Federation Commander

Are we ever going to see new laminated ship cards for Federation Commander? The last products of the type to come out were I think three years ago (Reinforcements Attack 2012).

And the only new print products announced for FC for the last few years have all been books. (Tactics Manual, Briefing 3, Fed Adm, Scenario Book, Borders of Madness)

Or is the age of laminated FC ship cards and boosters come and gone?

I hope it hasn't come and gone--I love those things

Not gone, by any means.
We're working on Fighters Attack right now.

I should note, however, that we're kinda running out of SFB ships to port-over to FC. By the time you eliminate carriers and PFTs and X-ships we're down to ... well, not that many truly interesting ships left to do.

So I take it the LMC, Omega-sector and other minor races are considered "not truly interesting"?

Hopefully the list of eligible ships and technologies on the table for conversion to FC will expand once SFB Module X2 is published, and the Xorkaelian Tyranny is revealed for that game system.

I might note that even with only two SFB X1-modules (and assorted SSDs in various issues of Captain's Log) to work from, there are still quite a few first-generation X-ships out there to consider - not least once rules for carriers and PFTs are accounted for. It might take several modules' worth of Ship Cards to bring a healthy range of X1-ships over for the current crop of Alpha Octant empires.

(Indeed, depending on how many SSDs end up in X2, or if there is ever scope for a "Module X2R" later on, the same could be true for second-generation X-ships in FC terms.)

Plus, there are a few other class types which have yet to be brought over, such as heavy war destroyers and fast war cruisers - along with the likes of the "lost empires" previewed for FC in Captain's Log #48.


And, of course, I still hold out hope that there may one day be a means by which even a limited run of Omega and/or LMC Ship Cards can be committed to print someday... but whether either of those happen depends on how well-received the current playtest packs might turn out to be.

I was talking about alpha ships.

The non-alpha stuff has yet to prove it will sell enough for formal publication, but we're hopeful.

Cool.
What's the ETA for Fighters Attack?

I gave up predicting ETAs for new products a long time ago, but I don't see Fighters Attack happening in the five months left to this year.

Basically, we do things in order, and each thing takes as long as it takes. Right now I have to finish the F&E stuff, ACTASF deluxe, CL51, and Fed Admiral before I get to FtrAtk.

The big problem with FtrAtk is that it needs counters, and counters are printed four at a time, meaning that I can't print FtrAtk until we have finished the revised Planetary Ops, the entirely new SFB X2, and a fourth product we haven't even picked yet.

Steve Cole wrote:I gave up predicting ETAs for new products a long time ago, but I don't see Fighters Attack happening in the five months left to this year.

Basically, we do things in order, and each thing takes as long as it takes. Right now I have to finish the F&E stuff, ACTASF deluxe, CL51, and Fed Admiral before I get to FtrAtk.

The big problem with FtrAtk is that it needs counters, and counters are printed four at a time, meaning that I can't print FtrAtk until we have finished the revised Planetary Ops, the entirely new SFB X2, and a fourth product we haven't even picked yet.

Uh ok. If I'm not mistaken it's been said in the past that Fed Admiral also needs Briefing#3 to work does it not? Also FA itself has been in the mix for 6 years or more so not sure how close that is.

But basically 8 products need to be finished before Fighters Attack, excluding of course any additional CLs or ACTA products that get slotted in, so I guess I'll have a look for it in . . . 2018 or so.

Probably 2016.

F&E stuff should be done by the end of September
ACTASF deluxe just needs the painting guides.
CL51 will take three weeks once we actually start on it.
Fed Admiral is over halfway done and that's the hard parts.

The problem is only rarely time a product takes, but non-product interruptions.