Long time lurker (I've been reading tournament game recaps here for pointers), first time poster.

I may have a solution to the shortage of signups, but I want to make sure it is okay first. I have been playing SFB, tournament style, with the family (my wife and son, now 10). We probably are not up to the quality of play expected from the Sapphire Star, but we aren't terrible. My son and I get up for a game every weekend morning since the pandemic began.

If you would like two more players (my son and I, probably) I need to pitch the SFBOL subscription to the wife but I can do that and get us signed up probably within the week.

We would diligently learn the SFBOL interface, but we've always played on paper (actually on plastic erasable covers so we don't have to reprint every time), so my son will probably need me helping with the interface. I'm happy to promise not to help with strategy.

You're probably getting a Hydran (my son) and either a RKR or a Gorn (me), but I wanted to make sure the community wanted new blood before I pitch the idea to the boss.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 01:41 pm: Edit

Now 14 sign ups.

By the Order of Sign Ups

Daniel Bitseff

Jack Taylor

Peter D Bakija

Jason Gray

Ron J Brimeyer

Dana F Madsen

Majead Farsi

Ted Fay

Seth Shimansky

Gregg Dieckhaus

Brian J Evans

David A Zimdars

Andrew J Koch

Paul P Franz

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 02:40 pm: Edit

Graham, please feel welcome. We'd love to have some new players, at least from the perspective of SFBOL or these tourneys. Most of us are all old timers and we need some new blood! I think you will find us all more than willing to help with the interface, tactics, or whatever.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 02:42 pm: Edit

Graham:
Please come into the fold. And... are you sure your son won't be teaching YOU the interface

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 04:42 pm: Edit

Graham:
There is a demo mode on sfbonline that I believe lets you play as a klingon or federation. You may want to look into that to start learning the interface.

Welcome aboard!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Graham and Son welcome aboard! I think all of us would be more then happy to help your clan learn the client.

And don't worry about the competition, we aren't all sharks. Take Shimansky for example - he is weak

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, September 11, 2020 - 10:44 pm: Edit

Welcome Graham, always good to have more players.

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 01:28 am: Edit

I'm contemplating jumping into this as well. I've been playing SFB for a long time but I've only flown tourney ships a couple of times. And those weren't in actual tournaments (one was a death race and the other a challenge match). I've also never used SFBOL, but I'm willing to learn.

Don't hold this tourney up on my account as I'll need to play around with the tool, but I'm looking forward to some matches in the future.

Is there a way to just do some solo play with SFBOL or do I always have to have an opponent? I'd rather learn things some before forcing someone else to sit there for hours while I fiddle around.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 10:17 am: Edit

Yeah, you can turn on SFBOL in "authenticated mode" (it's just one of the options when you turn the client on) without connecting to the server, and can set up games and play them without an opponent.

You can download the client for free, connect to the server as a demo account for free, and play a tournament game with the Fed or Klingon TCC for free as a demo account (although I'm pretty sure you can't save games if you are in demo mode, so you'd have to finish the game in one sitting). I suspect that with a free, authenticated mode game on your own machine without an actual account, you probably still only have access to the Fed and Klingon TCs, but could certainly set up a game with those two ships and play against yourself to figure out the interface and client. With an actual account, you get a whole library of ships; I have used the authenticated mode many times to play solo games on my laptop to try things out, figure out how particular empires work, or 'cause I was playing a solo scenario for fun.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 10:47 am: Edit

So for clarity, for this tournament:

-The Fed is in the client as "Fed TCC (G-Rack) (Playtest)", and has the g-rack on the SSD, and is noted as having 2 drones (IM) and 4xADD, or type VI (dogfight) drones at players option after seeing their opponent.

-The Andro is listed as "Andromedan TKC-2011-Androemdan Krait (Official Tournament Ship)" and is about half way down the list, past "Andromedan Krait (Official)". It is the version with 2TRH, 6xP1, 3 (three) batteries, 6xC Hull and 3xCargo. It specifically has TRHs.

-The Vudar is listed as "Vudar TCA". It has 4xIC, 6xP1, 2xP2, 2xP3, 1 (one) IPG that can only be used for "Defensive Ionic Wave" mode (i.e. it does damage to shuttles and drones kind of like a small ESG that hits everything in range). It has 40 power total and 2 of its ICs are FX. So seems pretty good (although the last time I used it, I got demolished by Dave C in a Hydran :-)

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 12:45 pm: Edit

Does the Andromedan have phaser 1s ?
I thought it was phaser 2s.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 02:36 pm: Edit

It does not have Phaser-1s.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Yes. By "6xP1" I actually mistyped and meant "6xP2", but that is how they are listed on the SSD (and now that I have noticed, it is too late to edit the post).

I was just clarifying which the actual SSD was in the SFBOL client, as there are still, like, 6 different Andromedan tournament ship SSDs in the client.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Will join two to the tourney today. Do I need two separate accounts or can we play on the one I just bought? We will be playing on paper at home, so we just need one to physically participate.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 08:58 pm: Edit

Got one entry in and paid up, looks like I can't enter again with the same callsign. Let me know.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 10:05 pm: Edit

Tried again and have now registered and paid twice, so we should be good to go. The Gorn Battlecruiser "Surprise" (my ship) and the Hydran Lord Marshal "Tryggvassen" (my son's ship) are ready to go. I would appreciate it if we could each have a couple of trial runs this weekend to get used to the interface (we are working on that ourselves today) so that we make our mistakes before the tournament.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, September 12, 2020 - 10:45 pm: Edit

Sorry to spam the thread... My son and I played two turns of Gorn v. Fed tonight, and we think we mostly understand how to do everything. Goes from utterly mystifying to very sensible pretty quick .

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, September 13, 2020 - 08:14 am: Edit

Yeah, it isn't that difficult of an interface, once you use it a few times.

In terms of the client, unless you are playing against each other, one account in the household should suffice, I'd imagine, but it might be a little confusing for your opponent, on the grounds that both of you will be using the same online account name; I'd suggest being super clear on what is happening when playing (i.e. clarifying who is playing which ship at a given time).

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Sunday, September 13, 2020 - 11:23 am: Edit

Why not just use One Callsign with the Name: "Ettin" ?

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Sunday, September 13, 2020 - 12:34 pm: Edit

"I'd suggest being super clear on what is happening when playing (i.e. clarifying who is playing which ship at a given time)."

Hence the predetermined and announced ship names. .

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, September 14, 2020 - 12:00 pm: Edit

Graham Gridland:

I have two sign ups from you, but only one paid. I have a Hydran Sign up and a Gorn Sign up.

Please clarify.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Monday, September 14, 2020 - 12:03 pm: Edit

Steve:

They should both be paid (I have two receipts). One of them, the Hydran, will be flown by my son, Trent Cridland.

Will forward the receipts to your email.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, September 14, 2020 - 01:41 pm: Edit

Graham Gridland:

Leanna thought the second was a re-entry because you did not change the name. It is cleared up now.

That gives us 16 players and the new entries are closed.

I will work up a tree and get is posted. In the meantime, I wish you all the best of luck.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, September 14, 2020 - 01:48 pm: Edit

Since I'm flying Fed.... I'm going to need it!

Do we have the SSD with the Drone-G ready for the Fed yet?

Also, is the new playtest Fed allowed to exchange it's 2*I medium drones for 1*IV medium drone, or is its rack fixed at 2*IM and 4*ADD?

Thanks.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, September 14, 2020 - 01:48 pm: Edit

General Information on Enrollments:

Federationx4

Kzintix2

Gorn

Orion

Hydran

Andromedanx2

Lyran

WYN Ax

WYN BS

ISC

LDR