Faced with the many land bound threats, the Coalition States don't really have the resources to wage war on many fronts. Because most of their cities and main production centers, not to mention the bulk of the population, is on the shores of some great river, lake or ocean, they had to create the Coalition Navy to protect these regions.

Rifts Sourcebook 4: Coalition Navy is pretty much exactly what is sounds like. The 130 page volume has all the detail needed to have your Rifts characters either fight against or with the navy. This is a great asset for the Game Master who wishes to incorporate naval engagements into his/her game and it is useful for some of the vehicles, power armor suits, weapons and other equipment to dazzle the character party with. Having new things to give or use against the player group is always a good thing. However, by its very nature this is, sad to say, a volume that can be left out of your collection because it has such a limited area of usefulness.

What's in the book?

Well, the first thing is a good run down of the navy itself. This includes the history, the basic TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) of the three fleets, the major bases and ports and the key personnel. All very standard for any volume on a specific thing. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of detail in some of these areas, the three fleets in particular. Instead of taking the time to detail each of them, a simple list of the entire assets of the navy is given (how many ships, people enlisted, officers, etc) and then only a very brief statement about where each fleet is deployed most of the time. Nothing regarding how smaller units are set up or anything of that nature is discussed. Everything is extremely basic with all the details left up to the Game Master to finish off.

This is followed by a list of Navy OCCs (Occupational Character Classes) and later on a small number of non-naval OCCs (mostly pirates) for those who don't want to be Coalition members. Included in the section of Navy OCCs are a small number of new skills and an explanation of the ranking structure. The OCCs are little more than more specific versions of previously existing OCCs from other Palladium Books games, just redefined to fit within a sea faring setting.

Equipment

Right, the previous stuff is all fluff and few players are actually interested in it. The largest reason for getting this volume is this area. There is a massive amount of equipment to play with here that can really make things interesting for a character group. New type of body armor, underwater weapons and mines are given very good coverage here. The naval mechanized units, again mostly mere upgrades to use in or under water, are powerful adversaries or allies. I personally like the section on the various classes of war ships and weapon systems that are mounted on them and the submarines are really nice as well. Of course, no navy is complete without air support and the CS Navy has a broad range of their own aircraft to use for support.

Monsters and mayhem

The navy has more than mere human (or semi-human) threats to worry about. There are a good number of savage creatures that live in the depths. These creatures are most often just looking for a good meal, but some are sent by greater threats than the Coalition even suspects. The navy is there to be the shield for it's citizens against the attacks of such horrors.

Other than monsters, the navy also has to face off against pirates from time to time. These rogues often hunt the shipping channels looking for fat trade ships whose wealth can be easily transferred to their own pockets. Seldom do any of these pirates actually wish to maim or destroy the vessels they raid, but it does happen at times.

The volume finishes up with a bit of information on the most notable pirate groups around the Coalition States, but once again, the information is very limited with much left to the Game Master to flesh out.

My Viewpoint

Other than a few of the more complex ship designs listed in this book, I found this one to be a waste of time and money. Sure, there were a few critters that I can use in my games but as an actual sourcebook? No, Palladium dropped the ball on that. This volume could have, SHOULD HAVE, been twice as long and still would have needed more detail. I strongly feel that the information in this book should have been added into another of the books that deals with the oceans, such as Rifts World Book Two: Atlantis or Rifts World Book 7: Underseas. Both of those volumes were published prior to this one, so perhaps releasing this alone was the only way to go. Any way you look at it, this should NEVER have been called a Sourcebook because it raises more questions than answers on the topic it covers. It is not often that I dislike a Palladium product at all, much less find it useless. This is one of them that I would advise against buying except for those who wish to spend a lot of time sailing the oceans of Rifts.

Recommended: No