This topic will do for now. Jean may move it later. My "status" on the BBS doesn't allow me to do some things from home.

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Friday, August 09, 2019 - 09:43 pm: Edit

Should Merchants of the Federation have its own topic now that the playtest version is released?

My first comment is a question. Why aren't the Credits on p.22 in color like they are on p.21?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2019 - 10:38 pm: Edit

I thought that was obvious, but clearly it's not.

The b&w version is easier and cheaper for some printers to print. Thus it is for your convenience.

There would be no point in including two identical sheets.

By Andrew Cookson (Awcookson) on Monday, August 12, 2019 - 05:49 pm: Edit

This looks like an interesting game. I'm looking forward to some time to test it.
BTW, I would have gladly paid twice the price for a play test game that was this well developed.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, August 12, 2019 - 06:26 pm: Edit

We wanted as many people as possible to give it a chance, but to have them pay enough we could be reasonably certain they were not just collecting cheap downloads.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Monday, August 12, 2019 - 06:45 pm: Edit

What scale should the playing board be printed?
I will probably try to get this playtested at our local game stores.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, August 12, 2019 - 08:15 pm: Edit

jpg formats are fun and easy for things to go wrong, but my understanding is the game board would be 2 or 3 feet across.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 05:53 pm: Edit

Ok, I'll get one printed up at Kinko's and see if Jean will help me make a flyer for the game stores.

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 09:38 pm: Edit

I used Irfanview (a free graphic editing program for Windows) to automatically divide the jpg of the map into 12 letter-sized panels. Print "actual size-centered" and they come out great. Trim and attach to thick panels for a durable map.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 09:48 pm: Edit

Irfanview rocks.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 01:30 am: Edit

FYI: question posted over on BGG about a rule:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2259107/facilities-space-and-resources-generated

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 01:50 am: Edit

Needs to go to Jay. He is the only one able to answer. I do need copies of questions asked and answers given to update next edition.

By Byron Swain (Unclekulikov) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 02:10 am: Edit

Hello! I posted the BGG question before I figured out how to sign up here.

Is there a better way to reach Jay than this thread?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 10:00 am: Edit

Let me put a bug in his ear to come here.

By Jay Waschak (Mwaschak) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Hi Byron,

I posted an answer over there as well. Basically I think you will need an update to the facilities pieces. I let Jean know, but if you want to email me directly at mwaschak - at -gmail I can send it to you directly as well.

If you want we can discuss facilities here.

Thanks,
Jay

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, August 18, 2019 - 08:00 pm: Edit

Thanks for dropping by, Jay.

By Jay Waschak (Mwaschak) on Monday, August 19, 2019 - 10:13 am: Edit

My pleasure! I will check in daily and as needed.

-Jay

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 12:14 pm: Edit

Btw, I got an email from Jay and he said that for printing the play test board 24x36 is good. I will be checking out the print today from Staples and report on how it looks.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 02:35 pm: Edit

I suspect that 24x36 will be the size in a theoretical printed version. Nobody I know has a 40x60 table.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 05:50 pm: Edit

yeah I do have a table that big for miniatures. That is for my Medieval troops and such 15mm.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Agreed. It looks beautiful.

I have a few of questions about the game board pieces:

1) How many ship counters are needed to play the game?
2) The "Player aid Sheet" mentioned in the definition "has three slots to track which ship bases are in use". I think that the one that is part of the PDF is missing the slots. Which is correct?
3) Are the "resource deposits" represented by the "hex shaped" counters on the top of the page 19?
4) Are the "resources" themselves represented by the "square shaped" counters on the top of the page 19?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 08:05 pm: Edit

I bought a nice piece of 48x96 (4x8 foot) 3/4" plywood to make a gaming table. It's in my wife's sewing room as her work table.


Garth L. Getgen

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Friday, August 23, 2019 - 04:53 pm: Edit

good luck Garth

By Jay Waschak (Mwaschak) on Sunday, August 25, 2019 - 12:40 am: Edit

Hi Paul,

Please see below.

1) How many ship counters are needed to play the game?

In the original we had some Shapeways pieces so we could mount miniatures on them. I may need to update the terminology. You can just use the ship counters in the playtest pack.

2) The "Player aid Sheet" mentioned in the definition "has three slots to track which ship bases are in use". I think that the one that is part of the PDF is missing the slots. Which is correct?

You will want the player aid sheet. I will get a copy over to Jean. Essentially it makes it easy to track income with a little income track (bottom right of this old Origins photo).
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1027923/merchants-federation


3) Are the "resource deposits" represented by the "hex shaped" counters on the top of the page 19?


Yes, these are seeded across the board. In the same picture above you will noticed we used black plastic disks, with one side having the appropriate resource deposit on it.


4) Are the "resources" themselves represented by the "square shaped" counters on the top of the page 19?

Yes, you can also use appropriately sized plastic cubes if that is easier for you.

Thank you,
Jay

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Thursday, August 29, 2019 - 07:47 pm: Edit

Jay,
A couple questions:

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).
2) Does the market value stop going down when you reach the left most column?
3) What do the multipliers in the right most column do? (i.e. multiply what value)
4) How much money do players start with? My assumption is 0.

Error in rulebook:

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

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.

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.