Federation Commander

[pinecone]

Undoubtedly, the CL and CM ships should find their way onto e23. But notb pre-laminateds.

[mjwest]

Guys,

Steve has already said that e23 PDF Packs will include already printed laminated cards, Captain's Log cards, Communique cards, and completely new (for Federation Commander) ships. He will try to segregate them with similar type ships, but sometimes other considerations will trump those intentions.

In the case of the Romulans that other consideration is grouping them by "generation". That will cause compromises in the other direction. It happens. It will happen again.

So, yes, Steve will try to group ships in a pack by source, but it isn't an absolute guarantee for every single pack. And Steve has already said that already laminated cards will indeed be placed in PDF packs because at least some customers are asking for that.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Steve Cole]

Yes, players are asking for laminated ships to be in packs, so they will be. And yes, I said that back then, and I have said other things, here and other places, since then. And when the day came to actually do packs, the abstract theory wasn't physically possible to accomplish no matter what anybody wanted.

Trying to separate them didn't work out very well, as there just are not enough in some categories. As noted, there simply are not enough C and L ships to make a Romulan pack, so that just isn't possible, and that means some other plan, and that plan is eagle/kestrel/hawk. And since there are four (WE, KE, BH, SN) laminated eagles, the other two will include the only C eagle and one new E eagle. It's all we can do, since 4 does not divide by 6.

Klingon Pack 1 has all L and E cards, there is no mix of A (laminated) and C/L/E cards.

Fed Pack 1 has the five ships from Klingon Border and the CC from Booster 1, so there is no mix there. I don't know what will be in Fed 2.

I suspect that Kzinti 1 and Gorn 1 will certainly be all laminated cards (not mixed). I have no idea what Kzinti 2 and Gorn 2 will be. If either of those empires has two or three total C and L cards, there might be time to do one or two new E cards, and the packs might include a leftover A card if there aren't six total to make a pack.

One dynamic at play here is the theory of doing two six-packs a week. It is simply not possible to do twelve entirely new ships from scratch per week, or even in a given week, so I cannot spin out 12 entirely new ships every single week. It's not physically possible. Another is that as the A and B cards have to be done (players do want them), if there don't happen to work out to be exact multiples of six, there are going to be some C, or L, or E cards mixed in one or more packs. The numbers define these. If the Xorkaelians have 9 A/B ships, they'll be in two packs mixed with three non-A/B ships. There is just no escape.

I am doing what I can, guys, but when it's not a perfect system, it doesn't mean I have an evil plan, it means that 7 doesn't divide into two piles of six no matter how much you cry about it.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[JimDauphinais]

Thank you for doing what you can to keep A/B cards separate from the C/L/E cards when feasible.

For what it is worth, I will note that I have a greater concern with L and E cards being mixed in with A/B CARDS than C cards being mixed in with A/B cards since the C cards are still available as low-res color PDFs from Communique.

I will also say that I expect that one six card pack a week is likely enough for most of us.
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Jim Dauphinais, Chesterfield, MO

St. Louis Area Fed Comm Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/STL_Federation_Commander/

[Steve Cole]

We will do what we can on the rate of release.

I have the Klingon one read except for one minor glitch in one ship. That should go to Leanna this afternoon. It has the scenario that was in Comm 58.

The Fed one would be next. It's done except for the counters, which aren't that hard to do. (I just have to copy existing counters, rearrange them, and renumber them.) So that should happen Thursday. It has the scenario that will be in Comm 59.

There probably won't be any more new scenarios in packs, but there may be reprinted scenarios from various sources.

The Roms would be next, at least in theory, although I'm not saying we might not scrap the three-generations plan and do something entirely different because of the mixing issue.

The Kzintis and Gorns would be easy., although the counters are an hour of work each. I may skip the roms for a rethink and do these.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[pinecone]

Steve, I have one question. Are you accepting scenarios for the e23 packs? If so, are you awarding ribbons for them? I have some ideas and was just wondering. It would be similar to what was done last communique and with the TA boosters.

[Steve Cole]

Are we accepting scenarios, yes, but scenarios are never submitted for specific purposes. Any scenario we like gets printed at the most appropriate point. Nothing is "submitted for" a given product.

I will also note that nobody said there would be a scenario in every ship pack. (There will not be, at least, not a new one.) Think about it. I rant, rave, wail, and moan constantly about the lack of good scenarios submitted, we barely manage to scrape up 12 per year for communique and six per year for Captain's Log, and yet we plan to do eight or nine packs a month. Where do you think that eight or nine scenarios PER MONTH are going to materialize from?
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Kang]

[Kang]

[pinecone]

Well, I already got you one good scenario this year Steve, it found it's way into a communique. I have two more ready to ship out. I was just thinking that a new scenario might make people more inclined to get the pack. This coming from a fed player who is not very intrigued about fed Pack #1.