Coda Ship Stat Headache

[Brett Cashman]

It's possible the answer to this is living in an FAQ or an errata somewhere, in which case folks should feel free to point me in that direction with the same elaborate patience they'd reserve for their crazy old uncle. However, I've located something that's been bothering me.

The Narrator's Guide lists the Defiant-class as having a Class 8 warp drive with standard/sustained/maximum speeds of Warp 6/9.2/9.98. Happily, the information in the ship profile on page 147 is consistent with the listing in Table 9.9: Warp Propulsion System Costs, on page 141.

But then there's the Starships book.

Starships lists the Defiant-class as having an LF-35 warp system. The ship profile on page 52 rates the speed of the vessel at Warp 6/9.2/9.982. Yet Table 1.11: Warp Propulsion System Costs, on page 13, rates the LF-35 warp drive at Warp 6/9.2/9.8.

Am I quibbling to be worried about how Defiant-class vessels can travel at a maximum of Warp 9.982, when according to Starships their drives max out at Warp 9.8? Or is there some useful explanation for the inconsistency between the Narrator's Guide and Starships, and the Starships Warp Propulsion System Costs table and the ship profile, that I've missed?

[Space_Cadet]

From what i 'm told, Starships is an update on those starships that were mentioned in NG. Of course, you are welcome to use NG version. I personally like the write up for the D7 cruiser. Also keep in mind that Starships does have errors, and I, and many others, are waiting for an errata to come about. There is some odd stuff in there or publishing errors.

[Tobian]

I noticed several of those incosistiencies in the book, because in the profules they are trying to match the Canonical speed, rather than the book speed. For example the Intrepid uses the LF45, which on the table has a listed top speed of 9.9 yet in it's write up and canonically it's listed as 9.975.

Largelly just ignore this to be honest as most warp scales do not go above 9.9 that I have seen. The figures for Borg Transwarp and Quantum Slipstream drives are also slightly inconsistend with known speeds, but then it's up to a GM to decide what those extra large 9.999999999999 numbers mean

[Don Mappin]

Or is there some useful explanation for the inconsistency between the Narrator's Guide and Starships, and the Starships Warp Propulsion System Costs table and the ship profile, that I've missed?

Hey there. Don't mind the front credits of the book -- they're completely wrong -- I wrote Starships. Sorry this is bugging you. (I also created the starship combat combat/construction system and the ships in the NG.)

I can check my notes, but this may be as simple as a typo. I was pretty anal about making all the numbers and components jibe. Starships, sadly, has a number of typo/layout errors.

The largest headache between the two books is that some suit at VCP made the crap book, Starship Spotter, the "official" word when it came to starships. Suddenly I had to reconcile completely new components and make it all work while still maintaining compatibility with the NG. Nevermind that the Spotter authors stole their components from fan-creations and old FASA material.

It was a bit like herding cats.

Ultimately, ignore the rounding error and go with the Defiant write-up and her canonical speed.

[Tobian]

Hmm herding cats.....

Bottom line as with all such products is that Starships is an OPTIONAL addition to the NG, in the same way that a narator can just chose to ignore any books other than the PG, NG and MM for D&D, you can play the game entirelly without the product! it just adds some crunchy bits for us gearheads

As someone who's done printed material before Don, I fully sympathise: that feeling you get when your errors leap out at as if they are neon, but no one else can see

The one thing which does annoy me in the book is none of the anaocronyms are explained: What the hell does LF-35 MEAN!! it is no doubt stuff from Spotters, the only book on the subject I don't own, so it's just annoying!

[Brett Cashman]

Thanks for the save, Don. If you feel like checking your notes, just to confirm, that'd be great, but if it's too much trouble don't sweat it.