Federation Commander

Introduction

2010-03-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

Greetings bloggers,
My name is Joel and I am the new webmaster and graphics director here at Star Fleet Games. For the past week I have been helping out here by updating the various sites, uploading images, and updating the Hailing Frequencies newsletter for the company.

I am having a lot of fun while I work here; I find the job to be entertaining and challenging, providing me with an opportunity to put my graphic design skills to good use.The people I work with now are fun, engaging, and I enjoy working with them so far. Even though I am the webmaster I do find it enjoyable to work in the warehouse section and package the differing products that go out to you, the consumer.

As I have said I find this job to be a challenging yet rewarding experience that will continue to provide me with graphic design experience and an enjoyable experience in the field of web and graphic design. Good luck during your day, enjoy life, and above all: stay cool:).

Over and out.

Free stuff for FEDERATION COMMANDER players!

2010-03-16T08:24:00.001-05:00

Steve Cole writes:

Some people do not realize that you can download what amounts to a free copy of the FEDERATION COMMANDER game (well, enough of the game to play a few battles). Go to www.StarFleetGames.com/fc and you will find a lot of stuff you can download. Some of those downloads include:

o The free First Missions packet (demo version of FEDERATION COMMANDER).

o Turn gauges and firing arcs for the tabletop rules.

o Sample Ship Cards.

o Wallpapers of game covers.

o Frequently asked questions.

o Information for retailers.

o The original theatrical trailer (ok, not that, but it WAS the original flyer handed out at trade shows).

o Notes from the game designer (Steve Cole) on what parts of the older game STAR FLEET BATTLES we decided to include in FEDERATION COMMANDER.

But that's just a start. If you join the Commander's Circle, which is free, you can download the monthly Communique which includes scenarios, tactics, and new ships. You can also access a database of FEDERATION COMMANDER players looking for new opponents (you!)

This week at ADB, Inc., 7-13 March 2010

2010-03-15T06:50:00.002-05:00

Steve Cole reports:

The weather was mild all week, in the 50s and 60s. We had some rain early in the week.

The spam storm continued most of the week, with the on-deck filters stopping up to ten thousand of them per day. Saturday, it suddenly stopped. At the office, the floors were cleaned and polished this week.

I spent most of this week doing after-action reports for the F&E 2010 project. I did get Joel everything he needed to send Hailing Frequencies on Wednesday and we got Communique uploaded. I was sick most of Monday. I set up the file for Communique #52 and started doing stuff for it, such as updating the Gorn BDD.

We had a lot of mail orders this week, which kept Leanna and Mike Sparks busy. Leanna had cataract surgery on Friday; it went well and her vision is much improved.

Steve Petrick worked on CL41, R12, and C3A.

Joel Shutts got the newsletter released, Communique uploaded, the pull-down menus fixed on the Commander's Circle, and some stuff uploaded.

The contractor working on our house finished Phase Two (remodeling the master bedroom) which involved replacing the carpet with ceramic tile, removing the popcorn, repainting, replacing all of the woodwork including the doors, turning Leanna's old bathroom into my new walk-in closet and gun room, and added a modern ceiling fan. Next week, he begins Phase Three, which will remodel the rest of the house.

Training: Good Lessons and Bad

2010-03-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

The passage of time sometimes gives one chance to sit down and review past events of one's life from a new perspective.

As a kid, I wanted to be the best soldier I could be, but it happened that my introduction to Army ROTC was at the end of the Vietnam War. During my freshman year in college level ROTC, going to the woods for training was a "field training exercise" (FTX). We carried M-14 rifles (with blank adapters) and worked on learning to patrol and handle tactical problems. Between my Freshman and Sophomore years, things changed. The program was revamped more with an eye towards encouraging cadets to just remain in the program than actually teaching them useful field craft. Going to the woods was now called an "adventure training exercise" (ATX). No weapons were carried, and the emphasis was on fun and puzzles (leadership challenges).

This leads to the point.

My Freshman year I actually learned how to use an M-14 rifle. Between my Junior and Senior years when I attended my Advanced Camp, I was issued an M-16 rifle. While we were sometimes shown these weapons during my sophomore and junior years, we did not practice on them.

The result. At a key point in a battle my M-16 jammed. I had absolutely no knowledge of how to clear a jam in an M-16. For precious seconds I was helpless while trying to figure out how to make the weapon operable again, only to have the weapon immediately jam a second time without firing. I managed to get it cleared a second time and shoot a nearby opponent before she could shoot me. But the only reason I shot her first was she went into shock when she finally spotted me and saw how close I was to her. If she had not frozen she could have easily picked me off.

And that was the other training point.

I could very easily have been marked by that one incident to consider women worthless under fire. She did, after all, literally just stand there and watch me clear my rifle the second time (in the same extremely clumsy and time consuming manner in which I had cleared it the first time). I knew that any male cadet would have shot me first.

I learned, during that Summer, the correct manner in which to clear an M-16 rifle, and learned it well enough that in later times the motions were programmed. (My issued rifle during my basic course jammed on the range, for example, and I cleared it automatically and so quickly that I COULD have still taken the shot, but assumed, wrongly, that I was out of time.) But it was very easy for me now, to understand what can happen with poorly trained but aggressive troops. (I was being aggressive to be where I was to shoot the girl, but that was "native" field craft as opposed to military training, my military training proved to be sorely lacking in a key component that could have "cost my life").

To this day there are a lot of things that I learned that stick (and make watching TV hard). In the first half of this year's "Leverage" season finale, I listened to the bad guys spray the detective's car with bullets, and could only note that the weapon could not fire that long with that magazine, and that the car had more bullet holes (with Tivo, I actually stopped the screen and counted holes) than the magazine could hold, details like that drive me nuts. Not to mention the idea that the detective was not also made into Swiss cheese since his car door would not have stopped the bullets from penetrating.

