Federation Commander

Steve Cole wrote:Since FC doesn't have early years, it's a good guess that ancient enemies would be "modern" (general war issue) ships.

We might delay AE and do carriers, or maulers, or gunboats, or tugs.

I want 'em all!!! And then I want minis to go with them!!!!!

junior wrote:

DKeith2011 wrote:No X-Ships, Simulators or Omega?

Technically, Paravians are Omega.

Not to be pendantic, but, no, they are not.

The only published Paravians are in Module Y1 and SSJ#2(CL28). Therefore, the Paravians are purely Alpha.

Now, while there were plans to include the Paravians in Omega, they were never executed. In fact, the Bruce Graw article in CL36 also pretty much says they hadn't even figured out what they were really going to do with them.

They're still on the map, as there's a "Paravian Enclave" on at least one of the published maps of the Omega Sector.

Whether we'll see their ships and what those ships might look like is, as you point out, anyone's guess.

Let's let ADB figure out if the even want to to do Omega Commander, (as good a name as any, I guess ), before anything else happens. 'sides, they're working on the Alpha Octant.

An update, not as a PDF this time....<grin>

This item: Federation Commander: Distant Kingdoms, SKU 4106, $34.95, Is going to be delayed a few days, maybe two weeks. The die cutter is scheduled to deliver the counters tomorrow but has (by the reports this morning) not even started, and is growling that he wants major changes done to what has been sent to him. I may have to drive to Dallas and stand there while he does these things, or switch to another die cutter (there are at least two more in Dallas). At least this print run includes the next four products so those won't get delayed by this same problem. As soon as the die cutter commits to a new schedule, I will let you know a release date.

This item: Prime Directive d20M (Modern), SKU8721, $24.95
is also going to be delayed, perhaps by the same time as FCDK, perhaps longer, but probably not beyond mid-April. The guy who did the conversion from d20 to d20M is currently doing it over to correct some glitches. We have decided to have someone other than Steve Cole do the proofreading and page layout, which is good (proofreader Jean Sexton and page layout guy Mike Sparks have a lot more time than I do and a lot fewer other projects) but is also bad as it took them a couple of weeks to get the hang of how the system and software works. That's behind us now, and they are churning out new pages every day, but there are 200 or so pages to churn out, and some are easier than others to change. When I have a new release date for FCDK, i will confer with Jean and Mike to see if they can meet it or if they will release this with the April batch.

Since Mike and Jean are now going to be doing all of our RPGs, these two products: Prime Directive: Federation (d20), SKU 8702, $24.95 and GURPS Federation, SKU 8402, $24.95 will be done after they finish Prime Directive d20M modern, which means they will probably appear in May and June. Since these are about 90% the same text, once we get the d20 one finished, the GURPS one only has to wait for Steve Jackson to read it and say "ok".

And finally, this item: SELTORIAN FLEET BOX, SKU 1500, $39.95 won't be coming out. It turned out to be identical to 4313 Squadron Box 13 and there just wasn't any point in having two identical products under two different names, two different stock numbers, and two different price points.

Steve Cole wrote:An update, not as a PDF this time....<grin>

This item: Federation Commander: Distant Kingdoms, SKU 4106, $34.95, Is going to be delayed a few days, maybe two weeks. The die cutter is scheduled to deliver the counters tomorrow but has (by the reports this morning) not even started, and is growling that he wants major changes done to what has been sent to him.

Just curious, is there any idea when Distant Kingdoms will be available?

SVC just posted on the Legacy BBS that the rulebook won't be printed until May 1 at the earliest. He said he'd provide more information on this later on.

Given earlier statements, I'm guessing that the Stinger balance is still causing issues. If so, then it's probably for the best that the book is being delayed. While I'd like to see it out, I'd also prefer that the Stingers are done properly on the first go-round instead of being unbalanced (either for or against the Stingers) until some fix can be implemented at an unknown later date.

