"Old SFB players never die, they just take up F&E." -- Kavik Kang

:-)

Hello everyone, especially Scott M and the two Steves. I have been wanting to play F&E since it first came out in 1986 but never knew anyone who would want to attempt such a thing. With this Cyberboard thing I've become pretty obssessed with F&E for the last few months, and finally got a copy of 10K a few weeks ago.

I've downloaded Cyberboard and the scenario files from this board, but they are all setup to use all the expansions. Is there a file for a basic F&E setup? I'd like to solo play the first 2 or 3 turns of invading the Kzinti to learn the game and how to use Cyberboard before trying a real game with someone.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 02:49 am: Edit

Marc, at present there is no 'vanilla' set up for the wind scenario in the CB. However, I think we set it up that you can, without spending too much time, drop the Lyran, Kzinti and Klingon ships (in just the fleets you would need) into an alternate tray or off to the side of the map. If you want to use the hulls (I think some just convert back to basic hulls) you will have to swap them out. There are players on this BBS who prefer the basic game and may already have a file to pass along. Peter B comes to mind.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 03:38 am: Edit

Peter Bakija is MAC only and cannot use Cyberboard, alas.

By Marc Michalik (Kavik_Kang) on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 07:30 pm: Edit

I had that thought, that I could remove all the stuff that doesn't belong. That seems like it would take a while, though. If anyone has a Basic F&E start position saved for CB I would love to have it. Setting up myself having barely looked at CB so far seems like it would be a lot of work.

By Marc Michalik (Kavik_Kang) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 01:43 am: Edit

Thanks Lar, once I looked at CB a little longer I realized how easy it is just to throw the counters that aren't needed down onto the corner of the map. It only took about 30 minutes to do the Lyran, Kzinti, and Klingons which is all I need to teach myself the game and CB.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 08:59 am: Edit

Cool. Good luck. It is a great game. Don't be afraid to reach out to one of these guys here. Most are excellent at teaching a new player. The biggest thing to remember is to keep expectations low on how large of a game to play.
For instance: The entire General War to completion is a rare occurrence mainly because of the Real life time and commitment of two (or more players) it takes to get to the end.

Pick 'something small' or play 'a portion of something' with the intent of it being a learning experience. Play that same segment again with a different goal for learning to test the game. Loads of fun. Oh and go pick up some of the discounted counters for FO while you can you will need them in the future. 3-5 sets should do nicely and it gets us closer to having that updated set of rules everyone wants.

By Mike Curtis (Fear) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 11:09 am: Edit

The wind scenario should have the ships with "*" next to them in the trays with notes attached to show there is something different with them in non vanilla. Just hover over them to see the notes attached to them. The products are coded by name and other special things are noted.

That should help.

By Marc Michalik (Kavik_Kang) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Yes, I figured that out Mike. It was designed to be easy to remove what is not needed for basic. All the stuff that needs to be removed is at the end of each list, too. I did notice I needed to add an FRD or MB to some capitals to match the basic setup.

That is exactly my plan, Lar. I used to live SFB and was even on the staff briefly in the early 1990's. I guess you could say I was "the spark that ignited organized SFB in Colorado", although it was the players themselves who actually created the extensive SFU community we have here today. I have followed F&E since it came out, always wanted to play it but never had an opponent. I'm going to teach myself basic F&E buy going to turn C3 in my first solo game, then 2 turns into attacking the Feds in a second. Then I'll be ready to try a real game against someone or if FO is out by then I can get all the expansions and learn the rest of the game.

By Mike Curtis (Fear) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 04:08 pm: Edit

If you go to the capital charts I think you will find those items there. It has been a while since I built the scenario, but that is where I think I added them.

By Marc Michalik (Kavik_Kang) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 04:17 pm: Edit

There is a Hydran capital chart on the bottom status bar, but I can't find a way to see anyone elses.

I went through and setup all the empires for basic, but all the counters are just down in the map corner. How can I create a tray to put them in to get them off the map. If you tell me how to find the other capital charts and create a tray I will do those, too, and then I can send it too you if you want a file with a basic setup already done to add to the downloads.