But at least I know that a woman with a firearm is as dangerous as a man (I did not learn the bad lesson from that one female cadet).

MORE TO THE STORY

2010-03-13T08:08:00.002-06:00

Steve Cole comments:

Some television shows seem to do a poor job of getting all of the information presented in a logical order. Obviously, information is missing, and I wonder how many (like me) try to figure out what's really going on.

On STOSSEL on Thursday, 11 March 2010, they took Louisiana to task for having a license requirement for florists, which seems silly. They derided the state for using the license system to limit competition, despite the head of the trade association pointing out that it did nothing of the kind, anyone could take the test and 90% passed it. The two nice blonde ladies did not pass, probably because they did not study and practice. (The general subjects and some of the specific skills required are public knowledge.) To be sure, some of those skills are silly and outdated, but the purpose of the license (and arguably a dumb one) is to preserve a body of skills and knowledge, even if (especially if) that specific knowledge is no longer used. One might argue that the test should be updated, and one might argue that the whole point of licensing florists is just nonsense, but not that the test limits competition. I must wonder if the real reason that Louisiana licenses florists is to collect the license fees.

On an episode of KITCHEN NIGHTMARES, Gordon Ramsay went to a restaurant in Indiana which was over a million dollars in debt and sinking fast. (Naturally, he fixed the problems and made the restaurant a thriving success; the guy really is good at that.) The restaurant was owned half by the on-site manager, and half by a couple who owned another (successful) restaurant 200 miles away. The three complained that they had put their savings, their inheritance, their retirement funds, and everything they could borrow into keeping the failing restaurant afloat. The real question, one nobody asked, is why the couple who had another restaurant cashed in their retirement accounts without fixing the problems. Why did they need Gordon Ramsay? Couldn't the husband just have told his wife "Run our place for a month while I go figure out why John is failing to run out other investment at a profit?"

The recent KING TUT UNWRAPPED show included the theory that the boy-king had become a strong ruler who was beyond the control of his advisors by the time he died. I find the evidence for this very suspect. (It's more like the show's producers and guest historians just wanted to think better of Tut than others have heretofore.) They base this on the "newly discovered" data in the tomb of Huy showing Tut involved in the Libyan campaign (which is mentioned in Egyptology books I have that are twenty years old) and newly discovered blocks that might show Tut's chariot in the Syrian campaign a year before Tut died. This is not really unlikely. The Saqarra tomb of General Horemheb (carved during Tut's lifetime, and Tut would have been told if Horemheb was exaggerating) details both of these campaigns, notes that Horemheb was under command and had been SENT on the campaigns by Tut, who remained in the capital.

CAFE PRESS

2010-03-12T06:52:00.001-06:00

Stephen V. Cole writes:

Have you ever heard of Cafe Press? Cafe Press is a website where you can open up a free online shop and promote products on your website. Cafe Press creates and sells products with designs provided by various companies. So upon learning about Cafe Press, Leanna set up an account and we have uploaded several designs for T-shirts, coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments, mousepads, etc.

See www.CafePress.com/starfleetuniv for these items. And take a look at our new I-heart-Klingons T-shirt!

If you have any questions or comments or would like to see something on Cafe Press, let me know and I will try to set it up for you! Email me at: Design@starfleetgames.com

A Philosophy of Surrender

2010-03-11T12:19:00.003-06:00

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

I have commented that I have a tendency to take a "no surrender" attitude towards combat. I thought I would take a moment to discuss why, even that, is subject to variation.

No surrender applies to me, personally. I very much would rather go down fighting than give up. I am comfortable saying that because I did, one time in my life, face the concept of "maybe if I surrender he will not kill me", and chose to if necessary die rather than yield.

But, again, that is a personal choice, and it can be overridden in a number of different ways.

I am subject to my superiors' determining that we will surrender. I can, in such case, ask for permission to try to escape or take some other action, but I am honor bound to obey a lawful order, particularly when my desire to continue to resist could get others killed.

I am subject, if I am the man in command, to keeping my subordinates alive if I can. If resistance seems hopeless, or if there is no purpose to it (for example, holding a choke-point as long as possible to allow other forces to escape or establish a new line), then I have an obligation to consider surrender to save the lives of the men under my command.

There are still other factors.

I would never surrender to Al Qaida terrorists, nor surrender men under my command to such a group, under any circumstances. We would all only be killed in any case.

I would think long and hard about risking a surrender to any communist group, but this is because I have studied history, including the fates of POWs in the hands of communist groups, and I would rather die than accept a possibly lingering death with bouts of torture. (Real torture, not what is defined nowadays as torture to gain political points.)

If I was engaged in battle with the British, I might be more inclined to surrender (the British Army is hardly free of atrocities, but has an overall pretty good record when it comes to prisoners of war . . . not perfect, but pretty good).

So, while I would myself do all I could to avoid becoming a prisoner of war, there are circumstances where it could happen. (This includes being knocked out in hand to hand combat, or by a nearby explosion, or debris from such, etc.)

But as a rule, I would rather die than be taken.

NEWSLETTER AND COMMUNIQUE RELEASED

2010-03-10T16:27:00.000-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

We have released this month's issue of the Hailing Frequencies newsletter and this month's Communique. The newsletter has the latest information on release schedules and company news, as well as lots of other useful content. It also has links to the new Communique, a free PDF newsletter which is full of good things for Federation Commander players, including new ships, a new scenario, and updated schedules and rules. The newsletter also has links to the most recent Star Fleet Alerts, the press releases that tell your store when to expect new products.

FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper

2010-03-09T02:16:00.000-06:00

Stephen V. Cole writes:

Many do not know that we have a page where you can download FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper.

