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The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, fiction, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. Don’t forget, you have to register before being able to download the latest full color Communique!
The big news this month is the release of SFB MODULE Y2: EARLY YEARS II. Over a year in development, this product expands the "Early Years" database including over 100 new ships from all empires, including 25 new ships (with five new weapons) for the separate planets that eventually united into the ISC.
Our combined and reorganized website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions.
We are looking for a few good Star Fleet Ambassadors! Our marketing director can't be everywhere and that's where you come in! Do you go to gaming forums like Board Game Geek, RPG Net, or The Miniatures Page? Then WE NEED YOU! To get complete details of the Ambassador program, please see the Federation Commander Ambassadors category on the Federation Commander forum.
Have you missed an earlier Newsletter? Click here to get caught up!
The Federation Commander Site and Forum continue to grow as more gamers find it. We have added a new section to the Forum called Web Requests. If you have any comments, questions, or requests for our Graphics Director, this is the place to let him know. This month’s Hot Topic is "Orion Attack - Final Contents ? " which can be found in the General Discussion category.
We have added a new Star Fleet Battles section to the forum to discus everything SFB. For new players, the Federation Commander Forum is a little easier to manage whereas the Legacy Discus BBS can be a bit overwhelming. Come see what the commotion is about and join the Federation Commander Forum now!
Don't forget our original (discus-based) BBS where most product development takes place. The most active topics of late include: Farthest Stars campaign, F&E General Discussions, and FC: General Discussions.
If you really want to know what's going on, don't miss Steve Cole's daily weblog.
This "Loophole" May Become a Noose
- by Cadet Patrick Doyle, USS Ohio
The most obvious (and tempting) tactic is to pay for a baseline speed of 8 during Energy Allocation, then at the beginning of each impulse accelerate to a speed of 8+1. (The alternative is to pay for 16 and then use 16+1 every impulse.) For all practical purposes, you move at a speed of 16 (for the turn), while enjoying the turn mode of a ship at a speed of eight. Sounds great! You should be able to outmaneuver anyone, right?
(Continue reading here)
Café Press is an online marketplace that allows the Star Fleet Universe to produce unique products such as coffee mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, and more with the Star Fleet logos, cover art, and other artwork used for our products. We have added tons of new shirts, mugs, and other products. Want something you don’t see? Please contact Eric Olivarez (Graphics Director) with your request. Visit our Star Fleet Café Press Store for a complete listing of the products available.
SFB Tactic of the Month hunting the cloak
- Lieutenant Commander Mike West, USS Texas
The Sharkhunter guides a wire-guided torpedo to the designated target. Note that the target must be designated, but the torpedo remains wire-guided. When it gets to one hex, the Sharkhunter fires a bomb-thrower shot to gain lock-on. The following impulse the torpedo impacts.
Assumptions:
- The Sharkhunter closes to five hexes or less from the cloaked ship.
- The Sharkhunter makes sure the cloaked ship does not move (or such a move is irrelevant) on the impulse of impact.
(Continue reading here)
SETTING UP MOBILE BASES SAFELY
- Lieutenant Commander Paul Bonfanti, USS Pennsylvania
Setting up a mobile base in a front line position is always difficult, and failure can mean loss of both a mobile base and a tug. The best way to ensure safety is to stack enough ships with the base to pin out any attackers, but this is not always possible.
The Romulans have a solution to this problem: the FE group. It takes 36 points of directed damage to cripple, much greater than the standard 24 of a tug with the Formation bonus.
(Continue reading here)
Every month we will feature one of our miniatures that has been painted by a fan. If you paint miniatures, submit your pictures and you may be our next Mini of the Month!
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Communique #35 has been posted to the Commander's Circle.
JUST RELEASED
SFB Module Y2: Early Years II, SKU #5632, $35.95
Federation Commander: Border Box #7, SKU 4407, $99.95
TO BE RELEASED ON 17 NOVEMBER 2008
Captain's Log #38, Doomward and the Vortex, SKU 5738, $19.95
Squadron Box #22, SKU 4322, $39.95
Squadron Box #23, SKU 4323, $39.95
Squadron Box #24, SKU 4324, $39.95
Federation Commander: Border Box #8, SKU 4408, $99.95
Prime Directive: Federation (d20), SKU 8702, $24.95
TO BE RELEASED ON JANUARY 2009
SFB Module G3: Master Annexes, SKU 5423, Price $29.95
TO BE RELEASED I
N SPRING 2009
GURPS Federation, SKU 8402, $24.95
SNAP COUNT Part 3 of 10
- By Stephen V. Cole
Juggernaut Beta, 0729 hrs, 17 Jan Y169
The massive starship continued to travel through the area it had selected at a leisurely Warp Five pace, looking for the tell-tale traces of habitation. It had "rung the bell" several times over the previous days, destroying two mining stations and three freighters in an attempt to draw an opponent.
Checking the electro-magnetic spectrum, it had spotted a confluence of communications signals, which led it to the relay station a few hours earlier. He thought that this would have drawn an immediate reaction, and perhaps it still would, but the electronic brain that controlled the ship was anxious for battle.
Since receiving the transmissions from Juggernaut Alpha a few months earlier, Beta had been preparing for the upcoming fight. He had refined his tactics to meet the known enemies, and had even had time to build something new.
Only two hours ago, Beta had chanced upon a freighter and had destroyed it without even stopping. But the freighter had not transmitted any signals before the attack.
(Continue reading here)
- by Mike Filsinger
Drones
Robert Eddy asks: Is the 'Wild Boar' type of control mentioned in (FD5.255) a function of the type-III drone or an added function to the Type-IIIXX? The way rule (FD5.255) is written, it looks like it is a feature of the type-IIIXX only. I was confirming because I wanted to use 'Wild Boar' targeting with a standard type-III.
ANSWER: Rule (FD5.255) specifically limits "Wild Boar targeting" to type-IIIXX, not just any type-III. Rule (FD5.252) provides the closest equivalent ("Tame Boar") that is available for standard type-III drones.
Follow-up question: Are there any rules that allow type-IIIXX drones to be launched without fire control in active mode? I have looked through (FD5.2) and cannot find it.
ANSWER: See rules (F4.3) (ballistic launch) and (FD5.252) ("Tame Boar targeting").
(Continue reading here)
general questions
- By Nick Blank
QUESTION: I recently started playing Federation & Empire and bought all the products. I have seen references to Carrier War, Special Operations, and Marine Assault but cannot find them on the shopping cart.
ANSWER: Carrier War was expanded, revised, and re-issued as Fighter Operations. Special Operations and Marine Assault were combined, expanded, revised, and re-issued as Combined Operations. References to these older products will be eliminated in a future edition.
QUESTION: If an admiral is removed from play during the beginning of a turn by rolling a "6" under (316.229), does the player get to replace him on the same turn?
ANSWER: Yes. The Sequence of Play governs. Since you mislaid this admiral before the Production Phase, you get to replace him in the next Production Phase which (by that Sequence of Play) just happens to be during the same turn. (Continue reading here)
These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page.
Alert 81114 Imminent (Adobe Acrobat Required)
Alert 81027 RPGs (Adobe Acrobat Required)
Alert 81020 G3 (Adobe Acrobat Required)
The Orion Slaver will be available in time to deliver Christmas presents to good little pirates everywhere!
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