Building Print Editions of the Star Frontiersman

As I mentioned in the last State of the Frontier post, one of the projects I want to tackle is to make print versions of the Star Frontiersman issues available for those that want them.

Once upon a time, the first 17 issues were available with black and white interiors from Lulu. However, with the trademark kerfluffle a couple of years ago, WotC had Lulu take them down. I have copies of all of these (ordered in a batch just before they were no longer available) and they are okay, but being black and white, lack something compared to the full color PDFs.

Plus, I found that the page registration was lacking on several of them. This manifested by having the border not on the edge with a gap around them on some sides. I suspect that this registration issues are simply a by-product of the way Lulu does its printing. It uses the original PDFs with no bleed. That combined with the fact that it prints the pages oversized, binds them, and then trims the pages to size means that things like that are going to happen. I was just surprised by how bad it was in some cases.

At some level, that is neither here nor there as those versions are no longer available.

What I want to do is make full color versions (like the PDFs) available via print-on-demand through DriveThruRPG. Much like the issues of the Frontier Explorer. While there are several hurdles to making that happen, the biggest problem is that most of the original (non-PDF) files for the early issues have been lost due to hard drive failures or the person who had the files leaving the gaming scene and dropping out of contact. I have issues 9-11 (I edited those so I have the original files) and can get issues 19-25. But for the others, I just have the PDFs.

This is an problem because the files I need to supply to DriveThruRPG for print editions are different than just the regular PDFs. First, I need a separate file for the cover (front and back combinded) and then a file for the interior pages. Both of those need a “bleed” region where the images and border art extend beyond what would be the printed part of the page to handle minor variations in the printing process – those same registration issues I saw with the Lulu prints. PDFs are not designed for extensive editing and having the original files would make things easier.

And truth be told, if it weren’t for the border art on the pages of the Star Frontiersman, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue. I could just increase the page size and be done. Of course, that means there wouldn’t have been the noticeable registration issues in the Lulu printed ones either. But those borders are definitely a problem. In fact, that’s exactly why the Frontier Explorer doesn’t have page borders; I didn’t want to have to deal with this issue and we were planning on print-on-demand versions of the magazine from the very beginning.

Additionally, in the Star Frontiersman, those borders changed starting in issue 7 and the new border art looks like it extends off the edge of the page. Which would be great for the bleed. Except that the border was drawn to exactly fit the page, not factoring in bleed. It has been dealing with these borders that has been the biggest concern that has kept me from really getting started on this project for the past few years. Having the original files would make it not so daunting but working with the PDFs is not easy. However, issues 11 & 12 will be easy to do as we changed the border on those issues to a much simpler line border. This is because we had feedback from readers saying that they were printing out the issues at home and the complex, detailed border was using up a lot of ink. So we went with a simpler border. But the magazine reverted back to the complex border starting in issue 12 again. And in fact, some of you may have issues 11 and 12 with the complex border as Larry changed the border on those issues and re-uploaded the new version. I think the ones on DriveThruRPG have the more complex border while the ones on the magazine website have the simpler border.

Cover of issue 7 with full page cover image.

Another problem is that later issues of the Star Frontiersman, also starting with issue 7, had cover images that fill the entire cover. The first six issues had the cover images in a frame and just a solid blue color for the rest of the cover. This was really easy to extend to make a bleed region for printing the cover. For all the later issues, I need to try to find the original cover images (which were almost guaranteed to be cropped to fit the cover) so I can get the rest of the image for the bleed on the cover. Otherwise, I’m going to have to do something to extend the cover to give it a bleed region, possibly, just using a black region.

Those are the hurdles. And they are understandable as the Star Frontiersman was never conceived to be a printed product and was designed as a digital product. In fact, the first few issue were just something Bill whipped up to give to his players, they weren’t even originally designed for public distribution. To get the POD version, we’ll just have to work around these hurdles.