Klingon Border, Romulan Border, Klingon Attack, and Romulan Attack are currently available in the following sizes : 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.

http://www.StarFleetGames.com/wallpaper

If there are any other sizes or any other images that you would like to see turned into wallpaper, please feel free to write me at graphics@StarFleetGames.com and I will get it set up for you.

This week at ADB, Inc., 28 February - 6 March 2010

2010-03-08T02:08:00.000-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

I was sick and stayed home Sunday and Monday, and might as well have done so on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got some work done later in the week.

The weather was better, cool mornings and the afternoons in the 60s.

Strange Email events continued. Over Wednesday night and Thursday morning, my on-deck filters blocked 32,000 spams. I was getting several hundred more per hour, and found another 6,000-7,000 in my spam trap every morning.

As I said, I got some work done. I did a reserve blog for Jean, updated the PD FED page count, approved some FC rulings, did quality checks on 1200 map panels, sent some art to Jean for ADB's page on Facebook, worked up a list of Starline 2300 minis (thanks to Nick Samaras for the help!), tried to get GAMA to confirm the Origins events, resolved a problem between a store and a wholesaler, did all but one page of Communique #51, sent the Captain's Log #41 art to the cover artist and interior artist, and did a two-page thing for that issue.

I also went to my annual medical checkup, which said that my lab work was perfect but I needed to exercise and lose weight.

Steven Petrick was working all week on various parts of CL#41, including the battleforces and the Juggernaut stuff.

Leanna and Mike continued dealing with huge mail orders. Mike also did quality checks on hundreds of restock miniatures.

We hired Joel Shutts to replace Eric, and he spent Saturday doing a lot of website updates.

Jean made some progress on PD FEDS and reported that our page on Facebook was up to 209 fans.

The contractor working on our house moved on to Phase 2 (remodeling the master bedroom), getting the woodwork done and stained.

Klingon Warrior

2010-03-07T02:44:00.002-06:00

I've been walkin' these decks so long,
Singin' my battle song,
I know every hatch in these dirty bulkheads of my ship.
Where battle's the name of the game,
And cowards get washed away like the mud in the rain.
There's been a load of strong emotions,
On the road to my promotions.
But I'm gonna be where the Emperor's smiling at me.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising fast on my ship just as far out as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.

Well, I really don't mind the pain.
And I've lost, as much as I've gained.
But you're doomed when you're bombing the plains
Of some distant planet.
And I dream of the things I'll do,
With a fighter squadron and a mauler cruiser or two.
There's been a load of strong emotions,
On the road to my promotions.
But I'm gonna be where the Emperor's smiling at me.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising out on my ship just as far as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising out on my ship just as far as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.

Parody copyright (c) 2010 Stephen V. Cole

FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper

2010-03-06T02:53:00.000-06:00

Learning About Reserves

2010-03-05T09:55:00.001-06:00

This is Steven Petrick Posting:

One of the more difficult aspects of military operations to learn from games is the concept of the reserve. This is because most games (whether boardgames or computer games) are set up to put a premium on massing your forces to attack, or simply pick a good defensive line. In both cases the strategy is "all in". There is rarely an inherent advantage to having "uncommitted troops". Players rarely have to worry about things like exhaustion, or morale recovery after a bad defeat. In most games a battle starts and is decided before any "uncommitted" troops could be moved up, so holding out troops is a waste. The result is that by the time many players are adults, they tend to not think about reserves (although some do learn something of the concept from Sports where teams do have "reserves" to feed into the game).

Federation & Empire employs both a strategic reserve, and a tactical reserve, concept. When establishing defenses, players can look for opportunities to use "reaction movement" to bring unengaged forces to nearby battles (Tactical Reserves in effect). But the players are also allowed a limited number of "reserve counters" which they can use to designate "strategic reserves". This is a good example of teaching players to think about possible future enemy moves (one of the reasons to have reserves), and to use their reserves to try trap the enemy (reinforce that weak spot the enemy thought they would break through).

GETTING INTO DISTRIBUTION

2010-03-04T02:05:00.000-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

For a small publisher, getting into distributors is a tough battle, but it's the only way to get into stores. They have so many publishers to pick from, they don't want to be bothered with one great product from one tiny company. Their cost of accounting makes the deal not worth it. The consumers and stores only spend so much money a month, and the wholesalers are already getting all of that and don't need your game to get it, so they don't care much. The wholesalers don't need your game to make as much money as they make, and carrying your game just means some stores are going to buy fewer of games the wholesalers already carry.

My free book on the industry may give you some information: http://www.starfleetgames.com/book/
One common mistake a lot of publishers make is to just pick some"discount terms" out of thin air, and the wholesalers don't like the terms and ignore you. I've seen several companies fail that way without their ever realizing why they failed. My book has a term sheet that is used by a lot of other companies (I got it from somebody ten times as big as me) which wholesalers will accept (if they accept your games).

If you can get into Alliance (the toughest sell of all) you don't really have to have the others (but they're nice to have). They might talk to you on a flooring basis, which is basically consignment. ACD is almost as good. Either will make your games available to every store.

Basically, you just keep phoning one wholesaler at a time, send them a sample, call back, and ask them nicely to pick up your game.

If that doesn't work, your only way into distribution is to get somebody else to get you in there on the back of their system. You have two roads there.

1. Consolidators. I never used them and don't keep up on which ones are still in business, and the ones that are probably have all of the manufacturers they want. Basically a consolidator is a company that fits into the tiers between manufacturers and wholesalers. They represent a lot of little companies. A wholesaler can buy the "one great game" from ten or twenty companies all in one box on one invoice. The consolidator will take a percentage. They'll hold some of your inventory, but not much, and they won't pay you until something sells, and they might even charge you for storage. Some consolidators went out of business without paying manufacturers. You should join the GPA as those guys can tell you where to find consolidators. Pitching to them is only slightly easier than pitching to wholesalers.

