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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

Any info on these books?

Spacedock: The Starfleet Starship Construction Manual
from Last Unicorn Games

Starfleet Academy With Book And Map
from Last Unicorn Games

Starfleet Acadamey Pack
from ???

Ships of the Star Fleet; Cruisers & Frigates
Guenther, Todd Allan

Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual
Joseph, Franz

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Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Spacedock: The Starfleet Starship Construction Manualfrom Last Unicorn Games -- Not yet released. LUG is very, VERY behind their original release schedules, at least partlt due to the fact that they were robbed and many of their computers (and the data they contained) stolen, some time last year.

Starfleet Academy With Book And Map from Last Unicorn Games -- This, however, has been released.
Contains:
1 Starfleet Academy handbook -- containing a brief overview of SA for RPG'ers, including history, exam descriptions, facilities (on and off-campus), curriculum, some faculty and staff characters, and guidelines for creating a cadet character.
1 Cadet's Guide to Sector 001 -- contains brief descriptions of current conditions on Sol's 10 planets, Sol-based Starfleet facilities, and places of interest.
1 Narrator's Guide -- contains further details of character creation, adventure themes, and a couple of capsule adventures to run.
1 Adademy map -- showing the Presidio Campus of Starfleet Academy in some detail. Similar to your average college's campus map. Reverse side has examples of cadet uniforms thru history, and specialized training suits.
1 Sol Star System Map -- showing a scematic of the Sol system and local outposts, observatories, major moons, and other facilities. Reverse side has "planetary Index" maps of Mars and Luna, showing habitations and facilities.

Starfleet Acadamey Pack from ??? -- don't know. To make a guess, probably same as the LUG thing above?

Ships of the Star Fleet; Cruisers & Frigates Guenther, Todd Allan -- I assume this is the famous (infamous) SOTSF talked about so much here. A earlier fannish production, fairly detailed, covering the Constitution Class and its variants, and the Miranda Class (herein called the "Avenger Class Frigates") and variants on it. Also introduces the (I think) rather neat Belknap Class Strike Cruiser, and goes into a great deal of detail on it.

Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual Joseph, Franz -- THE first Technical Manual, as far as I know. Contained Fan-created material on everything from Starships (the Saladin, Hermes, Ptolemy, and Federation Classes) to the Articles of Federation, to the founding members' official signage, early guesswork maps of the Federation, and much equipment including bridge stations, from the original series. imagines a GIANT "Fleet Headquarters" which also contained the Academy, and could hold about 18 starships.

That's about it, unless you have specific questions.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :

Sol's 10 planets?!

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-D. Kelly

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Sure...Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Rupert.

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Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :

Ships of the Star Fleet

Rupert?

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

That would be a joke on Frank's part...

And Sol would have ten planets, if Jupiter's gravity hadn't gone and screwed up number 5, turning it into a huge ring of debris...

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"Compared to you, every male on this ship is an expert on women!"
-Geordi LaForge to Wesley Crusher, TNG: "Sarek"

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

No I wouldn't. For one thing, I've always been friendly with Mars, and he needed all the sympathy he could get after the poor bloke lost all his water. He has enough of an inferiority complex as it is without another planet breathing down his neck. Jupiter is quite close enough. For another, I had already come up with the handy "My Very Educated Mother..." thing and didn't want to make a new one.

And now you know...the rest of the story.

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Camper Van Beethoven

Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/planet991007.html

http://xfacts.com/x1.htm
http://www.apnet.com/inscight/10141999/graphb.htm

Have fun!

[ fixed links ]

[This message has been edited by TSN (edited April 19, 2000).]

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Actually, though I don't have it with me to check for sure, I believe the LUG 10th planet was Proserpine (Persephone, in the Greek), another little icy world out beyond Pluto. Perhaps the biggest of the other Kuiper belt objects.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Didn't they determine that there is a brown dwarf about the size of jupiter way out there in a very large orbit?

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Who wouldn't stand inside your love." - Stand Inside Your Love, The Smashing Pumpkins

Posted by Farragut on :

There is only space debris and an area of space called the Oort Cloud which is where comets come from. there might be an evidence of an black hole a few light years away. there is also an area of space just outside the Oort Cloud where there more asteriods.

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Black hole? Asteroids beyond the Oort Cloud? Wahey?