Getting Started

In November 2020, I decided to bite the bullet and see what I could do. I started by trying to tackle the first six issue of the magazine. As I mentioned above, the covers for issues 1-6 are nice in that they just are a solid blue that extends to the edges with the image in a frame. Making the POD file for the covers was easy enough. Using my 4K monitor, I rotated the cover sideways, put it in to full screen mode, and did a screen capture. This gave me a fairly high resolution image of the cover which I scaled to the correct resolution for the print file. I then just had to fill in a little bit of the blue color for the bleed (and a bit of black for the issue block). And then I was done. (I actually did that last, after figuring out the interior). Here’s what that file looks like:

Cover file that needs to go to the printer.

The interiors of those six issues are also the same (almost) but took a bit more work. The interior pages were designed to look something like a file folder with a hatched background. The challenge was to extend this hatching out beyond the original page edge for the bleed and have it line up a closely as possible. If I had the original files, I could probably just change the page size to include the bleed area, check that the images didn’t move, and be done (That’s what I do with the Frontier Explorer) as I suspect that they were just using a pattern as a background. Unfortunately I don’t, and working with just the PDF version was going to take a bit more work.

What I have to do is a multi-step process. First I have to increase the size of the pages in the PDF to be the correct size for the POD version and include the bleed region (which is 1/8th of an inch on the top, bottom, and outside edges). Then I have to add the content for the bleed. This will be done by adding a background to each page of the file that extends the hatching out to the edge. The left and right pages have the hatching going the opposite direction. Luckily, they are mirror images of each other (or, as it turns out, nearly so).

So the main task was to make a background image that I could drop in behind the existing pages that lined up with the existing hatching border. I started with doing a high resolution screen capture of a page of the magazine. I then imported that into GIMP, enlarged the image size to be the correct size for the bleed, and deleted all the content except the border and hatching. Finally, I used regions where the hatching was prominent to grab a pattern and replicated that all around the edges. It turned out it didn’t exactly line up in places which required a bit of tweaking but in the end I was able to get a pretty good image. I then mirrored it to get the background image for the facing pages. Here’s what they look like:

The background spread. These are actually two different images, show here together.

Finally I added the background into the expanded PDF pages. This is where I discovered that they weren’t exactly mirror images of each other but I was able to shift things to line everything up well enough. Remember, if all goes well, this bit that I’m adding will get cut off and you’ll never see it. It’s just there as a contingency.

I did all that for issue 1 and sent the files off to the printer. And then I waited. It took about two weeks for the print proof to come back. Looking over it, it all looked fine. I could see some small variations that I knew were from the bleed area but I could only really notice them because I knew exactly what I was looking for. But that justified the work because if I hadn’t done it, there would be a bit of white border around the edges of the page.

And I have to say, I like the color. Here’s a picture of the Lulu black and white version next to the new color version.

Issues 2-6

With issue 1 looking good, I started working on the other issues. That actually went fairly quickly. Using the hard won experience of getting issue 1 set up, it only took about 20 minutes to convert each of the other issues to create the interior files.

Until I hit issue 6. I had never noticed, but issue 6 has a different hatching scheme. Instead of the diagonal lines, it uses a grid. So I had to make a new background image. But again, I knew what to do here and resolved that in quick order. Here’s the background images with the new gird that I used for this issue:

Once the interiors for those issues were complete, I created the cover image files for each issue. Again, this was a fairly straightforward and easy process. The biggest problem here was the fact that each issue is larger than the one before and I had to grab a separate template file for each one and adjust the size of the area used for the bleed and, due to the way the file is set up for the printer, shift the position of the barcode box (and the exact position of the classified ads on the back cover).

Speaking of the classified ads, due to their size, there is always going to be a bit of the lower right one that is cut off by the barcode that the printer uses to identify the cover and match it to its interior. This is just another casualty of the fact that the Star Frontiersman was designed with printing in mind. Luckily the box is fairly small and doesn’t have a large impact.

Print Proofs

With everything done, I uploaded the files for issues 2-6 and ordered print proofs. Strangely, even though I ordered them all together, they only printed issues 2-5 and sent them out. Issue 6 got delayed for a while. After waiting a couple of weeks, the print proofs showed up.