2. Find another game company that is already selling into distribution, make friends with them, and have them slip your game into distribution through their books. My company, Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc., did this for Majestic Twelve Games as part of a wider deal involving the use of their game system and my background. Alliance took the deal because I have flooring with them and they don't care if I send them a few copies of an oddball product because they don't pay me until the games sell. Maybe there is somebody who is a friend of yours and would do it. A friend of mine who runs a much smaller company than mine has a deal with Mayfair and gets his game into wholesalers through their system. I have no clue how he managed to make that deal, but it works for him. I am not saying that "oh, sure, I'll handle that for you" but you can always email me off the list and maybe I might (after I know what your product is) suggest somebody who might help you.

One warning. Getting into a wholesaler does not automatically get you into any stores. The stores are going to have to ASK the wholesalers for your game. (When a store makes its once-a-week call to the wholesaler, the wholesaler might have one minute to pitch two or three of the 75 new products that came out that week. You won't be one of them.) You can pay Alliance to put an ad for your game into their "music on hold" system so the retailer hears your ad while he's waiting on hold for his rep to pick up the phone. It might work. You can mail things to stores, but they get ten of those a day from us manufacturers and may or may not read them (think "not" in this case). You can buy expensive, full-color ads in the trade magazines that stores read, but my experience is that stores do not read the ads. Your best bet is to get a booth at GTS where you can talk to 150 or so stores. The second best bet is to join GAMA, get the free list of retailers, and start making phone calls. Cold calling is a painful task but does get you a new store or two out of every 50 or so calls.

Good luck!

FEDERATION COMMANDER: PLAY IT ON-LINE

2010-03-03T02:10:00.000-06:00

Many people do not know that you can play FEDERATION COMMANDER on-line in real time against live opponents.

Eight years ago, www.SFBonline.com was created to provide players of STAR FLEET BATTLES with an on-line gaming experience. It was a smash hit as hundreds of gamers joined the battles. Tournaments and other competitions, plus general opening gaming, have gone on around the clock since then.

This successful operation has now been expanded to include FEDERATION COMMANDER!

Now you can play with real live human (not to mention Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, Tholian, Orion, and other) opponents all over the world in real time 24 hours a day! The computer automates many functions and acts as a friendly assistant for mundane chores.

For the modest subscription fee of less than $4 a month, you have access to all of the ships in the FEDERATION COMMANDER game system as well as new ships still in playtest and development. The Java Runtime system is compatible with Windows and Macintosh systems.

Never worry about a lack of opponents. Never worry about opponents who don't show up for games day because of silly reasons like family reunions or their own weddings. Don't be cut off from your regular gaming group while on vacations or business trips.

Even better, you can join in on-line tournaments and campaigns, and your victories will add up to a higher and higher average score!

The system also allows you to chat with friends, taunt your enemies, and watch other players fight their own savage battles. (Why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from someone else's?) This "observer" system allows players of either game to learn the ins and outs of the other game before deciding to invest time and money in it.

So come to www.SFBonline.com right away. You can even fly the Federation CA or Klingon D7 as a free trial, or watch any game in play. Legendary SFB aces and new FEDERATION COMMANDER aces strut their stuff in combat arenas all the time, and you can learn from the best.

Some Background

2010-03-02T11:00:00.001-06:00

This is Steven Petrick posting.

In response to a few E-Mails.

When I entered service the table of organization and equipment for a light infantry rifle platoon was 43 bodies. (This would change while I was in, but was what was authorized at the time.)

This consisted of (on paper) three rifle squads, each of ten men:
One Staff Sergeant (E6) Squad Leader armed with an M16 rifle and a squad radio set,
two Sergeant (E5) Team Leaders armed with M16s,
two Specialist 4th Grade Grenadiers (armed with the M16/M203 grenade launcher combination),
two Specialist 4th Grade "automatic riflemen" (armed with M16s, but designated as being able to operate their M16s on full automatic and often equipped with a detachable bipod for their rifles), and
three Specialist 4th Grade riflemen (armed with M16s).

There was also a Weapons Squad which consisted (on paper) of ten men:
One Staff Sergeant (E6) Squad Leader armed with an M16 rifle and a squad radio set (this would supposedly be the Senior E6 in the Platoon),
Two Machinegun Teams each of three men: One Machinegunner (armed with the M60 Machinegun and a M1911A1 Automatic), one Assistant Gunner (armed with an M16 and generally supposed to carry the tripod mount and equipment bag), and one Ammo Bearer (armed with an M16 and carrying additional ammunition for the machinegun).
Three Anti-armor specialists (each armed with an M16 and carrying the M47 Dragon Medium Anti Tank missile).

The Headquarters section consisted of three men: One Lieutenant (armed with an M16 and a squad radio set), one Platoon Sergeant (an E7, armed with an M16 and a squad radio set), and one Radio Operator carrying the PRC 77 radio and armed with an M16.

Three of these platoons, plus a weapons platoon and a Headquarters section (which included the Company supply train, an M35A2 2.5 ton truck shared by the Supply Sergeant, Chemical NCO, Signals NCO, and unit armorer, plus a Jeep for the Company Commander and one for the Company Executive Officer) made up a rifle company. (The Weapons Platoon had three 81mm mortars carried by three M561 Gamma Goats and two TOW missile Launchers carried on M151 Jeeps, with two additional Jeeps as ammo vehicles, plus a Jeep for the Weapons Platoon Leader.)

