Feds in VGAP v4


Ofcourse, all this talk about the Feds is nice, but let's look at the future shall we? The much delayed version 4 of this great game is now scheduled to be released late 1998, so it's best to be prepared. For complete information about version 4 visit the page of all pages, the official VGA Planets homepage . As your kind Fed I've sorted through all the available information, and put it all together for you. First and foremost:Yes, the Feds will be in version 4, and we'll finally have a ship worthy of such a great race: the Man of War Super Nova Class Warship. And low and behold, the full specs of this ship can be seen at Tim's page! Tribute to this great man!

The following will be a compilation of Fed-related discussions as can be found in the logs of the IRC chats Tim attends every first sunday of the month. The full logs can be found at the Den of the Draconian , along with a schedule for the next conference. On that page you can also find a lot of information about the Draconians, a new player-made race. If you're thinking of developing a race of your own or have some nice ideas but no programming or rendering skills, stop by at The Elite Site or the Disruptor site and follow the links to 'new races' there.
I've read the logs available at the Den, and then did a search on counts of "fed" and "Nova" in the logs. Here's what came out. I've edited the parts a bit, put answers directly after questions and such, and left out the non-Fed related topics or sidelines inbetween. I strongly advise you to read the full logs, because there are a lot of things discussed (for example: Starbases can be taken over separate from the planet they're orbiting) that I did not include on this page. I might add all those things later, if I have the time.

(note: Bovinoid1 is Tim Wisseman)


Shipdesigns - superiority in numbers?
<Bovinoid1> A race can have up to 40 ship hulls.
<Bovinoid1> Most races have an adverage of 14 hulls.
<Bovinoid1> The Fed have 22 hulls.
<iain> do cloned ships cost more to make, afterall i think you said we can steal plans for em?
<Bovinoid1> If you have the stolen hull plans you can build the ship at the normal price. Cloning will cost 150% to 200% thenormal price of the ship.

Captured enemy personnel - useless because of Fed kindness?
<Bovinoid1> The prisoners are enemy personal that you have captured. You can put them to workin in a labor camp or a labor mine if you are a bad race, if you are a very bad race you might eat them!
<iain> hehe cool, any chance of torturing prisoners for planet locations?
<J-Mac> One more question :) Can you capture colonist off ship you capture instead of killing all in 4.0
<Rodney_f> Tim: what if you are a "good" race. What can you do with prisoners then?
<Iceman1> Rodney - send them home with a stern warning...8)
<Bovinoid1> Good races like the feds have to feed them and be nice to them :)

Propulsion - no hyperdrive, but we WILL be fast
<Lord_Fang> So, there will be more technological diversity in v4...
<Bovinoid1> Yes, the Fed have NO HYP drives and fast ships, the Empire amd Rebels have slow ships but they have Hyp drives. . . :0

Spying on your enemies - or how kindness becomes weakness once more
<iain> tim how is the new spying gonna work and will it include sabogtage?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, I think it would be very neat if sabogtage would screw up an enemies tech levels. . . that is just an idea I have not worked that out yet.
<Bovinoid1> That is sort of a race by race thing. Fed spies are most likely very laim...
<Bovinoid1> Bird and Rebel Spies would be the very best. . .
<Bovinoid1> The poor poor Feds. . . At least the natives will love them!
<Bovinoid1> The Empire will have some very good spies as well.

