Star Fleet Battles Commander's Edition Volume I Revision 1

It was 1983, and it was time for the phenomenon that was Star Fleet Battles to get organized. The game had grown through four expansions, and new material was being released every month. The structure of the original 1979 pocket game could not contain, control, or even keep track of the game as it had grown.

And so, the Commander's Edition was born, and would rule the game industry for nearly a decade. The original rules numbering system (whatever we thought of next got the next number) was discarded, and the rules were organized into the departments still used three decades later: A-General, B-How to play, C-movement, D-combat, E-direct-fire weapons, F-seeking weapons, G-systems, H-power, J-Shuttles, K-gunboats, M-Mines, P-terrain, R-empires/ships, S-scenarios, T-Mini-campaigns, U-Campaigns. The existing rules material was divided into three volumes, although volume I (this e23 file) got most of the basic rules.

There were a lot of ships because even in that early time it was more ships that players wanted. The Federation had the original Franz Joseph ships (heavy cruiser, dreadnought, destroyer, scout, tug) plus the light cruiser. The Klingons had the D6, D7, C8, C9, F5, and E4. The Romulans had the Warbird, War Eagle, and KR. The Kzintis had the light cruiser, strike cruiser, carrier, and frigate. The Gorns had the heavy and light cruisers and the destroyer.

Written by Stephen Cole