Federation Commander

I've been picking up the various Captain's Log back issues as I'm able to, and have greatly enjoyed all the different sections. I particularly enjoy the battle report from the winners of the big tournys like Gen Con. I've only got a handful of the CL's so far but was curious; is there one race or ship in particular that seems to win out over the years or is it pretty evenly mixed?

They worked pretty hard (and continue to) to make the tournament cruisers balanced against each other.

It seems like some folks can win regardless of what they end up flying (see most recent articles in CapLog 40). Some ships might help those not quite so skillful do better than they would have, but any of them should be win-able.

I've also enjoyed reading them, and I noticed that NOBODY seems to play Feds. I mean nobody, not the winners, and not the people that the winner plays against.

Anyone else notice this? Or am I imagining things?

Not that I have ever player tourney, but I think that is because most folks tend to miss with the photon a lot, no matter what the range. It has even given rise to the term 'blowton'.

I guess most peoples dice don't like them. Mine tend to love me as I usually hit with photons 2/3 of the time. It was weird to most folks that saw it, even with them using my dice they just couldn't get the same hit ratio with photons.

It once gave rise to an amusing situation: we had a new player in our group for awhile, and we were playing one of the various 'bounty hunter' scenarios. He closed in on me with his Lyran Tiger preparing to whack my Fed NCA at range 8 with disruptors. One of our regulars told him "I wouldn't get too close to John, he's holding full overloads for sure." The guy says "Blowtons?? No problem!!"

All four of my overloads hit, plus assorted phaser-1 damage (over 80 points of damage). His face looked like I just shot his dog. He had never seen any more than two photons ever hit in any of his previous games. The damage did more than 50 internals (his #1 shield had been plinked at in previous turns).

I've always been fond of the "wonder weapon" nickname for photons. I wonder if they'll hit, the other guy wonders how much he'll have left if they do.

OGOPTIMUS wrote:I've also enjoyed reading them, and I noticed that NOBODY seems to play Feds. I mean nobody, not the winners, and not the people that the winner plays against.

Anyone else notice this? Or am I imagining things?

I've only read a small number of the available CL's, but I have not seen (or remember seeing) a Fed ship being used. It seems a lot of people like the Gorn or Romulans and one well-written and thorough battle report was a Kzinti ship.

I've seen a site run by a guy named Don Miller where he has tweaked the photon basically uping the hit % by one number for the various ranges. I've not played using it. Maybe someone here has?

Who here has played in one of these tournaments? What was your experience like? I'm understanding (from older CL's) that there is a patrol tourny and a Fleet Captain's tourny, is it still this way? If so, how does each of them work? And where/when is the next tourny?

David wrote: And where/when is the next tourny?

SFBOL (Star FLeet Battles On-Line) runs quarterly Rated Ace Tournaments. I think round 2 of the latest one just started, but I could be wrong - they may still be fighting round 1.

The BIG tourny - The SFB Gold Hat Tournament is held at Origins every year. This convention is held in Columbus, OH and is usually the last weekend in June. This year it runs from 6/23 to 6/27.

I've taken a look at the SFBOL that you linked, very interesting. How active is it for SFB play and is it difficult to learn how to properly use it? I looked at the tutorial, but I would imagine it takes actual play to get the gist of it.

Who has or is using it?

David - You're going to find most SFB players are not here. This board was originally set up to cater to Federation Commander and the primary membership is still that group. The little SFB sub-board we're posting in right now gives those of us with interest in both a place to talk SFB, but we're just talking among a fairly small group.

The vast majority of SFB players (including the "big names" from the tournament scene [if they haven't gotten themselves banned]) are on the "legacy board" and always have been.

If you're trying to find out how big the user-base for SFBOL is, that question is better asked where all the SFB players are.

Thank you sir, is that the 'Star Fleet Universe' BBS that is linked on main products page?

I'm assuming I'll need to join that separately from this board?

Yes, to both (It's the Discuss - BBS link on the main starfleetgames page).

It's a completely separate message-board. It runs on different (much, much older) software too, so the navigation can take some getting used to. However, that board is where ADB products are developed and where SFB players have traditionally hung-out online.

Be sure to read the posting rules. Since ADB does their development business on that board, they expect people to keep things tidy and post in the correct topics, etc.

David:
Yes to both questions.

The SFB BBS runs on DISCUS, and as such tends to be bit unweildy at first. Please do not let that dissuade you from registering and participating. There are a great many of us who are active participants on the BBS ( over 1500 user and over 170,000 archived messages to date)
We'll be glad to have you.

You will new to use a separate registration there.

Thank you to you both.

That board is something to get used to, has anyone thought about bringing SFB to an updated board? Or using that one for archives and starting new discussions on a new board that is more advanced?

That question has been asked many times and the answer that I've seen has been that this type of board does not give users the breadth of search capability.

In short, they (ADB) like the Discus format because it is a good fit for them. They *did* realize, though, that newer folks coming in for Federation Commander would be more familiar with this type of system, so that's why this board is the type that it is.