The discussion about creating hybrid FC/SFB SSDs for Captain's Log has brought up questions about what changes should be made in the next generation of SFB SSDs. The two most obvious changes are

- Color
- Vector graphics

But rather than just doing colorized, sharpened versions of the same old SSDs, we should take the opportunity to redesign the SSD from the ground up.

Things for consideration:
- What items are missing from current SSDs that are needed?
- What items are currently on SSDs that are not used, or are taking up more space than needed?
- What items on the SSD could be redone to work better?

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 02:27 pm: Edit

Crew Units

It has always been confusing to me that the boarding parties are included in the crew units. Try playing a scenario in a radiation zone or against a crew-killing monster, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Throw in deck crews, which are NOT included in the crew, and you have a mess.

Ideas for improving:
- Show the boarding parties as part of the crew boxes by splitting the boxes that represent boarding parties (since 2 BP = 1 crew) and putting B's in those boxes.

- Handle deck crews the same way

- Use color to show minimum crew.

- Special boarding parties and ground forces equipment that is included in the ship description could be shown as such.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 02:41 pm: Edit

Shuttles and Fighters

The mini-SSDs used for fighters are handy, but could be better. The shuttle table is useful but has shortcomings.

Ideas for improving:
- Include mini-SSDs for admin shuttles.

- Have boxes for ALL weapons on shuttles and fighters, not just drones and heavy weapon charges. That way you can keep track of which phasers it has fired.

- Include arcs for direct fire weapons

- Shade 1/3 of the hit point boxes so that you can tell at a glance when a shuttle is crippled. Bombers would be shaded so that you can see the 1/2 and 2/3 damaged levels. (Note: This might not work so well in cases where a carrier uses different versions of a fighter with different hit points.)

- Include a box to write down the counter number of the shuttle next to the shuttle.

- Get rid of the shuttle diagram. The mini SSD would take care of hit points and counter number. No one actually use the "notes" box on the shuttle diagram on the SSD; most players wouldn't write the shuttle's mission there, because it is secret, while the SSD is public. Plus that little box is much too small to write anything in with a grease pencil (for those of us who put SSDs in plastic sheet protectors).

- Without the shuttle diagram, you would need another way to show number of bays and transfer information. Perhaps this should be shown graphically on the SSD - shuttle boxes that are separate on the SSD but part of the same bay could be linked with a line, or there could just be a text note.

- If the shuttle bay has two doors, a special wide door, a balcony etc., show this information on the SSD, either graphically or via a text note.

- Note spare shuttles and fighters.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 02:49 pm: Edit

Well, if we're talking totally new...

Is there some way to do the SFB SSDs in portrait view instead of landscape; ship at the top right and charts at the bottom?

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Cost of Movement Chart

Currently, there are two lines on this chart, one for people who use fractional accounting, and one for people who don't.

My question is, does anyone actually NOT use fractional accounting? If there is such a person, then I say, he can just round up. Let's get rid of that extra line.

OTOH, there are a number of players who don't like fractions, but use decimals to represent them. Instead of getting rid of the extra line, we could have one line with fractions, and one line with decimals. (Note that Omega SSDs have used decimals.)

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 02:56 pm: Edit

Re Fighter diagrams: I never use these, I use the fighter play aids instead. The problem with the fighter diagrams is using a different fighter than that represented.

Re SPare fighters and Shuttles on SSDs: Since these can't be used during a scenario (other than outstanding crew, who can use one) what would be the benefit of having this info on the SSD?

I agree with the crew unit distinction.

I would like to see the Year in Service on the SSD info column along with dates for the refits.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 03:07 pm: Edit

I would really like better representation of the ground units. Denote HWS with an "H" or color or somesuch, add ground vehicles, with boxes to mark off the Ground Combat damage suffered.

I use the Fighter Diagrams, but then, I play Hydrans.

I pretty much agree with Andy's suggestions. (and no, that is not me refering to myself in 3rd person).

By Tos Crawford (Tos) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:06 pm: Edit

Support mega-packs and advanced admin shuttles, damage and weapons.

By John Wyszynski (Starsabre) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:21 pm: Edit

We had a similar discussion about a year ago. (I think the topic got deleted.)