Three of these rifle companies and a Combat Support Company (A heavy mortar Platoon of four 4.2''/107mm Mortars carried by M561 Gamma Goats, an anti-tank platoon of 16 jeep mounted Tows and 16 ammo jeeps, a Scout Platoon mounted on Jeeps, and initially an Anti-Aircraft Platoon of Redeye Missiles, but these last were consolidated up to the Division ADA battalion in 1981) and a Headquarters Company (which included the Maintenance Platoon, the Medical Platoon, the Communications Platoon, and the Staff) made up a Battalion.

As noted, my platoon was woefully understrength. It was organized as just two squads, each with just two NCOs. With so little, each included one machinegun with no designated assistants and carried one of the dragon launchers. The only units that were near full strength were the specialist units (the Weapons Platoons of the Line Companies and the Combat Support Platoons of the Combat Support Companies were kept up to strength, if necessary at the expense of the Line Platoons). Further, most of the Headquarters (except for the various platoon headquarters) were generally overstrength, and were generally trying to steal more bodies from the line platoons than they already had (the 197th Brigade Headquarters was at 200% strength, the Battalion Headquarters of my Battalion and the company headquarters of my company were both at about 150% strength). I know that in the case of my Battalion and my Company, the excuse was the amount of paperwork that had to be done, I am unclear why Brigade needed its manning doubled.

The reason I had only one squad with me in the Exercise (Bold Eagle 80) was because as part of the exercise my platoon was attached to the Armored Cavalry Troop (A/15th Cav) of the 197th Brigade for the first three days. This was because the Cav was also understrength, having barely enough personnel to crew all of its vehicles and man its mortars, and having no "dismounts" to do the foot patrolling. Even with my "platoon" attached, one of the three platoons of the Cavalry wound up operating with no infantry. As the Cav was operating widely dispersed, my Plt Sgt was with one of my two squads, and I was with the other.

Yes, the squad I was with was led by the NCO I had administered the embarrassing defeat to. And yes the men in his squad were the specific individuals who were "killed" assaulting the hill under his command (the men who ultimately refused to attack the hill after seeing the first squad had been wiped out were in the other squad) I was defending.

This week at ADB, Inc., 21-27 February 2010

2010-03-01T06:47:00.002-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

This report was written on Saturday the 27th but posted on Monday the 1st of March, so by the time you read this, next week will be this week.

It was cold and cloudy all week, and we had a little snow on Sunday night and Monday afternoon. Monday evening, Jean called the office and forced me to drive home before the snow got too bad, and followed me home on the traffic cams. Talk about Big Brother!

This was mostly a week of rest and recovery. The week of 14-20 February had a lot of very long days finishing F&E 2010, and that took a lot out of me; I apparently started coming down with the cold that Customer Service Director Mike Sparks has had. Even so, I got a lot done. I turned in the Origins events list, did the FLAP list, did the large print edition of F&E 2010, updated the Greater Games Catalog listing, took Ramses rabbit hunting for the first time since the blizzard, went and got the blood tests done for my annual physical next week (the 4th), called the last wholesalers to round up their orders, and got ADB, Inc. signed up for Free RPG Day. Saturday I was pretty sick and went home to rest and get over this cold.

Next week, I have to tackle Romulan Armada, review Battlestations Star Fleet, and push Jean to finish PD Federation.

Sometime Tuesday the 23rd, somebody somewhere invented a new kind of spam, which came through the filters like they weren't even there, dumping 2000 spams a day into my inbox. It took two days to get new filters installed to stop that.

As mentioned in last week's report (14-20 February), I finished the F&E 2010 rulebook on Sunday night (21 February) at 7pm and we started printing. I spent most of Monday (22nd) and Tuesday (23rd) working on the assembly line, helping get the very large wholesaler orders shipped.

Mike Sparks and Leanna spent the whole week getting F&E 2010 shipped. Steve Petrick helped some on that, and spent a bunch of time discussion the new stellar fortress on the BBS.

The addition to our house is finally finished, which pleases Leanna to no end. The contractor got the bricks finished (they had temporarily turned a window into a door so the construction people could come and go), and blew in the ceiling insulation, but some of the Ethernet wires were messed up and didn't get finished until Saturday the 27th. We began Phase Two on Thursday the 25th. This phase is the remodel of the old master bedroom, and so far all they have done is to remove the old carpet and plumbing and patch the drywall. That will take more than a week, then we move on to Phase Three, a less-elaborate makeover of the rest of the house.

Jean was busy with PD Federation but reported that Facebook has passed 200 fans.

In Praise of Our Volunteers

2010-02-28T08:13:00.001-06:00

The adventure game (wargame+roleplaying game) industry is a small one, and there isn't the kind of money inside of it that other industries have. The industry consists of creative game designers willing to work 60 hours a week for half the pay they could command outside the game industry, all because they get to BE game designers.

Even at that, the only way the game industry survives is by the hard labor of unpaid volunteers who (for honor, glory, and rarely some free games) provide no end of valuable services to game publishers.

Mike West answers rules questions on FEDERATION COMMANDER. Mike Curtis does the same thing for Federation & Empire, Jonathan Thompson and Jean Sexton for Prime Directive d20, Gary Plana for GURPS Prime Directive, Richard Sherman for Star Fleet Battle Force, and Mike Filsinger for STAR FLEET BATTLES.

Frank Brooks runs the Play-by-Email system as a volunteer. Paul Franz charges barely enough for the On-Line game system (for SFB and FC) to pay the server costs. Bob Pomroy does made-to-order decals for our Starline miniatures at a cost that barely covers his costs.

Federation & Empire would not exist without Chuck Strong (a real-world colonel from Space Command) in charge of the overall game system. He keeps his staff (Mike Curtis, Ryan Opel, Scott Tenhoff, Thomas Mathews, and Stew Frazier) busy moving projects forward.

