Federation Commander

I'm part of the demographic that started playing SFB way back in the day (expansions anyone?), lost touch for whatever reason, but is now back in SFU with FC. I realize this is not the SFB forum, but I hope you'll bear with me. If I were to take up SFB again, what would be a good place to start? Should I consider all my old stuff out of date? Commander's Rulebook Number Two is where I left off. Could I just pick it up from there, or should I go back to the beginning with a newer edition?

I would advise you start out with Basic Set and see how you like the changes, and then go from there with the rest of the expansions if you so choose. After Basic Set is Advanced Missions, which I highly recommend as the second purchase after Basic.

Off-Topic: Which part of CO are you in? I will be moving from Idaho to Monument/Co. Springs at the end of the summer.

I moved the discussion to a more appropriate topic.

I agree with the recommendation to get Basic Set. A good second step is to get Module TR and download the tournament ships from the main website. (Ordinarily, I would make both of those links, but it is getting late tonight ...) Module TR includes all of the rules you need outside the Basic Set to run the tournament ships. The tournament ships give a nice, balanced cross section of the main powers in the SFU. That should give you a good enough idea as to whether it is worth the time and effort to expand from there.

Thanks. It really has evolved over the years, and there's a lot of stuff about which I am clueless !

off topic-- Krellex, I live in Colo. Springs. We have a little group that meets at Gamer's Haven. Keep in touch.

Starlist has a lot of colorado gamers including the head of F&E, the chief of staff of PD and the playtester with the most gold medals.

Once I figure out what our zip code is going to be I will make a Starlist request. And yes, there are a lot more SFU folks in CO than there are here. I am excited!

The thing with the Basic Set as opposed to the earlier Commander's Editions (and previous editions like Designer's) is that the Basic Set is part of the definitive rules set known as the 'Captain's Edition'.

All the rules are up-to-date and, while there are few changes from the Commander's Edition, most people on these forums will assume that the Captain's Edition is what you've got if you ask any questions.

Also the tournaments are essentially played according to the Captain's rule set (with a few minor rules to standardise proceedings, like Tournament Barrier and balanced ships).