During that time, I developed a bunch of mini-SSDs for all the shuttle types. I designed them such that if you replace types of shuttles, like replacing a Admin with a MRS, you could just paste over the a new mini-SSD over the default. Two space shuttles could be pasted over a pair of single space shuttles.

For fighters, in general I would suggest that they be removed from the ship SSDs. Except for ships which have a few casual fighters, these make the SSD whay too cluttered. It is better to just use a squadron SSD, as it easier to get the right type of fighters for the right year.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 05:09 pm: Edit

The Crawford Box and other MSC Data

There are two schools of thought in regards to putting data from the MSC on SSDs. One school is that data should be minimized to avoid cluttering the SSD. The other is that all information about the ship should be there for quick and easy access.

There seems to be a consensus that things that are commonly used during the scenario should be there. Things get muddier when you are talking about other items.

I favor including all MSC data on the SSD, and here's why:

- The MSC is handy for a lot of things, but when picking out ships for a battle, most players flip through SSDs. Essentially, the MSC and the SSDs provide two different views of the data, and both are useful, so there's nothing wrong with having redundancy.

- One of the most crucial pieces of information you need when picking out ships is the YIS, both for the ship and its refits. Having the YIS and detailed refit info on the SSD would be extremely beneficial.

- Another important piece of data for picking out ships is whether the ship has special S8 restrictions. These are mostly in the notes column of the MSC. They could be placed on the SSD without using too much space.

- The command rating and the availability status of the ship are also important to know when choosing a fleet, and would take very little space.

- Some things like docking points and explosion strength don't come up that often in battle, but they don't take up much space, either, and it saves a lot of trouble when they do come up.


If this data is all included, it should be well organized to minimize clutter and maximize ease of use. I like the idea of combining the Crawford Box with the ship data box. However, I think the information needs to be grouped and/or color coded. Something like this (brackets indicate only present if applicable):

Ship name
BPV
Reference
YIS
-------
[Refit cost with YIS]
-------
[Special S8 category (scout, db, carrier, etc.)]
-------
Size Class
Shield Cost
Life Support Cost
-------
Command Rating
Docking Points
Explosion strength
[Cloak Cost]
[etc.]


Breakdown rating should be removed from the ship data box, and placed in the turn mode chart, in with the HET bonus and breakdown boxes.

By Dale McKee (Brigman) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 05:14 pm: Edit

My thoughts on the Crawford Box:

I play mostly campaign games, so I tend to use the MSC a lot. But when trying to consider my options, I do like to flip through SSDs, and it is a benefit to me not to have to look up each ship as I consider it just to see it's YIS.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 05:48 pm: Edit

SSD General Format

When I consider the general style and format of SSDs, the following items come to mind:

- Color can revolutionize SSDs. However, it needs to be done in such a way that it does not make the SSD too busy. Care also needs to be taken so that grayscale copies of SSDs will still look good. (One possibility: Two versions for the SSD, a laminated, full color version, and a paper B&W version.)

- Currently, SSDs use all capital letters for all text. While this is appropriate for things like labeling ship systems, TEXT OF MORE THAN A FEW WORDS IN ALL CAPITALS, SUCH AS FOR NOTES ON SSDS ABOUT DRONE CONTROL, ACCELERATION STATUS, THINGS ADDED BY REFITS, NOTES ABOUT SHOCK, ETC., IS HARD TO READ AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED. [not shouting, just trying to demonstrate a point]

- With vector graphics, you don't have to make all the lines used for making boxes the same, thick width. Hairlines and 1/2 pt. lines can be used to group and delinate items and make tables without distracting the eye as much.

- When designing SSD components, consider those who use grease pencils and plastic sheet protectors. Don't make checkboxes too small.

- Since damage to the ship is public knowledge, it's not useful to include places to write private data on the SSD. For example the boarding party assignment table on tourney SSDs is either not used, or must be covered with a post-it or folded under. The play aids in module A are better places to write that kind of data.

