Federation Commander

Is Hydran Attack comming out before or after War & Peace?

As of Seve's last post (just 2 days ago), he stated that both products were slated for 2009 - but a decision as to order had not been made.

Personally, I'm hoping for War and Peace first [along with the possibility for a rev 5 rulebook at Origins], but I suspect that Hydran Attack will be first.

If you follow Steve's "my day" blog on the BBS, you'll see that he has already submitted several of the ship cards for FC:HA to the staff for proofing. Also, this product requires only a few pages other that the ship cards... i.e., Chapters 7 (Ship Descriptions) and Chapter 8 (scenarios). War and Peace on the other hand will require significantly more "Development" time as it will have at least 1 new race (Inter-Stellar Concordium, aka ISC) and as many as 3 new races (Vudar and/or Andromedans are being considered in addition to the ISC). This means new rules, additional playtesting, etc.

Scoutdad wrote: he has already submitted several of the ship cards for FC:HA to the staff for proofing.

Tony, be sure and check the Phaser-G firing arcs on them there frigates....

Gee Whiz... you make one little mistake and nobody ever forgets...

So far, I have done 11+1/2 out of 19 ships.

I try to do one every week.

My tracking system scores "progress" as half a ship, "met goal" as doing one ship.

Leanna is mumbling that she wants to push War & Peace into 2010 and do the four special boosters instead.

Well, I think that War and Peace needs to be well playtested.

I know that there are still lots of ideas on the PPDs, so that will likely need a new playtest rule so it can be properly tested.

The Vudar still need testing. I have done some testing myself, and I have to admit that the IPGs are terribly unsatisfying. Just their very presence influences enemy actions, but I can see where they will be used so seldom that they feel extraneous.

And, we haven't even seen the Andromedan rules yet. Even besides their rules, the whole way they will be presented needs to be worked on. Eventually, some rules and ships (either Conquistador/Cobra, or Intruder/Mamba) will need to be created and playtested.

So, there is just a lot of work that needs to be done to make War & Peace work right. I don't know if that can all be done by Origins.

Steve Cole wrote:Leanna is mumbling that she wants to push War & Peace into 2010 and do the four special boosters instead.

I've really been waiting on FC:W&P as with the Fleet-scale, one can easily play a full eschelon now in a manageable amount of time.

mjwest wrote:The Vudar still need testing. I have done some testing myself, and I have to admit that the IPGs are terribly unsatisfying. Just their very presence influences enemy actions, but I can see where they will be used so seldom that they feel extraneous.

I have played the Vudar now about 10 times. I used the IPG maybe twice, once on some drones that werent even targeted on me, just to be annoying and say I used it.

most of the time drone guys just huck 1 at a time so my IPG is useless.

pneumonic81 wrote:

mjwest wrote:The Vudar still need testing. I have done some testing myself, and I have to admit that the IPGs are terribly unsatisfying. Just their very presence influences enemy actions, but I can see where they will be used so seldom that they feel extraneous.

I have played the Vudar now about 10 times. I used the IPG maybe twice, once on some drones that werent even targeted on me, just to be annoying and say I used it.

most of the time drone guys just huck 1 at a time so my IPG is useless.

I just want to note that forcing your opponent to use a different tactic means that the IPGs are not useless. Your opponent is being forced to break up his drone attack to prevent you from maximizing your IPG. As a result, the IPG is not useless, and is, to a small extent, actually working.

It is, however, completely unsatisfying because you don't get to actively use it. It is just a threat, not an active participant.

EDIT: But this is completely the wrong place for this. Let's carry this discussion over elsewhere. The larger point remains, however: War & Peace is going to require a lot of playtesting, which may not be finished by Origins 2009.

mjwest wrote: The larger point remains, however: War & Peace is going to require a lot of playtesting, which may not be finished by Origins 2009.

Nevertheless, I also would like to see a release for W&P sometime in 2009.

mjwest wrote:Well, I think that War and Peace needs to be well playtested.

I know that there are still lots of ideas on the PPDs, so that will likely need a new playtest rule so it can be properly tested.

The Vudar still need testing. I have done some testing myself, and I have to admit that the IPGs are terribly unsatisfying. Just their very presence influences enemy actions, but I can see where they will be used so seldom that they feel extraneous.

And, we haven't even seen the Andromedan rules yet. Even besides their rules, the whole way they will be presented needs to be worked on. Eventually, some rules and ships (either Conquistador/Cobra, or Intruder/Mamba) will need to be created and playtested.

So, there is just a lot of work that needs to be done to make War & Peace work right. I don't know if that can all be done by Origins.

As much as I'd like to have War and Peace... now! I agree with Mike. There is a lot of new information that'll need to be thoroughly playtested. I'd rather have Hydran Attack now, plus Leanna's bonus boosters and then have W&P done right in 2010.

I agree with the suggestion of doing a combination of the Conquistador and Cobra for the purposes of playtesting Andro rules - they are a common historical pairing, and would cover all of the bases for FC needs.


I would be sad to see the Concordium pushed back another year, however - but I would rather they be released alongside the Andromedans than not.

I will do whatever it takes to help have W&P come out in 2009
I think that there is too much anticipation and interest/assistance out there to delay that product-unless absolutely necessary. Is it possible to wait a bit longer to see where SVC stands on finishing it on time? I must admit that I was really looking forward to using those ISC ships in fedcom, sooner, rather than later. But, if SVC does decide to delay, I am sure that it will result in an even better product.

FedComm will get plenty of product in 2009, with or without War & Peace.

The "schedule" includes

Briefing #2 the middle years
The VBAM campaign book
Another briefing with the ships the VBAM needs for their campaign book
One or two Borders of Madness books
Hydran Attack
Booster 25
Booster 26
Booster 27
Squadron Box 25
Squadron Box 26
Squadron Box 27
Border Box 9
Booster 91
Squadron Box 91
Booster 92
Squadron Box 92

Adding War & Peace
Booster 28
Booster 29
Booster 30
Squadron Box 28
Squadron Box 29
Squadron Box 30
Border Box 10
Might be a bridge too far.

I might comment that it is also possible we would push Hydran attack to next year and do W&P this year, but that leaves less time to get the rules for the Andros, Vudar, and ISC "just right".