The covers all looked good and issues 2, 3, & 5 looked good inside. But when I opened issue 4, I got a bit of a surprise.

The cover and interior of the issue 4 print proof. It’s the interior for a stretch goal from the 2013 Kickstarter for White Wolf’s Exalted game 3rd edition.

Somehow, they put the wrong interior inside my cover! Remember that barcode I talked about earlier. They print that on the cover and on the last page (which has to be black) of the interior and use them to match things up. In the case of this print, they don’t match. Something didn’t work and someone else’s interior got put into my cover and someone else got the Star Frontiersman interior in their cover. Oops.

The barcodes from the cover (left) and interior (right). As you can see, they don’t match. They do in all the other proofs.

By this point issue 6 still hadn’t shipped so I contacted DTRPG and they check on the status of issue 6 and got their printer to order me a new copy of issue 4. Issue 6 shipped a couple of days later and arrived just this week. I’m still waiting on the reprint of issue 4.

Available for Order

I had planned on posting this last week but was still waiting on the print proof of issue 6 to arrive. Now that it has, I’m making the first six issues available on DriveThruRPG. I haven’t gotten the corrected proof of issue 4 yet but given that the others look fine, and the error seems to be a mix-up of the printing process and not a problem with my files, I’m not too worried about it.

If you want printed copies of the Star Frontiersman, just head over to the Star Frontiersman page on DriveThruRPG and select the issues you want. Like the PDFs, these are pay what you want. The difference is that the minimum is not free (as it is for the PDFs), but the “at cost” price to print the book (i.e. no money to me, just to the printer). These issues range in price from ~US$3.75 to ~US$7.00. The exact price depends on where you are in the world (inside or outside the US as the print prices are a little different) and the page count of the magazine. Issue 6 is about the same size as an issue of the Frontier Explorer and so costs about the same. Some of the later issues are much larger, and so are going to cost more.

Also, I recommend you order as many as you can at once to save on shipping. At least in the United States, where I’m at, it costs basically the same to ship one issue as it does to ship five. In either case it’s about US$5.00 using media mail. I can’t speak for other shipment options or foreign shipping but I suspect it’s similar.

Going Forward

There are more hurdles for the remaining issues as I’ve mentioned. My plan is to work on these off and on over the coming year to make them available. As I do, I’ll post notices here that you can get them.

Once all the individual issues are up, I may go back and do omnibus editions that combine the individual issues into larger volumes. But that is something that will have to wait at least until 2022.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY61.294 to FY61.325

A new year and here’s the recap of the details happening in the Frontier over the past month.

The beginning of the month was the final battle of the initial sathar foray into the Frontier. There could have been a couple more but the sathar, being significantly outgunned, decided to fall back and retreat. Another sathar starship construction center joins the war effort and this month sees a lot of repositioning of ships as well as reclaiming control of the Liberty system. The sathar are getting ships into position for another major push in the coming month.

Early in the month, I started reporting all the movement of ships in and out of the UPF starship construction centers as Spacefleet took control of their operations. By mid-month, I realized that was a little much and scaled it back only reporting ships completed or started for Spacefleet and the militias. All the commercial construction and maintenance will not be mentioned.