By Terry_OCarroll (Terryoc) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Colour printing on laminated paper is kinda pricey... it might put the cost of the product out of most players' budgets. Plenty of people have scanners and colour printers. With the popularity of scrapbooking, I've noticed laminators coming down in price. People who really want laminated colour can have it with a little work.

One possibility is to print them greyscale and issue a set of "official ADB colouring-in pencils" and combine the proposed SFU colouring book and SSD modules into one product.

By Michael Lui (Michaellui) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 08:41 pm: Edit

Oooo, and draw in the little tykes that are just learning to read. Hook em while they're young!!!

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 10:54 pm: Edit

I have no problem with the SSD's. Having more campaign information on them would be nice.

I found the layout of the E7D to be very busy and the color did nothing to help.

The use of all capitals to me seems appropriate. I find it annoying when you get mixed case and it changes from page to page depending on who is at the keyboard.

By Ken Burnside (Ken_Burnside) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 09:57 am: Edit

Barring SVC having a serious change of mind, the all caps isn't going to change.

The Omega SSDs were done in Illustrator. SVC's preferred vector graphics app is a very old version of FreeHand, which doesn't always play nice with Illustrator's file formats.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 11:35 am: Edit

The all caps thing makes sense when using bitmaps. For smaller fonts, you need capital letters for the text to look good. But with vector graphics, you don't need to do that, and all caps is just harder to read.

Note that I'm only talking about notes on the SSD. Most other things (title, system box labels, table contents) should stay in all caps.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 11:44 am: Edit

I wonder if Freehand MX is still available.


I can see a lot of benefit to SPP learning Freehand. It's document handeling capabilities would be pretty handy. I have Freehand MX and I can't do much with it but it does have this neat ability to lay out all your pages in a single file on a virtual desktop inside FH. For the SSD book and MSC he could have a single file to open.

He also could create a template file with generic SSD's for each race already within it. Then all within the one book copy and paste or clone as needed. When the book is done he just deletes the template SSD's.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 11:47 am: Edit

Of course they could migrate from Freehand to Illustrator and this link could be very helpful.

