New Captain here

[djdood]

I'm embarrassed it took 3 hours, I had heard a duel takes 1 hour, and this was Fleet level!

An hour is pretty reasonable, once you have the rules understood, aren't having ot consult the rulebook every sub-pulse, etc. It gets going quicker as you get experience (and playing both sides will definitely slow things down)

That brings me to a story based question, what happens to destroyed ships? Is there a rebuild with a letter or something attached to the name, or is the name entirely replaced?
(I'm a roleplayer, so this is what I think about...)

On your own game table, ship names and numbers can be whatever you want them to be.

In the official ADB timeline and history, the ship names are pretty established. There is an official list (for all empires) available HERE (also the NCC for Feds is HERE).

For the Federation, when a particular hull number is lost in service it just goes away. Some ship-names for illustrious ships are carried-forward into replacement builds or even to new ships of later and improved classes (all of the DX advanced destroyers were named for famous Starfleet ships like Hood). The one exception for hull-numbers is the CX advanced cruiser NCC-1701-A (a quiet nod to a famous tri-video series).

Another link you might find useful/entertaining:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/historicaldownloads.shtml

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Hi!

Welcome to the board.

I was going to get Academy, some 2500 line ships (I like bigger models) and the corresponding data cards for the ships. I already have a hexed map for other space games.

Be aware that the larger Starline 2500 minis are sold originally targeted at use with A Call to Arms Starfleet, which is hex-less and they ship with large-diameter round bases. They are clear, so they can be used on a hex-map, but just be aware in case the diameter is an issue. ADB does sell their standard black hex-base stands as a "spare-part" if you want to swap them (with added weights for the larger ships). Tony Thomas [scoutdad] and myself both game Federation Commander with the larger minis retrofitted onto weighted hex-base stands.

Is this an OK way to start, or will it cause problems? I was going to pick up the full rules reference book and further ships with the cards at a later date and expand that way.

Totally fine, although you don't need the minis to play the game. Academy (and all the "... Border" box sets and "...Attack" expansion modules) include very nice 1" and .5" counters for all the included units.

Also, there wouldn't be any need to add other ship cards (either via Booster packs for laminated cards or PDF downloads of card packs) until you buy into the larger game, either with the Master Rulebook or one of the "... Border" boxes (or, as ElizabethB noted, with "Graduation" to convert your Academy copy into the equivalent of them). Many of the ships in the Booster packs would require rules you just won't have in Academy.

Academy is a complete game (if small sliver of the game universe). Once you've played through everything it can offer (which is actually quite a bit), then you can decide where to expand outward.

[ElizabethB]

Thanks ElizabethB for your reply.

Will I need the map boards if I already have a nice space map? What are all the counters in the border packs compared to academy? I couldn't tell if they were just ship counters or if they were more necessary to game play from the store description, only that the ones in academy were smaller.

I intend to play with ship models, so I'm not worried about having ship counters, or map boards if I don't need them.

Must say it seems like a lovely welcoming and helpful community here, the willingness to help out clueless new guys like myself is great!

You could probably use any hex map that can handle 1/2" or 1" counters (since you get both sizes with Federation Commander). You'll get six map sections with Klingon Border and six more with Romulan Border if you go that route, though, and there isn't really a way to buy into the game completely without getting any. I think Academy also has six map sections, although the upgrade product isn't currently available.

I don't recall how many counters Klingon Border has. I do know it has enough to cover every ship card provided in Klingon Border + Boosters 1, 2, and 3, plus seeking weapons for everyone who uses them, plus shuttles.

[djdood]

It's been a few years for me, but if I recall correctly Academy ships with a sheet of .5" counters for all the units it includes (and their launchable weapons, etc.) and .5" hex-map (the classic Star Fleet Battles map).

The larger 1" counters (with full rendered ship art, etc.) and the map panels are something only included in the "full" game products (or in Graduation to add them to a collection started with Academy).

[Grimmshade]

@Mike - Thanks! I'll look for those fiction links!

