbird weapon stats-This script bit appears all over the Nemesis spoiler sites.-If its false-one must wonder why?

Just fair warning-if this will ruin the film for you skip it:)

Worf reads from a tactical console

"52 Disruptor Banks, 27 Photon Torpedo Bays and Primary and Secondary Phased Shields"

The script also mentions that the scimitar is easily twice the size of the Enterprise.

Just one note-The Scimitar looks nothing like a Rom Warbird at all-as it appeared in the teaser trailer,mores the pity-but if this script is right we will see Rom Warbirds on the big screen!

I forgot to ask-In the 21 listed military ships, I assume the 8 Rom ship types from Way of D'era are included-any Old FASA designs included? I understand if you wish to keep secret:)

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Originally posted by General Velal
I forgot to ask-In the 21 listed military ships, I assume the 8 Rom ship types from Way of D'era are included-any Old FASA designs included? I understand if you wish to keep secret:)

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I can answer that one, I have seen Steve's stock answer regularly since the Spacedock rules came out.

No.

Or rather, No...

...As the FASA and the computer games (I remember seeing that queried above) are the intellectual property of others, they never appear in Steves work. You'll see the Canon stuff and the LUG stuff, and loads of stuff from Steves weird imaginings...

But all the stuff from FASA and any Computer games are yours to create stats for, otherwise you would never make the best use out of the Spacedock creation rules and species specific adjustments that are created.

We may now all pray to the church of SRM.

A'men

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Originally posted by Steve Long
I generally consider the Tech Manuals good sources of info, and as close to canon as you can get without actually being on the screen. Some allowance has to be made for divergence between the books and the shows, or for various errors in the books, but generally I find them to be excellent information sources. I hope Rick Sternbach can eventually work out a deal for a Voyager TM, but I'm not holding out any hope.

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

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Hey steve. Have you ever considered looking up the writers guide tech manuals... The Rodenberrys sell them through Lincoln Enterprises.

http://store.roddenberry.com/store.cfm?categoryID=11471

Description:

Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual The Star Trek Voyager Writers' Technical Manual was developed to provide a handy reference for detailed technical background that our writers sometimes need. It was offered as a supplement to the Writers'/Directors' Guide.



It may not be as purty as a book store tech manual, but it should do the trick.


And No. i dont work for them... ;)

52 disruptor banks. Well, there go my SU restrictions -- unless we can assume most of 'em are low-grade weapons or something. ;)

As Dan's already pointed out, no FASA ships, no computer game ships -- even if there weren't intellectual property issues, I don't own any of the FASATrek books, and I've never played any of the computer games. ;)

All the ships from The Way Of D'era are in there, though.

Re: CODA stats, I don't have any plans to use them for anything. I've got nothing against 'em -- heck, I helped design the rules, at least a little -- but having said my piece on the subject, I'll stick with my previous statements. ;)

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

Fair enough on the Fasa/CG ships

My last query is out of the 21 Military Ships, is there a ship thats primary role would planetary invasion? I mean as ithe subject stands in the ST Universe-Transporters bypass alot of conventional methods for troop deployment-and a D'Deridex can carry a large amount of troops.

However, It strikes that the Romulans would have a vessel devoted to this mission. Its debatable, but I'm curious:)

Thanks for your replys-keep up the good work:)

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Originally posted by Steve Long
52 disruptor banks. Well, there go my SU restrictions -- unless we can assume most of 'em are low-grade weapons or something. ;)

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There go your SU restrictions and any semblance of a sense of proportion. Sheesh, I think 20 disruptors, or even 15, would have gotten the point across that the thing is a battlewagon. No wonder I'm eyeing the TOS era more and more for my games--between this and "Endgame," the post-DW TNG era is killing itself with technological excess.

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My last query is out of the 21 Military Ships, is there a ship thats primary role would planetary invasion?

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Offhand, I honestly don't recall. It's been at least a year since I wrote the book, and there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. ;)

My general thoughts on the subject of planetary invasions and such can be found in the Dominion War Sourcebook, though. ;)

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

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Originally posted by General Velal
My last query is out of the 21 Military Ships, is there a ship thats primary role would planetary invasion?

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Steve, hope you don't mind, but I'll answer that-

Ok, we have 1 Dreadnought, 4 Warbirds, 2 Starbirds (explorers) 3 cruisers, 3 frigates, 1 BOP, 2 Gunships, 2 scouts, 1 research ship, 1 courier, and 1 armored transport (this would be your drop-ship for 12 people).

