A cat got to the ornament class frigates.

By Eric Silverman (Ericsilverman) on Sunday, September 26, 2021 - 09:40 am: Edit

Can I ask why the SFB North Polar SSDs I got from DriveThruRPG look so dissimilar to the test file above? I was expecting the end product to resemble that test PDF, but the product I got looks like a typical SFB colour SSD book instead.

Elsewhere in the PDF, I noticed the CLG image in (R50.9) is red, not green as on the counter. I also noticed some typographical errors scattered around -- for example, (R50.10) refers to the 'Spirte Class' rather than 'Sprite', (R50.12) says 'intened' rather than 'intended'.

In the FC North Polar ePack, the ship cards all look fantastic as usual However, on the second countersheet all the Snowman counters are missing the ship image. This is in the 2019_Rev_1 PDF.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, September 26, 2021 - 09:26 pm: Edit

We will have to check on that at the office Monday. I cannot tell anything about it at home. Some of the items you mention sound similar to previous reports on other products which were caused by the way the customer computer processed the file.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 12:01 am: Edit

I didn't have much time in the office today but will check with Jean on this tomorrow.

By Eric Silverman (Ericsilverman) on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - 12:49 am: Edit

Thank you for looking into it!

For what it's worth, I use Adobe Acrobat (the pro paid-for version, not Reader) for any and all PDF tasks on my machine, fully updated as of a few weeks ago, so I'm not using any non-standard/ancient software or anything like that. I've also tried re-downloading the files from DriveThru several times and had the same results.

Regarding the FC ePack -- I'm not sure how I missed this before, but on the side of the second countersheet there is text that states 'The blank counters are intentionally blank as there are only 11 North Polar units as of Dec 2019'. So that file appears to be an old version, which is why the Snowman Dreadnought is missing. DriveThru has one other download available for the ePack, North_Polar_Ship_Card_Pack.pdf, but that one is older still, and only contains six ships.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 04:09 pm: Edit

ANSWERS
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Can I ask why the SFB North Polar SSDs I got from DriveThruRPG look so dissimilar to the test file above? I was expecting the end product to resemble that test PDF, but the product I got looks like a typical SFB colour SSD book instead.
BECAUSE the test file was done by SVC in the experimental "sort of like FC" format while the actual product was done as standard SFB stuff. I don't remember why we didn't go forward with the new format but one element of the decision was probably that only SVC can do the new format and SVC (me) is always busy on higher priority stuff.
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Elsewhere in the PDF, I noticed the CLG image in (R50.9) is red, not green as on the counter.
ANSWER: I don't have access to the SFB file and don't understand the question.
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I also noticed some typographical errors scattered around -- for example, (R50.10) refers to the 'Spirte Class' rather than 'Sprite', (R50.12) says 'intened' rather than 'intended'. \
ANSWER; Obviously typos that should be corrected in the next upload.
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However, on the second countersheet all the Snowman counters are missing the ship image. This is in the 2019_Rev_1 PDF.
ANSWER: They aren't missing on my original graphic but I think the 2nd countersheet is one that was done before the snowman was added. I'll fix in in this year's upload (once somebody thinks of an idea for a ship, nobody has any Christmas ideas now). I think we also need counters for the separated parts.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 04:15 pm: Edit

Quick ideas for a new Christmas ship this year.

1. gunboats, perhaps "ornament" or "cookie" class.

2. Carrier with fighters. Perhaps "gumdrop' class.

3. An X-ship version of something.

4. A drone or scout variant of the CL.

5. Something much better that YOU think of.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 07:41 pm: Edit

A Menorah missile cruiser with type-H drones for candles?

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 07:53 pm: Edit

I like #1 cookie-class gunboats.

A scout would be cool.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 08:06 pm: Edit

They do have a DDS. I don't know that a CLS is going to interest anyone. Maybe a CL-DB.

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 12:01 am: Edit

Shouldn't the cookie-class be cutters?

Eggnoght or Eggnought Dreadnought (bottle shaped? plasma armed? Perhaps a plasma-E and 2 plasma-G?)

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 01:33 am: Edit

>> Eggnought Dreadnought

Nutmeg torpedoes?

