V'Ger in NERO

[jpv2000]

V'Ger's cloud is 2 AU in diameter (going by the Director's Cut), which is the same diameter as the Earth's orbit, 300,000 km. Fitting inside the cloud is not a problem.

Actually, 300,000km is the distance light travels in a second (roughly), not two au. An au is 149,597,870km. Two astronomical units would therefore be about 300,000,000 - three orders of magnitude more.

D'oh! Of course I knew that. My brain skipped a few steps for some reason.

It happens to the best of us.

 

[Leto_II]

This is my problem with Trek video games these days. They're more about co-opting surface ideas from Trek and changing them to fit the standard dynamics and expectations of a fighting game than they are about creating something that works as Star Trek.

Yep, it was Roddenberry's complaining about the early semi-licensed "Starfleet Battles" so-called "war games" that led to the creation of the more exploratory "role play games".

And yes, Diane Duane's text-based "The Kobayashi Alternative" was also in answer to complaints that previous games failed to capture the spirit of the show.

Loved that game (The Kobayashi Alternative). Roddenberry's complaints about the gaming licenses seemed somewhat justified with regards to Star Fleet Battles; very much less so with regards to FASA's role-playing system.

Many of the very characteristics Roddenberry disliked about the Star Fleet Battles system (lack of individual character interaction, diplomacy playing a major role, moral/ethical decision-making which could result in good or ill outcomes) were quite prominent in the FASA RPG, which placed as much emphasis upon talking to your opponent and using one's intellect to resolve problems as it did ship-to-ship combat.

When FASA had their license snatched away by Paramount in the early TNG era (following Roddenberry and Richard Arnold's "restructuring" of ST's licensing policies), part of me couldn't understand why this was the case, owing to the RPG in fact holding quite true to most of Gene's ideals -- in hindsight, it's pretty clear that he likely objected more to the starship/miniature combat aspects of the game, perhaps unfairly projecting his issues with Star Fleet Battles onto the entire FASA project.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Roddenberry's complaints about the gaming licenses seemed somewhat justified with regards to Star Fleet Battles

The problem was that when Franz Joseph did the "Tech Manual" his contract allowed him to approve spin-offs, such as the SFB, so when Roddenberry was concerned about the war aspects, he wasn't able to have it resolved.

very much less so with regards to FASA's role-playing system.

Yep. I'm fairly sure they had to agree to emphasize exploration over battles.

When FASA had their license snatched away by Paramount in the early TNG era (following Roddenberry and Richard Arnold's "restructuring" of ST's licensing policies), part of me couldn't understand why this was the case, owing to the RPG in fact holding quite true to most of Gene's ideals -- in hindsight, it's pretty clear that he likely objected more to the starship/miniature combat aspects of the game...

No, it's my understanding that, after hitting some problems getting one of their TNG supplements ("TNG Season One Sourcebook") approved with Richard Arnold, FASA went ahead and corrected/expanded it for the "TNG Officer's Manual" without putting it back through the approval process. They speculated what Data's feet looked like inside his Starfleet boots (no toes!), and that Betazoids came from planet Haven, etc. I recall Richard discussing the FASA issues at conventions.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I love that FASA TNG Officer's Manual. It paints a far more colourful picture of the TNG universe than what we got on-screen, IMO (numerous typos and mis-scaled ships aside)