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Dal Downing Commander
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Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 651 Location: Western Wisconsin
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 5:12 am Post subject: |
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No it just keeps slipping down the list. Plus we lost a pretty good it of SVC time this past year. _________________ -Dal
"Which one of you is the Biggest, Baddest, Bootlicker of the bunch?"
"I am."
"ARCHERS!!! THAT ONE!!!!" |
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Paul B Lieutenant Commander
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Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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It's been slipping down the list for the last 5-6 years with no signs of getting a foothold. Even when "Much of that work has been done" on the book, it's bumped in favour of other books starting seemingly from a much less complete state.
Though of course the book has been changed from what was originally a campaign system for Federation Commander, to a campaign system for every SFU game. Unnecessary "feature creep" has killed many a promising project.
Regardless, between ongoing CLs and MSSBs and whatever other product gets shifted to a higher priority I can't imagine this book ever coming out. |
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Octavian Ensign
Joined: 28 Jan 2016 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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Have they ever published a draft or detailed preview of Federation Admiral? Or are there any popular, published homebrew systems that capture some of that campaign flavor? |
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Paul B Lieutenant Commander
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Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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Octavian wrote: | Have they ever published a draft or detailed preview of Federation Admiral? Or are there any popular, published homebrew systems that capture some of that campaign flavor? |
Well as Federation Admiral is based on Victory by Any Means, I imagine that the book must be similar to existing VBAM products in the same way that the ACTA and Starmada conversions are to their respective games. Perhaps more-so since VBAM is designed to be used with whatever setting the player wants. I believe VBAM Games just recently released a couple of new products including a 2nd edition for their rules. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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Actually we did a few pages of preview stuff a while back in something (don't ask me to remember what).
The original draft was very VBAM but as that didn't lend itself to the SFU much work was done to make it compliant with the Paramount contract.
It actually hasn't slipped down the work list in over a year and it's right where it has been for all that time, but the things ahead of it in line are just taking longer to do than expected. Losing three months to major surgery didn't help things (hey, I'm not dead, at least there's that) but even with the lastest injuries from the accident a week ago we did finish the hard copy of Fighter Ops and the PDF of Minor Empires yesterday. Before FedAdm becomes #1 on the list, we have to finish:
1. ACTASF deluxe (mostly just adding some background pages, probably a day of actual work and a second day of formatting and creating the PDF and a third of uploading and marketing and a fourth day for whatever I forgot or happened when I was interrupted).
2. Captain's Log #51 We'll probably start on that next Monday 21 March and it traditionally takes three weeks. Then allow a fourth week for me to round up the stray cats that got loose when I was busy with CL51.
3. I am doing the art for Romulan Master Starship Book and working with Jean to pick fiction stories for the next two Kindle books, and I have to sit down and read the updated SFB Module C2, but that's not "primary" on my schedule. I really need to look into what's up with Starmada, but that's just watching somebody else work.
So let's call it 18 April I turn my lonely eyes to Fed Admiral. No telling how long it will take to get done. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Shadow Warrior Lieutenant JG
Joined: 06 Nov 2012 Posts: 30
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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Paul B wrote: | Octavian wrote: | Have they ever published a draft or detailed preview of Federation Admiral? Or are there any popular, published homebrew systems that capture some of that campaign flavor? |
Well as Federation Admiral is based on Victory by Any Means, I imagine that the book must be similar to existing VBAM products in the same way that the ACTA and Starmada conversions are to their respective games. Perhaps more-so since VBAM is designed to be used with whatever setting the player wants. I believe VBAM Games just recently released a couple of new products including a 2nd edition for their rules. |
Yes, they recently released VBAM 2nd edition, and a very decent upgrade of the system is it too. Interestingly, the first product that has just been released for 2e is "With A Purpose"... what this attempts to do is generate local "operational" missions for commanders to give your campaign some objectives beyond just "win the game". In other words, to inject some story into your campaign.
This might be something like "A terrible industrial accident has occurred on colony world X. Send a ship equipped with hospital facilities there within Y turns to collect Z victory points."
I gather this is (one of) the same concepts that sits at the heart of Federation Admiral, at least in its originally proposed form, so a glimpse at that may very well give you a good idea as to what the original concept for Federation Admiral was. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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Anybody remember where we published that preview? Let me see if I can fire up the PDF and have it uploaded somewhere.
