Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive through August 29, 2019	25		09/04 04:40pm

Hello,

Please see below.

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1) Due the market adjustments apply to the first turn? (I didn't see anything that mentions to skip the Federation Contract Phase or anything special). I ask because it makes the first turn kinda wild when it comes to market value. (For 2 players you draw 4 cards on the first turn).

Yes, that is the plan right now. Other testers have emailed me about this so we may change this before the final version.

2) Does the market value stop going down when you reach the left most column?

Correct. That is the rock bottom price.

3) What do the multipliers in the right most column do? (i.e. multiply what value)

Those are really the maximum a price can hit, and I will make sure the next set of rules gets updated. Basically, it could say (in descending order) 60, 40, 30, and 25 and just simplify things. We had loftier plans when we designed the map with Xander.

4) How much money do players start with? My assumption is 0.

Right, there is no starting income. We like to think these brave merchants show up on the frontier with their ship and nothing in their pocket to scrape out their fortune. So with the colonist and survey income there is a quick way to earn cash before players need to start picking up windfalls and building facilities. It should say "no maintenance on first turn", which I need to get to Jean.


Error in rulebook:

Page 9: "proceeding to that player_s left" should be "proceeding to that player's left"


Thanks!


Thing that bothers me in the rulebook:

Instead of using 1c you use $1. $1 makes me want to read it 1 dollar instead of 1 credit.

Let me discuss that with Steve and Jean.


Thing that bothers me on the board:

Given that there are no negative market values on the board, I do not like the plus put in front of each value. It makes me think it is an offset instead of a value.


The current reason may be explained in future expansions....but duly noted!

Thank you,
Jay

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Friday, August 30, 2019 - 10:07 am: Edit

I would read "1c" as "one cent" not "one credit". IMO $ makes clear it's a unit of currency, and I would leave it like that.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Saturday, August 31, 2019 - 05:17 pm: Edit

Jay,
I did a start of a play test but ran into issues. (Note: I was dumb and didn’t go through the game by myself before trying to play test so we got stuck)


Questions from the initial playtest:

1) What happens if you don't have enough money to pay for maintenance after the first turn?
2) Are cards (both encounters and contract cards) discarded face up or face down?
3) What are the offsets (i.e. +0. +1, etc) below the Tension track?
4) Can a windfall resource be picked up immediately after put on the board? (Given that there is cargo space and an action available) Or does it require the FreeTrader to dock?
5) Does 1 resource require a single action to pickup?
6) Can you survey while you are docked in a system?
7) What does "visit" mean when it comes to movement? Does it mean where a ship ends movement or any system that they traverse? Given that a freighter can go through mulitple systems in a single turn. (i.e. require a single action to move to the next system)
8) Can a player fullfil multiple contracts with a single action?
9) Are unresourced systems considered fully explored when it comes to freighters?
10) Is the number on the Federation Contract Card on the same line a "Facility" the cost of the facility? If so, can this be clarified by adding "Cost: " in front of it?
11) What is the difference between the “Simple” and “Complex” effect on the encounter cards?

Comments from the initial playtest:
1) The map needs a way to denote when a ship is docked to the Starbase or system.
2) When it comes to encounters it is not completely clear if "a ship" means "any ship" or the ship involved in the encounter.
3) The color of the facilities on the card do not match the color of the resources.
4) The facility cards seem to be missing from the playtest pack. So we have no way to know the amount of income and resources are produced by that a facility produces.
5) The ship cards that are suppose to be used with the play aid mentioned in the rulebook (ie. 3 ship slots) are missing from the playtest pack.
6) There needs to be a play aid that lists the costs and special abilities of the ships.

By Jay Waschak (Mwaschak) on Wednesday, September 04, 2019 - 01:17 am: Edit

Hi Paul,

Please see below. Sorry about the delayed response. We were on the road and mostly away from the Internet.


Questions from the initial playtest:

1) What happens if you don't have enough money to pay for maintenance after the first turn?