--Mike

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 01:53 pm: Edit

Going with "Ornament" as the class name for gunboats would work well if the PFT were based on the Christmas Tree class of ship.

By Steven Zamboni (Szamboni) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 03:12 pm: Edit

"Bauble" for the Interceptor.

Ground assault version can only land once, but deploys an impressive number of Shard-class GCVs.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 08:06 pm: Edit

Many people place garlands on their Christmas tree, garland can be made of many things, but most common seems to be tinsel (a product made of thin metal foil, similar to the chaff strips used in WW2 to create “windows” on early radar sets. Was used by bombers to fool or defeat enemy interception.)

Thus, I suggest tinsel as the class name for North Polar Scouts. (Tinsel,popcorn,Douglas Fir, Evergreen, paper chains, etc. have all been used to make Garland decorations not only for trees, but also doors, windows, fireplace mantle etc.)

By John Wyszynski (Starsabre) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 09:28 pm: Edit

"Nutcracker" Mauler

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 09:44 pm: Edit

"Chimney" class Minesweeper.

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 10:24 pm: Edit

The X-Ship could be crossed candy canes rather than the side-by-side style of the DD class.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 11:11 pm: Edit

If you have "ornament" class PFs, then the Kzinti and Lyrans need a special rule allowing them to destroy the PFs while they are still docked to the "tree"

By Nick Blank (Nickgb) on Sunday, October 03, 2021 - 12:04 pm: Edit

Souldra nightmare before Christmas cruiser.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Sunday, October 03, 2021 - 01:35 pm: Edit

Maybe the gunboats could be Gumdrop and carried by a gingerbread man tender.

Or Cookie gunboats could be carried by the purpose-built Baking Sheet tender.

By Eric Silverman (Ericsilverman) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 06:58 am: Edit

Thanks SVC -- below are some follow-up comments on your answers:

Can I ask why the SFB North Polar SSDs I got from DriveThruRPG look so dissimilar to the test file above? I was expecting the end product to resemble that test PDF, but the product I got looks like a typical SFB colour SSD book instead.
BECAUSE the test file was done by SVC in the experimental "sort of like FC" format while the actual product was done as standard SFB stuff. I don't remember why we didn't go forward with the new format but one element of the decision was probably that only SVC can do the new format and SVC (me) is always busy on higher priority stuff.
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FOLLOW-UP: I see -- that's unfortunate, but certainly understandable. For what it's worth, I am decent with Adobe Illustrator, so if I could use that skill to help this kind of thing in any way, please let me know


Elsewhere in the PDF, I noticed the CLG image in (R50.9) is red, not green as on the counter.
ANSWER: I don't have access to the SFB file and don't understand the question.
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FOLLOW-UP: There is a colour image of the North Pole Commando Cruiser (CLG) in (R50.9), which has alternating bands of red and white in a candy-cane style. The image of the CLG on the counters and the FC ship card however uses alternating bands of green and white, so the colour image in the R-section does not match the counters.


However, on the second countersheet all the Snowman counters are missing the ship image. This is in the 2019_Rev_1 PDF.
ANSWER: They aren't missing on my original graphic but I think the 2nd countersheet is one that was done before the snowman was added. I'll fix in in this year's upload (once somebody thinks of an idea for a ship, nobody has any Christmas ideas now). I think we also need counters for the separated parts.
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FOLLOW-UP: Just to clarify, the snowman does not exist at all in the FC ePack. The counters are blank, the ship card is not present, the Shapeways render of it is not present on the last page, etc. The most recent download available on DriveThru is dated 2019, whereas the SFB download is dated 2020.

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As for this year's ship, I like the Ornament-Class PF idea. I'd love to see a fun, thematic weapon for the North Polars -- like dropping Gifts (instead of T-Bombs) that function like temporary, short-range black holes, as nearby ships are inexorably attracted to the gifts by sheer avarice

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 09:09 am: Edit

Temporary short-range black holes.... No.

By Eric Silverman (Ericsilverman) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 10:04 am: Edit

Just to be clear, that's not a serious suggestion -- I was hoping it might inspire someone to propose something equally silly but more playable

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 12:44 pm: Edit

Even “obviously not serious” things that cannot be done must be formally rejected before someone thinks they might happen.