Gentlemen—The Great Experiment

by on October 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: SFB

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

One of the problems that Star Fleet Battles has struggled with for… decades by this point, is electronic piracy. While the game is complex, the components are simple, and ever since the rise of BBSes, there have been problems with copies of SSDs being traded around on the net. Since most products in the line are vehicles for presenting new ships, that is is a problem for ADB’s bottom line, and the root cause of their generally anti-electronic stance, which has thawed somewhat recently.

This Tuesday, ADB made a PDF version of the Basic Set SSD book available through e23 for $7.50.

Traditionally, SSDs are photocopied by players for use in the game. Today, a lot of people have spent a fair amount of time scanning their SSDs in so that it easy to print out what’s needed on a moment’s notice. Now, there’s a way (for a few, but common, ships) to be available for printing out without going through that time, and without needing a scanner. And of course, the quality is very good, since this is straight from the electronic file that generates the printed book.

However, Steve V. Cole writes:

“We are considering the idea of putting most of the SFB SSDs on e23. However, there is concern over piracy. There is also concern over sales. Frankly, how well basic set sells (and how much trouble we have with pirates) will determine if any others are ever uploaded. If you want the SSD book for module this or that, buy the basic set one if you’re serious.

“This is the current version. Not every SSD has necessarily been updated with the most recent bells and whistles such as advanced shuttles and crawford boxes. We will do that when we have time (new products come first) and you’ll get the update free.

“I always resisted putting stuff on e23 because of pirates. We have had 10 times as many pirates since e23 as before, and for exactly the reason I predicted (you don’t have to scan a copy to upload it). Joel spends at least a day a week hunting pirates and demanding that the files be taken down. Sales have been steady but I had been led to believe (by those of you who campaigned for this stuff) that we’d be selling five times as many.”

So, if you think this is a good thing for ADB to be doing, discourage piracy when you see it, spread the word that this PDF version is for sale, and of course, consider if it is worth $7.50 to you.

I will also note, that the Basic Set SSDs are missing a few features compared to more recent ones.

SVC has gone on to write about that:

“Steve Petrick, intrigued by my incremental way of doing some tasks, has agreed to update one SSD per day until they’re all done. (This won’t happen on some really busy days, or days he is not here, but then some days he might do two or them.) Today he actually did the first six. Counting the front page as done, that’s 7/48.”

If you have an e23 account when you buy the PDF, you will automatically be informed when an update is posted.

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R vs B Coalition Turn 5 in Review

by on October 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Turn 5 is never pleasant for the Alliance. There’s been plenty of time for the Coalition’s material and economic superiority to be felt, and there’s another two turns until the Federation gets involved, one way or another. However, last turn’s twin capital assaults did a lot of damage… to the Coalition fleets, and it was possible I was looking at a respite because of that.

The relatively low number of things to spend EPs on means Belirahc is still trying to find things to do with the Lyran economy. The Lyrans overbuilt another 3 DWs this turn (they also overbuilt 3 on turn 3), and he’s finally taking the Lyran ability to convert catamaran to trimaran ships seriously. He also accelerated next turn’s CA, which leaves me wondering what he’ll do next turn….

The Lyran mobile base in 0902 is now set up, which finally puts most of Kzinti space in supply range of Lyran units. He immediately paid to upgrade it to a BATS, and paid for two PDUs. From our conversations, he’s obviously planning on handing planet 1001 over to the Lyrans and setting up the PDU there.

Meanwhile Klingon production is fairly boring, other than the fact that they built three PDUs of their own.

Movement concentrated entirely in the Hydran theater at first, before switching over to Kzinti space. Not entirely sure of his intentions, I mostly stayed on the capital, with only minimal defenders on the two remaining starbases. While he didn’t go for the capital, he is pressing into the backfield, and the link between the Old Colonies and the capital, which I did my best to defend against. He also gave me a couple of small opportunities. A stack of crippled Lyrans passed back out of Hydran space, and I pinned one with the fighters of a BATS they were passing near. After everything else was committed, he moved a Lyran DD into 0816, possibly meaning for the Lyrans, instead of the Klingons, to claim the province. I detached a RN from the captial to squash that.

Kzinti space got very messy as he finally started trying to disrupt the provinces that he was unlikely to be able to control (such as the one the Kzinti capital is in), and tried to cut off the Marquis area from the main grid. This was a problem for me, as I didn’t have much in the Barony to react with, and some of the action was out of range of the capital, leaving me to dole out ships from the fleet sitting on the major planet in 1502. By the ending parts of movement, I was surprised when he actually sent Lyran and Klingon forces into the capital, I had managed to convince myself that this going to be a purely regrouping turn.