Date (FY)	Events
61.295	– The HSS History’s Hope safely arrives in YS06 and begin working on a jump to the YS07 system. – The CMS Osprey arrives back at Clarion and is quickly admitted into the shipyards for repair. – TF Cassidine jumps into the K’aken-Kar system and begins decelerating toward Ken’zah-Kit. Once again they won’t make the initial engagement arriving a few days too late. However, they are determined to stop the sathar here if PG Meteor and the militia ships cannot. – 15 HS of space opens in the CDC shipyards (Triad, Cassidine). Spacefleet starts construction on another light cruiser to finish filling the holes in their ranks and allows the Truane’s Star militia to begin construction of a final assault scout.
61.296	– With the loss of the Liberty system, and the massive losses in the initial foray into the Frontier, sathar forces and production from SCC#10 are committed to war effort against the Frontier. This adds 9 fighters, 3 FF, 5 DD, 3 LC, 2 HC, and 2 AC to the sathar roster in addition to the SCC’s production capacity. – The CMS Osprey emerges from the Clarion shipyards fully repaired and ready for action once again. A small HS:4 yacht is moved in the SCC for maintenance. – Battle of Ken’zah-Kit (K’aken-Kar) – The sathar obliterate the station with a single concentrated barrage but then are quickly destroyed by the combined UPF and militia forces. Besides the station, only a single militia assault scout was lost with damage to three other ships that will require time in a shipyard to repair. – Sathar SCC#4 (OFS111) completes construction of a new frigate. – Realizing that SF Nova will reach New Pale in time for the battle, and having a nearly 2:1 hull disadvantage against SF Nova, PG Virgo, and the remaining Truane’s Star militia, SBF-E2 reverse course and start plotting a jump back to Zebulon. – 12 HS of space opens up in the CDC SCC (Triad, Cassidine). Construction is begun on two new assault scouts to replace those lost by the Kizk-Kar militia. The remaining space is given over to a HS:6 ship for annual maintenance. – 22 HS of space opens up in the PGC shipyards (Gran Quivera, Prenglar). With Spacefleet’s immediate needs being met, they move two HS:11 ships in for maintenance.
61.297	– SF Nova arrives in orbit around New Pale. The crew spends the day resting from their hard trip as they watch the sathar begin to fall back. The remaining ships of PG Virgo are absorbed into the Strike Force. – The White Light militia jumps back to their home system and begins deceleration toward Clarion. – The UPF minelayer jumps into the Fromeltar system and begins decelerating to join up with the militia forces holding that system. – With the loss of SBF-C1 in the K’aken-Kar system, and recognizing that they are out gunned by the UPF forces there, SBF-B2 does not jump to K’aken-Kar but begins decelerating back toward Kawdl-Kit in the K’sta-Kar system. – With its engines repaired, SF Nova’s assault carrier, together with its four surviving fighters, begin a high-speed jump to catch up with the main group. At the same time PG Virgo’s carrier, leaving its 3 fighters behind, begins a transit back to Prenglar. – The newly constructed sathar frigate at SCC#4 (OFS111) begins a transit to SCC#5 (OFS019) – SBF-J1 (1 AC, 1 HC, 2 LC, 1 DD, 1FF, & 8 fighters) departs SCC#10 and begins a high-speed transit that will eventually take it to K’sta-Kar. – SBF-J2 (1 HC, 1 LC, 3 DD, 2 FF) departs SCC#10 and begins a high-speed transit to the Liberty system. – 8 HS of space opens in the Hentz (Araks) SCC for a total of 9 HS of open space. A small HS:9 freighter is moved in for maintenance. – SBF-E1 jumps back into the Kazak system. They do not slow down and start plotting a jump back to SSC#5 in the OFS019 system. – An additional 13 HS of space opens in the Hentz (Araks) SCC. A HS 11 mining ship is moved in for annual maintenance.
61.298	– After rearming the ships in the K’aken-Kar system, TF Cassidine and PG Meteor begin accelerating for a jump to the K’sta-Kar system to confront SBF-B2 or drive it out of the system. – The damaged ships (a frigate & assault scout from PG Meteor and the surviving K’aken-Kar assault scout), designated Repair Group (RG) One are ordered to Fromeltar for repairs. They begin accelerating for a jump to Kizk-Kar. – 13 HS of space opens in the PGC shipyards (Gran Quivera, Prenglar). A HS:12 ship is moved in for maintenance.
61.299	A small group of 8 civilian privateer vessels, hailing from the yazirian worlds of the Frontier and calling themselves the Yazira Squadron, arrive in orbit around Morgaine’s World (Prenglar) and request permission to assist Starfleet in the fight against the sathar.
