Writing Fiction
This is Steven Petrick Posting.
Writing fiction for Star Fleet Battles has one major stumbling block: The battle.
Lots of authors are able to write stories that pit characters together or against each other, but when it comes time to write about the clash of starships they run into difficulties.
Star Fleet Battles has very specific weapon capabilities even if the actual damage is somewhat abstract (which does leave some space for creative writing to explain why a phaser hit on the #2 shield destroyed a disruptor on the port engine or a drone rack in the rear hull). But a single volley of photons is rarely going to vaporize an enemy ship that has no previous battle damage.
The difficulty comes in describing the battle, inventing the Captain's orders and imagining the opposing ship's maneuvers.
If you are going to describe a battle, even when you already know the outcome, it is best to set up the counters and move the ships (with some fast Energy Allocation) in a manner that makes sense. Look at the damage that might be scored and consult the Damage Allocation Chart. Your battle might depend on something unusual, but do not make your story a travesty that is resolved by two points of damage that hit the D7 on each of two consecutive impulses in which all four results were snake-eyes (bridge, security, bridge, security) leading to the Klingon ship mutinying. Yes, if your story needs it you can have some good luck (we scored one point of damage which destroyed the enemy's last overloaded disruptor before he could fire it). But try to keep luck down to a low roar. Try to make your captain's opposition competent. Keep track of rates of fire (fiction stories where plasma-G torpedoes are launched as rapidly as disruptors can fire, even if the ship manages to avoid being destroyed, clearly have problems unless the enemy is some kind of monster).
And keep in mind that although they are fictional constructs, and some of them are already in your mind fated to die when you start writing, treat them with the respect of living beings and not cardboard cutouts. They too deserve their moment on the stage before the big exit.
Writing fiction for Star Fleet Battles has one major stumbling block: The battle.
Lots of authors are able to write stories that pit characters together or against each other, but when it comes time to write about the clash of starships they run into difficulties.
Star Fleet Battles has very specific weapon capabilities even if the actual damage is somewhat abstract (which does leave some space for creative writing to explain why a phaser hit on the #2 shield destroyed a disruptor on the port engine or a drone rack in the rear hull). But a single volley of photons is rarely going to vaporize an enemy ship that has no previous battle damage.
The difficulty comes in describing the battle, inventing the Captain's orders and imagining the opposing ship's maneuvers.
If you are going to describe a battle, even when you already know the outcome, it is best to set up the counters and move the ships (with some fast Energy Allocation) in a manner that makes sense. Look at the damage that might be scored and consult the Damage Allocation Chart. Your battle might depend on something unusual, but do not make your story a travesty that is resolved by two points of damage that hit the D7 on each of two consecutive impulses in which all four results were snake-eyes (bridge, security, bridge, security) leading to the Klingon ship mutinying. Yes, if your story needs it you can have some good luck (we scored one point of damage which destroyed the enemy's last overloaded disruptor before he could fire it). But try to keep luck down to a low roar. Try to make your captain's opposition competent. Keep track of rates of fire (fiction stories where plasma-G torpedoes are launched as rapidly as disruptors can fire, even if the ship manages to avoid being destroyed, clearly have problems unless the enemy is some kind of monster).
And keep in mind that although they are fictional constructs, and some of them are already in your mind fated to die when you start writing, treat them with the respect of living beings and not cardboard cutouts. They too deserve their moment on the stage before the big exit.
posted by Federation Commander at 2:43 PM
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