There is still speculation as to something hiding out beyond Pluto, though. I don't think those troublesome inconsistancies in Neptune's orbit have been resolved yet. But whether it's a brown dwarf, another planet, or some conglomeration of matter as yet unknown is up for speculation. What we need is a mission to head out to Pluto and beyond and look around. If for no other reason than I want pictures of Pluto's surface, damn it!

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"What did it mean to fly? A tremor in your soul. To resist the dull insistance of gravity."
--
Camper Van Beethoven

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Well, assuming that the thing is orbiting the sun, that wouldn't do much good. At that distance, a probe could search maybe one minute of the arc of the orbit of whatever, assuming it was in the right orbit to begin with.

And I was under the impression that they checked their math, and things work out fine now with Neptune.

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

First: Did LUG really call it Proserpine? Back when the scientists said they thought there was a brown dwarf out there, there was a discussion here about what to call it, and that was what I suggested. Interesting...

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"Compared to you, every male on this ship is an expert on women!"
-Geordi LaForge to Wesley Crusher, TNG: "Sarek"

[This message has been edited by TSN (edited April 19, 2000).]

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Well, there's a bit of discrepancy, as LUG's map has it labeled as "Prosperine" and the "Guide to Sector 001" has it as "Prosperpine." I just assume nobody over there remembered how to spell it... we can't ALL have encyclopedic knowledge, and it's not something a spell-checker's likely to catch.

But it SHOULD be "Proserpine," according to MY understanding of the spelling.

There's been a long-standing question over what to name a 10th planet, were one to be found. The most popular answer is "Persephone / Proserpine," being that woman who ended up being Hades/Pluto's wife, spending half the year in the netherworld and half up above, leading to the seasons.

As I recall, #2 and #3 ideas are Morpheus and Somnus.. or their Roman equivalents. (Oneiros?)

As for asteroids beyond the Oort cloud? I don't think so. Think you're confused with Kuiper belt objects, some 300 or so of which have been found outside the orbit of Pluto but BEFORE the Oort cloud. We haven't yet imaged an object in the Oort cloud. Yet.

Either that, or you get your space news from the same guy who wrote my local paper a few months with a Letter to the Editor about how Jupiter's going to turn into a star soon. (Somebody's been watching '2010' on acid again...)

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

[This message has been edited by First of Two (edited April 21, 2000).]

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

About Ships of the Star Fleet: This are a series of two books by Todd Guenther, who also worked on the official Enterprise D blueprints. Volume 1 covers the Constitution class in great detail, with articles on each variant: 1st and 2nd pilot versions, production version, "star trek II" (unproduced series) version, refit, as well as several in between conjectural classes mixing hulls and engines. Each class has at least a top and side view, some front views, some 3/4 views, class emblems, and full specs and history. The drawings are of extremely high quality: you won't find any better. Interestingly, the names and numbers follow those given in Franz Joseph's Starfleet Technical Manual. The same coverage is given to the Miranda variants, including a conjectural "TOS, pre-refit" version. The last part is about USS Belknap, which is like a refit E with a wider neck (front to back) and the engines attached to the bottom of the hull. This part includes big fold-out drawings including cutaways, and details of power conduits, weapons and defensive systems, computers, etc. This is by far the best book on starships ever, and is much better than any "official publication. It's out of print: if you can find a copy, BUY IT!!!! Volume 2 is about the "perimeter action ships," which look like the top half of the refit E primary hull with a notch cut in the front and some long funky looking nacelles. It's not quite as interesting since it's completely noncanon. But it is available now at the barnes and noble site for $12. Avoid the Excelsior/Ingraham class blueprints since this is not the canon Excelsior but a weird hybrid with an Enterprise primary hull.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Actualy, I believe there is a third volume as well, that covers a number of other ships. Unfortunately, I don't have it with me at the moment, so all I can tell you about it is "it's red."

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

I think it's called "Starship Prototype" (I don't have it here now.). Although the format is similar, it's not written by the same guy. In fact, in my copy there's a little note about some copyright conflict with the author of "Ships of the Star Fleet." This book is all Constitution refit-based kitbashes but it's pretty well done.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

The book for sale is called "Frigates and Cruisers" or something to that effect. Is this I,II or III?

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

If it's one of the two "Ships of the Star Fleet" books, it's probably volume one, which had Constitutions, Mirandas, and Belknap. Volume two covers "perimeter action ships." There is no volume 3. Starship Prototype, which is not part of the same series, covers cruisers, scouts, shuttle carriers, and other types.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Yep, Masao's right.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi