Federation Commander

I've been using the client fairly regularly the last month or so and had some questions/observations.

-- Is there no HET button? Could we get one if not?

-- It's not immediately obvious how players resume a saved game. There is the obvious "Load game ..." option, but the only way Active Ingredient and I got our game to reload properly is by having us each load the saved game separately. Maybe there's an easier way, but "re-synching" didn't seem to help.

-- The tractors seem to operate wonkily. Active Ingredient, who used them on me, could probably comment more effectively on this. Basically, when he was tractoring me, I got dialogue boxes asking me if this was ok (HELL NO, it wasn't ). Is that how it should work? I realize there's the possibility of tractor auctions at the moment of engagement, but it didn't seem as if I was being asked about that. I would also get multiple yes/no dialog boxes, though I couldn't tell you what-all they were for.

-- This didn't come up last night when we were playing, but I don't think the client has a way to account for pregame photon preloading (4C2c). My understanding is that energy has to be adjusted manually. Seems like there should be an option somewhere to select for that, since it's the most common situation for a photon player.

-- Seems to me like there should be a "speed change" phase (1E2a) before the first movement subpulse in order to mimic the sequence of play in the rulebook. Granted, it's functional to accelerate in the first movement subpulse on the client, but I'm leaning toward thinking there should be a formal step built in for that in the client's sequence of play.

I was wondering about the Photon thing too.

Also, how do you use labs and probes and suicide shuttles and marines and... all that other stufff that nobody ever uses.

Shuttles can be launched under the "Systems" tab, the same place where "Energy," "Movement," "Fire," and "Launch" are. You can select the size of the payload in a pulldown menu. The shuttle is called an "admin shuttle," though, which I gather is an SFB term and may or may not be accurate applied to suicide shuttles.

There is a "system" for ship raiding, but I'm not sure how it works.

I don't know about probes. Even if it didn't handle probes for information, probes as weapons would be a tournament-type option, I would think.

Are we the only ones talking on this thread anyway?

Hallloooooooo!

Paul may check in here. I know there are a few other players, too, as I have occasionally heard about them or even seen them in the wild.

Now that school's over, I'll have more time to go on the Client and even upgrade it. How much does the full client include?

It's $10 for three months for just FC or SFB. There are combo SFB/FC options as well. You can also pay by the year, though it's basically the same price as the quarterly rate.

How many product's ships' are there?

I'm not totally sure. Probably both "border" sets, KA, and RA. Battleships isn't in there. DK isn't. TA may or may not be.

You don't have the full client?

Also, how often are you there, and what's you're username there? If I see you I'd like a match!

I do have an account, but there are just lists of ships, and I don't have all the products to match them up.

I'm "jpat" over there, too. PM me sometime, though not this weekend, and we can set something up.

Alright, If you're open during the week I'm good too.

-- Is there no HET button? Could we get one if not?

On the list to add.

-- It's not immediately obvious how players resume a saved game. There is the obvious "Load game ..." option, but the only way Active Ingredient and I got our game to reload properly is by having us each load the saved game separately. Maybe there's an easier way, but "re-synching" didn't seem to help.

This is the current way to resume a saved game.

-- The tractors seem to operate wonkily. Active Ingredient, who used them on me, could probably comment more effectively on this. Basically, when he was tractoring me, I got dialogue boxes asking me if this was ok (HELL NO, it wasn't Very Happy ). Is that how it should work? I realize there's the possibility of tractor auctions at the moment of engagement, but it didn't seem as if I was being asked about that. I would also get multiple yes/no dialog boxes, though I couldn't tell you what-all they were for.

This is the current way. Since there is no interactive way of doing a tractor auction. The tractor auction needs to be announced via the chat and then the person tractoring the other person tractors them.

-- This didn't come up last night when we were playing, but I don't think the client has a way to account for pregame photon preloading (4C2c). My understanding is that energy has to be adjusted manually. Seems like there should be an option somewhere to select for that, since it's the most common situation for a photon player.

Currently, that is the case. The client currently does not support the idea of pre-loading Photons on Turn 0.

-- Seems to me like there should be a "speed change" phase (1E2a) before the first movement subpulse in order to mimic the sequence of play in the rulebook. Granted, it's functional to accelerate in the first movement subpulse on the client, but I'm leaning toward thinking there should be a formal step built in for that in the client's sequence of play.

This is doable. But I will need to look into the code. I have not looked at that aspect of the code for awhile.[/quote]

Thanks, Paul, for the reply.

There is a "system" for ship raiding, but I'm not sure how it works.

Actually, it is simple (if you know about it).

Go to the "System" tab. Select "Raid Ship" as your action. Select the "From" ship that you will be using the transporters from and then click on the system boxes on the ship that you are raiding. And then click "Execute"