Actually, based on what's been getting posted on the legacy board, it's the die-cutting problem that dragged things out.

junior wrote:Given earlier statements, I'm guessing that the Stinger balance is still causing issues. If so, then it's probably for the best that the book is being delayed. While I'd like to see it out, I'd also prefer that the Stingers are done properly on the first go-round instead of being unbalanced (either for or against the Stingers) until some fix can be implemented at an unknown later date.

I'm in that camp too. Though I am anxious to see more races added to FC, I don't want to see the FC errata file grow exponentially and make a Rev-5 rulebook a must do ASAP.

djdood wrote:Actually, based on what's been getting posted on the legacy board, it's the die-cutting problem that dragged things out.

Could be. After reviewing what SVC wrote, he only said that the rulebook would be published on May 1. He didn't explain why (though he mentioned there would be more info tomorrow).

I'm in the die-cutter camp with Will and OG...
SVC has stated several times that his current (or maybe that's ex die cutter?) die cutter doesn't want to do the ADB counters any longer. He's been talking to a couple of others, but they are more expensive and need the master sheets in some type of different format. That's been slowing things down for a couple of weeks.

It's got nothing to do with stingers, and everything to do with die cutting.

The die cutter, already 4 weeks late, now says he will be ready for me to stand there in his plant in Dallas and check the die cutting on Monday the 21st when I will be at GTS in Las Vegas. So I cannot go to his plant to check the die cutting before the 29th.

As for Stingers, we're still getting the same "Stingers break the game" reports from the guys who said that the first time and still getting the same "no they don't" from the guys who said that the first time, without enough data to convince either side that the other is right. Current plan is for Petrick and me to define a specific playtest scenario and have both sides test it and post their reports and let each side nit-pick the other's tactics.

junior wrote:They're still on the map, as there's a "Paravian Enclave" on at least one of the published maps of the Omega Sector.

Whether we'll see their ships and what those ships might look like is, as you point out, anyone's guess.

More than that - in the Seventh Cycle, the era immediately after the end of the Andromedan and Souldra Invasions, the Paravians expand considerably, becoming a significant player in their own right...

...and sowing the seeds for their Jihad, which is set to break out in the Eighth Cycle (which has yet to be published in detail) and cause some trouble for their neighbours, old and new!



I would still like to see at least one or two ships from one or more of the races in the Omega books which would have cause to encounter races from more distant parts of the Star Fleet Universe, such as the Iridani, Bolosco, Souldra and Loriyill - that way the ships could be used in FC without having to wait for the Omega Octant to be fleshed-out as a setting in the game system.


Oh, and speaking of Andromedans - is the option of seeing them added to War and Peace still open, or have they been dismissed?

(As an aside, W&P would be a great place to include a Spectre CA as a 'monster' ship, in my personal opinion - since the Souldra fought the Andromedans in Omega, and the ISC could easily be fooled into thinking that the crystalline vessel was some form of 'deep space life form'!)

Nerroth wrote:I would still like to see at least one or two ships from one or more of the races in the Omega books which would have cause to encounter races from more distant parts of the Star Fleet Universe, such as the Iridani, Bolosco, Souldra and Loriyill - that way the ships could be used in FC without having to wait for the Omega Octant to be fleshed-out as a setting in the game system.

At this point, probably the best way to do this is for you (or you to convince someone else) to chose one race (say the Iridani) and two-four ships, translate the Omega rules for use in FC, and submit it as a Captain's Log article.

Oh, and speaking of Andromedans - is the option of seeing them added to War and Peace still open, or have they been dismissed?

The last time I remember seeing it referenced, including the Andromedans was the plan of record. Steve liked the FC rules someone (I forget who) worked up for the Andros. This is NOT a promise or anything, and could change multiple times, and I could be flat out wrong. But that is my current understanding.

Mike, I think it was Loren Knight who submitted those Andro rules... but I could be mistaken.