F&E compatible to Federation Commander

[Tolwyn]

Hello,

I just wanted ask if Federation Commander is compatible to the Federation and Empire game.

Thank you in advance.

[Scoutdad]

You'll need to be a bit more specific in your question.

Federation and Empire is a strategic level game spanning 18 years of warfare, 7 empires, and 1000's and 1000's of ships, and 1000's upon 1000's of battles.

Each battle an contain as few as 2 ships (one on each side) or as many as 200+ on each side. The game also includes 100s of specialized ships that are not in Fed Comm (i.e., maulers, stasis ships, scouts, carriers, tugs, theater transports, etc.)

But, OTOH - there are many ships that are represented in Federation Commander. In this respect, while not necessarily compatable - they do have the same lineage and can be considered cousins.

[Steve Cole]

They come from a common background.

Are they compatible in that you could play out F&E battles in FC? Sure, but only if you happen to have a battle that only includes ships which are in both games. F&E has zillions of variants and ships, all of which are in SFB but less than 200 of which are in FC. Also, FC does not have rules for fighters, scouts, carriers, gunboats, drone bombardment, electronic warfare, and so many other things. Some of those have been done in draft form for Borders of Madness.

[Tolwyn]

Oh, ok, more complex then I thought.

How is then spacecombat handeled? Is it handeled in a more abstract way or is every battle thought in a similar manner like SFB with both sides fighting on a hex map with all ships?

[mjwest]

Heh. F&E is more than complex enough without resorting to that type of combat resolution. It is much more abstract.

Each ship is give an offense and defensive number. The offensive values of a fleet are added together, and an "intensity" rating is chosen. A die is rolled resulting in a number of defensive factors that must be removed from the enemy fleet.

That is the 10,000 ft. view. There are, of course, rules on how a fleet can be formed, how to actually choose the "intensity" rating, how the defensive factors can/must be taken, how to end combat (short of one side dies), how to factor in EW, etc.

[Scoutdad]

Oh, ok, more complex then I thought.

How is then spacecombat handeled? Is it handeled in a more abstract way or is every battle thought in a similar manner like SFB with both sides fighting on a hex map with all ships?

It's much more abstract. roughly;
Each player selects a flagship. Flagships have a Commnad Rating (the max number of ships they can command)
Each player (secretly and simultaneoualy) creates a battle line (up to the max number of ships allowed) from the ships in his fleet. Each ship has an Offensive and a Defensive Rating. CAs for example typically have a Combat rating of 8.
Once the battle line is created, total the ComPot (Combat Potential = total aggregate Offensive Rating of all ships in the battle line).
Each player selects a BIR (Battle Intensity Rating = ranging from 1 to 4, representing how much effort is applied to winning this battle. Higher BIR's generate more damage - to both sides)
Each player rolls a die and adds the combined BIR for a number between 2 and 14 then consults the CRT (Combat Results Chart). Each point generates 2.5 % of your ComPot as damage.
The damage is applied to the ships in the battle line to either cripple of kill them.
One or both players retreats, or the battle hex continues. If fighting continues - damaged ships can be removed from combat and other units from reserves are brought in to replace them.

[Scoutdad]

Of course lots of other things factor into it...

Variable Battle Intensity ratings...
Commnad Points (which can allow additional ships to be used in key battles)
Bases / Planetary defense units
Fighters
Admirals with varying abilities
Electronic Warfare from scouts and scout-like units
Fighters
Fast Patrol Ships
Support Echelons
Drone Bombardment
Formation Bonuses
Carrier Groups
Battle Groups
Maulers
Directed Damage


As Mike said, complex enough wthout attempting to resort to SFB style battles at each battle location.

[Dal Downing]

Bad Scoutdaddy... bad, bad boy. You are suppose to smile and use short phrases and little words to draw potential F&E Players into the Gravitational Pull of the Black Hole that is F&E... If they look mildly horriffied and run away you let them go. If they are still there, keep dribbling bits of information like candy before them. Not, I might say, unlike a certain Hag once did to a couple of sweet and innocent German Childern in a fable I once read about. Once you are are sure you have them so entranced and horrified that they can not run away, only then do you reveal all that whoesome goodness that is F&E.

PS: Important Safety Tip: Make sure, and I can NOT stress this enough, make absoluet certian that there are no open Ovens or large Pots of Boiling Water nearby when you do finally tell them.

[LordLobo]

F&E is pretty detailed, yet in execution, is fairly quick and fun to play, if I recall correctly It's been at least 10 years since I played it.

FC is making me want to buy it again though...

[Steve Cole]

F&E is actually a simple game as wargames go, but there is a LOT of it, and you're doing a whole freaking lot of simple things every turn. Plus, you have to make some simple decisions (about budgeting) which will tend to blow up in your face if not given proper consideration.

[Scoutdad]

IMHO, F&E is quite simple. In fact, we had Plasmaboy playing in our campaigns with us when he was 10/ 11 years old. Now he's 18 1/2 and on a plane to Fort Huachuca as I type this.

What's the lesson to be learned... being able to excel in Steve's favorite wargame leads one to a career in Military Intelligence.

Seriously though, Steve is correct. As far as wargames go, F&E is quite simple. Everything you do is simple in concept and simple in execution... you just do it all a lot of times each turn. And you have to think a lot of things though beforehand as decisions made in the early stages of the game have a large impact on actions and results late in the game.

[Sweeper]

I can attest to that. Combat is pretty much selecting your Flagship, then selecting the ships of the line up to the Flag's Command rating, add various support units like Ftr squadrons and Scouts, add up the combat potential, and go at it.

Damage is fairly simple too, it just has several steps to it.

I have found that F&E is a lot more aproachable if you avoid the grand campaign and go for sector and front battles. A lot less intimidating to the curious.

[Scoutdad]

Actually, I taught Plasmabvoy to play using the 4 Powers War scenario.
It's a short scenario, using early (read as pre-General War) Hydrans, Lyrans, Kzinti and Klingons.
It still involves all the strategic plannig of hte GW, but since it's set in an earlier time frame - there are no "difficult to use" units or rules. No PFs, very few fighters, no fast ships, no X-ships, no cloaked Romulans, no Tholians and their webs, etc.
This makes it extremely easy to teach, and then when you move up to the Grand Campaign... all you're doing is learning a few new rules/units. And those are introduced in a staggered format, so you don't even have to learn X-tech and PF rules when you first start the General War.