Federation Commander

[ElizabethB]

Is there anything I need to know before I dive in?

[djdood]

I would recommend against buying *all* the FedCom products, all at once. That's a lot of material to try and absorb.

Many of the later expansion modules (Tholian Attack, Distant Kingdoms, etc.) can wait, until you have lots of play-time in with the initial products and start feeling you want more challenges or variety.

You only need one "... Border" box product (either Klingon Border or Romulan Border) - the rules in the rulebook are the same. You can get the unique components from the other box with the corresponding "... Space" folio product. (unless you want extra map panels, etc.)

The Reference Rulebook is not really needed, until you have acquired many of the expansions and want all the added rules in one place.

A suggested purchase list:
Klingon Border (box)
Romulan (space) (folio)
[that's enough for months of gameplay]

then add-in at any time:
any of the Booster Pack mini-folio packs of ship cards associated to the products (duplicate ship cards, allowing your to have more than one of a type in-play)
Klingon Attack (folio with more ships, no new rules)
Romulan Attack (folio with more ships, no new rules)
Battleships Attack (folio, with more BIG ships, - some ships only work with later products)
Line of Battle (folio, with more BIG ships, - some ships only work with later products)
Reinforcements Attack (folio with more ships, no new rules - some ships only work with later products)
Orion Attack (folio, lots more pirate ships which can be played with no new rules)
Transports Attacked (folio, more ships of the "target" variety - some ships only work with later products)

I am totally biased, but I would also highly recommend buying lots and lots of miniatures.
[You don't *need* the miniatures to play, the counters included in the products are more than fine. Miniatures are just "my thing" and I love more minis-people]
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[ElizabethB]

I should be clear that I am coming at this from the perspective of having been into Star Fleet Battles since the Designer's Edition. So this material isn't new so much as adapted, I think. There's also the fact that I am getting a windfall in February so I can afford to buy everything at once, whereas if I do it piecemeal it will actually be harder to buy everything. I do appreciate your advice about it, though - like getting inundated is a fair concern.

Miniatures I'm not sure about. I don't really paint them, although I'm occasionally tempted to try. They're pretty pricey. I don't really have an income that would support buying lots and lots of them. I'm also looking at getting back into Battletech so that would mean like twice as many miniatures - not itself a bad thing, though.

[Sgt_G]

Well, if you buy "one of everything", you'll make a friend for life of Steve and Leanna.
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Garth L. Getgen

Master Sgt, US Air Force, Retired -- 1981-2007 -- 1W091A

[djdood]

Good that you already know the SFU setting. That makes things much easier.

The border boxes and "attacks" folios will give you everything you'll want. They are the closest parallel to the SFB "modules" approach to expansions.

Keep the booster packs in mind. That is the the means to acquire additional copies of the laminated ship cards (SSDs, in SFB-speak). The border boxes and attacks folios usually only include one of any particular ship type. For things like F-5 frigates, you'll of course want to be able to field them in squadrons.

The majority of the boosters for the primary empires have been available online for some time now, so printing your own is also an option.

Since you're intending to go "all in", I would change my statement about the Reference Rulebook. It's not of huge value to a newbie, but to someone with all the expansions it is very handy to have all the rules in one place, collated, and updated (not that FedCom has had too many huge corrections - nothing compared to the endless errata that Designer's and Commander's SFB suffered from).
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[ElizabethB]

[ElizabethB]

[Steve Cole]

Let us know if we can assist your purchase.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[ElizabethB]

Will do! Thanks much.

[rjl518]

I'm buying one of everything also.
don't feel like you are the only one.
cant wait to play with others and I'm making solitaire rules.
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"No one talks peace, unless he's ready to back it up with WAR!"
---Colonel Green. Star Trek TOS "The Savage Curtain"

Joseph L. Roberts---Commander (Executive Officer)--Federation Heavy Cruiser USS Excelsior NCC-1718

[Steve Cole]

There actually is a robot opponent (not a software program, just a written list and die roll system) found in the commander's circle as a free download.

http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/Commanders%20Circle/robotrules.shtml
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Nerroth]

Do you have any particular preference in terms of what Ship Card format you'd want to use, what degree of "finishedness" you'd be comfortable using for your games, or how many "SFU-native" factions you'd be interested in exploring?


Beyond the list of modules posted above, there are "full" (as in, formally published with countersheets and sets of colour laminated Ship Cards included) products which add more empires to the mix: Distant Kingdoms and Hydran Attack (which include the Lyrans, Hydrans, WYNs, and LDR); and War and Peace (for the ISC, Vudar, and Andromedans).