61.300	– The HSS History’s Hope arrives in the YS07 system and begins decelerating toward the inner system. Back at the last system explored, they plan to spend a few days resting here before starting to chart new routes toward their destination. – SBF-E2 jumps back into the Zebulon system and starts decelerating toward Volturnus. – SBF-B2 settles back into a high orbit around Kawdl-Kit (K’sta-Kar). – SBF-E1 jumps back into the OFS019 system and begins decelerating toward the starship construction center there for repairs. – 8 HS of space opens in the PGC shipyards in Gran Quivera (for a total of 9 HS of space available). A HS:9 ship is moved in for maintenance.
61.301	– Worried that since the sathar have a route into Prenglar they may also have one to Gruna Garu, Spacefleet sends the Yazira Squadron back to Gruna Garu to bolster the defenses there. – With the sathar mostly on the retreat at the moment, and based on the success of the fighters and assault scouts in the recent engagements, Spacefleet announces the creation of the Frontier Fighter Corps with a plan to station multiple squadrons of fighters in every system of the Frontier. – As the first step of implementing the Frontier Fighter Corps, all currently available space in the Type I and II shipyards around the Frontier are used to start construction of new fighters. At the moment that means 2 are started in Hentz (Araks) and 2 in Minotaur (Theseus).
61.302	– The White Light militia arrive back in orbit around Clarion. – The UPF minelayer arrives in orbit around Terledrom, joining up with the Fromeltar and Dramune militias. – SF Nova’s Assault carrier jumps into the Dixon’s Star system and starts working on calculations for the jump to Truane’s Star. The carrier leaving PG Virgo also arrives in the system and starts working on calculations for the jump to Prenglar. – The lone sathar frigate jumps into OFS110 and begins calculations for a jump to OFS022. – SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS170 system and begins calculations for a jump to OFS169. – SBF-J2 jumps into the OFS177 system and begins calculations for a jump to the Dayzer system (OFS178). – Sathar SCC#5 (OFS019) completes construction of a cutter.
61.303	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS169 system and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS167 system. – Task Force Cassidine and PG Meteor jump into the K’sta-Kar system and begin decelerating toward the sathar forces orbiting Kawdl-Kit. – RG One arrives in the Kizk-Kar system and begin engine overhauls and plotting a jump to Fromeltar. – 11 HS of space open up in the Triad (Cassidine) SSC. Work is begun on 11 fighters for the newly formed Frontier Fighter Corps. There are complaints that over half the SCC’s capacity are being used for Spacefleet but Spacefleet points out that some of that usage if for planetary militias as well. – Deciding not to wait any longer, two HS:6 ships under construction in the Pale SCC (Truane’s Star) are moved out of the shipyard by Spacefleet to make room for the damaged light cruiser.
61.304	– The crew of the HSS History’s Hope start working on the next jump in their journey to a small red dwarf star. It’s a long one, just under 12 light years long jumping a big void of stars in this region of space. They designate their target system YS08. – Detecting the inbound UPF forces, and recognizing that they are still outgunned, SBF-B2 decides to abandon K’tsa-Kar. They break orbit from Kawdl-Kit and begin accelerating to jump out of the system. – 13 HS of space opens up in the Hentz (Araks) shipyard. Two HS:5 ships are moved in for maintenance and work begins on constructing 3 new fighters. – 4 HS of space opens up in the Clarion (White Light) shipyard and a small HS:4 ship is moved in for maintenance. – The sathar SCC#10 (OFS174) completes construction of a fighter.
61.305	– SF Nova’s assault carrier jumps into the Truane’s Star system and begin deceleration toward the rest of the Strike Force. – The lone sathar frigate jumps into OFS022 and begins calculations for jump to OFS018. – SBF-E1 arrives back at SCC#5 (OFS019) and is disbanded. The work halts on the heavy cruiser currently under construction and the damaged frigate and destroyer enter the shipyard for repairs. – 6 HS of space opens up in the CDC SCC (Triad, Cassidine), with another 17 HS opening up tomorrow, the space is held to allow some larger ships to move in for maintenance. – 9 HS of space opens in the Terledrom (Fromeltar) SCC. With RG One only a few days away, the space is held for those ships so that battle repairs can begin immediately when they arrive.
