Federation Commander

Is it ok to disscuss the "Other Game" here?

Mxslade wrote:Is it ok to disscuss the "Other Game" here?

The first rule of the Other Game is that you do not talk about the Other Game. The second rule of the Other Game is that you do NOT. TALK. About the OTHER GAME.

Mike Powers:

Seriously, the best place to talk about the other game is probably the forums on starfleetgames.com. There's a huge audience there. However, I don't see any problem in discussing The Other Game here, as long as we don't scare away new FC players by posting photos of the complete Other Game rulebook...

I don't see there being a problem with talking about the "other game," try to keep it light, the "other game" tends to scare newbies off because of its complexity.

Vanessa wrote:I don't see there being a problem with talking about the "other game," try to keep it light, the "other game" tends to scare newbies off because of its complexity.

I remember having a friend in college inquire about the game. When I dropped the huge 3 ring binder with all the rules in front of him, his interest sagged a little. Those of us that played it regularly didn't harp on rules too much... as long a you got the basics right and didn't screw up too often (or too beneficially) we just played on. It was fun regardless... usually. Now, going to GenCon and trying the tournament a couple of times... that was less fun... but then I wasn't really all that good at the game anyhow.

Is SFB really as complex as people say? I've een told it makes your brain hurt.

SFB isn't that bad, but there is LOT of it, and any veteran SFB player uses a lot of that stuff and has difficulty just going back to the "basic layer" of the game to train a new player. The veteran will keep using tactics based on more advanced rules.

Starships can do a lot of things and SFB let's you do a lot of those things. Not 3d, not rolling the ship upside down to bring the undamaged shields to bear, but still a lot of things. And they all have rules, and for every page that says "this is how X works" there are three pages that say "Now that you know how X works, here is what happens when you try to use X while doing the other 25 things in the alphabet."

I played SFB for 18 years, had a stop for 6 years, started and continuing with ASL (ups, not an ADB Universe game ) and now I'm returning to my first love (thank to SFB Online).
SFB is not as complex as it seems at a first look. It is very logical, so it is simple to memorize rules; after 6 yers I was able to play it again quite well. About strategy read the post before mine.
I have bought FC: Klingon Border and I have found it very nice an funny. Quick and easy to play, but it is NOT Star Fleet. Let me say that Star Fleet is more a simulation game than FC. What I suggest is to start with FC and have a try with SFB (better way to do it is to play the wrath of Khan music album while playing ). I think that the future will be FC (take a look at this gorgeous forum and look at the SFB forum ), but SFB, believe me, is a jewel.

So now I play SFB when I have time and FC when I am short of time.

BTW, please excuse my bad English. This is not my mother tongue.

FedCom is what it is - I like it but I do miss a lot of the Chrome of SFB. My local group is so frightened by "complex games" that FedCom is about as far as I've been able to go with them. I still hope to bring out the full glory of an ISC fleet in Escellon formation in the next few years.

Is it as tough as they say? Yes, it's tough - but there's lots of things there. There's quite a bit you can do and need to handle. Play FedCom and don't worry. If one day you're curious, give it a try - it won't be as difficult as starting SFB since many of the same concepts are in both games.

jmt
..who also plays ASL and - gasp - Europa - just not with the current group.

I'm trying to learn ASL myself. Made harder because nobody I knows plays. Had to hunt for the original Squad Leader before the Starter Kits actually made SENSE.

Its part of the reason Federation Commander is so appealing. Its an awesome game that gives me all I found interesting about SFB, but simplifies and pretties it up into a nice digestible game o fun.

A shame the third 70s/80s gaming icon that tried a simpler version failed though. (Car Wars)

Would have been cool to have 3 nice lines of long running once popular games revitalized by streamlined versions out in the same basic timeframes.

Sadly it looks as if ADB is the only one who did it perfect enough and smart enough to make a go of it all.

Captain Rufus wrote:I'm trying to learn ASL myself. Made harder because nobody I knows plays. Had to hunt for the original Squad Leader before the Starter Kits actually made SENSE........

First of all my excuses for this off topic.
About ASL, Rufus, go to this address www.vasl.org and install the programm. It is completely free and you can find a lot of people who can play (and teach) with you. If you need some support for the installation, write me at panzerkartATgmail.com (AT=@)

Yes, VASL is the way to go!

jmt wrote:jmt
..who also plays ASL and - gasp - Europa - just not with the current group.

Okay, you have me beat. (Currently playing SFB, ASL, and various 'lighter' wargames, but no Europa.)

[ASL: go to VASL now! It has plenty of people who'll be willing to teach you.]

SFB is, from one point of view, every bit as hard as many people think it is. From another, it's not that hard at all.

I played semi-actively for a period of about 6 years straddling the last major edition change. And then dropped it for a period of a bit more than a decade. Coming back to it, and teaching it to a couple new people, I've found I've retained a surprising amount of it.

The nice thing about SFB (and FC, and ASL, and...) is that it is trying to represent something. If you understand what is being represented, then it's generally easy to remember the rules that govern it. The hard part of SFB and FC is separating your internal thoughts on how Trek works from the the version of Trek represented in the Star Fleet Universe.

...Which is why SFB is is less frustrating for me today than it was a decade ago. A) I'm less of a Trekkie now than I was then, and B) my thoughts on Trek have diverged from SFU enough that I no longer want to 'bridge the gap'.