Federation Commander

I am just getting back into Starfleet Battles. So I dug out my old SFB stuff, even stuff from 1980. I am wondering if anyone else has created their own SSD

Lots and lots of people have created their own SSDs, including myself. If you google for it, you probably won't have difficulty finding many different examples. (Of websites full of them, not just custom SSDs themselves.) As long as you follow the ADB On-Line Policy you can host your own custom SSDs on your own website.

Now Federation Commander ship cards are a completely different situation. ADB discourages fan-made ship cards that are posted on the creators' web site. In general, please email ADB and ask before trying to make your own Federation Commander ship cards.

Hey, Mike. I know this has no doubt been stated somewhere, but exactly why is it that there is a different policy for SFB SSDs and FC ship cards?

Does it have anything to do with having a tighter control from the outset on FC as compared to what happened with SFB?

Just wondering. Thought this might be of interest to other readers of this forum (as well as myself).

So can anyone point me to an SSD Creator application for the PC?

I'm not looking to produce my own as I have plenty of SFB and FC materials.

There are a few things I'd like to create for my own purposes and to satisfy my curiosity of what things would look like "on paper" and maybe a submittal someday.

Well, there are three general types of ship cards that can be made:
1. Ship cards for SFB ships not yet converted.
2. Ship cards for other licensed properties.
3. Ship cards for brand new empires and their ships.

In the first case, ADB wants to fully reserve their rights to those conversions. If fans do them, they will potentially take away from sales once ADB does them. In addition, if there are mistakes, then it will still reflect badly on ADB (even though they had nothing to do with them). And, for any variations, ADB wants them submitted, not just posted. Maybe they will be used?

In the second case, these are illegal and violate ADB's license with Paramount. ADB can never condone or accept such ship cards, as not properly dealing with them will cause ADB problems.

In the third case, the empire and their ships should be submitted to ADB. Sure, it isn't that likely they will be accepted and used, but, heck, why not try?

On a more general level, ADB is trying to exert more control on ship cards because it is trying to make money on electronic ship cards, in addition to just printed ship cards. Why does it make sense for them to let their own customer base undercut their potential revenues?

Also remember that if you want to design ship cards, empires, new weapons etc. of any type for your own use, that's fair game. Just so long as you keep them to yourself.

Ok this is a bit off topic but I did not want to start another thread. I was looking into Federation Commander, and then I started looking at Starmada. My question: Is Starmada a more simplified version of Starfleet Battles and is Federation Commander a more simplified version of Starmada?

Starmada is its own set that is made by MJ12 games. MJ12 and ADB have a license agreement that allows MJ12 to produce Starmada supplements that use the background and ships of the Star Fleet Universe.

Other than being a space ship combat games, Starmada does not have any connection to FC or SFB.

Mike Z

As far as gameplay goes, SFB is the most-complicated, FedCom is a streamlined and faster version of some of SFB's game mechanics.

As-noted, Starmada didn't originate with ADB and uses a completely different game mechanic (with completely different movement style, etc.). It's complexity is less than that of FedCom, but it is geared to using more ships so it evens out.

A Call to Arms Starfleet is yet another outside system that has been expanded to include the SFU setting. It is geared to large fleets. To do that, it too uses relaxed complexity.