[SimpleSquid]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Really looking forward to getting into this game!

Does anybody know if/when Klingon border and Graduation will be available again?

[ElizabethB]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Really looking forward to getting into this game!

Does anybody know if/when Klingon border and Graduation will be available again?

Klingon Border is available now. Not sure when Klingon Space or Graduation will be available, though. I think there's a thread about this somewhere.

Ah, here it is.

[Grimmshade]

Klingon Border is out of stock currently. I know because I ordered one and they had to print a few cards for it, and now it's off the store site. Leanna told me it would be out of stock after mine until they print more 1/2" counters.

[ElizabethB]

Well then. Hopefully it'll happen soon.

[djdood]

Don't take this "out of stock" situation as normal.

Counters are among the most capital-intensive things ADB does, because the minimum print and die-cutting runs are in the thousands (most other things they print in-house and they can print in the single digits, if they want to). The previous print run for the counter sheet for Klingon Border must have finally (likely years later) sold through.

Since they have to do counter sheets for 4 products at a time usually (it's one giant sheet and die-cut job, that gets sectioned off for various products) sometimes it has to wait for one of the 4 that is a new product to finish development. It seems like there's been a sudden surge of interest in Federation Commander and it might have run out quicker than they planned for.

[Grimmshade]

I figured it was probably something like that. I'm just glad I got my order in. The only thing I'm waiting on is 2 of the ship cards to be printed, which she said would be done early this next week.

They also seem to be out of the Klingon Attack maps, because I got it for a discounted price. I may purchase the maps separately when they come back in stock. I may not need them because I am already creating my own planets and objects to use in the game.

[ElizabethB]

Now I'm glad I ordered when I did instead of waiting until the middle of the month, as was my original plan.

[Nerroth]

It may be worth keeping tabs on the monthly updates in each issue of Communique; the latest issue (from February 2017) includes a note on which products may (or may not) be likely to appear on the next run of single-sided countersheets.

[Grimmshade]

Is there some kind of ship timeline, to know which ships are available when in Universe?

Also, for products like Middle Years, do people normally photocopy the ships, or is there a better way to use the cards?

[mjwest]

For SFB, you would need the "R-section", or the Master Ship Book for each empire to get that with detail. For just dates ships are available, you can get the Master Annex module, which includes the Master Ship Charts, which lists all ships by empire, and each ship has a "year in service" date associated with it.

Alternatively, if you can figure out the ship acronyms everywhere, their ship information tables include almost all of the ships, and when they are available in the Star Fleet Universe.

With Federation Commander, however, there isn't much to the timelines. Right now, we have three main times: Early Years, Middle Years, and the main era. Any ship labelled "Early Years" or "Middle Years" directly on their ship card is intended for that era. Any ship with no such label is meant to be used in the main era. And while a ship like the Federation New Heavy Cruiser only appeared at a certain point in the SFB/SFU timeline, in Federation Commander, if it has a ship card, you can use it.

[djdood]

[drat. Cross-posted with mjwest. Oh well, we basically said the same stuff]

Is there some kind of ship timeline, to know which ships are available when in Universe?

Federation Commander has no timeline, very much unlike Star Fleet Battles.

Any ship published with a ship card for FC is valid for play. That means a laminated ship card, a downloaded one from a PDF pack, etc. Also included would be ship cards from Communique, or from Captain's Log (with the caveat that they are trial ships and not presented as playtested and final versions).

The only exceptions are the different "eras" that have been published, such as the Middle Years era published in Briefing #2. Those can be used in games with mainline (i.e. "General War era") but it is understood that they really don't belong there and won't fare well.

The experiments underway with things like the ships from Omega would also fall under this category. They play best against each other.

Also, for products like Middle Years, do people normally photocopy the ships, or is there a better way to use the cards?

For folks fine with black and white cards, I assume photocopies are the way to go (and there is a blurb in the book to allow that and explain it to any concerned copy-place staff).

I believe the ships from the Middle Years Briefing #2 have also been released as PDF packs, for those who want color versions.