Very little would get done on any of our games except for the Playtest Battle Labs run by Scott Moellmer in Colorado and by Mike Curtis and Tony Thomas in Tennessee. And all of the other playtesters are invaluable to us.

We have other staffers who do specific things (and sometimes a wide variety of things) for us including Jean Sexton (Vice President of Proofreading and Product Professionalization); John Berg and Mike Incavo (Galactic Conquest Campaign); Daniel Kast (Klingon Armada); and John Sickels, Matthew Francois, Jonathan Thompson, and Loren Knight (Prime Directive). Some vital part of the product line would grind to a halt without each one of them.

Added to this list are hundreds of others who, during any given month, by Email or BBS or Forum, contribute in some way to the company and its product line. They may report a glitch in an existing product, playtest a product in development, suggest a new product, point out something another company is doing what we may want to take a look at emulating, look up a rules reference for another player, report on somebody who using our property improperly, comment on a posted draft of a new rule, or simply ask a question nobody else ever dared to ask.

Got Any Marketing Ideas?

2010-02-27T08:48:00.000-06:00

ADB, Inc., is always interested in great marketing ideas, ways and places to sell our products, as well as new products to sell. We are developing a line of non-game products (calendars, paperback books, ship books, plus Cafe Press). We have an Amazon store (not to make money so much as to put our products in front of other groups of potential customers), and the MySpace and Facebook pages exist for that reason as well. We tried a lot of things that didn't work (Google Pay per Click, full-color ads in trade journals) and a lot of things that did work (banners on gamer websites, Star Fleet Alerts) and are always looking for new ideas. If you have any, send them to us at Marketing@StarFleetGames.com and we'll think them over.

NEXT SEASON ON PROJECT RUNWAY

2010-02-26T06:12:00.002-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

I watch this show with Leanna, despite having no eye for fashion. As a game designer, however, it intrigues me to think up ways to make each season of the show different, to add a twist to keep the players on their toes. Here are some ideas.

1. Reserve fabric: After picking five rolls of fabric in the park, let the contestants keep what they don't use "in reserve" and use it on future projects.

2. Change the current elimination system to one of "three strikes". Every round, the judges can award a "strike" to one, two, or three players. If you get three strikes, you're out. That way, nobody is out on the first two shows, and nobody loses the game because of one screwup. This would have to be re-thought in the final rounds when there are few players.

3. There are millions of fans of the show. During one (or two) rounds, each player gets a "fan" who lives in New York, and wants to be on TV. The "fan" can be sent on an "errand" (such as going to MOOD to get stuff for a surprise challenge).

4. Each player is given four "reserve hours" and can use one or two of them on any challenge. If you aren't getting done, use a reserve hour to work past midnight.

5. Give the second (and maybe third) place player a "silver star" and the winner a "gold star" each round. At the end of each round, show on the screen a tabulation of who has the most stars. Allow players to trade "gold stars" (or two or three silvers) to wipe out a strike. Decide the ones going to Bryant Park by how many stars they have (minus strikes).

FINISHING F&E 2010

2010-02-25T02:39:00.000-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

Now that F&E 2010 is finished and the first boxed games are en route to the wholesalers, it's time to take a minute a share some thoughts. I'm still pretty tired from the project, so this is not an exhaustive, detailed, or complete analysis of the project, but just some thoughts that came to mind when Jean asked me to do something for a blog.

The project began about eight or nine months ago, when we found the new die-cutting company and found out that we could get 280 counters on the same space we used to get 216 by reducing the size of the gutters and bars between the rows. The original layout of 216 was designed for TFG-#1 by the printer who did the first die cutting back in 1979, and he couldn't make it work and passed the job to another die cutter, who used the same die. The die was engineered to for the machinery used by the printer who ended up not doing the work, and I'm baffled why in all the years since then (with new dies built every few years) it never occurred to me to ask if we could put more counters on the sheet. We needed to print more F&E counters, and having 280 instead of 216 for the same price meant we could do some really great things. The very first thing I wanted to do was to get rid of the carrier group counters that I was forced to use (due to the budget on how many counters the game could have) back in the first edition of F&E in 1986.

The decision to do 2010 was somewhat controversial. Many did not want to get rid of the carrier groups because the strange rules required to make them work allowed carrier groups to use "out of sequence retrograde" and some players felt that game balance desperately depended on this rules fudge. Actual playtesting proved that it was no big deal and that the game would work just fine without it. But the real opposition to doing 2010 was from those who wanted to do the long-delayed ISC War product. They knew that there was no way for the staff (and the printing budget) to do 2010 and ISC War at the same time, and ISC War has been delayed way too many times. In the end, I'm still glad we did 2010 because when I processed ten years of Captain's Log rulings it became clear to me that the rulebook everybody was using literally did not exist. Everybody was using ten-year-old rules with twenty consecutive sets of rules changes. How many of you guys actually played F&E under those conditions is beyond me. Now, the new rulebook (which is truly a work of art) solves that problem and provides a firm base for us to move forward.

I was reluctant to work on 2010 for two reasons. One was that I knew it would be a ton of work, but the bigger reason was that the BBS gang has a tendency to launch endless witch hunts for rules changes that would mean they win the game on Turn #7. This kind of nonsense made the previous attempt to do the Warbook collapse as nobody could find the stuff we needed to work on because of the clutter of witch hunt rules changes that were being debated.

The first step was to convert the game into newer software, which required manually retyping all of the white-on-black titles. We found the last of the typos on those the day we went to press.

The second step was to include all of the Captain's Log changes that had been published over the previous ten years. The sheer volume of these made me wish we had done a 2005 rulebook, so I'd only have half as many to do now.

