I did Shawn. I'm converting a stock D7 into an FD7 fast cruiser. I should be done in the next few days (Christmas shopping for the kids has eaten into my spare time last week, LOL).

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 02:42 pm: Edit

DJDood is converting a DD into a DDF
I'm doing a painting guide for a Lyran CA in a tiger-striped color scheme.

That still leaves one conversion guide adn 2 more painting guides, that may or may not have been spoken for.

Mine will be ready in early January. Having all four kids and all 3 Grand-kids at home for X-mas means little or no minis time - But they're worth it.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 04:08 pm: Edit

Tony's right. I'm doing a DD to DDF article and, yes, the holidays are in the way. I should also be done in early January.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 05:50 pm: Edit

I don't remember there being a request for a one-inch countersheet for ammo. What would it be for? We have counters to be printed in late Feb and could do it there but you have to convince me that "several hundred" people want to buy it.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, December 24, 2007 - 09:26 am: Edit

So if you are using the 1" counters or miniatures on a large hexmap you are supposed to use the 1/2" counters for markers and ammo? Why wouldn't there be a need?

Maybe they could be included in a fed commander product? an expansion of some sort, PF Rules or with more fighters? Then the squadron boxes could be PF, Drone and fighter miniatures.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 24, 2007 - 09:42 am: Edit

The half-inch counters work great with the megahex maps and megahex ship counters. Drones are smaller than ships. I don't see much need for one-inch drones, and fear that only a handful of players would want them. But if you can rally some support, we can talk.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, December 24, 2007 - 07:04 pm: Edit

How would I go about starting a survey here to see if others would like more 1" counters especially drones, shuttles, and markers?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 08:02 am: Edit

You could go to the proposals board and start a topic. You could also email me about it and I could add it to the next newsletter. I'll give you every chance, but I don't see any significant number of players wanting these.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 01:30 pm: Edit

Another option would be to go the the Federation Commander message board. The phpBB allows you to create an actual poll.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - 08:33 am: Edit

Well, it does, but the problem is you have to have numbers, not percentages, but we'll see what happens.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Friday, December 28, 2007 - 10:35 am: Edit

SVC, I am pretty sure phpBB allows the polls to show but the percentages and the numbers. On most phpBB polls I have seen it is set up something like

Option A 20%(5)
Option B 80%(20)

I don't know if Federation Commander phpBB is set to default that way or if it has to be set speifically but it can show both.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 28, 2007 - 12:00 pm: Edit

I don't know much about php, Russell, but I see polls over there all the time showing raw votes and percentages.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, December 28, 2007 - 02:39 pm: Edit

The phpBB software used for the Federation Commander boards does show both percentages and total count.

However, I don't know if you would get enough votes (total, for both sides) to be statistially relevant for SVC's purposes.

By Karl Johnson (Chameleon) on Sunday, December 30, 2007 - 12:40 pm: Edit

SVC: What's the possibility of putting out a FedCom "Booster 0.1" product containing a number of ships/rules concepts that aren't ready for "prime time", such as:

-Andromedan (1 ship)
-Maulers (2 ships)
-Scouts (Fed/Kl/Rom, 3 ships)
-Gunboats (Lyran or Klingon/Kzin, 2 ships) OR Tugs (Fed/Kl, 2 ships)

Economically feasible, or do you think these are better handled through the Communique?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, December 30, 2007 - 11:07 pm: Edit

For now, I'd say stay with communique. But not forever.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 09:07 am: Edit

I've talked about this in one or two other topics, but I guess I'll put it here for clarity's sake:

With Y1 in print for a while now, and Y2 on the way (as well as the Early Years ships seen in Module C5) there is increasing scope for the kind of ships one would see taking part in 'Module Q' - Non-Tactical Warp-era - starship combat.

Could it be possible to have a conversion of the Squadron Strike game engine specifically designed to represent the 'sublight' era?


While the other SFU conversions out there could help introduce gamers of Starmada and Silent Death to the setting, this kind of conversion could be used to handle the 'dawn of the Federation/Klingon Empire/etc' era while leaving the Tactical Warp era to SFB and FC (and to the Starmada/SD conversions, assuming that is what they are intended to cover).


