THE FINAL FRONTIER
DESIGNER NOTES
The Final Frontier is a large, new galaxy filled with many new empires. For the empires of the Final Frontier, much inspiration will be taken from the designs of Donald Miller and Jackie Stephens. Both Donald Miller and Jackie Stephens each produced thousands of SSD’s. In my opinion, they lacked balance, but their ideas were rich in creativity and imagination. I believe it is possible to extract specific material, make sure it is balanced, and then incorporate it into the new empires of the Final Frontier.
The empires of the Final Frontier will also utilize Garth Getgen’s Chaff Pack. Note that this Chaff Pack is for Starships and should not be confused with (D11.0) Chaff for Fighters.
As an example, we will look at the Photon Cannon designed by Jackie Stephens.
RANGE 0-1 2-4 5-8 9-15 16-22 23-30 31-40
HIT STD 1-5 1-4 1-4 1-3 1-2 1-2 1
HIT OVLD 1-6 1-5 1-4 NA NA NA NA
DMG STD 8 8 8 4 4 2 2
DMG OVLD 16 12 12 NA NA NA NA
The Photon Cannon is armed in Standard with 2+2 and Overload with 2+4. Standard can be Held for 1 per turn and Overload cannot be Held. There is No Feedback for Overload at 0-1.
In my view, this is a well balanced weapon with a mixture of Photon Torpedo and Disruptor Bolt properties. The arming properties conform to the 1:2 energy:damage ratio. However while Standard Damage at Ranges 0-8 matches the Ratio, Standard Damage falls below the Ratio at Ranges 9-40. Conversely, while Overload Damage matches the Ratio at Ranges 2-8, Overload Damage exceeds the Ratio at Ranges 0-1. The Photon Cannon overall is a more accurate weapon than the Photon Torpedo which is reminiscent of the accuracy of the Disruptor Bolt.
The Photon Cannon will be employed by the Vanguard, the Federation-like empire in the Final Frontier. They will also utilize Garth Getgen’s Chaff Pack.
In general, I would like the Final Frontier to be as balanced as possible. This means that I will probably default to the PH-1 as the most common Phaser employed in the Final Frontier. Heavy Cruisers will follow the mold of 30 Shield #1, 30 Warp, 2 APR, 4 Impulse, 4 Shuttles, 6 PH-1’s, 4 Heavy Weapons. and 4 Batteries.