61.306	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS167 system and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS166 system. – SBF-J2 jumps into the Dayzer system (OFS178) and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS179 system. – 11 HS of space opens in the PGC shipyards (Gran Quivera, Prenglar). Spacefleet begins construction of 8 fighters and an assault scout using the available space.
61.307	– The lone sathar frigate jumps into OFS018 and begins calculations for jump to OFS019. – The damaged sathar destroyer under repair at SCC#5 (OFS019) is finished and emerges from the shipyard ready for battle. – SF Nova’s assault carrier arrives in orbit around Pale and rejoins the fleet. It collects the fighters left by PG Virgo as part of its compliment. – The assault carrier from PG Virgo arrives back at Morgaine’s World (Prenglar). The crew is debriefed on their trip to the Rim and recent battle at New Pale (Truane’s Star). – After four days of round-the-clock work by the engineers from the Pale SCC and SF Nova, the light cruiser emerges from the Streel shipyards fully repaired and ready for action. The two ships that were moved out to make room resume construction.
61.308	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS166 system. Upon arrival, their orders are changed, and they are ordered to proceed to SCC#3 (OFS138) instead of heading into K’tsa-Kar. They begin plotting a jump to OFS157. – RG One arrives in the Fromeltar system and begins deceleration toward the shipyards at Terledrom. – Task Force Cassidine and PG Meteor arrive in orbit around Kawdl-Kit, much to the relief of the planet’s populace. – The damaged sathar frigate under repair at SCC#5 (OFS019) is finished and emerges from the shipyard ready for battle. The damaged heavy cruiser is moved in to begin the extensive hull repairs it needs.
61.309	– SBF-J2 jumps into the OFS179 system and begins calculations for a jump to the Liberty system (FS30). – SBF-B2 jumps into the FS33 system and begins decelerating. – After two days rest, the assault carrier at Morgaine’s World (Prenglar) is ordered to Triad (Cassidine) to await completion of the first fighters for the Frontier Fighter Corps and then to shuttle them to the Kizk-Kar system. It is designated Shuttle Group (SG) Alpha. – 18 HS of space opens in the Hentz (Araks) SCC. A HS 14 ship is moved In for maintenance. Another fighter is started for Spacefleet and the remaining space is held for an upcoming ship maintenance.
61.310	– Jump calculations complete and verified, the HSS History’s Hop starts accelerating for the jump to YS08. – Yazira Squadron arrives back in the Gruna Garu system where they join up with the local militia to coordinate the defense of that system. – Strike Force Nova, together with the remaining ships of the Pale militia, leave Fortress Pale and begin accelerating toward the Zebulon system to engage the sathar forces now orbiting Volturnus.
61.311	– The lone sathar frigate jumps into OFS019 and begins decelerating toward SCC#5. – SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS157 system and begin calculations for a jump to the OFS156 system. – With the sathar apparently gone from the system, PG Meteor is ordered to the Kizk-Kar system where they will be supported by the fighters being delivered by SG Alpha and joined by their flagship, the battleship Admiral R’kazk’tar which will be completed in 33 days.
61.312	SBF-J2 jumps into the Liberty system and begins decelerating toward Snowball.
61.313	– PG Liberty and the Mhemne belters detect the sathar ships that have arrived in the system. An alert is immediately sent out to Spacefleet alerting them of the sathar presence. – RG One arrives at the Terledrom shipyards (Fromeltar). The militia assault scout and UPF frigate are immediately moved into the shipyard to begin repairs. – SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS156 system and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS155 system.
61.314	– SBF-B2 arrives in the inner system of FS33 where they await orders from the sathar high command. – Recognizing that they are no match for the inbound sathar forces, PG Liberty, with the assistance of the Mhemne belters, go into hiding in the Liberty system to watch the sathar’s movements. Evacuations begin immediately on the L4 and L5 stations. – Receiving the alert from PG Liberty, the Theseus militia ships in the White Light system depart Fortress Redoubt and begin accelerating for a jump home.
