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Federation Commander A NEW fast paced board game of starship combat!
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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Not really feasible in this case. I'd still end up doing the same work later.
I did four pages in three hours last Friday, but had to stop until I got questions answered. Getting them, I spent another hour over the weekend and asked more questions. Got the answers to those, and have to go rewrite and edit some stuff.
The four pages were full of good ideas and problematic execution. The start/end segments did not match, many of the 60 campaign objectives were awkwardly worded, and the whole strucure was badly explained (until I got the answers and added the explanation).
To do this takes a master editor, master page layout artist, and master game designer, and I'm the only one who is all three. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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Here are four sample pages, the four pages done with six hours of SVC design time, to illustrate the amount of editing and rewriting and fixing needed.
http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/12032/19865.html?1381178415#POST699805
As anyone who has worked with me knows, I never ever rewrite stuff just to fiddle with it. (I'm too lazy to do over anything that is already workable even if not the way I'd have done it.) But the original text was just seriously unclear.
Here is one example:
5) Information is Paramount: At the end of the year if our total Intel, CM required, we earn 3 VP. If we have more than double their amount, we earn 5 VP.
Jean and I puzzled for quite a while over what that meant. After several conversations with Jay, this is now:
(5) Information is Paramount: At the end of a cycle, if you have twice as many Intel Points as your opponent, you get five VPs. You can only score this one time, but it could be at the end of the first, second, or third cycle for the respective number of points (double, single, half).
Anyway, the finished "strategic objectives document" is a lot of fun to read and shows why I want to do Jay's book so much. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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mojo jojo Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 340
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Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:50 am Post subject: |
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Was bored, so did some proofreading.
1) For VPs, it's unclear how to handle fractional VPs in general. Some places explicitly tell you where to round or drop fractions, but other places don't. For example if you earn 5 VPs in the 3rd cycle, do you get 2, 2.5, or 3 VPs for that objective after halving?
Another example is the Monitors objective. Every three monitored
System Hexes grants two VPs. Does 1 monitored hex give 0, 2/3, or 1 VP? Does 2 monitored hexes give 0, 1, or 4/3 VPs?
There are other places where it's unclear how to treat fractional VPs.
2) One of the objectives mentions a "cruiser sized" ship. It's not clear whether CAs or CLs count. Perhaps that section should refer to .75 or 1 Move Speed ships (whatever is the cutoff).
Now for some grammar edits:
1) 3rd paragraph, right side, 1st sentence: 1) 3rd paragraph, right side, 1st sentence: [i]This
edit: It looks like my message was cut off. There are a total of 8 grammar edits that didn't post. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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Please send any reports by email.
The wording is fairly precise. Double and half mean that. A specific "round" means round in that case, not all cases. Three X gets you two VPs means three X gets you two VPs; one or two X get you nothing.
"There are other places" doesn't help me much unless you list them. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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mojo jojo Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 340
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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Reports go to design@starfleetgames.com not support. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Paul B Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240
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mdauben Lieutenant JG
Joined: 15 Aug 2013 Posts: 92 Location: Rocket City
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Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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Paul B wrote: | Saw this on the blog:
FEDERATION ADMIRAL, the long-awaited campaign manual, will be released this year. It is being structured to work with any of the four tactical games. |
Ooooh! Me want! I love campaigns! _________________ Mike
"The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank." |
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Mike Fleet Captain
Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 1675 Location: South Carolina
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:16 am Post subject: |
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The preview about Federation Admiral in the CL48 Supplement looked real interesting. This looks like it could almost be the operational game that has eluded every attempt at definition for years.
I'm wondering if the F&E combat system will be available as a separate "mini-product" or if it will be included in the Federation Admiral product? How will that work? _________________ Mike
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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EXACTLY! The idea caught fire in the office when we finally fought our way to chapter 4 and discovered that this WAS the long awaited Module V. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Mike Fleet Captain
Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 1675 Location: South Carolina
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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It will be interesting to see how this will be marketed. I'm excited about it. _________________ Mike
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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FEDERATION ADMIRAL: A Preview
This future product, created by Jay Waschak, is intended to be a campaign system that will work with any of our tactical games (i.e., Star Fleet Battles, Federation Commander, A Call to Arms Star Fleet, Star Fleet Armada). Naturally, some of those tactical systems will allow you to do more things (e.g., SFB has minesweepers but none of the other games do, so only SFB could play out any scenario involving a minefield). You can also resolve battles using the F&E combat system or the F&E Small Scale Combat System.
4.2 Campaign Objective System
The Campaign Objective System provides you a list of goals to achieve. Completing these objectives earns Victory Points (VPs). The more difficult the objective, the more VPs will be awarded for its completion.
There are two different kinds of objectives for players.
First are the overall (strategic) objectives which represent operating orders from home and are general goals to be met during the next 12 Campaign Turns (or as soon as practicable).
Second are important orders that deal with specific (tactical) goals that must be completed in a certain manner within a described time frame.
In many cases, either will involving moving ships to specific places and then performing various die rolls and tasks, and/or keeping your ships in those locations for defined amounts of time.
Overview
With your assigned forces arrayed on a map of the sector, and your opponent (i.e., the enemy) sitting across the table with his own forces also arrayed on the map, you each roll dice (see below) to select two strategic goals. You spend 12 turns moving your units and spending your Economic Points (EPs) in ways you think will meet those goals and block your enemy from his goals and objectives.
The problem is, you don't know what his goals are and he doesn't know what your goals are. Study his moves wisely and try to ascertain what he's doing. If he moves ships into System Hexes and parks them there, this could give you a clue to his possible goals. Obviously, you want to conduct your operations in ways that confuse the enemy about just what your goal is. Also obviously, you will have to use some of your ships to meet your own goals while sending others to block his goals.
At the end of the 12th Campaign Turn, the first Campaign Cycle is over. At this point, you add up your score and roll for two new objectives. If you did not complete your objectives the first cycle, you can continue trying to meet the last cycle's goals for another 24 turns, but that will not produce as many points. Note that some missions (below) allow you to score points for multiple ships performing identical missions in different locations. For example, Strategic Objective #2/Operational Objective #5 is to conduct a "standard exploration" of certain systems. Depending on how many ships you have and how many systems there are, you may be able to score points by exploring more systems or by completing incomplete explorations of other systems.
It is up to you when you abandon attempts to complete a mission in order to use your resources to complete other missions. Carefully study which missions require this many resources and produce that many points.
Got it? Good, because that's not all. Every campaign turn you must roll to see if Fleet HQ has sent you a message with a further short-term goal. This goal will include directives, a time limit, and a number of points you might receive.
The scenario ends when the stated conditions apply. This might be a set number of VPs you earned (which include any VPs you spent for new ships or other purposes), a set number of turns, or some other condition. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Sneaky Scot Commander
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 475 Location: Tintern, Monmouthshire
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Looks really interesting! _________________ Nothing is quite as persuasive as a disruptor pistol on slow burn and a rotisserie...... |
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mdauben Lieutenant JG
Joined: 15 Aug 2013 Posts: 92 Location: Rocket City
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the Preview, Steve! This definitly sounds like a "must buy" to me. _________________ Mike
"The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank." |
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Paul B Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 12:46 am Post subject: |
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So is this cancelled? |
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