Beyond the Captain's Log updates, there were a total of twenty "core change case files" which were debated, some of them for months. Only two of these were things I wanted to do; the rest were player requests that got past the "witch hunt filter" and were deemed worth of being discussed. Most were eventually rejected as not needed or as bad for game balance. The six that were approved included Required Kill (adjusted to be about half of the new ship production rate); lowering the limit on minus points going into pursuit; getting rid of unbreakable carrier group counters; a minor limitation on maulers; consolidating the rules on tugs, LTTs, and theater transports; and eliminating the free slow-unit retrograde.

Some of these "core changes" were just bringing expansion rules including the basic game, including enhanced small-scale combat, flexible conversions, triangle fighter factors, limited war, and flexible tug assignments. These did not change anything, but simply brought later rules into the earlier game.

The many core changes rejected included: requiring two battle rounds for large pin battles (nobody wanted to count ships), more Directed Damage at higher battle intensities, using Directed Damage twice on battlegroup ships (no battlegroups in Basic F&E), eliminating free fighter factors (the hottest debate; it should have been done but was impossible to balance), making pursuit more deadly (wrecked game balance), more expensive allied repairs (wrecked game balance), limiting free Strategic Movement for repaired ships (wrecked game balance), limits on expeditionary reserves, bringing the F-111 rules into the basic game, and more deadly Directed Damage on CV groups.

The staff (Chuck Strong, Mike Curtis, Jeff Laikind, Ryan Opel, Scott Tenhoff, and Stewart Frazier) were very active in reviewing the revised pages and debating the core changes. Dozens of players also participated in some of the reviews and all of the core change debates.

The new rulebook got bigger, being 164 pages instead of 96. A little of that expansion (about five pages) was bringing rules from expansions into the basic rulebook (such as flexible conversions, flexible tug assignments, and of course, flexible carrier groups). Most of the rulebook growth was in those twenty sets of consecutive Captain's Log changes. Some of it, maybe a dozen or two pages, comes from a better layout, starting every rule (there might be an exception or two) on the top of a column (if not the top of the left column). This just made the book easier for me to work on, as working on rule 412 did not push rule 413 into another page.

Speaking of easier to work with, I think that the large reference blocks in the bottom outside corners (giving the number and title of the rule on that page) will make the rulebook very much easier to use. Previously, in all of my books, you had to visually fish a rule number out of somewhere in that page to tell if you were getting close to what you want. No more. Look at the same spot on every page (bottom outside corner) to see what neighborhood you are in.

There was a lot of debate and discussion about what expansion stuff to include. There were some who basically wanted the entire rulebooks of all six expansions dumped into the basic rulebook (presumably at no increase in price) and that was obviously not practical. (Besides pushing the rulebook beyond 400 pages, getting all of those rules updated was just not going to happen in the time available. As I mentioned, a few expansion rules were brought forward into the main rulebook, but the discussion of expansion stuff mostly focused on three areas: cross-references, annexes, and the Sequence of Play.

Thanks to the tireless work of Thomas Mathews and Stewart Frazier, every rule in Basic F&E that works differently with an expansion has that fact noted, with the rule number of the expansion rule (and marked with a double-dagger symbol) and provides an exception or special case. Just about any time we mentioned "bases" we listed all of the bases in the expansions, including types of bases not even published in F&E yet (and one that isn't even in SFB yet).

The Orders of Battle and Ship Information Tables do not list ships in the expansions because we thought this would clutter things up for new players. The other annexes do list these ships as it provides an overall view and the game system and makes sure that the expansions will be valid for the entire Warbook.

The Sequence of Play was another place we hotly debated what to do. At one point, we had two of them, one with everything in the expansions, and the other with just the Basic F&E stuff, and finally went with just Basic F&E as that would be less confusing to new players and save space.

There were suggestions that we include Maelstrom and Winds of Fire instead of the vague notes that comprise the current scenarios 604 and 605, but this was not done for several reasons. One was space (doing this would have made the book bigger), one was time (they need work to update them), and one was that those scenarios, being later in the General War, work better with the ships in the expansions and work funny with just Basic F&E ships.

The end of the project was very intense. I had to begin by shutting down as many of the different "places where I got input" as I could. I began by resolving and closing most of the core change debates. I reviewed the last of the Captain's Log updates that had not been reduced to specific rulebook language. I had a lot of staff reports on the PDFs they had been sent, and a large number of reports from the dozens of gamers who had seen the limited selection of rules PDFs I had posted. All of those had to be resolved. Then I began locking down the prototype report files, one for each chapter, and sending the final reports to a single topic.

In the final days, Jean Sexton went through the entire book for spelling, formats, style sheets, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and other such matters. She even found more than a few rules glitches. Steven Petrick also read the entire book and found many issues which had to be addressed.

I was supposed to finish at 2pm on Friday the 19th. I actually finished at 7pm on Sunday the 21st, but we still shipped the boxed games on Monday the 22nd at 4pm.

The book had just started printing when one of the staffers posted on the BBS "Which expansion do we upgrade next?" That's a good question. Coming off of the euphoria of this successful project, if I had naught else to do, I would relish the chance to do it all again with an expansion. (Mostly to work with the same great bunch of guys again.) But, alas, there are two obstacles to this swell idea. One is that the company has six other product lines and I cannot ignore them to work on just one line (if that were going to happen, would F&E be the line that got picked?), and the second is that we really do need to devote the F&E energy into ISC War first, and doing an expansion over again second.

WE WANT YOUR COMMENTS!

2010-02-24T08:24:00.000-06:00

Stephen V. Cole writes:

We have merged the two websites. The combined site now has a new front page, site map, and index, making it a lot easier to use. You are welcome to comment on the changes, but more importantly, please suggest changes, and check the changes we make.

Here is my e-mail: Design@StarFleetGames.com or you can comment on either forum.

