Thursday, April 24, 2003 

There's been some confusion (probably my fault) about the uses of a YDK.  Here 
are the final rulings:

A YDK has two docking areas.  Each may hold a single ship of any size.  These 
areas may perform repairs and minor refits.  They may not perform starship 
builds, overhauls, or conversions.

Exception: Converting a CA to a CC is considered a refit, and may be performed 
in a YDK.

A YBS also has two docking areas, which may only be used for repairs.



Thu, 29 Jan 2004

Dock capabilities have been upgraded.  Here is a list of which units may 
perform which functions:

Repairs: any unit with Repair boxes
Refits: Construction Dock, YDK, Starbase, FRD
Overhauls: Construction Dock, YDK, Starbase, FRD
Conversions: Construction Dock, FRD (at a Shipyard or Starbase)
Y-Base Upgrade: 2 small Repair Freighters (or one large), Tug
Base Upgrade: Tug
FRD Movement: Tug

Races without a formal Tug will be given alternative rules based on their own 
ships.  They may also purchase or capture Tugs from other races.

Overhauls and Conversions take up the entire dock or base section.  Repair 
units performing repairs and refits may fit as many units as stated in the SFB 
rules.





Mon, 25 Oct 2004

MY-era frigates may be built by twos in Large Construction Docks.  No 
specialisation is required.  They also do not require prototyping.  Once 
designed, they may be put directly into production.  If you've already 
prototyped your frigate, remind me and I'll give you some other bonus.

Police rules will be modified slightly-- you now need only build two police 
ships, instead of five.  You also don't need to give up a construction dock.





 Wed, 29 Sep 2004

Naval Reserve Units (Y-era ships upgraded to Middle Years tech) may be
built or upgraded from old ships beginning one full turn after the
first Middle Years ship of their type finishes construction.

These units cost 1/3 the EPV of the resulting unit (round up), and
include an overhaul.  SSDs may be found in module R8.





 Thu, 23 Sep 2004

Construction Docks may only be specialized for W- and Y-era ships.

Mobile Bases and smaller may be set up in a sector containing a hypermass 
(black hole or white dwarf), but must follow the positional stabilizer rules 
for distance from such an object.  I think it's 100 hexes from a black hole 
and 50 from a white dwarf, but check the rulebook to be sure.  The cost per 
turn of maintaining such a base is 5EP for a Mobile Base and 2EP for smaller.

Current research into ship designs is limited to the basic classes of Middle 
Years ships: FF, DD, CL, CA, and DN.  Note that some races do not have a 
MY-era ship corresponding to one of these designations.  Specialty variants 
like carriers, tugs, minesweepers, etc. are also available on a case-by-case 
basis (most races have a MY-era carrier and a tug-equivalent).

No refits are yet available for Middle Years ships.  They will be made 
available when the GM believes they are necessary.

Command cruisers are usually variants on the CA hull, and may be built up to a 
maximum of 1/3 of the total number of heavy cruisers in your fleet.