It's worth noting that the implementation of the Andromedans in particular is quite different from how the rules and SSDs work over in Star Fleet Battles, though there are a few adjustments to the ESG and PPD rules which may be worth keeping tabs on also.


Other empires, settings, and time periods are in various stages of development (and availability).

Briefing #2 introduces the Middle Years setting to Federation Commander. Rather than factoring in the various refits into a single SSD as done in SFB, the "unrefitted" versions of various hull types are presented separately in this volume. This product has no counters and no colour Ship Cards included, though you can purchase batches of colour Ship Cards as separate PDFs.

The Early Years, which cover the first two generations of tactical warp technology in the Alpha Octant, are presented for SFB in Module Y1, Y2, and Y3; for the time being, there are some playtest rules and Ship Cards for FC in Captain's Log #39 and the CL39 Supplemental File.

Two species which were active in the Early Years had become extinct in the Alpha Octant by the "modern" SFU era: the wolf-like Carnivons and bird-like Paravians. "What-if" ships for these "lost empires" were published for SFB in Module C6; there is a PDF preview pack available for FC which allows them to be tried out against those who would have been their latter-day rivals.

There is a free PDF which includes the most recent set of platest rules for fighter and carrier operations, though even those are set to appear on the "Borders of Madness" (a set of optional rules and units which would stand a half-step apart from "vanilla" FC). In this case, it may be worth holding fire for now, to see if/when the proposed "Fighters Attack" module is selected for publication.

Beyond the Alpha Octant proper, there are playtest packs available in print or PDF for the Omega Octant (a volatile region of space on the far side of the ISC, from which it is divided by an impassible Void region) and the Lesser Magellanic Cloud (an island galaxy which the Andromedans conquered in preparation for their broader efforts against the Milky Way Galaxy).

And aside from all of those, there is a significant number of Ship Cards which have been printed in various other issues of Captain's Log, from CL32 onwards.


In saying all of this, I don't mean to imply that any of the above are worth getting solely for the sake of completeness. Some of those items may look quite different in their "final" forms than they do at present; others may take quite a long time, if ever, to advance to that stage. And of course, each player has their own preference in terms of what corners of the SFU they deem of interest.

In any event, I hope that you enjoy what FC has to offer!
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[ElizabethB]

I'm getting all the finished stuff I can (which is like all the products for FC + all but booster pack #91 and probably that too), and I'll be picking up the Captain's Logs and playtest packets as I go along.

I don't mind having unfinished stuff (like either printed out or photocopied middle years ships are probably fine) so the other stuff is definitely on my radar. Or my sensors.

Even so I think I'll finish up my SFB collection as well, there's not many products I don't have, after all.

Captain's Log is going to be the hard one to fill out. I am not sure I can sit down to read them all (I mean I already have 15 or so) but just for the sake of sheer completeness and access to material I do plan to get them.

[djdood]

The older Captain's Logs are only a "must have" if you are really into the fiction, database pieces, and the like.

Usually, any rules, ships, and scenarios in Captain's Log are there essentially as previews. The ones that folks enjoy or that add something notable to the game universe end up getting published in "real" products. So, no loss there - you probably have the majority of things like that from old issues.

Other articles that are mostly status about product lines are pretty much redundant after a few years (the products either got published or went on the back-burner).

I have every issue (and most of the even older Nexus magazine), but I'm a lore-hound and technology minutia guy, so they're all useful references for what I do. Folks who are more focused on actual gameplay certainly don't need them all.
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[Nerroth]

If it helps, each of the preview and playtest packs available for FC have sources over in SFB which they use as the bases of their respective conversion projects: such as the aforementioned Module C6 for the "lost empire" Paravians and Carnivons; the 2011 edition of the Omega Master Rulebook for the Omega Octant; and Module C5 for the LMC.

Of the playtest factions which (for now) are only to be found for FC in Captain's Log, the Borak (in CL51) and Peladine (in CL50) are a pair of "would-be" empires which were pre-empted by the Hydrans and Lyrans respectively; they have playtest rules in SFB Module E3 and E4. While the rules and Ship Cards for the M81 Pirates (who annoyed the Tholians and Seltorians back in the home galaxy) from CL40 are based on playtest SFB rules and SSDs in that same issue.

Also, I forgot to mention earlier that one handy thing to keep tabs on is the free monthly Communique PDF. Each issue comes with at least one "low-toner" Ship Card and a new scenario, and often provides updates or other details of note regarding how things are going for the game system at large. You can check all of the back issues of Communique in the Commanders' Circle portion of the ADB website.
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion