Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive through April 10, 2002	25		04/10 10:43pm
	Archive through May 13, 2002	25		05/13 09:48pm
	Archive through May 15, 2002	25		05/15 06:14pm
	Archive through June 18, 2002	25		06/18 11:06am
	Archive through June 19, 2002	25		06/19 07:00pm
	Archive through March 09, 2003	25		03/09 09:02pm

What do you mean, George? Taking a few random shots. The game is still in print. New customers show up all the time. Expansions are printed at regular intervals. All of the bills are paid and the company has no debts.

By gene malin (Privateer) on Sunday, March 09, 2003 - 10:37 pm: Edit

What I would like to see is a SFB game that incorporates some simple miniatures and colorful graphics. My daughter is absolutely enamored by Fortress America right now. If I had some snazzy visuals to help I am pretty sure I could start to get her to play SFB, at least at the cadet level. She already loves Enterprise, and comes out of the woodwork to watch the show every Sat. night with me when she heres the song. But she has been raised on Pokemon, Yugioh and Digimon stuff, and there is quite a bit of color and pizazz with it. There really isn't with SFB. And while I could use my miniatures, she will probably wreck them, most are the older 2200 series and quite fragile. The dice roll today that took out the eastern seaboard a case in point. It would be a great lead in to SFB down the road. Oh and by the way, another wish would be a nintendo game that was not NEAR as complicated as SFC.

By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, March 09, 2003 - 11:07 pm: Edit

SVC; I don't get to too many conventions (none actually, although I did go to Ghengis Con), and from what I remember seeing there it seems like there's a lot of competition out on the gaming market these days. More than from what I recall back in my gaming hey-day. I'm just wondering if SFB is keeping its robust stance with other games.

Some local history;
There's a local gaming store that I've gone into a few times to top off my SFB collection, and it seems like I'm the only guy who ever buys stuff for the system. I've asked how well SFB moves and according to the staff at least (as compared to all the other product) it doesn't move at all.

I think I emailed you about a different hobby store (my favorite model store BTW) not carrying your products regularly anymore for the same reason (although they do make infrequent purchases to satiate a certain number of customers).

Admittedly the Bay Area's demographics and interests are a little more diverse than most of the U.S.; meaning it could just be a regional thing. Still, it makes a man wonder.

I'm glad it's thriving, by the way.

By Benjamin I. (Captainbenj) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 08:13 pm: Edit

I'm a newbie and I just got the game two weeks ago. I've been doing the first Cadet scenarios and I really love the game. I was wondering if Amarillo Design Bureau is still making new modules, or if they stopped and only old ones are being sold.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 08:25 pm: Edit

Keep looking all over this site! There is tonns of new stuff. ADB is alive and well kicking out products regularly!

Welcom to the SFU Benjamin!

By Marcus J. Giegerich (Marcusg) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 11:57 am: Edit

Ben,
You may want to make a post in the "Players Wanted" thread to find any SFB players in your area.
MG

By Lars Fausnacht (Maxbodycount) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 11:13 pm: Edit

Regarding getting more (or younger) people into SFB, miniatures always draw the eye. Now I have some ships I don't want untrained fingers grabbing by the warp nacelles, but I recognize the need for "eye candy."

While it is unfortunate that the line won't again see the light of day, I just got a pack of the Star Fleet Elite models (for the 5/8" hexes) that are totally perfect! Yes, they lack some detail, but paint quickly and seem to be a little more tumble resistant IMHO.


- Lars

By Joe Stevenson (Ikv_Sabre) on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 09:51 pm: Edit

"Admittedly the Bay Area's demographics and interests are a little more diverse than most "

I'm kind of confused how diverse interests means that no one but you plays SFB in yoru area. Wouldn't that lead to MORE people playing SFB (or doing anything, for that matter)??

Joe

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:33 am: Edit

Well, we were totally without power all night (as is most of the NE US). Normally, this would suck, but I was home with the wife.

Yup, wife and me all at home alone with no power and nothing to do.

Well, you can imagine what happened next....

...

...that's right, she asked to learn how to play SFB! (Well? What did you THINK I was going to say?)

Actually, very productive night, too. I've gotten a LOT better at doing training on a topic (due to work) since the last time I tried to teach her SFB oh...6 years or so ago. Got as far through the basic training manual plan as a duel with heavy weapons between a Fed CA and Klink D7. No EAF yet, figure I'll give that a few more games to introduce - but she has weapons damage down and movement and the whole impulse/turn thing. Very cool. She does totally get into the roleplaying aspect of it, wants to know what are the motivations for actions...

Makes me think tying in 'Prime Directive' a *little* might not be a bad idea for flavor? Dunno. Fun to consider long term, anyway.

In any case, huzzah! Maybe by this time next year I'll have another regular SFB player *real nearby*! Coolness!

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 01:43 am: Edit

Time for the old (classic?) line - 'What were you doing when the lights went out?'

By Chris Proper (Duke) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 05:34 am: Edit

In Ithaca the lights stayed on.

By Marcus J. Giegerich (Marcusg) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:46 pm: Edit

That's a small victory for ya!! My wife wouldn't touch the game with a 10 foot pole. She's a cat lover, so I tried to sell her on the idea of the Kzintis and Lyrans. All I got was "why would they want to hurt each other like that?" Oh well.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 01:05 pm: Edit

My wife is a cat lover, too, but I have not really introduced those races yet (no minis for them yet - she likes the minis). I don't expect this is anything she'll get into in a big way or any time soon, but it is kinda cool.

She likes SciFi (HUGE fan of 'Stargate SG-1' and 'Babylon 5'), and TOS Trek, I think, was what really did it.

She never liked TNG Klingons, didn't like most Voyager, etc (but, then, who did?). 'Errand of Mercy' was perhaps the greatest TOS episode for purposes of getting the little lady into SFB. The GPD info on Klingons that has been publised in the Captain's Logs to date she really likes, too.

Between 'The Tholian Web', 'Errand of Mercy', 'Elaan of Troyius', 'The Enterprise Incident' and 'Balance of Terror', she has taken up a bit of interest in TOS-era duels, which I've been trying to play on when teaching SFB.

Still, I suppose if she wasn't a SciFi fan to begin with, this would be quite the uphill battle! (Dunno if it helps, but when we married, she was not really much of a SciFi fan. She liked Star Wars, to be sure, and the original Stargate movie, but that was about all she had been exposed to. When 'Babylon 5' started coming out on tape, I made sure to introduce her to that. Easily the best 'series' SciFi to date, and she REALLY, *REALLY* liked it. Kinda took off from there.)

By Raymond Ford (Raymond) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 03:22 am: Edit

Here's my tale to add to the collection. This took place a little over a month ago. It's little long, the beginning is a little sad, and I'm not happy with the ending. Bear with me.

I got laid off from work a few months back and, after getting very few responses for my efforts to get a job, I realized I needed a new project. Something that I could do and get results. Otherwise, I would would start obsessing over the hundreds of phone calls, emails, and pieces of mail that seemed to be falling into a void somewhere.

The list of things to do around the house was exhausted. Everything was built, rebuilt, repaired, replaced, adjusted, and cleaned. The stack of unread books in the corner was getting shorter by the week. Even the lawn was looking better.

I spoke to my wife. I expected a fresh list of stuff to do. Instead, the conversation wandered around for awhile. We realized that neither of us had done much gaming since our daughter was born a few years back. Then, the solution hit me.

"Pick three games from my collection," I said. "I'll run you through them."

The first two were roleplaying games. It would take me awhile to write up adventures for them, so actually sitting down to play wouldn't happen immediately. The last surprised me.

SFB.

I had taught her the basics at some point, but other things came up and we never got any further. She repeated something she said to me back then, a statement that she has no sense of tactics. But I knew she had a head for numbers, so that element of the game would never give her much trouble.

We sat down and I set up the board later that week. I considered and dismissed the usual scenario I use to introduce new players to the game. I'd likely doze off if I played one more duel between a Federation CA and Klingon D7 using basic rules. So, while I racked my brain for something different, I told her about the various races in the basic set (I glossed over the Orions and Tholians). She picked the Kzinti for this particular evening.

I flipped through the scenarios for inspiration as I went over the rules she would need to play a Kzinti ship. Convoy Raid. Near the beginning of the SG.x scenarios. Why not? It was balanced for an Orion CR, but I just wanted to see if she remembered how to move and shoot. Besides, I couldn't remember the last time I ran a convoy.

I set up three small and three large freighters near the middle of the map, just like the scenario described. Her ship, a Kzinti BC, came bounding in behind the convoy.

The convoy was catfood. They struggled to get into a single hex, but were cut down as they run. Their shuttles provided fine target practice for her phasers. No reinforcements came to save the last cripples as she emptied her drone racks into them. Nothing left of that convoy but sliced merchant and gravy. Catfood.

We were both happy with the results.

Granted, I wasn't using optimal tactics. I never do against a new player. Sportsmanship. If I was a little more cunning with speeds and sideslips, the convoy could have been stacked at the end of the first turn with all of their shuttles out. A forest of little phasers. But that would have missed the point.

She had fun and picked up the fundamentals. I had a good time too. Flying a convoy was different from shooting up another Federation CA (it's been ten years since I started playing and I can remember one guy who picked the Klingon D7 for his intro game). It held my interest enough so that, here and there, for brief moments in between rules questions, I was playing rather than teaching.

The timing was off, though. The holidays were coming. The tree needed to be put up. The carpet needed cleaning before our families came by. Good thing we own a machine. An aging cat and growing little girl have made it a good investment. Running it through the whole house would be a good project.

We might get the chance to play next weekend. I'm thinking of using another scenario out of the book. Maybe that one with the Federation CA, the Klingon F5, and that asteroid about to hit a planet. Never got around to that one before. Looks interesting. Might be fun.

By Marcin Radzikowski (Marcin) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 09:08 am: Edit

Raymond,

Sorry to hear that you've been laid off. I know the feeling as I went through the same thing just over a year ago. Why is it that they do it near Christmas? This has no relation to the topic, but after some 15 years I did re-discover SFB after my lay-off!

By Dennis Bergendorf II (Wildcard) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 10:21 am: Edit

Marcin:

The period from about late August to early January are vulnerable times, as that is about when a lot of companies do their "end-of-year" budget assessments. It kind of happened to me in November; the federal agency I was contracted to cut my job slot, and let me go.

I was lucky in that my company, however, was rather quick to place me in another project with a different agency.

Raymond:
My condolences for the layoffs, but kudos to you for making constructive use of your "spare time."

By Raymond Ford (Raymond) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 11:03 pm: Edit

Marcin and Dennis:

Thank you both for your condolences, but it's not too bad. It gives me the chance to spend more time with my daughter. Plus, I've actually finished some long-overdue projects and I'm exercising regularly for the first time in years. All of that helps me maintain a positive outlook.

On the topic at hand, my wife has told me that she's looking forward to playing this weekend. I'm starting to believe that she enjoys blowing up my ships. I fear that I may have created a monster.

By Dennis Bergendorf II (Wildcard) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 11:05 am: Edit

Lose a job, create a monster... sounds like you came out on top on this one... ;-)

By Greg Ernest (Grege) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 01:11 pm: Edit

Raymond: I parted ways with my current employer on Monday, so I know where you're at.

I've been spending time at the school where my wife works helping to get a server back up and running. For some reason, I've had this renewed interest in SFU since Monday, too...

By Glen Twist (Sirbroadsword) on Monday, April 05, 2010 - 06:13 am: Edit

Gah! I tried to teach my aunt to play Star Fleet Battle Force once and she couldn't even understand THAT! She just couldn't comprehend that a ship with only F-type plasma torpedo buttons on its card could only use F-type plasma cards, that a ship with S-type plasma buttons could use F and S-type cards and that a ship with an R-type plasma torpedo buttons (well, button, no ship in SFBF has more than one R-button) could use F, S and R-type cards... She had the same problem with phasers, repeatedly trying to use a phaser-3 button to fire a phaser-1 or 2 even after I explained it to her over and over again... It was embarrasing and eventually my frustration upset her so I had to give up...