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=269

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:11 pm: Edit

REPLIES
=====
By Andy Vancil
The discussion about creating hybrid FC/SFB SSDs for Captain's Log has brought up questions about what changes should be made in the next generation of SFB SSDs. The two most obvious changes are
- Color
- Vector graphics
SVC: Let’s start right off with the idea that color SSDs are incredibly expensive (figure a retail price of $1 per ship; a 64-page SSD book would be $64) and other than special packages (tournaments?) aren’t that likely to happen. Convince me that 3,000 current players will each buy 24 SSD books costing $50-$100 each, and I’m down for it, for thine is the glory and the profit forever and ever.
As for color PDF downloads, we have had the conversation on PDF downloads and its destruction of the company before. Not going to happen, no need to repeat the conversation.
=====
By Andy Vancil
But rather than just doing colorized, sharpened versions of the same old SSDs, we should take the opportunity to redesign the SSD from the ground up. Things for consideration:
- What items are missing from current SSDs that are needed?
- What items are currently on SSDs that are not used, or are taking up more space than needed?
- What items on the SSD could be redone to work better?
SVC: I welcome the discussion, but note that most of what is on the SSD is really pretty good now, and radical changes will confuse people. Also, given the limited utility of color for B&W copies, there is a lot less than can be done than you guys have listed. I did (for the next upload of the E7D) move breakdown to the HET boxes on the turn mode box.
=====
By Andy Vancil
Crew Units
It has always been confusing to me that the boarding parties are included in the crew units. Try playing a scenario in a radiation zone or against a crew-killing monster, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Throw in deck crews, which are NOT included in the crew, and you have a mess.
Ideas for improving:
- Show the boarding parties as part of the crew boxes by splitting the boxes that represent boarding parties (since 2 BP = 1 crew) and putting B's in those boxes.
SVC: Nice theory, BUT... that much stuff in a box makes the box look like it’s already been marked as destroyed. I tried some different ways of doing things in the latest test. I caution you to look at them in 100%, not in whatever scale acrobats opens.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Handle deck crews the same way
SVC: ibid
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Use color to show minimum crew.
SVC: as long as it prints well enough in B&W.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Special boarding parties and ground forces equipment that is included in the ship description could be shown as such.
SVC: See above.
=====
By Andy Vancil
Shuttles and Fighters
The mini-SSDs used for fighters are handy, but could be better. The shuttle table is useful but has shortcomings. Ideas for improving:
- Include mini-SSDs for admin shuttles.
SVC: We have already done this on some ships. I have no real problem with doing it a lot.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Have boxes for ALL weapons on shuttles and fighters, not just drones and heavy weapon charges. That way you can keep track of which phasers it has fired.
SVC: Maybe. Could get very complex. Also, FC shuttles do not have weapons, so you’d have to have a duplicate shuttle-with-weapons on the left side of the SSD. Remember that the FC side has to be a standard FC ship card, nothing more and nothing less.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Include arcs for direct fire weapons
SVC: possibly. The one Vector-SSD done so far doesn’t have fighters.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Shade 1/3 of the hit point boxes so that you can tell at a glance when a shuttle is crippled. Bombers would be shaded so that you can see the 1/2 and 2/3 damaged levels. (Note: This might not work so well in cases where a carrier uses different versions of a fighter with different hit points.)
SVC: Problem here is that FC doesn’t use crippled fighters/shuttles so you would have to have a duplicated fighter and shuttle chart elsewhere. This may be a step we’d all like to see and all know cannot happen.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Include a box to write down the counter number of the shuttle next to the shuttle.
SVC: Possible.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Get rid of the shuttle diagram. The mini SSD would take care of hit points and counter number. No one actually use the "notes" box on the shuttle diagram on the SSD; most players wouldn't write the shuttle's mission there, because it is secret, while the SSD is public. Plus that little box is much too small to write anything in with a grease pencil (for those of us who put SSDs in plastic sheet protectors).
SVC: I don’t think Andy Vancil gets to decide what "no one" does or doesn’t do, given that he’s met less than 1% of the users and even I have met maybe 10%. I have seen players use the notes box, and while the SSD is not secret, the left half of the sheet is, which is why most players fold it in half.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Without the shuttle diagram, you would need another way to show number of bays and transfer information. Perhaps this should be shown graphically on the SSD - shuttle boxes that are separate on the SSD but part of the same bay could be linked with a line, or there could just be a text note.
