Federation Commander

I subscribe to the Tabletop Gaming News RSS feed and recently came across this article. However, coming to the starfleetgames.com website I cannot find anything about it. Can somebody fill me in on what exactly is Galactic Conquest? If it is a real product can somebody point me to a product page? Any help would be most appreciated

Go HERE.

In a nutshell, GC is a campaign system for Star Fleet Battles... but then again it isn't.

GC uses the Empires and ships of the Star Fleet Universe and access to some of the SFB modules is almost required (Module G2 for instance, which contains the BPVs of all of ships as well as Year in Service).

In the current game I'm in [U4], we have 22 player empires in a double blind map. [Only the GM knows where everyone is located.] As the Hydran Supreme Commander, I know only what I've explored. The rest of the map is a blank - I don't know who is where nor do I know what there fleet strength is.

I currently have several fleets exploring the hexes surrounding my small empire, while my scout forces are surveying likely hexes - looking for potential colony sites and resources to exploit.

Like the Hydrans, each race starts off with a set technology level (and one or two racially specific special abilities). After that, each player decides where to explore, what technologies to research, what units to build, who to ally with, and who to go to war with.

Combat is abstracted out with each unit being assigned an attack value and a defense value. When you enter into combat, you (as the fleet admiral) issue orders to your captains (via the gamemaster) and the battles are completed based on the orders you issued.

Beyond that... it's simple. It's a variation of the usual 4X game.

I hope this helped more than it muddled things, but if it only raises more questions - feel free to ask away.

I wish I had paid better attention to Scoutdad's post *before* I purchased Galactic Conquest. It came two days ago and right away it seemed to me that I needed a lot of other stuff to be able to play.

Scoutdad, from your description it seems that a map may not be necessary. Is this so? And how about counters? Charts?

My problem is that I am so busy, I have a hard time finding the time to read a 100+ page manual all the while wondering if there are more components that I need to really make this a worthwhile endeavor.

There is another product that was mentioned as being a campaign game based on Federation Commander. Will that be the FedComm equivalent of Galactic Conquest?

Any help or info would be appreciated.

Federation Admiral (by VBAM) is the FC campaign book; it should be out this summer.

GC works for SFB (if you have all of the SFB stuff).

I think the "map" referred to is the map for the campaign universe. You can use the downloadable F&E map, or make up your own map. Most of those who use GC to campaign do so through the GC campaign managers (John Berg and others) who provide maps for each of their universes. (Only the GM knows where everybody is. Each player knows his own territory, and the rest of the map is blank, to be discovered as you explore.)

So, to be clear, will Federation Admiral be the equivalent of Galactic Conquest for Federation Commander?

Hi all,

I'm doing my thing as Director of Hospitality for Galactic Conquest. I never thought you would post here--I am sorry I didn't check on the Forum sooner.

Galactic Conquest really is designed to work with SFB. If you want to play with an established group, you can probably make do with G3, the SFB Master Rulebook, and (of course) the GC Rulebook. You'll want to add modules that have ships for your empire. For years I played the Frax with C4, G2, and the Master Rulebook. As I branched out, I added the necessary R modules.

Now, if you are planning on GMing a GC campaign, you would need practically everything that ADB has put out, omitting only those books that contained empires you didn't plan on using.

Our maps (and the program to open them) are found on the Legacy BBS. It is convenient for us as electronic maps do not get disturbed by Space Cats. We don't use counters, just electronic paper. (This campaign system goes back to the days when people typed on a real typewriter and sent in their orders in overstuffed envelopes!)

Not all games are blind. Universe 5 is an open map--we all know where everyone is. Universe 3 is sort of open. The Galactic Powers do not know where Andro bases are located or the RTN is.

The campaign system really is designed for LOTS of players and it does require a GM. Unlike F&E, you don't get to watch the fleets gathering up to attack you--you may only get warning when enemy ships appear on your sensors, blockade your worlds, blow up your ships, and raid your Merchant Marine! (The reverse is also true--the enemy may not see you coming until you snatch a world right out from under his nose.)

Like ScoutDad, I'm playing in U4 and we just got back the results from our first turn's orders. Unexplored space is full of Danger. I have a potentially hostile something headed straight at the United Federation of Planets.

All the currently running campaigns have openings for admirals, brave and true, who will lead their empire to glory. The GMs will help newcomers as will the members of the Rules Committee (Howard Bampton and I have promised not to let prior knowledge influence our decisions and what you tell us, stays with us. The GMs are completely trustworthy.) If you are just starting, I think U4 will be your cup of tea--there empires are small, the fleets are small, the "known world" is small (for each empire, that is), and your budget is tiny (in the hundreds of EPs as opposed to the 10,000+ I was managing in the earlier campaign).

If I can play Galactic Conquest, I promise you that any one of you can. If you have questions, feel free to email me and ask!

Jean
ISC Queen (U3)
Federation Admiral (U4)
Gorn Admiral and Protector of Furry Bunnies (U5)

Mike wrote:So, to be clear, will Federation Admiral be the equivalent of Galactic Conquest for Federation Commander?

Yes, and no. Does that help? hehe

Seriously, the meat of Federation Admiral puts you in the chair of a border Admiral. Playtest games played a lot like you were in a TOS episode - with missions, cross border clashes and a desire not to let the lid blow off things too much. One of the great aspects of this level of play is the low unit density, making it pretty straightforward to use FC to resolve combats (though not required). In the extended example of play, the big gun available to the Feds is a Light Cruiser!

However, VBAM by default is a 4x game, so you certainly could use FA to run a Galatic Conquest-style game, and in fact there will be rules for that in the book, as well. Two F&E scenarios have been adapted for use with Federation Admiral, so there's plenty of large scale combat goodness, too.

As part of the VBAM design team, I encourage you to wander over to our forums (forums.vbamgames.com) for further discussion. We're really excited to get this opportunity, and we hope that when Federation Admiral sees the light of day that the Federation Commander community will enjoy playing it as much we enjoyed putting it together.

Sounds good. One of my gaming buddies and I have been talking about doing some kind of email campaign for years in SFB, but now we're doing FC exclusively so this definitely sounds promising!

I visited the VBam site and their comments look very interesting.