Jay: That would be fairly unusual. A player would have to sit there and not explore or settle any colonists.

2) Are cards (both encounters and contract cards) discarded face up or face down?

Jay: Face down.

3) What are the offsets (i.e. +0. +1, etc) below the Tension track?

Jay: In 2.3.4 Natural Market Adjustments we talk about how the market naturally tries to return to a normal price. Basically each turn this happens in addition to the card adjustments, to push the price to

4) Can a windfall resource be picked up immediately after put on the board? (Given that there is cargo space and an action available) Or does it require the FreeTrader to dock?

Jay: They have to dock. It may be easily accessible but some work is still required.

5) Does 1 resource require a single action to pickup?

Jay: Correct.

6) Can you survey while you are docked in a system?

Jay: Surveying is a separate action. Or did you mean you docked the ship and want to survey from a docked position?

7) What does "visit" mean when it comes to movement? Does it mean where a ship ends movement or any system that they traverse? Given that a freighter can go through mulitple systems in a single turn. (i.e. require a single action to move to the next system)

Jay: Basically it to pass through, so a freighter moving 2 would "visit" two systems. I will make a note to explain this better.


8) Can a player fullfil multiple contracts with a single action?

Jay: Absolutely! That is often a good win to pull ahead of other players.

9) Are unresourced systems considered fully explored when it comes to freighters?

Jay: Correct. Although it should be unusual for a system to be completely unresourced.

10) Is the number on the Federation Contract Card on the same line a "Facility" the cost of the facility? If so, can this be clarified by adding "Cost: " in front of it?

Jay: Sure!

11) What is the difference between the “Simple” and “Complex” effect on the encounter cards?

Jay: There is a T and then a number on the card to indicate what tension the complex effect ALSO happens. I will make a note, thank you!


Comments from the initial playtest:
1) The map needs a way to denote when a ship is docked to the Starbase or system.

Jay: What are you thinking? Maybe just a docked chip? We normally just moved the ship to a planet when it was docked.

2) When it comes to encounters it is not completely clear if "a ship" means "any ship" or the ship involved in the encounter.

Jay: Understood! It only effects the ship in the encounter.

3) The color of the facilities on the card do not match the color of the resources.

Jay: I will talk to Steve. I would recommend picking up some colored beads or cubes (I have some suggestions) for ease of use in the mean time if you are able.

4) The facility cards seem to be missing from the playtest pack. So we have no way to know the amount of income and resources are produced by that a facility produces.

Jay: I passed this along to Jean. In the mean time they are available here on BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92957/merchants-federation/files

5) The ship cards that are suppose to be used with the play aid mentioned in the rulebook (ie. 3 ship slots) are missing from the playtest pack.

Jay: I think ADB went a different direction with it. I will update the rules, unless you want to try the originals I had.

6) There needs to be a play aid that lists the costs and special abilities of the ships.

Jay: Sure!

Thank you!
Jay

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, September 04, 2019 - 04:40 pm: Edit

Jay,
Replies.

Questions:
1) You did not answer the question. That is in the case somebody does not have enough money to pay for maintenance, what happens?

3) I don't think you read the question. "What are the offsets (i.e. +0. +1, etc) below the Tension track (i.e. not the Market Value table)?"

6) Can you survey while you are docked in a system?

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Quote:

did you mean you docked the ship and want to survey from a docked position?

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By Nick Blank (Nickgb) on Wednesday, September 04, 2019 - 06:24 pm: Edit

3) The numbers below the tension track are added to the price paid for a resource when you sell it at the Klingon base. The more tension (the closer war is) the more desperate the Klingons are for materials, and the more they pay. Of course, as the tension goes up, the risk increases that the Klingons will just seize your cargo outright and you get nothing. (Border crossing die roll).

For the docking questions, docking isn't really a state or condition you are in, it is an action. You use one of your action points to dock and transfer cargo within the system (hex) you are in. You can pick up multiple things and drop off multiple things with just one dock action. (Exception, when starting a colony you can only drop off one colonist cube per action, not multiples. If you want to start several colonies, each takes a dock action) Then the dock action is done and you can choose a new action with any remaining action points.

