Early Years Federation Commander

[mjwest]

Weren't those ships already playtested prior to their publishing in Captain's Log? Little confused.

Yes, those ships were published in Captain's Log (and Supplemental) as playtest. However, the ships were part of Captain's Log, which has no particular focus and covers many products. This new playtest pack will be focused only on Early Years ships in Federation Commander.

If it makes you feel any better, don't consider this ePack a "playtest" pack. Consider it a "selltest" pack. If it has surprising sales, then we could get actual physical product and ship cards. Or at least a new ePack with new ships. If it has the sales Steve expects, then it will be a nice collection of the Early Years ships that were provided for Federation Commander once.

[JimDauphinais]

I suspect the ships will also all be in color in an ePack. They were in greyscale in Captain's Log.

[Nerroth]

On that note, I wonder: might it be worth offering both standard and low-toner versions of the sample Ship Cards in this pack, akin to the options provided in the Omega and LMC playtest files?

[Steve Cole]

Two options sounds like extra work and I don't see anything that adds work to the project being considered.

[Paul B]

If someone's printing them out and wants to save on ink they can just throw it on draft quality I would think.

Thanks for clearing it up btw. I'll probably pass on any PDF pack but will check it out if it makes store shelves. I did however pick up the playtest packs for the two potential expansions (LMC + Omega)

[Steve Cole]

You could be blocking your own wish. It will never get to the stores until we sell enough PDFs to prove there is a market. It might never get to the stores anyway; Omega may well end up being a mail order only thing because of cost issues.

Seriously, Paul B, you're the guy campaigning for this, and since you just announced you won't buy it, that tends to indicate that I need to not waste my time.

[Paul B]

Seriously, Paul B, you're the guy campaigning for this, and since you just announced you won't buy it, that tends to indicate that I need to not waste my time.

Respectfully, I was campaigning for a booster pack ala Booster#0, not a PDF playtest pack. The game's original release state has formed the preference and expectation to purchase laminated and re-usable ship cards. Consequently the cards presented in alternate formats like PDF or printed in Captain's Log/Briefing don't grab my interest. In fact I always prefer print products for all my gaming no matter the game or company.

If the price point is low enough I may pick it up, but it doesn't make sense to me to buy a PDF product in order to hopefully one day get the printed product that I actually want. And dishearteningly from what I can tell there haven't been any laminate card releases for FC since 2012. Assuming that Fighters Attack has laminate cards and assuming it's pushed to 2016 it will have been 3+ years between releases of new laminate cards. I don't know all the goings on but from a player point of view releases for Fed Com have certainly slowed considerably and there's a lack of new printed content (Tactics Manual aside). And really that's all I want, new printed expansions and ship cards. If there are factors in play preventing that, it's unfortunate. In terms of directly supporting the game I'd rather pledge money to a kickstarter or pre-order system to see new content printed rather than buying a PDF salestest product.

Either way I don't believe that one sale or lack thereof will swing the fortunes of the playtest pack. There are clearly other people who are very interested in EY and from what has been said there is apparently also interest in new FC material via digital distribution. If people are interested in esoteric factions in the Omega sector surely they would be interested in additional content for the core Alpha quadrant factions.

[jeffery smith]

while I have not actively campaign for this I will be happy to see it in any form I can get it in.

[Steve Cole]

"There are clearly other people who are very interested in EY"

Actually, not very many, and none as enthusiastic as yourself. YOU started the current conversation, and to have now discovered we're working at cross purposes makes me think my time is better spent somewhere else. I'm not angry; I'm just discovering that I mis-appreciated the situation.

You were "campaigning for a booster pack" but the very definition of term means that you were campaigning for something we can't do. (We lost money on Booster Zero and only did it as a sign of good faith to SFB players that we'd eventually bring those empires into FC. I need proof that there is an EY market, not another way to lose money. A Booster-Zero concept would be a way to convince you that we're going to do EY. A PDF pack is a way for you to convince us that you'll buy a product. I'm the one who needs convincing.)

Absent some support from others (preferably at least a dozen, and we have two so far) I think this project was doomed from the start.

[mjwest]

Would you please put the tenth ship card into Communique, assuming it is really done.

[Nerroth]

For what it's worth, I'd be keen to get an Early Years playtest pack as a PDF. I'm always excited to see FC go into uncharted eras and settings, though I was fortunate in that Rick was able to provide me with the InDesign templates needed to develop the Omega and LMC playtest packs into what they are today.

(Since I can't afford to actually buy a full copy of InDesign outright, I have to rely on windows of opportunity in which I can make use of trial versions of the software.)

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Alternatively, might it be an idea to salvage the work already done on the pre-existing Y-era Ship Cards by modifying them into their National Guard/Local Defence incarnations from Module R8, putting them into a new "Ships of the National Guards" ePack, and allowing players to make use of them in the Middle Years or the Main Era?

The Republic-class YCA lived on through the "modern" era in the form of the National Guard GCA (and of its various step-sisters, like the GSR NCC-1011 USS Amerigo Vespucci from Module R11).

Indeed, such a role might allow other Y-era hull types, such as the "two-prong" ISC YCA, to have a fresh lease of life as G/L-era hulls even as they are retired from front-line service.

And one might still be able to "work backwards", in terms of figuring out how to use each ship as its Y-era counterpart.

[Paul B]

Well yes we misunderstood each - other, as I understood you to have a resistance to expansion sized printings, not printings altogether. Also of course I'm not privy to adb's numbers so don't know what did or did not make money aside from what disappointments have been mentioned on the forum (specifically briefing #2 and reinforcements attack).

In any case, as I was campaigning for content I will in this case support an EY pdf and pledge to pick it up once it's available in the hopes of possibly seeing some more printed materials down the road.

Thanks

[Steve Cole]

There are always ways and options. On a lark I got a press quote to actually print 100 copies of a 12-card expansion pack just to prove that Paul B is wrong and I'm right.

It's not .... impossible. It might even work as mail order only. Or maybe not. Anyway, it's something to look into, but only because 10 of the 12 cards already exist, the 11th is easy, and the 12th needed doing, and the rules are done. You'd have to use SFB counters (no way at all it's even possible to consider doing die cuts on this thing). Even then, I doubt Leanna will approve it, and CL50 needs to be done first, but it's not a $5000 check to print .... something.

[JimDauphinais]

Whether a pdf pack or a laminated ship card pack, I will buy it.

Just at least include the 10th ship and the missing Laser fire table for the Romulan WB.

[mjwest]

Whether a pdf pack or a laminated ship card pack, I will buy it.

Just at least include the 10th ship and the missing Laser fire table for the Romulan WB.

We probably need to make sure the Hydran weapons are included, too.