SVC: Probably way too complex to show graphically (and would confuse FC players who do not use it), and no real reason it could not just be a note, on the left side, since FC does not use it.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- If the shuttle bay has two doors, a special wide door, a balcony etc., show this information on the SSD, either graphically or via a text note.
SVC: Text note on the left side.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Note spare shuttles and fighters.
SVC: Since they cannot be used in the scenario, this is absolutely useless clutter. You’re trying too hard to think of stuff to add to an already crowded sheet.
=====
By Loren Knight
Well, if we're talking totally new...
Is there some way to do the SFB SSDs in portrait view instead of landscape; ship at the top right and charts at the bottom?
SVC: No, no way at all. Totally impossible. Seriously, I have seen SSDs like that, HATE THEM, and am NOT going there. Also makes it hard for FC people to use them.
=====
By Andy Vancil
Cost of Movement Chart
Currently, there are two lines on this chart, one for people who use fractional accounting, and one for people who don't.
My question is, does anyone actually NOT use fractional accounting? If there is such a person, then I say, he can just round up. Let's get rid of that extra line.
SVC: My answer is, **YOU** DO NOT KNOW if anyone is or isn’t using it, and I know that some people do. So it is NOT going away.
=====
By Andy Vancil
OTOH, there are a number of players who don't like fractions, but use decimals to represent them. Instead of getting rid of the extra line, we could have one line with fractions, and one line with decimals. (Note that Omega SSDs have used decimals.)
SVC: Adding another line. Sheesh. Let’s just let the 7 people who use decimals do whatever they do now. If they can’t convert fractions to decimals, they just are not smart enough to play SFB, so they aren’t playing anyway.
=====
By Nick Samaras
Re Fighter diagrams: I never use these, I use the fighter play aids instead. The problem with the fighter diagrams is using a different fighter than that represented.
SVC: Concur. You could in theory put the most common fighter on the ship card (for FC players, if we ever do fighters in FC) and let a separate page of fighter squadrons handle alternative fighters.
=====
By Nick Samaras
Re SPare fighters and Shuttles on SSDs: Since these can't be used during a scenario (other than outstanding crew, who can use one) what would be the benefit of having this info on the SSD?
SVC: Absolutely none what... so... ever.
=====
By Nick Samaras
I agree with the crew unit distinction.
SVC: See my comments above on what will and will not work.
=====
By Nick Samaras
I would like to see the Year in Service on the SSD info column along with dates for the refits.
SVC: Dates for refits can be done as long as you understand that there are entire paragraphs of rules involved which will NOT be on the SSD. Some refits apply to every ship instantly, some apply starting in a certain date with years going by before they apply to every ship, if they ever do apply to every ship.
=====
By Andy Palmer
I would really like better representation of the ground units. Denote HWS with an "H" or color or somesuch, add ground vehicles, with boxes to mark off the Ground Combat damage suffered.
SVC: This could theoretically be done. See Prototype 3 for the double-B box and see if you can read it. I can’t.
=====
By Andy Palmer
I use the Fighter Diagrams, but then, I play Hydrans.
SVC: As we all know.
=====
By Tos Crawford
Support mega-packs and advanced admin shuttles, damage and weapons.
SVC: This cannot be done on the half of the sheet that is an FC ship card. I’m dubious if it is more than just clutter being duplicated on the left half. Could be better to do megapacks as a separate sheet.
=====
By John Wyszynski
We had a similar discussion about a year ago. (I think the topic got deleted.)
SVC: I don’t remember it, may not have been a part of the discussion, and don’t remember deleting such a thing. I generally do not delete topics unless somebody asks me to delete THEIR topic, or I process the proposal into CapLog, or its one of my project topics and I’m done with it.
=====
By John Wyszynski
During that time, I developed a bunch of mini-SSDs for all the shuttle types. I designed them such that if you replace types of shuttles, like replacing a Admin with a MRS, you could just paste over the a new mini-SSD over the default. Two space shuttles could be pasted over a pair of single space shuttles.
SVC: Not particularly workable in the current rendition.
=====
By John Wyszynski
For fighters, in general I would suggest that they be removed from the ship SSDs. Except for ships which have a few casual fighters, these make the SSD way too cluttered. It is better to just use a squadron SSD, as it easier to get the right type of fighters for the right year.
SVC: Could be.
=====
By Andy Vancil
The Crawford Box and other MSC Data
There are two schools of thought in regards to putting data from the MSC on SSDs. One school is that data should be minimized to avoid cluttering the SSD. The other is that all information about the ship should be there for quick and easy access.
There seems to be a consensus that things that are commonly used during the scenario should be there. Things get muddier when you are talking about other items.
SVC: I am far from convinced there is any consensus.
=====
By Andy Vancil
I favor including all MSC data on the SSD, and here's why:
- The MSC is handy for a lot of things, but when picking out ships for a battle, most players flip through SSDs. Essentially, the MSC and the SSDs provide two different views of the data, and both are useful, so there's nothing wrong with having redundancy.
