Federation Commander

[Jean]

PRESS RELEASE
13 November 2013

ADB, Inc. and Mongoose Publishing have signed a contract modification which ensures that the three joint-venture product lines (A Call to Arms Star Fleet, Starline 2500, and Traveller Prime Directive) will continue and grow. This does not end the joint venture; it simply realigns the responsibilities to better match each company's core competencies to the best advantage. The two companies remain great friends.

We will ask you to be patient a little longer regarding elements of the new production plan. We could not begin to work out the details on some items until the contract modification was signed. (You're welcome to send your questions which will be answered in future press releases as we resolve each of them.)

ADB will assume primary design responsibility for A Call to Arms Star Fleet including the revisions to Book One and the entirely new future Books Two and Three. (Tony L. Thomas will manage the designs as developer; Matthew Sprange remains the designer of record.) ADB plans to sell these as both PDFs and print-on-demand books. The revisions to Book One will include adjusting the relative power of some weapons at various ranges, revising damage scores for some ships, creating a new way to handle seeking weapons, extending the range for transporters, changing compulsory movement, altering some special actions so they no longer preclude some other special actions, removing most of the crew quality checks, clarifying any confusing rules, and adding unobtrusive cross-indexes without resorting to formal rule numbers. ADB is committed to maintaining the existing ACTASF game system and improving it. ADB will be the only source for the purchase of new ACTASF books and PDFs. Mongoose will retain ownership and control of non-SFU versions of ACTA.


The Starline 2500 range will continue and expand. Mongoose will remain the primary designer of new ship models, but ADB will be responsible for production, marketing, sales, and quality control. ADB is committed to keeping the 2500s in production as long as someone buys them, and to adding new 2500s as long as enough players buy new ships. The stands will be changed and most resin ships will be replaced by metal ships. ADB has (with the signing of this deal) become the only source for 2500s. Mongoose will fulfill or cancel any back orders on file and any obligations to the Mongoose Infantry. The contract modification happened when Mongoose had just shifted production to a new facility, and until that facility is fully on line, ADB will be selling 2500s by mail order only (not through stores). We expect to do a major relaunch of the line in the first half of next year. This will include the missing Book One ships, several new ships, as well as changing the packaging and price structure.

Work will accelerate on the four Traveller Prime Directive books, which will be written, produced, and marketed by ADB in both print-on-demand and PDF formats. ADB will be the only source for the purchase of new books and PDFs. We expect to see the first book released in the spring of 2014 and one or two of the other books later during 2014.
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Business Manager/RPG Line Editor
Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

[lincolnlog]

Jean,

I have beening waiting since late spring to get replacements from Mongoose. Would ADB now be the POC for quality or missing item issues? I bought a D5W with no center warp engine, and a Fed Fleet box with a missing Ramius FFB.

I e-mailed Mongoose in Sept after Steve said production was back up and Matt assured me they had no stock.

Bob

[Valander]

This is great news, IMO. I really wanted ACTA:SF to kick off, but it seems there was just some gremlin in the works that kept holding it back. Hopefully this restructuring will give it a boost. At the very least, I'm very pleased to know the 2500s will continue to expand, as that's the main thing that got me into it, since I can use those ships for SFB as well.
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[Steve Cole]

Everyone please help me out here. This is the ACTASF topic, where we can discuss ADB's plans for a new edition of ACTASF. There is a separate 2500 topic. Please discuss 2500 matters in the other topic and leave this topic for ACTASF. I did repost some answers there.--Steve Cole.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Valander]

[djdood]

There is errata already published (in the two Fleet Update pdfs that Mongoose did, IIRC) that makes changes to the 1st edition book.

The press release at the top of the thread list some of the changes ADB intends to make, for the 2nd edition.

Regarding the pdf, if you own the 1st edition book, ADB decided yesterday to be awesome and cover Mongoose's promise.

[Valander]

[OrneryRooster]

This is great news.

My question for Steve is if ACTA:SF can incorporate more material from Star Fleet Battles rather than just from Federation Commander. I would love to be able to play large battles involving Heavy Carriers, Space Control Ships and Super Space Control Ships, for example. It would also be nice to see maulers in the game.

Now that the ACTA:SF game is being handled by ADB I can see good things in the works.
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The fox knows many tricks;
the hedgehog one good one.

-Archilochus

[Bolo_MK_XL]

[Steve Cole]

We can certainly take any part of SFB/SFU and put it into ACTASF if we want, either through Fleet Updates, Captain's Log, or Book 2/3/4/5.

I just don't want to add stuff that warps the game or causes massive headaches of record keeping.

Let me give you an example. Drones in ACTASF don't work right. They're basically just another direct-fire weapon, with power out of all proportion to their SFU value. I want to turn them into minis moving on the map over 3 turns (so you have time to get out of their way, and forcing you to move our of their way is sort of the point), but I want to keep the record keeping down-down-down. Now, in SFB or even in FC, you have to record the target. For ACTASF, we can dispense with that and let you pick a target when the drone mini gets within one-turn movement range. Second, SFB/FC track damage points on individual drones. I want to track drones; the bloody thing is alive or it's dead. Sure, we'll have drones moving 3 turns and in SFB/FC you have to record the launch turn/impulse and the number of hexes moved and no end of stuff (almost to the point of the serial numbers of the drone's primary components). In ACTASF, my theory (still not tested) is this. First turn, you move it out there toward the enemy. Second turn, if it's not going to hit anything, you move it again, and put a penny beside it. Third turn, you either move it to hit something or you remove it from the map. That's all the record keeping there is, just a penny.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Monty]

I love the smart-drone targeting idea to reduce record keeping.

Seems a natural fit for the technology and era.

[Steve Cole]

Well, the Mongoosers hated my drone idea, but it was only one of two ideas (and Tony has already rewritten my idea since he's in charge, not me).
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Sneaky Scot]

I really liked the way fighters were done in B5: ACTA. If you haven't played it, they were broken down into flights of 6 and given their own weapon characteristics for the flight. Any hit would destroy the entire flight, but being fighters, they got to dodge unless the weapon had certain characteristics (anti-fighter or accurate from memory as I haven't got my rules with me). That required no record keeping at all. However, I appreciate that might not work particularly well with SFB / FC fighters as an F-18 (or whatever) seems to be much tougher than a Star Fury in B5.
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Nothing is quite as persuasive as a disruptor pistol on slow burn and a rotisserie......

[Scoutdad]

I have a few fighter ideas... so those will come in time.

Kzinti TAAS = good.
Hydran Stingers... crewed only by redshirts. even if the enemy misses, the pilots still die.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Jean]

TONY!!!!!
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Business Manager/RPG Line Editor
Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.