Velal, you ask a lot of questions (you sure this is the last one :D). Welcome to the boards.

Hi Phoenix

Well!

Heres more questions for you:)!

How did you know the breakdown of the ship types?

4 Warbirds?

Just variants on the basic D'Deridex class Warbird or new ships that class as "warbirds"?

In a similar area, is Decipher bringing out Trek Ship Minature rules? It would sell, given the popularity of SFB etc.

To explain the questions-

I have been working on my own humble campaign/sourcebook for the Romulan Star Empire in 2378 (Post Nemesis)

Unless Enterprise throws a big curve ball in Romulan history-I safely can create a near canon setting without constant disruption from an ongoing series:) An area that intrigued me was this Romulan-Breen rivalry.

DS9 has had two distinct "lines" in the later seasons indicating that there is some serious issues between these two.

"Never Trust a Breen" A Romulan saying.

The Breen Leader demands as "Payment" for his help to the Dominion, rulership of Earth and Romulus.

Then Way of D'era places the Breen on the Romulan Empire borders (Canon?)

In any case, I never felt the way the Breen got "Let off" in the resolution of the Dominion war-would sit with vindictive Romulans and Vengeful Klingons. Considering The Romulans hold grudges for centuries (Earth Romulan war!)

I could see the Romulans invading Breen Space-with a good chance of success-Feds -recovering and want to improve relations with Roms-stay out-Klingons really got hammered and have no love for the Breen, stay out.

Yikes! Sorry-off topic-well anyway need good Rom ship designs
so came in search of the Rom SRM:)!

Phoenix, if you want to go on providing details like that if you want; I'm pressed for time right now (pre-GenCon, dontcha know:)) and can't answer as specifically as I'd like sometimes.

Velal, Decipher has plans for a ship minis game called Engage!. It's been something that's been in the works since the old Last Unicorn days. However, that's literally all I can tell you. I have no idea if they still want to do the product, and if so, when.

Our location of Breen on the borders of Romulan space isn't canon AFAIK, though I think only Ross could say for sure. It was, IIRC, our logical extrapolation -- if the Romulans know them well enough to have sayings about them, it seems likely there's been a lot of contact between them (and not just military, either). That would seem to indicate proximity.

Steve Long
HERO System Line Developer

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Originally posted by General Velal

To explain the questions-

I have been working on my own humble campaign/sourcebook for the Romulan Star Empire in 2378 (Post Nemesis)

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Would like to see what you have written up. I am a pretty devote Romulan Fan and have some ideas on where the Star Empire goes from here. Also know about 20 other romulan players that would welcome new ideas.

I shall post it in a new thread called "Velals Romulan Campaign"
in the Narrators ready room:)

Thanks for the interest:)

Phoenix gets the info (I think) the same way I do - we testread the manuscript for Steve, so we get to look at the juicy new stuff before anyone else!

Steve, the SU restrictions for the Scimitar may be screwed, but that didn't stop you with the Negh'var - just class her as a unique vessel that can ignore standard SU restrictions.

The other Warbirds are different classes from the D'deridex, although she's still the main ship-of-the-line. So we have Strike Warbirds, Swift Warbirds, etcetera. I like the Starbirds myself - think Romulan versions of the Intrepid as compared to the Galaxy-Classes. And yes, I've already kitbashed myself a version of the T'rasus-Class Starbird from a Micromachine D'deridex...

For those of you with Way of D'era, all of the ships from there are in the SRM, so you will have piccies of them from the foldout poster. That's how I knew what the T'rasus looked like!

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Steve, the SU restrictions for the Scimitar may be screwed, but that didn't stop you with the Negh'var - just class her as a unique vessel that can ignore standard SU restrictions.

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Yeah, that was pretty much my plan. ;)

Though of course, we have yet to see any of this on the screen. It may all change by the time the editors are done. The script I read for Fellowship Of The Ring a year ago was different in many tiny ways from what I eventually saw on the screen last December. ;)

alot of the ships from the d'era boxed set i found rolled up and with cool pictures included in one of the links at trekrpg main site

Here's a non-SU budget busting explanation for all the disruptors aboard the new bad-guy ship. It's how they get really wide firing arcs and rates of fire. Just like pulse-phasers on a Fed ship are mounted in pairs, an array of multiple disruptors cannon are simulated by a single big Spacedock disruptor array.