Big ships - finally, Feds get the ship they deserve, but lose a nice bonus
<iain> Tim as i understand some carrier fighters can fire torps, eg feds, whats the max load and what type of torps can they fire, 200 fighteers coming at you throwing torps will finish off ANYTHING
<Bovinoid1> In V4 when you go into a battle all your fighters will be in the "air".
<Pasternak> Yep! It will change maaaany tactics :) So, Feds loose their f'bay bonus (sometimes, it is too much! :)
<Bovinoid1> The Fed Super Nova can have 20 Torp tubes and has 12 hangers that can hold 20 fighters each.
<Bovinoid1> That is close to the limit, that is in the Death Star range.
<iain> but can each by holding 20 fightrs thats erm 240 fighters in all, can the 240 fighter each fire a number of torpedoes?
<Bovinoid1> Fighters have missiles, but they are also very expensive.
<Pasternak> Uh? New bonus? I don't understand jus a little thing: if all fighters will be on air in battle, there's no meaning to have 12 or 1 f'bay, isn't it? (the cargo will be the only important thing on a carrier..)
<Pasternak> All fighters will be in air or it will keep to be launched in sequential way?
<iain> all in the air at point of battle, max fighters in the air = fighter bays times number of fighters allowed in eachbay only
<Pasternak> Anyway: so, if I have e.g. a cargo room of 300, and all room is fulled with fighters,and the ship will have 10 f'bay of max 5 fighter each, 250 fighter will NEVER be launched?
<Bovinoid1> Fighters placed in a cargo bay can not be launched, only fighters in a hanger bay can be launched.
<Bovinoid1> Ships have cargo bays to haul cargo, a fighter in there would be in a big box, it can not be launched. A fighter in the hanger bay is fueled and ready to go. In brtween battles you ship can unpack some fighters stored in thecargo bay and move them over to the hanger bay.
<Bovinoid1> Fighters will be all over the map during combat, they will not be returning to their ships until after the battle.
<iain> can fighters return to other ships if there own mother ship was destroyed?
<Bovinoid1> They can return to any ship left with a hanger, or hyp away if they can, or be captured.
<iain> Tim , do crews gain experence from fighting and surviving battles, does this make them better fighters?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, there is crew combat experiance and it helps your fighters.
<Leary> Tim: sorry, but could you explain that a little more please about the nova and the ship classes?
<Leary> Tim: will the mass on the nova put it in the class of the heavy carriers? or will it still be lite?
<Bovinoid1> The Super Nova is a Man-Of-War class, the old Nova is just a Heavy Battle Ship
<Bovinoid1> The Super Nova has 20 engines and a laser that can destroy planets. . .
<Bovinoid1> Feds, Birds, Borg, EE, Crystals, Lizard will all have ships the size of the Supernova.

Fighters - still no Fed superiority in that department
<Bovinoid1> Of course the Fed level 1 fighter will be very cheap.
<Bovinoid1> Some races have very good level one fighters, like the Rebels and The Empire.
<Bovinoid1> The Fed level one fighters will be the worst
<Lord_Fang> Bov : They don't fire weapons. They just send out message of peace <grin>.
<Bovinoid1> The level 3 is good, but is very pricey
<Bovinoid1> The Turbo fighter can go on long range patrol missions very far from the main fleet. Fed fighters for the most part stay very near their support ship or base.

The Holodeck - use it with caution
<Bovinoid1> Yes, the Feds have holodecks, but they are very dangerous. There is a 1% chance a holocharactor will take over the ship every turn.
<|cy|> what do the decks do?
<Bovinoid1> On the good side the holodeck make the crew very happy and increase skill levels

Megaweapons - hello Nova, bye bye planet... (and a bit about ships launching probes?)
<Bovinoid1> The Empire will have ships that can launch probes, many races will.
<Banzai> beside a planet destroyer weapon, is there going to be any other big weapons?
<Bovinoid1> Protomatter Cannon
<Mr_Fang> Bov : yeah, Feds would use it all the time.
<Bovinoid1> It turns astroids into planets
<Mr_Fang> I'm talking about Feds using the probes, BTW <g>.

Natives, spaceports and starbases - it's a whole new ballpark

<Bovinoid1> The natives will beee-havve as long as they are happy
<DarkSided> Tim: Are native ships involved in the economic situation, and how does the economic situation of v4 work?
<Bovinoid1> Native ships will only interact with the black market system, they will not help the players other than moving more natives to your planets.
<Bovinoid1> Native on planets that join you will be a big help,
<CadMan> Tim, will it be possible to change gov levels for natives? By money, etc...
<Bovinoid1> The natives in V do not have government systems anymore. . .
<DarkSided> Tim: Spaceports: does that mean there could be several ships coming in and out every turn?? Will these ships be seen on the starchart?
<DarkSided> I am refferiing to native ships and other ships, not warships or freighters of a player race
<MiB_> hey i got a good idea
<MiB_> how about having regular starbases, and also StarDocks, which are like HUGE commercial centers with alot moreoptions than stardocks, but are restricted to planetary orbit and cost more to build
<Bovinoid1> The spaceports attract private sector ships and shuttles that will not show up on your miltitary scanners, there are millions of those little guys.
<Bovinoid1> The Feds have one like that, it is called SpaceDock, it is HUGE and has many nice extras.
<Bovinoid1> Not all races have those things, the Feds do, the Empire will.
<MiB_> how about an oribital fighter factory?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, there will be orbital fighter factories as well.

