Seto wrote:- they're going to be out of material with the UEEF Marines source books unless they revive the spaceships book. That's 3 books tops, and a series cap at 8 books total.
Oh I think they could go for more than 3 more books. And the old line was what 8 numbered books plus 2 for Sentinels, plus IINM 4 Adventure modules. That's 10 books, 14 if you count the adventure modules. If someone wants to count Macross2 in the mix (NOT saying one should) that's another 5.
Marines and Spaceships are/where slated to be multiple books IIRC. So that is 4, not 3 at minimum.
There are 15 "Armies" in the UEDF-ASC. Some of them might make interesting Sourcebooks on their own, while others might be logically combined. That and there is no reason the period of use for the book has to be focused on just the ASC since TMS era likely had equivalents to.
For instance they could cover OCC/MOS mods/new, along with hardware variations or new hardware (hardware might be harder to sell depending on where it comes from in terms of new, but variations might be an easier sell):
-UEDF-wet Navy, covers TMS/TRM/NG era wet navies (NG period more of a what's still left and might find exploitable).
-RT Intelligence, this would be the GMP and other intelligence related groups (maybe even Zent/Masters). OCC/MOS won't be a show stopper, but hardware might be since the epsionage angle doesn't get played up to well with the human factions.
-UEDF Special (Environmental) Forces, the CWOS, Desert Squad, Mountain Offensive Squad, etc. This might be one of those books that can be done in 1 go, or broken down into multiples depending.
-UEDF Civil Defense Forces, this would cover both the TRM and TMS periods
-Sentinel Worlds (if each race gets its own book, and we avoid the Haydonites, that's what 5 books, though realistically likely looking at 1), granted to do this HG would have to do some heavy consulting with them, its a questionable possibility I admit
-UEDF R&D, this would be more focused on stop gaps developments and hardware that didn't make it (the VF-X-4/5/7, early Cyclones). This last bit is unlikely I admit, though might also be covered in part in other books if it makes sense.
-then you have the RRT mini's game and mecha variants for their line, though I'm not sure how subjective it will be to plug in material from the mini's game into the RPG proper so this one might not be necessary
-this doesn't even consider them doing adventure modules, granted PB hasn't done a pure adventure module in I don't know how long and HG might not like the idea as it requires a break with canon
-Cosmic Units and TASC might be covered via the space ship books so short of giving them hardware MOS that don't fit the theme of the book won't need a SB
-I don't see a need for an ATAC book, but others might and it might even cover the TC proper, so that's a questionable book.
That's an extra 4 books right there before getting into the more questionable areas that can add another 1-9 not counting the mini's and treating the SEF as one book and them not doing adventure modules. The main hic-up is in terms of new hardware for the books and how to get it. Variations make sense, but they'll also need new hardware (which might come from sanctioned UEDF "IMUs" though that goes against the flavor of the IMU, but to be honest PB's IMUs already seem to do that) to avoid feeling cheated.