Thus there is no reason to worry about surveying when docked, you do a dock action, then you can do a survey action, or whatever action is then appropriate. You are not still docked after the dock action.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, September 04, 2019 - 10:19 pm: Edit

Nick,
"You are not still docked after the dock action." So docking is not a seperate action from picking up and delivering resources/colonists? Then why have a docking action? It makes more sense to just have a pickup action and a deliver action.

By Nick Blank (Nickgb) on Wednesday, September 04, 2019 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Right, as I understand it, the docking action is the "pick up and deliver" action. You dock in order to pick up and or deliver things. It is not a separate action. I don't know why it is called docking instead of something else though... You don't dock at a planet, unless there is assumed to be a commercial platform or something.

By Jay Waschak (Mwaschak) on Monday, September 09, 2019 - 11:57 pm: Edit

Hi all,

We just picked Docking as the label. I just assume there was some manner of docking involved.

Please see below.

Questions:
1) You did not answer the question. That is in the case somebody does not have enough money to pay for maintenance, what happens?

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Jay: I would have to wonder after a turn why they were not trying to make money. There is such easy money to be made on turn 1. If they can't pay, the only collateral they have is their ship, which they would have to sell. If they sell it, they have no way to play and would technically be out of the game.

Although then they would miss all the excitement of running the Klingon border, founding brave new worlds, but would be very safe with their remaining few credits to start a lounge on the Federation starbase and fetch beverages and pizza for the players left in the game.

That is a long way of saying the player can get eliminated if they have no money and can't operate a ship. But that should not happen on turn 1.
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3) I don't think you read the question. "What are the offsets (i.e. +0. +1, etc) below the Tension track (i.e. not the Market Value table)?"

Jay: Sorry, I read that wrong. Nick got the answer right.

6) Can you survey while you are docked in a system?

Jay: Nope, you need to not be docked to fly around and gather data.


7) Yeah. You might want to change the wording in 2.4.1.1 to "A ship may use one Action Point to visit an adjacent system."

Jay: Will do! Thank you!

9) Jay, I think I might have misunderstood the "Fig 1 Regions by Number of Players". There are hexes that are marked "Unused". Are these hexes not used at all in the game and therefore off limits to travel to? In the play test these were just unresourced systems but we allowed players to move through these.

Jay: We tend to mark those regions off limits to players. It makes the map much smaller in games though, although if you found something fun there I would love to explore optional rules.

10) I assume by your answer "Sure" that this is the cost of the facility.

Jay: Yes, sorry about that. That is a good idea.

11) Do both effects take place that are on the card?

Jay: Yes, both effects can occur.

Comments:
1) The only problem with placing a ship on a planet is that it will hide the resource on the planet. I was thinking a tabs around the edge of the system hex where ships dock.

Jay: We can explore that. I think it would simple be a map adjustment or maybe a chit to mark docked.

2) If that is the case, I think you should be consistent in your wording a just have "ship" instead of "a ship"

Jay: We could. Funny enough it was another round of edits that caused us to go with "a ship".

5) Nope. That is fine. But without those cards, then it is definitely needed to have a card for each player that lists the costs and abilities of each ship instead of requiring players to look them up in the one copy of the rulebook.

Jay: I have the originals handy if you want to take a look. Can I email them to you? I will try to drop them on BGG too.

Thank you,
Jay

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, March 02, 2020 - 04:37 pm: Edit

Merchants of the Federation is down here.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Monday, March 02, 2020 - 05:05 pm: Edit

TY SVC. Was going though the rules last night and had a few questions. I will post them after I've gone though this thread so as to not to ask an already answered question.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Saturday, January 16, 2021 - 03:16 pm: Edit

Wow, been way too long. The Pandemic caused a huge decrease in my income and been way from gaming for months. Looking for my list of MOTF questions.