Federation Commander

[scrummy]

i found this quote from Mr Cole on the scenerio line on the legacy board


'Stupid special rules, dumb ship selections, silly scenario concepts, failure to have any knowledge of the background, all contribute to my angst and my hatred of putting up with scenario submissions'


with respect - does that mean he still wants people to send scenerios in?

[Scoutdad]

Yes... he still wants scenario submissions. He'd just like it if the aforementioned items were either left out or thought about (and then re thought about) prior to submitting them.

Steve doesn't have the time to write all the scenarios for all the products so he does depend on us to do the grunt work for him. But we all (myself included), tend to ignore the Fed Comm Scenario Outline and Guide when we write scenarios.

Skipping these itmes (I always forget the FC ship set-up rules and fall back on the old SFB style... The Fed CA starts in hex 1510 and the Klingon D7 starts in hex 2722...) means that more of SVC's valuable design time goes into fixing silly mistakes that we should not have made in the first place.

One of these days, I hope to get a scenario submitted that requires no editing at all!
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Kang]

Well, Scrummy, I just submitted two over the last month, and was not shot down in flames for it

So I guess it's fine
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[mjwest]

As 'dad points out, yes, ADB definitely wants scenarios. But they also want well-written, well-thought out, interesting scenarios.

Some key points I have had driven into my head over the years:
- Have some special rules. If it is just X points of one side with X points of another side, why write it up? Do something to make this more than just X fights Y.
- Know your SFU. If you want Hydrans and Romulans to fight, make sure you give a good reason. Know who normally fights who.
- Know your astrography. Make sure that when Feds and Klingons fight the Feds approach from the "right" and Klingons from the "left". (Unless the Klingon is running from a deep raid, then you can switch it up.) Make sure that the Kzintis approach from the "top", the Klingons from the "bottom", and the Lyrans from the "left".
- Make the fight winnable for either side. If the fight is supposed to be a white-wash (e.g. The Mighty Hood Goes Down) at least make sure the guy who is gonna die has an achievable goal (like live X turns).
- Follow the guidelines. They are published for a reason. Make sure they are followed when creating the scenario.
- Remember this is Federation Commander. Nothing ruins a taunt setup requiring working around a ship's two transporters to pick up the 10 stranded scientists like realizing you can just land the stupid ship. Or realizing you can win the scenario by just leaving instead of fighting. Be sure to think through as many possibilities as you can.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Steve Cole]

Yes, I want scenarios, but I want scenarios that (1) follow the provided guidelines and (2) aren't stupid or otherwise contain deal killers (Stupid special rules, dumb ship selections, silly scenario concepts, failure to have any knowledge of the background). If you're sending THAT kind of scenario, please don't. If you're sending good scenarios, please do. The one for Comm-56 went into the issue with only one minor change (race to empire) because the writer LEARNED how to do it RIGHT.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Kang]

I think I get the distinction. There are 'Special Rules', and they are fine; and there are 'Stupid Special Rules', which are not.

Let's just hope that those making submissions land on the right side of the line - which may well be quite fine. My scenarios in particular seem to have lots of Special Rules. That's what makes them special. But hopefully not painfully so.....
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