FASA Games, Inc.

The Revised Edition from Holistic (cannot say anything about the first) had a lot of background material and cost tables, most of which found their way into the 2nd edition rulebook (as did a lot of stuff from the player's companion). That being said: The game was a space wargame, but had a lot of background and tie ins with the rpg (using PCs as Pilots, Marines, new Skills, new Psychic Powers, etc.). It also did say quite a bit about ships in FS in general and the odd bit of specific information (such as The hazat having all their Dreadnaughts fully operational all the time while the other houses mothballed al but one or two unless needed). Nothing too specific to restrict player creativity, but solid guidelines.

(Very) Roughly half of the background Fluff was copied into the ACTA:NA. you can notice that, as some rules there don't mix well with the background given. Most notably the amount of fighters. the Holistic NA actually stated that the Houses refrained from fighter use as it is hard to come by trained pilots. So: If you want background information I would recommend to get the 2nd edition NA-Rules

And just to wrap antoher question from the threat up: I get the impression that armament, troops and Hit-Points from ACTA:NA is strongly based upon Holistic NA in general then adding the pecularities of the ACTA-engine. (Sounds way better then ACTA-System don't you think )

There was something else I wanted to ask about, if I may.

If/when the time comes for NA3 to get up and running, is the plan to encourage people to use the minis currently being published by Mongoose for ACtA:NA? Or would FASA Games intend to cast and sell their own starship miniatures instead?


I somewhat recall from... I think it was the RedBrick days that the idea then may have been to encourage the use of Mongoose's miniatures, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. But I was wondering if FASA Games had their own ideas about this, or if it was too soon to decide one way or the other.

A very good question. Right now though I don't have any idea on the answer though. I don't know who owns the molds for the ships but in a perfect world HDI still has them and we could just use the same molds and keep using the same models.

I'm not sure about the older casts, but some of the new ships published in Fleets of the Fading Suns (book 2 for A Call to Arms: Noble Armada) had moulds created by Mongoose using 3D CAD models, such as the sample designs shown . (I don't know how many of those units existed in Holistic's own versions of Noble Armada, or if they were mostly created as "new" designs for ACtA:NA itself.)

That same 3D modelling technique has been used by Mongoose for the wet-navy ships in the Victory at Sea product range, as well as for the Starline 2500 starship minis developed in tandem with ADB for A Call to Arms: Star Fleet.


Actually, there was another question I had, ship-wise.

I noted on DTRPG that the covers of the and are designed to match one another, forming the circle of a jumpgate. I recognise the two ships on : the and the . But what classes are the two units (the larger dark grey ship and the smaller light grey craft nearby) on ?

About the second question (I have no clue when it comes to Noble Armada), unless I am completely mistaken, the two ships on the GM Guide are stock models that the artist, Simon Powell, had on hand. They were also used on the cover of the Shard Collection Volume One book (http://rpggeek.com/image/1809974/fading ... volume-one). These ships haven't been described in the game (AFAIK), but I imagine the large one to be a bulk freighter or even a troop carrier of some sorts – possibly a league ship, while the smaller fighter-style ship is probably some sort of planetary defense vessel (I imagine it to be an non-jump capable interplanetary escort vessel).

HDi-Chris just posted this on Facebook:
"Mongoose is having a close out sale of their Noble Armada products. Holistic Design Inc. and FASA will have a formal announcement shortly regarding Noble Armada. In the mean time, please visit the Mongoose site and pick up some great minis and rule books.

It was great working with Matthew Sprange over these last few years. All of us at HDI wish Matthew and the Mongoose team the very best in their business ventures and we look forward to telling everyone about the exciting future for Noble Armada and Fading Suns with The FASA team!

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/minia ... rmada.html"

And before you ask, I have no idea at all what this is about, so don't ask

Don't ask me either... yet. Official announcement coming soon.

Thanks for the heads-up.

So, could it be possible to have this thread to the new NA sub-forum, if it isn't too much trouble?