Plus, it could be a way of showcasing the miniatures which can represent 'sublight' ships - such as the Fed CL and POL, the Eagle-series Romulan ships, the Kzinti Tug (based on a W-series hull) and the pre-ISC Five Race ships set for release in Y2 and Y3, as well as increase the potential sales for other possible Early Years ship models, such as the Fed National Guard ships (Vulcan, Andorian etc) or early Klingon, Kzinti, Lyran, Hydran, Orion, Gorn, Paravian, Eneen, Baduvai, Jumokian or other such vessels.


The dawn of the Federation is a compelling setting - could a conversion of SS be a means of bringing it to life?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 11:42 am: Edit

"Could it be possible to have a conversion of the Squadron Strike game engine specifically designed to represent the 'sublight' era?"

I guess, although I have my doubts more than three or four people would be interested. I don't really see it being any better for sublight than any of the other game engines. I don't really see why it would "showcase minis" any better than any of the other game engines.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 12:21 pm: Edit

Well, it may depend on how it was marketed.


There is a group of Trek fans out there who are keen on the 'dawn of the Federation' or 'pre-TOS' era, those who may have gone with the interpretation presented in Star Trek: Enterprise - or in many cases, were less impressed than they might otherwise have been with the route the series took.


(Personally, I liked the series, particularly season 4 - but I know there are many who didn't. And in any event, I'd see ENT as closer to representing the equivalent of the W- and Y-era - which might have been one reason why those watching it and expecting to see ships more akin to Q-era vessels and technologies were somewhat disappointed.)


However, there are some major events which have been the subject of speculation for a long time - most notably the first Federation-Romulan War, a defining moment for the era (and one which could be represented on the tabletop using many of the pre-existing Starline miniatures) which could perhaps be the central theme pitched in such a product, one which would then allow for further expansion into other NTW-era conflicts (maybe one focussed on the 'Rise of the Klingon Empire' - which was not short of NTW-era foes to fight during its formative decades - or another highlighting the Romulan-Gorn-Pavaian triad).


Yes, the likes of Fed racial ships are an important part of the era already covered on Y1 et al - but in the days before the unified Star Fleet, when the member races of the Federation had to depend on their native-built fleets (and on Orion 'help') to fend off the Romulan armada, they were in their prime.

With the right system - one which made the most out of the kind of combat that NTW ships engaged in - this era could be brought to life. WhetherSS could be that system, or if another is more appropriate, I don't know - but it could be. But even if it wasn't, I would still like to see some way of making the most out of the Q-era.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 01:29 pm: Edit

If the subject would sell (and it won't) then any of the game systems would do just as well.

Remember that the "trek fans" who are supposedly so interested in this period DO NOT BUY GAMES.

Trekkers are not gamers. They don't and won't buy games.

SFU customers are GAMERS who are interested in many subjects of which Trek is one.

This is why I laugh out loud when people say "boy, the new movie is going to give you a boost!". No Trek movie has EVER given us any kind of boost since....

drumroll please...

TREKKERS DO NOT BUY GAMES.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 03:48 pm: Edit

These maps are pretty neat, could they be used for SFB or Fed Comm? Would people buy them? Can ADB make a deal to sell them? Would they make some money for somebody? Federation and Empire on felt...

Here is the link: http://www.hotzmats.com/

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 07:00 pm: Edit

Shawn, I have one of the Hotz Artworks space mats and another by Monday Knight Productions. They were originally for SFB but have since been used for Fed Comm and several other space games.

They are a very good product and I've been very happy with them.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 08:40 pm: Edit

Well, I'm done searching for a map. I scored at my local game store earlier this year when I picked up a Chessex Megamap. It's fabric backed blue/gray vinyl with 1" dot centered hexes, 50 hexes by 32 hexes.

Oh. I might have preferred a 3/4" hex but this'll do.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 08:57 pm: Edit

If they don't have hex numbers, they won't work for SFB.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 10:19 pm: Edit

Mine's got numbers. I forgot, that was the rare part. Drrrrrr...

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Sunday, July 27, 2008 - 12:18 am: Edit

Ooops. Forgot about that. I had to add the hes numbers myself with a white "fabric paint" pen.