Talked with Jay today and noted that it will take all of this week to finish ACTASFDX (we're into final jeopardy) and three weeks to finish CL51 and another week to spare, then I start on FA. Remember that 3/4 of FA exists in a second (SFU) draft and all of it in a first (vBAM) draft.
When FA time arrives, the to-do list is
1. SVC finish the second draft. That is just a matter of pounding through it. I'd guess a week, maybe two.
2. Get Jay's comments incorporated and fixes made to the second draft. Most of the second draft is in Jay's hands and he has reported on some of it. Once I get all of his comments, a week to get them done.
3. Go over the post-second draft document with Jean and do some global style sheet fixes. One day.
4. Have Petrick read it and make his fixes. Call that the third draft. Petrick is in charge of universe continuity and always changes stuff, lots of stuff. Call it three days for Steve Petrick to read it and two more for me to fix it.
5. Might also be necessary for Jay to go over it again and send me more fixes. We may also let a couple of outsiders read and comment. So figure we give them a week, maybe two, and take two or three days for fixes.
6. Let Jean actually read it and make her fixes. She'll need most of a week to read it and three days for me to fix it. Call the result the fourth draft.
7. Put it on a PDF download store and wait 3-6 weeks for comments and questions.
8. Make any fixes and schedule the hard copy release date (to match other products so we don't drive the wholesalers crazy). _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Steve Cole Site Admin
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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This is a campaign book for the Star Fleet Universe. It began as a conversion of the outstanding VBAM (Victory By Any Means) series by Jay Waschak. To satisfy our license, ADB had to add many new sections of Star Fleet Universe material to Jay's original and quite excellent VBAM text. This was a time consuming project (as intellectual property matters often are), and every time we scheduled a block of "Steve Cole Time" for Fed Admiral we ran out of time before we got to the end of the pages. Steve then had to go back to the scheduling committee and ask for another block of time, and the next block of time not already promised for another scheduled product was often months away. But now is the time for this outstanding collaboration to reach print. The largest block of "Steve Cole Time" ever scheduled for Federation Admiral is coming just after Captains Log #51 is completed (we're guessing it starts in mid-April), and we expect it to be more than enough to get to a downloadable PDF available for the gaming public by early summer 2016. A hard-copy book will follow soon after. _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Last edited by Steve Cole on Wed Mar 23, 2016 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Shadow Warrior Lieutenant JG
Joined: 06 Nov 2012 Posts: 30
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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Steve Cole wrote: | Anybody remember where we published that preview? Let me see if I can fire up the PDF and have it uploaded somewhere.
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It was in the Captain's Log 48 supplement, Steve. |
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Shadow Warrior Lieutenant JG
Joined: 06 Nov 2012 Posts: 30
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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And it goes without saying that, having eagerly waited five years for this product, I will be all over it as soon as it is released. Very pleased to hear this one is back on the radar again. |
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Steve Cole Site Admin
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, it's been on the radar for a year, and is exactly the same place in the stack of things to do. That year has seen evry product take longer than scheduled, and has seen delays caused by my surgery (at least I didn't die) and the stumble+fall that laid me up for two weeks.
Anyway, Jay W and I have a surpise for you this morning. This is the preliminary step toward the eventual "product information page" which at least for now shows you some idea of the content and the required work. Now, don't get on Jay about typos as nobody (not even me) does a product that Jean doesn't find typos in. I can fix typos in good rules; fixing bad rules is much harder.
http://www.starfleetgames.com/FederationAdmiral.shtml _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Steve Cole Site Admin
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3832
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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It never fails. I take a moment to admire my own work and find a typo.
In many cases, either will involving moving
should be
In many cases, either will involve moving _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
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Shadow Warrior Lieutenant JG
Joined: 06 Nov 2012 Posts: 30
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you, it's nice to see a sneaky peek and an ambitious delivery schedule.
Looking forward to this. |
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Paul B Lieutenant Commander
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Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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Good to see. Keep on trucking |
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Mike Fleet Captain
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Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 1675 Location: South Carolina
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 12:29 am Post subject: |
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I'm about as excited about this project as anything from ADB in a long, long time. Finally an "operational" level SFU game! _________________ Mike
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction. |
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