Everybody can refit in V4. But the Feds get new special abilities
<Bovinoid1> All ships in version 4 can be refitted in deep space using a "Refit Pod", weapons can be swaped out and replaced with better ones.
<Bengal> cool I like that idea
<Mr_Spaz> Do the refit pods propel themselves, or do they have to be carried there by other ships?
<Bovinoid1> A ship can end up with its weapons destroyed in combat and can use the refit pods to replace the lost weapons.
<Yeah> so the Feds simply lose a specialty? Is it replaced by anything?
<Bovinoid1> About half the time ships that have been destroyed in battle end up as salvage, and weapons can be removed from them.
<Bovinoid1> refit pods can be shot into space and coast, be towed or be carried in a cargo hold.
<Bovinoid1> Yes, refit pods can be carried on ships.
<Bovinoid1> The Feds will get all sorts of new neet things.
<Mr_Spaz> With the new Federation laser drill, do colonsts have to present on the planet at all, or can minerals be extracted from uncolonized planets?
<Bovinoid1> Spaz: The fed laser drill does not require colonists on the planets surface.

Want that new Nova? Better save up........
<YeahRight> Tim, looking at the structures and the new Nova I guess money and minerals will be easier to obtain in v4?
<Bovinoid1> Money and minerals will be about the same or harder to get. You are just looking at some of the most expensive items in V4, it will be rare to see a supernova.
<Primus> Considering it will cost 35,000 MC + minerals, I should hope so.
<Bovinoid1> A Fed Eros only costs 70mc 10D/10T/15M
<shayitan> sorry but what is aprox cost of fed man of war?
<Primus> I'm not sure the FEDS should have the biggest ship in the game, however, at least that's what I thought Tim said before....
<shayitan> + super weapon
<Primus> I'm guessing SW cost 5000 MC....
<YeahRight> Tim said somewhere this man-of-war is within deathstar range when it comes to size. So there will be others. Damned..
<Tweeter> If you ask me, the super-ships are a good thing...cause currently the end-game boils down to who can build the most of their T10 ships...having a different ship with different abilities would make the end more interesting
<Primus> Don't forget that you gotta get the techs first...
<Bovinoid1> Natives have their own private ships
<Mathom> can we commandeer those private ships?
<YeahRight> universal techlevels primus, so you might save some MCs there. No free tech natives anymore I guess.
<Primus> No I think the natives help you build engines and things...
<shayitan> oof tech levels i forgot they are expansive
<shayitan> i have i mean with full wepons and engines ect, i would imagine such a large no of wepons and engines ect costs a lot
<YeahRight> oh, fully loaded? no idea, but 20 engines alone plus the fighters (will be more expensive last I heard) will cost a bundle
<shayitan> hmm bout 100,000 + i recon
<YeahRight> primus stated 35000 MCs earlier
<Primus> well 20 engines @ 300 MC ea. = 6000 MC
<[Avatar[> you'd really have to save up some $$$ for those babies.. cool I think
<Primus> It was just an estimate, of course
<shayitan> umm i hope they cost cos they rock!!
<YeahRight> yup. Plus five generators, 240 fighters onboard, 20 large and 30 small (?) weapons plus 10 pointguards... Yikes

And the crewbonus gets tossed as well. So what do we get in return?
<YeahRight> Tim, will the Feds keep their crewbonus with the new system of damage causing weapons to go offline immediately?
<shayitan> hehe yeah i hope so
<Bovinoid1> They will lose that crew bonus completely.
<YeahRight> Darn. No more crewbonus and no free bays, everyone has refit, those whole lotta new goodies better be good:)
<Primus> Can you say SUPERNOVA boys and girls? I knew you could.
<Bovinoid1> They have holodecks
<Primus> which means....what exactly/
<Spug> holodecks increase crew happiness?
<Bovinoid1> Tachyon Emitters, Barbitic Mines, Good Mine sweeping, The fastest warp space ships in the game, great scanners, great shields and the one of the best starbases you can have.
<Tall_Dark_Stranger> barbitic mines?...
<YeahRight> Okay, I'll take 'em. Is that lousy 70% mining gone?