By Mike Curtis (Fear) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 04:40 pm: Edit

The capital charts are on the Game Project tab in the lower left and double click on one of the capital defense charts. That will have a lot of the missing units you are looking for.

By Marc Michalik (Kavik_Kang) on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 04:53 pm: Edit

Yes, I see the other ones now... and lots of other useful stuff:-) Thanks.

If you want a basic setup to put up for download I can send you a copy of this file when I am done with it. I am checking everything against the basic OOB after I remove the expansion stuff all the races just to have it for myself.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 12:41 am: Edit

That is possible. Send it if you like I will file it with some of the others that are in progress for the scenario folder #2.

By Pete DiMitri (Petercool) on Friday, April 25, 2014 - 05:38 pm: Edit

Hey Lawrence,

I captured a ship in my game, and I'm looking at the captured ship markers you created.

Do you just use one and enter a text on it, or is there some other functionality to it that I am not aware of?

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 04:06 am: Edit

No functionality. Simply add the text as you say and with Tooltips on it should give you a pop-up tooltip showing the data when you hover. You could use the actual counter and do the same thing. Your choice really, but I made the captured ships for this alternate choice clearing up who's ship is who's at-a-glance.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - 08:53 am: Edit

SVC: Email sent last night.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Saturday, August 16, 2014 - 10:49 am: Edit

Hi Jean,

Can you move Pete D question from 4/25/14 and my response from 4/26/2014 to the F&E Cyberboard Tips and Tricks and Hints thread please so it is preserved?

Thanks

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Sunday, September 07, 2014 - 10:57 am: Edit

I sent an update for the CB as promised to Simone and a separate notification to SVC/Jean.

When it gets posted it will likely not look much different and should work with all of the existing scenarios.

Nothing was deleted and mainly this was a clean-up style update.

Any issues or questions can be posted below.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Sunday, September 07, 2014 - 11:13 pm: Edit

Im likely to be taking part in an F&E game which will be using Cyberboard.

What will I need to take part?

Thanks.

By Alan De Salvio (Alandwork) on Monday, September 08, 2014 - 11:13 am: Edit

Cyberboard, the F&E Gamebox (downloaded from above), and a game file (started from a scenario file downloaded from above).

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, September 11, 2014 - 01:48 am: Edit

Fed & Gorn Survey areas fixed.
Map-P fixed
A few CLog units added.
Removed the Klingon North Fleet from a wrong tray.
Rom counter fixed (cant remember which one).

Anyway you should expect the update to be posted up top soon.

Whomever posts it to the top (Simone likely). please make a note in the thread that it has been done. Thank you.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 07:33 pm: Edit

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!!

SIMONE Posted the updated Cyberboard GBX file at the top.

This file should plug and play with all of your current scenarios. The name of the unziped file is exactly the same as the previous file by design. Do not change names if you are trying to play a game in progress.

As always post here any issues and or suggestions.

If you want to keep using the old file fine but be warned your opponent may use the new one and at that point you may have issues.

The old file is unavailable here the new one is a direct update of mionor issues and fixes.

By Pete DiMitri (Petercool) on Monday, September 29, 2014 - 06:54 am: Edit

Hey Lar,

I loaded it, says that a piece was removed from the game and gave a few frightening messages.

I don't know which piece was removed though.

By Rob Padilla (Zargan) on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 12:38 pm: Edit

So Lar, what is different about this gamebox versus the last one?

You said that it should plug and play with any existing scenarios/games, so does that mean you've only added to the box and not shifted pieces around?

By Pete DiMitri (Petercool) on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 02:20 pm: Edit

Lar,

I looks like the piece that was removed from the game was the Klingon Northern Fleet marker.

I only realized it today as I was setting up our next battle and there seemed to be a lot of ship missing. Sure enough I checked my notes and now a whole fleet is gone!

Luckily the ships are still in the Northern Fleet tray (and lucky I wrote down my stuff), but it looks like the Klingon Northern Fleet Marker no longer exists.