Early Years Federation Commander

[mjwest]

Playtest ... Paytest ... However you want to phrase it. Regardless, it was openly stated that the point of that ePack was to gauge interest in the Early Years for FC. If only three people bought it (Paul, Gary, and me), then it would be a considered a sales failure, and that would be that. But, when one of those three says from the start that they weren't going to buy it, then, really, what's the point?

Unless the ePack sales blew ADB's doors off, print product was never an option. Again, this was stated up front. It just wasn't going to happen. The real test was to determine if PDF sales would justify the effort to make more PDF products. It was never really to test for print sales.

[Paul B]

If the fortunes of a product are determined by a single person's opinion I suggest it's perhaps a bit too reactionary. The number of people who post to a forum is always the minority and the true test of whether a product should be created should be based on previous sales I would think.

And for early years, if a print product on the nature of klingon attack was never considered then one must ask what is in the consideration? Fighters attack? And what else?

SFU has 30 years of history so I'm a bit perplexed when it has exhausted it's wealth of ships in some 13 24-ship products. Or perhaps in sfb history those are the only things which really sold.

At one time there was talk of Kzinti and Gorn attack but those evidently got axed. Lmc And omega both have playtest books out but is a print product ala KA in the cards? Or is that a pipe dream.

As a player /collector it would be good to know what there is to look forward to. What core products ala Klingon Attack might we see in the future? Is anything outside of Alpha a real possibility? What might see development as a KA style products, what might see development as a briefing style product (past FA and Briefing #3, any plans?) and what is likely to be released as digital-only products?

Now those aren't questions that necessarily have answers but I would suggest that those are questions that a lot of remaining players would be interested in.

[Steve Cole]

It wasn't a single person's opinion.

It was the PRIMARY person's opinion.

It was ONE THIRD of the stated audience opinion.

To be sure, we COULD do a print booster pack or two. I mean, ten ships are in the file, the rules were in captains log, the design work is more or less zero, and I like zero-work design projects. Chipping in two more ships or even four more isn't impossible.

I could have an EY PDF pack uploaded next week. (It could be uploaded TODAY but Jean has two uploads scheduled for this week and doesn't want to upload anything else this week.)

The problem is if you want real cards there is a minimum print run, and I'm seriously dubious that you can meet it. The printing bill for that minimum run might be about .... hmm.... not unreasonable. Let me look into how close we might be to a product. The problem with an attack pack is COUNTERS which would not be available until May 2016 and would make the project so expensive you would never convince ADB to pay to print it. If we did it as two or three six-ship boosters.... maybe.

I'm about to be out of the office but I will ask the card printer for a quote. Sometime Monday somebody might ask me where that went. BUT understand that if it does look doable you're not going to have it Tuesday. It will take at least three months to get cover art and process it through the wholesalers. If we go mail order only it would still take two weeks.

And Leanna has to approve spending the money. Sure, the printing bill isn't THAT much but the way Leanna has kept us out of trouble is to not let me spend a dollar without proving where we're going to get a dollar and change back. Spending $500 to launch a new product is peanuts, but spending $500 to get $30 in sales is dumb. I know that if five EY fans want to each write a $100 check to cover the printing bill (and get paid back dollar every time we sell a pack) we could get instant approval from her. (Well, maybe not, she hates that kind of accounting.) To get it done as an attack pack with counters those five fan sponsorship checks would be maybe $500 each.

[Nerroth]

If it were possible to put the current crop of Ship Cards into a POD playtest pack, it may be an option to advise would-be playtesters to consider ordering the Module Y1 countersheet as a spare part.

At the very least, it might serve as an interim measure, akin to how things are at present for the Omega and LMC projects. Plus most, if not all, of the playtest cards are on a single sheet (the Hydran YCC previewed in Communique #44 is on the Y2 countersheet, but one could use an equivalent counter from the Y1 sheet as a stand-in) - as opposed to FC Omega, were the five playtest factions were pulled from separate SFB modules.

And if it turned out that putting dedicated counters onto the 2016 countersheet run proved non-viable, there would still be an option out there (for 1/2" counters, at least).

[Paul B]

Well it's cool to know that ADB listens to its fans.
But I think a more important consideration might be are the Module Y products good sellers? There are three of the books after all so they must have had some success with the SFB players.

I would think that a EY product for FC, whether Briefing style or digital only or best of all, printed ship cards, would have comparable success.

And personally as a general note I would prefer PDF-boosters which consolidated ships from different sources, even communiques, and provide "new material" rather than those which repackage ships from a single product. Though if those ships are drawn from CLs which havent yet been made digital I suppose it could impact their sales but to what extent I don't know.

Personally I prefer printed to digital in all circumstances and have only bought digital products when printed was unavailable, such as the LMC and Omega playtest packs.

[Kohanavich]

There was anearly years play test pack? Never heard about it. Would buy it and play it.

[Nerroth]

No such pack yet exists, but the components needed to make one viable are spread across a number of pre-existing products (which would make it relatively straightforward to assemble one).

[Steve Cole]

Correct, no such pack exists, but the ships and rules were in Captain's Log #39 which is available in print and PDF.

[Steve Cole]

FED COMMNDER EARLY YEARS: Ok, I got a print quote, and here's the deal.

We're going to put this on this forum, the BBS, and Facebook. We need to see 20 people say they will buy it by mail order from ADB (it will not be in your store). Then we will print a minimum mail order run and see if those 20 people and a few more actually buy it. THEN we'll talk.

The $9.95 pack will have six early years ships and a sheet of rules for the Early Years. (Figure Fed, Klingon, Kzinti, Lyran, and two Hydrans.)

These are hard copy full color laminated cards, but the product will be in a baggie and will not have a cover. Again, it will be mail order only and not available through stores. Call it a sales experiment if you want.

[Paul B]

I'll buy it.
If only PDF I'd get one, if it were print copy I'd get two.

[Nerroth]

I'll get a mail order copy also.

[mjwest]

I'll buy it, too.

There's the expected three. Let's see how far past that we can go.

EDIT: To be specific, I will buy either that is made. I would prefer print, but will take PDF if that is what is made.

[Sebastian380]

I'll buy a PDF copy. I'd like a hard copy but I need to bulk my orders from ADB to avoid crazy shipping costs.

[Kohanavich]

I'm game. Will await posts on social media and will help promote.

[ncrcalamine]

I'll buy it. Own all FC stuff but battleships (Don't like big Unmaneuverable targets).

Nicole