61.315	– The HSS History’s Hope successfully jumps into the YS08 system. They begin decelerating toward the inner system and working on engine overhauls. – SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS155 system and begins calculations for a jump to OFS150. – SF Nova and the Pale militia jump into the Zebulon system and begin decelerating toward Volturnus and the sathar forces. – The K’akan-Kar militia assault scout completes its repairs in the Terledrom (Fromeltar) SCC. As it emerges the UPF assault scout is moved into its place.
61.316	– The sathar frigate arrives at SCC#5 (OFS019) joining up with the other ships there. – SBF-J2 arrives in orbit around Snowball and finding the L4 station abandoned settle back into the berths there. – Detecting SF Nova, SBF-E2 decides to avoid engagement and departs Volturnus and begins accelerating for a jump to the Kazak system. – PG Meteor jumps into the K’aken-Kar system and begins working on calculations for the jump to Kizk-Kar. – The UPF frigate and assault scout complete their repairs in the Terledrom shipyard and emerge once again ready for combat. A HS:6 ships is moved in for maintenance and Spacefleet begins construction of 3 fighters.
61.317	RG One, now fully repaired, departs Terledrom for the Kizk-Kar system. The Spacefleet vessels will remain in that system to await the arrival of the rest of PG Meteor while the militia ship will return to its home system.
61.318	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS156 system and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS146 system. – SG Alpha arrives in orbit around Triad (Cassidine) just in time to pick up the five fighters completed in the CDC shipyards. The fighters are taken aboard the assault carrier which prepares to depart for the Kizk-Kar system the next day. Construction begins on five more fighters. – After two days in the Liberty system, with no indication of any UPF presence, the heavy cruiser and 3 destroyers of SBF-J2 split off (now SBF-J3) and begin accelerating for a jump back to OFS179 leaving the light cruiser and 2 frigates in the system.
61.319	– Arriving at the inner system of YS08, the crew of the HSS History’s Hope begin working on calculations for the return jump to YS07. – Taking several days longer than expected, the damaged sathar heavy cruiser emerges from SCC#5 (OFS019) fully functional once again. The hull of the heavy cruiser whose work was paused is moved back into the shipyard to resume construction.
61.320	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS146 system and begins calculations for a jump to SCC#3 (OFS138). – SF Nova arrives and settles into orbit around Volturnus (Zebulon). – PG Meteor arrives in the Kizk-Kar system and begins decelerating toward Zik-Kit. – SBF-E3 (1 C, 1 FF, 1 DD, 1 HC) departs SCC#5 (OFS019) for a jump to Kazak to join up with SBF-E2.
61.321	SBF-E2 jumps into the Kazak system and begins decelerating toward Stenmar.
61.322	– RG One arrives in the Kizk-Kar system and the Spacefleet vessels start decelerating toward Zik-Kit while the militia assault scouts remains at speed and prepares for a jump back to its home system of K’aken-Kar. – A fighter for the Frontier Fighter Corp is completed in the PGC shipyards (Gran Quivera, Prenglar) and construction begins immediately on another.
61.323	– The Theseus militia arrive back in orbit around Minotaur. – SG Alpha jumps into the Dramune system and begins calculations for a jump to Fromeltar. – SBF-J3 jumps into the OFS179 system and begins calculations for a jump to the OFS168 system. – One of the sathar frigates in the Liberty system begins accelerating out from the inner system and appears to be on a course to jump to the Waller Nexus system. It is designated EG-1. PG Meteor could intercept from their hiding place in 2 days. – Detecting the outbound sathar frigate, PG Liberty notifies Spacefleet and are told to let it pass but take it out if it returns to the system.
61.324	– SBF-J1 jumps into the OFS138 system and begins deceleration toward SCC#3. – PG Meteor arrives in orbit around Zik-Kit (Kizk-Kar). – A UPF fighter is completed in the Terledrom (Fromeltar) shipyards and construction begins immediately on another.
61.325	– Calculations complete, the HSS History’s Hope stars accelerating for the jump back to YS07. – SBF-E2 arrives in orbit around Stenmar (Kazak). – SBF-E3 jumps into the Kazak system and begins decelerating toward Stenmar and SBF-E2.

Here’s the full timeline PDF for download:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

The Expanding Frontier

Creating Sci-fi RPG Resources