Good news: once you've got that Nova it will be hard to keep up with
<[Avatar[> Tim: so different races will have different top-speeds on their ships?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, all ship hulls have a max speed. No engine will take them beyond that speed.
<Bovinoid1> Top speed is part of the hull.
<[Avatar[> How about being able to "push" the speed past the hull-max-speed?
<Bovinoid1> Like crush depth on subs
<Bovinoid1> Or max speed for a car tire.
<Primus> what is the max speed on a car tire?
<[Avatar[> and in doing so, the ship would probably explode, but you would have a chance to survive
<Bovinoid1> Or max dive speed in a biplane.
<Bengal> There should be a probability of the ship breaking or surviving like 20%
<Primus> Avatar: I think damage per LY would be a better idea when pushing a hull.
<shayitan> ok ok so 200 dw could take 10 man of wars if the mw had torps on there fighters then maybe it would be like 400 dw right?
<Tall_Dark_Stranger> x% chance of blowing an engine, and stoping dead (with some damage)...
<[Avatar[> Primus: but then you would be able to know how much (if any) damage you're gonna get
<[Avatar[> %'s are much better IMHO
<Primus> exactly, and hull stops
<Primus> ie. you push a warp 9 hull to warp 10 for one turn to reach destination, and when you get there, you have a % damage.
<YeahRight> Would be nice primus. Push your warp9 to warp 13.7 to intercept that nova and end up half-dead alongside it. Keep 'em coming...
<Bengal> i'd be a good idea
<[Avatar[> Primus: but chances could be you stop after travelling 50 ly's because an engine blew
<Tall_Dark_Stranger> Ops...
<Bovinoid1> Maybe I could add an emergance speed, you can go beyond the max hull speed, but you will take damage to the hull.
<Primus> That was what I was think Bov.
<Tall_Dark_Stranger> Good idea!....
<Red_beard> Sounds like a Fed thing to me...
<YeahRight> Like the 150% warpcore power they always seem to use in the series
<Bovinoid1> The ship would have to stop when the damage reaches 80% or so.
<shayitan> like hyp ship carriers
<Primus> YR: it's only 110%, c'mon

HYP starbases? Who needs them? We've got that Nova.......
<shayitan> tim any hyp starbases? i know its a bit far out but??
<Bovinoid1> HYP Starbases? Yes, it is called the Gorby II Battle Station.
<[Avatar[> TDS: wouldn't man o war's be mobile battlestations?
<Bengal> Who gets it
<shayitan> does it have a superwepon and do normal gorbies?
<Primus> The Empire, who else?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, the SuperNova Man Of War has a ship constuction bay.

Darn, still no cloakers
<Rmcpher657> I have a question will the feds have any cloaking ships like the defient
<Bovoinoid1> The V4 Feds do not get a cloaking device ship.
<Rmcpher657> shame thanks anyway

Ehm, I thought *we* would be the one with the planet-destructor?
<Eeon> another rumor...genesis device for the feds has the ability to create a new planet right? and the gorbie has the ability to destroy the planet from the map?
<cassa> Argh...! :-<
<Bovinoid1> Yes, that is correct
<Eeon> so the number of planets is no longer constant...cool

Reconfirmed, we'll continue to be the cloaker's nightmare ;-)

<Bovinoid1> The Feds have some very fast warp ships
<cassa> Will they have economic, anti-cloak, money and more and more and more advantages?
<Bovinoid1> They have many high tech toys, but they will not be getting any cloaking ships.
<cassa> But... anti-cloak capabilities? :-?
<Bovinoid1> Yes, they will have some anti-cloak powers. They will have the best anti cloak powers.


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