Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Couple of Questions

[Shiftkitty]

First off, is there a difference between the original Star Frontiers (which I have never seen) and the pink "Alpha Dawn" set?

Second, melee combat uses half of your STR or DEX (you choice each time you use it). Why only half? Is the assumption that your character is more used to lasers, etc? If your character was used to bare-knuckle brawling, an archaic combat enthusiast, etc., why wouldn't they get the whole attribute score?

[teaman]

Alpha dawn was the main box set and it came with two books: a really basic starter adventure (with kinda medium cover art) and the main book with all the trimmings and Elmore cover art.

Knights Hawks was the spaceship expansion boxed set and also came with two books of the same type:  a really nice board game starter set, and the main book that also included campaign suggestions.

You can get the entire box set as one PDF or book at drivethrurpg.  I'm so tempted to get it as a hardcover everytime I'm over there.