SVC: Point one is that you, Andy Vancil, DO NOT KNOW **MOST** PLAYERS and have no clue if that is how "most players" do things. Second, redundancy means something else to CHECK and VERIFY which adds a HUGE amount of work FOR US. Basically, every thing added to an SSD means fewer SSDs that get published and more mistakes on them.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- One of the most crucial pieces of information you need when picking out ships is the YIS, both for the ship and its refits. Having the YIS and detailed refit info on the SSD would be extremely beneficial.
SVC: Already on the Crawford box. I might comment that *I* am the one who added it to the ship data table without anybody asking me to do that. And I’ve previously addressed the issue of refits. I don’t have a problem with change "Plus Refit" to "Plus Y172" but I am NOT going to publish an entire paragraph of rules about which ships got it that year, the next year, a decade later, or never, and I am NOT going to react well to future calls for such nonsense.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Another important piece of data for picking out ships is whether the ship has special S8 restrictions. These are mostly in the notes column of the MSC. They could be placed on the SSD without using too much space.
SVC: Although this is, again, extra work and despite that work a chance for an error.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- The command rating and the availability status of the ship are also important to know when choosing a fleet, and would take very little space.
SVC: Although this is, again, extra work and despite that work a chance for an error.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Some things like docking points and explosion strength don't come up that often in battle, but they don't take up much space, either, and it saves a lot of trouble when they do come up.
SVC: already a part of every SSD done for the last year. I thought this topic was about new ideas?
=====
By Andy Vancil
If this data is all included, it should be well organized to minimize clutter and maximize ease of use. I like the idea of combining the Crawford Box with the ship data box. However, I think the information needs to be grouped and/or color coded. Something like this (brackets indicate only present if applicable):
SVC: Well, color-coding works when you have color, not so great in B&W. You’re never going to get anyone to agree on what the "logical grouping is" and I’m leaving that alone. Also, when I used that much color in the first FC reference card I got complaints from every single person who saw it that there was too much optical confusing.
=====
By Andy Vancil
Breakdown rating should be removed from the ship data box, and placed in the turn mode chart, in with the HET bonus and breakdown boxes.
SVC: This is actually a good idea which I did on Prototype-3.
=====
By Dale McKee
My thoughts on the Crawford Box:
I play mostly campaign games, so I tend to use the MSC a lot. But when trying to consider my options, I do like to flip through SSDs, and it is a benefit to me not to have to look up each ship as I consider it just to see it's YIS.
SVC: This is why I made Petrick do it. Been there, done that. Got anything new?
=====
By Andy Vancil
SSD General Format
When I consider the general style and format of SSDs, the following items come to mind:
- Color can revolutionize SSDs. However, it needs to be done in such a way that it does not make the SSD too busy. Care also needs to be taken so that grayscale copies of SSDs will still look good. (One possibility: Two versions for the SSD, a laminated, full color version, and a paper B&W version.)
SVC: See previous discussions of color and expense. Unless you are willing to pay a dollar a ship, you aren’t going to get color.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Currently, SSDs use all capital letters for all text. While this is appropriate for things like labeling ship systems, TEXT OF MORE THAN A FEW WORDS IN ALL CAPITALS, SUCH AS FOR NOTES ON SSDS ABOUT DRONE CONTROL, ACCELERATION STATUS, THINGS ADDED BY REFITS, NOTES ABOUT SHOCK, ETC., IS HARD TO READ AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED. [not shouting, just trying to demonstrate a point]
SVC: you happen to be wrong. We use upper/lower in some cases, quite a few, actually, but we are not event remotely consistent. If we "start over" doing all SSDs, then we can construct each "note" in whatever way we decide, and then just dupe and paste. That was an issue in the old bit map stuff since if you picked up a chunk of text, it was now "flowable". In Freehand, it is.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- With vector graphics, you don't have to make all the lines used for making boxes the same, thick width. Hairlines and 1/2 pt. lines can be used to group and delinate items and make tables without distracting the eye as much.
SVC: We already do this on the bit map stuff.
=====
By Andy Vancil
- When designing SSD components, consider those who use grease pencils and plastic sheet protectors. Don't make checkboxes too small.
SVC: Ok, so you want bigger boxes and more stuff on a less crowded SSD. Anybody want to support Andy V’s idea to print SSDs on 11x17 paper and charge twice as much for them? Anyone?
=====
By Andy Vancil
- Since damage to the ship is public knowledge, it's not useful to include places to write private data on the SSD. For example the boarding party assignment table on tourney SSDs is either not used, or must be covered with a post-it or folded under. The play aids in module A are better places to write that kind of data.
