Federation Commander

mjwest · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:00 am Post subject: Federation Admiral Playtest

I should probably put this in the "Other ADB products" topic, but figured this would have higher visibility.

Anyway, this was posted on the Legacy BBS:
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PLAYTESTERS WANTED: The guys at VBAM doing the Federation Admiral campaign book say they have more or less finished the draft. I read it (didn't understand much of it) and gave them some formatting advice, which they have taken. What I do NOT want to do is publish this thing (which is a huge thing, way over 150 pages) and have people tell me "It's missing the ..." (where the missing item is the combat system, the link to Fed Commander, the entire operating system, or whatever). So what I need are two or three groups of people who are....

1. Familiar with SFB and/or FC.

2. Understand the general operations of the SFU.

3. Are "into" campaigns at various levels (from F&E level down to "border sector" level).

4. Are willing to spend twenty-plus hours over the next four-six weeks reviewing the document and telling me (and VBAM) what is missing, what is broken, and what could be done better.

5. Are preferably NOT familiar with other VBAM campaign books (so you don't just "assume" or "remember" something is there without checking).

Email me if you're interested. Put VBAM CAMPAIGN BOOK in the subject line. I assume you all know my Email address but it is Design@StarFleetGames.com if you have to look it up.
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Scoutdad · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:12 am Post subject:

We can't wait for the "official" campaign system!!!

Battlegroup Murfreesboro has already submitted a request to be a part of the playtest team.
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djdood · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:04 pm Post subject:

My little group just isn't stable or large enough to playtest something that involved yet. I'm looking forward to seeing the playtest results and product on the cart though.
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mjwest · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:09 am Post subject:

[This is not targeted at anyone here. This is based on a couple of posts Steve has made on the legacy BBS. I post this here merely for clarification.]

Please understand that this request is for active playtesting. If you do not have an active group with whom to playtest, or if you do not have the time to play the game multiple times, then please don't ask.

He is asking for playtesting, not reviewing. Playtesters only for this particular request.
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PallidaMors · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject:

Hi Mike,

This looks great, I sent you an email

Thanks,

Pete
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mjwest · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject:

To be clear, the email needs to go to Steve Cole, not myself.

The email address above (Design@...) is the one to use for Steve.
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dave · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:00 pm Post subject:

Realising that playtesting takes more than one person, and that even if it didn't I don't get in enough solitaire time at the moment to give it a good test, I will have to sit this one out.

Wolverin61 · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject:

Man, I wish my gaming friends weren't so busy and so far away, I'd be on it like white on rice!

It sounds good, hopefully it is.
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Steve Cole · Site Admin Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3821

We have all the playtest slots filled (and two groups on standby for the second round).
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PallidaMors · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:58 pm Post subject:

I Checked out the forum on the VBAM site, this looks like a great product!! I can hardly wait.....

PM
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review rules on the Federation Commander Campaign post, 123,000 views and growing

Steve Cole · Site Admin Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3821

MEMO TO FEDERATION ADMIRAL

It’s been a while since I had a serious chat with you guys.

As you know, a press release on 13 October delayed FEDERATION ADMIRAL and BRIEFING #3 to next year. This happened because I did not get enough work done on either product prior to the 10 October "decision point" and there was, simply put, no way that the product could have been done (well or badly) before the 16 November release date. Guys, it’s better to do it right and late than wrong and on time.

As you also know, the injury I suffered in the fall delayed work on PD20M-Klingons, which made the week of 11-18 October a rather busy one, leaving me no time to send you a memo about why the above decision was made. This was not a good thing; you deserved an explanation, not just a "by the way, I changed the schedule". I just did not have time to write a memo. PD20M-Klingons had already been rescheduled once, and to reschedule it a second time would push it to next year (and no, that still would not have meant getting Federation Admiral out this November).

Three things have delayed this project:

1. Other projects.

2. Federation Admiral won’t really work unless Briefing #3 is available at more or less the same time (or earlier). The massive amount of work that Briefing #2 required has made me nervous and scared about even trying to work on Briefing #3. This project has been reorganized to make it manageable. You eat an elephant one bite at a time, and I will do Briefing #3 one ship card at a time. I actually did one of them yesterday (October 21st) and one of them today (October 22nd). I also just got the needed memos from the FC staff to define what the ship cards are. That does not mean that the cards will be finished 72 days from now. That’s just doing the cards. Checking them takes at least that long, and usually twice as long.

3. The massive amount of work required to format an book that is several times as big as I thought it would be when the idea was first accepted and scheduled. (I suspect if someone had shown me the final manuscript before I wrote the contract that I would have just forgotten the whole idea.) I spent entire days formatting the second draft to the point I could actually print it out and read it, and I made so many marks and corrections on that draft that I’m just too terrified to even look at the more recent drafts. I’ll gather my courage in the near future. All joking aside, the point is that the project is bigger than the schedule allowed for, so it couldn't happen, so it didn't happen. It's now been rescheduled for a time period when it can be done and done right.

Here is the plan to get this project done. First, I have to finish Captain’s Log, which is regarded as the highest priority product line (due to its sales, mission, and status). Second, I have to finish F&E 2010 (which was also delayed) because we have too much money invested in countersheets to not do it as soon as possible. All during that process, expected to drag into January, I will continue to make progress on Briefing #3. Once F&E 2010 has gone on the printers, I will ask for the most recent draft of Federation Admiral. I will start through the draft with less distraction and more enthusiasm. If I run into things that require major systemic changes, I will send them back to be done. Knowing the author’s enthusiasm for the project, I have no doubt they will be done quickly.

I cannot promise that Federation Admiral and Briefing #3 will be the second and third products shipped during 2010. (F&E 2010 will almost certainly be first.) There are some small and simple projects (such as Boosters #92-#95, which are needed for Federation Admiral to work) which will proceed at their own pace and happen in their own time. They won’t delay Federation Admiral. Once I get beyond F&E 2010, only Federation Admiral can delay Federation Admiral.
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Wolverin61 · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the update. Still looking forward to FA!
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Paul B · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240

D'oh, was wondering when this was coming out.
I like the campaign systems that VBAM has put out and would be interested to try out a FC campaign using similar rules. The sooner this bad boy comes out the better.

Paul B · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 240

Any news on Federation Admiral????

mjwest · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:17 pm Post subject:

As Steve stated in his message above, nothing will happen with Federation Admiral until F&E 2010 is done. As F&E 2010 is not done yet, nothing has progressed on Federation Admiral.

That said, F&E 2010 should be completed very soon, and at that point Steve should hopefully have the time to address it. I am sure that when there is an update for Federation Admiral, Steve will post it.
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