Fighters for Nothing

2010-02-23T02:23:00.000-06:00

Fighters for Nothing

I want it, right now for F and E.
I want it, right now for F and E.

Now look at them Kzintis, that's the way you do it,
You convert all the warships to those car-ri-ers.
That is what they're wantin', that's the way they want it.
Fighters for nothin' and their drones for free.
That what they're wantin', that's the way they want it.
Lemme tell ya, Klingons ain't dumb.
Maybe get some free ones
Maybe get a stockpile but we ain't dumb.

We got to install ground battalions;
Custom built those LTTs.
We got to move these old slow convoys.
We got to move these FRDs.

The little furballs with the drones and the fighters.
Yeah, buddy, that's their own fur.
Those little furballs got their own space fighters.
That little furball's getting all he wants.

I should'a learned to fly a fighter.
I should'a learned to launch some drones.
Look at that furball, he got it stickin' out the drone hatch.
Man we could have some of those.
And he's got those, you know, scatterpack shuttles
Bangin' on the shield walls like a chimpanzee.
Oh, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it,
Get your fighters for nothin' and their drones for free.

That is how they're workin', that's the way they do it.
They just keep pounding on that S. V. C.
That is what they're wantin', that's the way they want it.
Fighters for nothin' and their drones for free.

Fighters for nothin' and their drones for free
They want it, they want it, right now for F and E.

Apologies to Dire Straits.

Parody copyright (c) 2009 Stephen V. Cole

This week at ADB, Inc., 14-20 February 2010

2010-02-22T02:22:00.000-06:00

Steve Cole reports:

This was the final week of doing the F&E 2010 rulebook project, and the final week of the construction of the new addition at our house. Both progressed smoothly, but neither got finished by Saturday. It was a week of long days. Steve Petrick and I worked past 10pm most days. Well, he did every day; I had to go home Wednesday night to rest after I did something stupid on Tuesday. Wanting to get a lot of work done, I ate a big breakfast and a late lunch, and did not eat again until I hit diabetic hypoglycemia at 11pm (low blood sugar). I got the shakes very bad, and should have stayed home Wednesday but compromised with Leanna who let me work until 6pm as long as I did not drive.

The weather was cold all week, usually below freezing in the morning are rarely touching 50F during the week. We had a little light rain for a few minutes, but no snow.

Steve Petrick spent the week helping me with F&E. Leanna and Mike got a lot of orders out, and everything ready for the big shipments on Monday. Leanna actually packed Booster #92, the first time she's done that job by herself.

It was Eric's last week, and he got a lot of stuff uploaded before leaving us. The search for his replacement goes on.

As noted, my (SVC's) week focused almost entirely on F&E. I did not read FYEO or do much of anything else. Monday, I did the prototype report files for the table of contents and chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, and sent them all to the staff and blind readers. Tuesday, I did chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and sent them out. I also did the first pass on the SITs. Wednesday, recovering from the diabetic shakes, I redid the SITs and went through the hard copy that Petrick marked up so he could make the fixes after Leanna took me home. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were a blur of running down endless reports of glitches, fixes, and other issues, working until 11pm Thursday and Friday and midnight on Saturday. (We did finish the book on Sunday, two days later than scheduled.) Jean spent endless hours reporting typos, style sheet issues, and other things that made a better book. Petrick did most of the work here, listening to Jean on speakerphone as she directed fix after fix.

When we started the construction project at our house, the contractor promised he could easily finish by Valentine's Day. He didn't, due in part to the blizzard. So, it was supposed to be easy to wrap up the last two days of work this week, but that work stretched all the way through Friday as the tile setters, electrician, plumbers, and carpenters all did their final bits. By Friday night, all that was lacking was the cable television and internet stuff (which could not be done until next week), the bricks on the west wall (which could not be done due to the cold weather and I'm not sure they'll get next week either), and blowing in the insulation in the ceiling. At least, the big shower and big tub work, and we got to test drive them both Saturday night and Sunday morning (the 21st).

FEDERATION COMMANDER Play-by-Email

2010-02-21T02:53:00.000-06:00

FRANK BROOKS WRITES: FEDERATION COMMANDER Play-by-Email

Playing FEDERATION COMMANDER by Email is an alternative to playing Face-to-Face. While there are a few differences (i.e., your opponent isn't sitting across the table from you), it is the same game.

The basic gist of the FEDERATION COMMANDER Play-by-Email (PBEM) system is that you and your opponent submit your orders for the turn to a moderator via Email. The moderator then processes them, and sends a "Sitrep" (Situation Report) to the players via Email. You receive the results, write up your next set of orders, and then submit your orders once again. The process is repeated until the game is completed. Sounds simple? That's because it IS! It'll take a little getting used to (after all, what doesn't?), but once you've got the hang of it, you'll be lobbing photon torpedoes (or whatever your weapon of choice is) at opponents from all over the world.

Every FEDERATION COMMANDER PBEM game has at least three participants: two or more players and one moderator. The moderator's purpose is to accept orders from the players and carry them out, reporting the results of those orders to all players. While (s)he is not a player, the moderator fulfills a very important role in the game. Good moderators and good players make for a good, enjoyable game of FEDERATION COMMANDER. Moderating a FEDERATION COMMANDER PBEM game is also an excellent way to learn more about the FEDERATION COMMANDER rules.

While there are some disadvantages to PBEM (it does take longer to finish a game), there are advantages as well. You can play against people in other parts of the world (how often do you get to Australia, anyway?), you can play multiple games at once, and you can have large multi-player games (without worrying about running out of chips and soda).

For more information about playing FEDERATION COMMANDER PBEM, please visit the Play-by-Email section of ADB, Inc.'s website at www.StarFleetGames.com/pbemgames and we will be happy to help you.