Starting an training academy for FC at my FLGS

[pipboy101]

I started work on my "Academy" for new players last weekend. Was able to teach someone with no gaming experence at all the basics of power regulation, movement and basic shooting in under two hours. They are now able to put of a good fight against an experenced player.

The "Academy" starts with three training missions all fleet scale flying an D7 due to its good weapons, forgiving power curve and excellent movement.

The first mission is to take down a freighter. It teaches basic power allocation and is more about learning about movement.

The second mission is to take down a light Orion ship. Tougher than the freighter but still easy. It teaches weapon choices, adavanced movement planning and basic shield maintance.

The thrid mission is against and Fed New Light Cruiser. This introduces drones, tractor beams, raids and repairing.

The final mission of the acadamey will be a multiplayer mission to teach fleet control and tactics. It is two academy player controlled D7s and a second player controlling a D6 (assisting) vs a Planet Killer controlled by the Academy teacher.

There is a learning curve but it should be easy enough from mission to mission so the player can easily learn the basics in a few hours. I am setting it up like this so a new player just learning the rules do not get destroyed by player just looking for an easy win which I have seen alot around here.

Then, when the players have the rules down we will start a learning mini-campaign where as the missions progress they will be introduced into new races, tactics and missions that will force then to think outside the box to achieve three mission objectives using different systems of their starship. By the time they get to the end of the campaign they should have a great grasp of the rules and an idea of which race they want to play. The academy can be done with any race but I am starting with a Klingon D7 since it is very stright forward.

So do you think this will help people get into the game?

[Mr_Tricorder]

I think that's a great approach to teaching the game. It reminds me of the tutorial missions in the old Starfleet Command computer games.

[pipboy101]

I think that's a great approach to teaching the game. It reminds me of the tutorial missions in the old Starfleet Command computer games.

That kind of what I am shooting for. I should have two people other than myself that will be able to run the academy missions and campaign so it will not just be one person and play style they are learning from. Hoping it will be a much more well rounded learning then just jumping into the deep end and hope.

[Kang]

What a great idea. I'm sure there's a medal they give for this sort of thing...

[pipboy101]

This weekend will be the first full test of my "academy" training set up. Today, the main parts of the first three missions will be placed into a word file in order for proof reading before this Sunday's first dice rolls. I will post some pictures and a break down on how things go. Plus when I have all the training material ready I will post here for everyone.

So far last Saturday I tried out the first three missions on a person that has zero Tabletop gaming experence. He was 62 years old and interested in getting into the game. He had a good grasp of movement and the basic shooting mechanic by the end of the second mission. By the middle of the third he fell right into saber dancing with his D7 without even be shown it. Plus his power allocation/usage and shield managment were top notch. So it seems that the slow teaching of rules worked for him and I hope it works for most people. Friday will be another run through with one of the owners of my FLGS so he can run it when I am not there.

[pipboy101]

Here is the rough draft of the first training mission in our Academy. C&C please.

Federation Commander Academy

Starship Training Simulator Mission One: Scan and disable or destroy the freighter.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn how to read the Federation Commander SSD
2. Learn how to allocate energy to engines.
3. Learn how to move and maneuver across the board.
4. Learn how to accelerate and decelerate during the sub-pulses.
5. Learn how to use labs by scanning the freighter.
6. Learn the firing angles of the weapons aboard the starship.
7. Learn how to allocate power to weapons and engage the enemy.

Mission Objectives:
1. Player: Close with the freighter in order to scan the freighter with onboard labs. Once scanned, engage the freighter by disabling or destroying the freighter before it can escape by exiting your board edge.
2. Instructor: The freighter must escape by exiting the map on the trainee

Starship Training Mission One Resources and Location:

Starships
1. Player: Klingon D7 (Fleet Scale)
2. Instructor: Small Freighter(Fleet Scale)
a. Special instructions: The freighter will move no faster than speed 16 and will not utilize any HETs. The freighter may return fire and maneuver to avoid being disabled or destroyed. The freighter will be disabled once all power boxes are marked.

3. Map
a. Hex Map boards: If using map boards then use the large hex map boards. The map will be two boards in height and three across.
b. Star field Felt Hex Map: No instructions.
c. Starting Locations
1. Player: The starting location will be 4 hexes in from the player
2. Instructor: The starting location will be 4 hexes in from the instructor board edge facing E and 4 hexes to the A or D direction.

Instructor Briefing and Checklist:
Turn 1 Impulse 1
1. Explain the SSD 2. Explain power in relation to power boxes. 3. Explain speeds and power use 4. Walkthrough of first impulse movement

Turn 1 Impulse 2
1. Explain turning 2. Explain sideslip 3. Explain acceleration, decelerations and emergency stop

Turn 1 Impulse 3
1. Explain Lab use 2. Explain weapons and power usage 3. Walkthrough first combat and damage chart

[storeylf]

I like this sort of way of teaching people if they are the totally new type of player.

You might want to have a look at this thread as well, I was proposing something not disimilar to you.

[Magnum357]

Yes, I like this alot. I always though SFC1 had the best style of all of the SFC titles, mostly because the campaign and academy setup for it was really neat. This kinda reminds me of the same thing. You should write a proposal to Steve on this.

P.S. The only thing I "didn't" like in SFC1 was the supernova explosions. I always thought that was overkill.

[Mr_Tricorder]

P.S. The only thing I "didn't" like in SFC1 was the supernova explosions. I always thought that was overkill.

I have to agree, although it was very satisfying to see that beautiful explosion on your screen after you deal the final blow. The real problem was that it was so distracting when when you were still fighting other enemy ships.

[Mike]

Go to the thread Training Scenarios for Two or More Players and you'll find a scenario called Buoy Data. It might be something you're looking for.

[Captain Nebula]

I know this thread was a couple of months ago, but I wanted to throw this up for reference just in case someone is looking for ideas.

There are several 'training' scenarios on this web page below. I'm not sure if the person who made them is on this board or not.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~mikebennett/scenarios.html