Confused Newbie

qaesyan · Post by **qaesyan** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:07 am

Hi, I just started to get into Federation Commander. I'm aware that there are already the 2400 line of minis released, but was wanting to go ahead and use the slightly larger 2500 line instead.

My confusion is in determining what the different "sets" being offered contain.

For instance, I was under the impression that the Border Boxes for the 2500 line are supposed to copy the contents of the 2400 Border Boxes. Is this correct? I noticed when looking at various websites preorder offerings, that some of the info wasn't adding up.

This http://www.starfleetgames.com/federatio ... _box.shtml shows that Border Box 1 is for Klingon Border, with Border Box 2 being Klingon Attack. However, as you can see here:

http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=prod ... il&p=79874

Border Box 2 says it's Romulan Border.

I own Klingon Border and Romulan Border and would like to know which Border Boxes I should be looking to eventually preorder.

Any information any of you have that could clear this up for me would be greatly appreciated. Also, is there any definitive listing of these sets that list out accurately what is included in each one? That would really be helpful.

Edit: Alternatively, I should mention that I wouldn't mind having extra ships, and was curious if buying all the Fleet Boxes would cover all the ships from both Klingon and Romulan Border and then some?

I'm somewhat OCD with being a completionist and want to cover every ship and then some. That said, I also don't want to just start blowing hundreds of dollars in overlap because of my ignorance.

Should I buy all the of the Border Boxes, or all of the Fleet Boxes?

I apologize in advance for all of the questions, and I normally wouldn't ask for so many detailed explanations for a board game, but we're talking about hundreds of dollars in this instance.

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:26 pm

[Edit by SVC: Sorry, the information in the original post was totally wrong and would cause confusion. I had no choice but to delete it.]

Post by **Steve Cole** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:07 pm

Ok, you are indeed confused.

At this point 2500 has no border boxes at all. It has fleet boxes which are not related to the 2400s at all. In a few months, we will have 2500 border boxes that will match the 2400 border boxes.

The way the 2400s and FC work is in sets. Each "product series" has eight products: The border/attack product, three squadron boxes which match the border/attack product, three boosters, and a border box which matches the total of the three boosters. Contrary to myth and the post I deleted, the squadron boxes are not related to the booster packs.

So, Klingon Border has 16 ship cards. The 16 ships in Squadron Boxes 1-2-3 match those. Klingon border is supported by boosters 1-2-3 and Border Box 1 matches the ships in boosters 1-2-3.

qaesyan · Post by **qaesyan** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 4:31 am

Alright, so the Border Boxes have the ships from the 3 boosters, and the 3 boosters are supplementary ships to the base game? I'm assuming when you say Klingon Border is "supported" by boosters 1-2-3, that means they add ships that aren't part of the original Klingon Border or simply give duplicates of certain ships?

Meaning, waiting for a Border Box would not be ideal, and instead I should get Squadron Boxes, as the 3 squadron boxes would contain every ship from the base game?

All of these different uses of terminology for ship groupings is the confusing part. "Squadron" "Fleet" "Border" "Booster" etc.

Right now I'm under the impression that I should get every Squadron Box to cover my base games, and Border Boxes are just for additional ships. Let me know if I'm off-base with this heh. Thanks for the quick response btw.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:18 pm

Generally (there are exceptions) each booster has 1 or 2 new ships and several extra copies of the base ships in that product.

So, squadron boxes 1-2-3 include the 16 base ships from Klingon border.

Border Box 1 includes 24 ships, covering boosters 1-2-3. boosters 1-2-3- include 4 new ships, but 3 of them use identical miniatures and the fourth one is a new ship, so border box 1 has one ship that isn't in the squadrons.

There are exceptions. boosters 16-17-18 have a lot of new ships, but not all of them have unique minis. Boosters 31-32-33 include a bunch of new ships, and so do 34-35-36.

qaesyan · Post by **qaesyan** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:40 pm

Cool. I think my confusion is completely cleared up now. Thanks!

Edit: Quick follow-up question. You mentioned that boosters may contain new ship types. Do the boosters and/or border boxes come with laminated cards corresponding to those ships, or are the ship cards available via some other means?

Jack Bohn · Post by **Jack Bohn** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:25 pm

The Booster Packs are the laminated cards for the minis in the Border Box.

The pattern seems to be one big box of paper (the Border/Attack product) supported by three packages of minis, and three packages of ship cards supported by one big box of metal.

qaesyan · Post by **qaesyan** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:27 am

Jack Bohn wrote:The Booster Packs are the laminated cards for the minis in the Border Box.

The pattern seems to be one big box of paper (the Border/Attack product) supported by three packages of minis, and three packages of ship cards supported by one big box of metal.

Excellent!

My pocketbook will hate me, but I'll be having so much fun I won't be able to hear its cries.

Spacecowboy87 · Post by **Spacecowboy87** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:12 am

You're wise to go with the 2500s if you're just starting out. Those of us who have hundreds of dollars invested in our 2400 collections have three choices:
1) Scramble to complete our collection before the 2400s are pulled.
2) Start over from the beginning with 2500s.
3) Play with mixed-scale fleets.
I know players who are boycotting the 2500s because they see it as a marketing ploy to get even more money out of them.
(I didn't say I was one of them)

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:36 am

The 2400 series isn't going to be "pulled". It's not going anywhere, as long as people keep buying them, and that's been stated officially several times.

The 2500s are a separate line, in-addition to the existing. It will be years before the 2500s have a full lineup of empires, etc.

Spacecowboy87 · Post by **Spacecowboy87** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:17 am

I'm sure if sales fall below a certain point, they'll have no choice but to pull them (the 2400s). How many buyers does it take to be "people?" I for one hope that never happens, and I'll cast my vote with my wallet every chance I get. I'm just saying that those who rush to fill out their fleets sooner will be better off than those who do it later. [/i]

Zyffyr · Post by **Zyffyr** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:48 am

My assumption re:2400s is that when a given mold gets to the point of needing replacement they will look at the sales of that particular figure over the past year or so to determine if it makes financial sense to replace it.

As long as they are likely to make a profit from replacing the mold, the figure in question will stick around.

That is just my personal conjecture of course.

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:46 pm

Put my money on the 2400s, give the 2500s three years at max ---

IMHO, don't believe Mongoose has enough personal connection to SFU to hang in there ---

qaesyan · Post by **qaesyan** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:17 am

Bolo_MK_XL wrote:Put my money on the 2400s, give the 2500s three years at max ---

IMHO, don't believe Mongoose has enough personal connection to SFU to hang in there ---

That would make me rage out pretty hard.

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:15 pm

Would hope it would make Mongoose rage and work to prove me wrong ---