SVC: Everybody but you folds the sheet to conceal it.
=====
By Terry_O’Carroll
Colour printing on laminated paper is kinda pricey... it might put the cost of the product out of most players' budgets. Plenty of people have scanners and colour printers. With the popularity of scrapbooking, I've noticed laminators coming down in price. People who really want laminated colour can have it with a little work.
SVC: Yes, this is an issue. If we release color PDFs, we’ll sell about 14 copies before they’re on 1400 web sites. Then we file bankruptcy, go get real jobs, make twice as much in salary and are totally miserable.
=====
By Terry_O’Carroll
One possibility is to print them greyscale and issue a set of "official ADB colouring-in pencils" and combine the proposed SFU colouring book and SSD modules into one product.
SVC: This one had me snorting Doctor Thunder all over the keyboard.
=====
By Ken Kazinski
I have no problem with the SSD's. Having more campaign information on them would be nice.
I found the layout of the E7D to be very busy and the color did nothing to help.
The use of all capitals to me seems appropriate. I find it annoying when you get mixed case and it changes from page to page depending on who is at the keyboard.
SVC: Didn’t I say something about us not being consistent?
=====
By Ken Burnside
Barring SVC having a serious change of mind, the all caps isn't going to change.
SVC: What ARE you blathering about? You have no freeking clue, and speak with no authority. You have ZERO basis for this statement, and we’ve already published hundred of SSDs which have mixed case notes. Just how many other imaginary habits, predilections, and preferences of mine are you making up out of thin air and telling people that SVC has? Ken, it’s NOT YOUR JOB to tell people how I think and you need to stop doing it SINCE YOU DO NOT KNOW. Do I have to remind you that in 700 times you finished my sentences you got it wrong 699 times? And did you notice that we are discussing an SSD I posted which includes upper/lower case notes? did you?
=====
By Ken Burnside
The Omega SSDs were done in Illustrator. SVC's preferred vector graphics app is a very old version of FreeHand, which doesn't always play nice with Illustrator's file formats.
SVC: Ken’s definition of "very old version of software" is that it’s three months old.
=====
By Andy Vancil
The all caps thing makes sense when using bitmaps. For smaller fonts, you need capital letters for the text to look good. But with vector graphics, you don't need to do that, and all caps is just harder to read. Note that I'm only talking about notes on the SSD. Most other things (title, system box labels, table contents) should stay in all caps.
SVC: I am not sure who you are arguing with since we have done mixed case many times.
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By Loren Knight
I can see a lot of benefit to SPP learning Freehand. It's document handling capabilities would be pretty handy.
SVC: I can too.
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By Loren Knight
I have Freehand MX and I can't do much with it but it does have this neat ability to lay out all your pages in a single file on a virtual desktop inside FH. For the SSD book and MSC he could have a single file to open.
SVC: We do the MSC in Excel, not in Freehand, so nothing here.
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By Loren Knight
He also could create a template file with generic SSD's for each race already within it. Then all within the one book copy and paste or clone as needed. When the book is done he just deletes the template SSD's.
SVC: Yes, this is how we have done SSDs for about 20 years.
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By Loren Knight
Of course they could migrate from Freehand to Illustrator
SVC: I see no merit in such a migration. Illustrator has some serious deficiencies compared to Freehand, which is why we use the superior program (Freehand).
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:39 pm: Edit

Prototype 3 of "the new SSD format".

E7D-hybrid3.pdf e7d-hybrid3.pdf (61 k)

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:48 pm: Edit

SVC: I only meant that by putting the MSC (for that one particular project) in Freehand it would be very easy for SPP to check the data (Crawford box) within the one program. You'd delete the MSC data when the project is done.

I guess flipping between excel and Freehand isn't that hard except that the project MSC would only have the projects data in it and would be bound to the SSD project.

Anyway, just tossing out ideas. NO doubt you all will find the best way for you.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:50 pm: Edit

BTW: IF it ever is to happen that SFB's bulk of SSD's get a make-over simple vector quality greyscale will work for me. Grey lines in the charts, very light grey in the data boxes. That would be nice.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:54 pm: Edit

SVC: Ahh, I see where you are going with this latest SSD and I have to say it's briiliant.

Interactive SSD.

It's what I've always wanted. Tell me though, what is the cost of the display paper?

This uses the Wacom pen right?

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:58 pm: Edit

Looks better and better.

The Ships Data Tables looks good, I like the middle indicator on the Crew Chart, i.e. the large B with dotted line.

The large paragraph on the bottom was amusing, but you forget to include a breakdown of ships stores so we could determine how long they can stay on patrol.

adm