Kzinti front


Hydran front

Combats:
0114: Hydran: dest BATS; Lyran: crip DD, 2xFF
0315: Hydran: dest BATS; Klingon: dest 2xE4
0515: Hydran: dest BATS; Klingon: crip F5
0714: Hydran: dest BATS; Klingon: dest F5
1303: Kzinti: crip CL
0415: Hydran: fighters (independent squadron); Lyrans: dest cripFF
0816: Lyran: dest DD
1701: SSC; both sides retreat.
0117: SSC; Hydran retreat.
0215: Hydran: dest SB; Lyran: crip STT, 3xCW, CL, DW
0519: Hydran: 2 PDU, crip AH; Klingon: crip 2xF5L, 2xF5, capture planet
0716: Hydran: dest HR, SB ; Klingon: crip D6, 5xD5, dest 2xD5
0319: Lyran: dest CW, DW
0718: Hydran: crip HR, 2xTR, dest HN; Klingon: crip E4, E4A, dest 2xD7, D6, dest E4
1301: Kzinti: dest CLE, EFF; Klingon: dest D5, F5L
1702: Klingon: crip 2xF5
1601: Kzinti: crip BC; Klingon: crip F5
1502: Kzinti: crip CM, dest 3xPDU; Klingon: crip D6M, D5, dest 3xD7, 2xD5
1401: Kzinti: Kzintai: FRD; Keevarsh II: 2xPDU, devastated; Vielsalm II 2xPDU; crip MEC, dest CL, capture DW; Lyran: crip CW, dest CA, 2xCL, 2xDW, DWS, DD, 3xFF; Klingon: crip D7C, D5, E4A

Overall, things went well on the Hydran front—if you can call losing most of the fixed defenses on the cheap ‘going well’. The biggest problem is that I didn’t have enough to keep the Klingons from taking 0519, which makes the connection between the Old Colonies and the capital tenuous at best. At the moment, it is intact, but something is going to have to be done.

Kzinti space was a real mixed bag. I wasn’t able to keep him from disrupting every province on the board (other than 1801, which he can’t go into), but the connection between the Marquis area and the main grid (via the Barony) is intact. He managed to kill an FRD (oops) and devastate another planet, while knocking the defenses off yet another, but the cost in ships is high, and he’s already not doing too well in that department.

Belirahc still needs to figure out his carrier doctrine. He’s using them, but often he’s not taking damage on the fighters. Certainly, he has no reloads available most of the time, which means once the fighters are gone, the carriers are not of much use. However, with the current escorts, the ComPot density of the groups are low enough that the only real point of the carriers is to absorb damage and not need repairs afterward.

During retrograde, I’m gratified to see a nice backlog of cripples moving back to Coalition space, but this turn has pointed up that I need to do something about my backlog as well. Outside of carrier groups, the Kzintis do not have very many intact ships left.

Belirahc is getting quite serious about holding the space he has taken. The Lyrans are now setting up a MB and a PDU at 0416, and are also setting up a MB at 1001. Meanwhile the Klingons are setting up a PDU and MB each at 1202 and 1504.

At the moment, most new Lyran forces are headed for Hydran space, while Klingon builds are going to Kzinti space. It will be interesting to see what he does next turn, because if he wants to do a Turn 7 invasion of the Federation (which I’m guessing is unlikely), a lot of ships may need to pull out of other areas.

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Vassal Preview 3

by on September 24, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: F&E

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Well, when I put the mini-battle boards into the capital charts, I knew I was going to be re-doing the regular battle boards. First, there was actually a new feature to put in (the slot for plus and minus points), and then I wanted to update the look to match the much nicer style I’d achieved by starting with CorelDraw instead of PhotoShop. I think it’s much nicer looking:

However, that left the ‘Charts’ the boards where the module lets you keep track of the Raid Pool, available tug pods, the Depot, and other limited items as the last bit of pure-PhotoShop graphics. While they aren’t bad, they were starting to look out of step with the rest of the module. So, I’ve decided to re-do those too.

:sigh:

I’m still working out just how I want the new ones to look, but I think this is pretty much it:

As always, I’m interested in hearing opinions and advice.

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Vassal Preview 2

by on September 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: F&E

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

All right, things are moving along, graphically speaking, and here’s a completed version of the new capital form:

I’m definitely interested in hearing any feedback on this version before I release the new module.

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ISC War and other things

by on September 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: F&E, SFB

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Just a few notes and a preview:

I finally got my copy of ISC War a couple weeks back. I haven’t gone through it with a fine tooth comb yet, but it looks pretty good. And pretty massive, with six sheets of counters, it is the biggest F&E expansion yet.

One of the sheets was actually printed six years ago, when there was a spare slot on one of the single-sided runs. So, it is of the ‘old style’ with fewer counters per sheet, while the other five (actually, five copies of the same sheet) have the current, ‘denser’ layout, and use the newer white core counters that most MMP products have moved to. There’s also several cardstock reference cards, including the ISC Capital Chart, a new econ form, and several fleet and battle line setup cards.

There’s actually only four new rules in the product, which surprised me. One of them, Tactical Reserves, is a general use rule for kind of ‘local reserves’ that can be used by any power in the post-General War period (though the ISC gets it first).

There’s notes (but nothing else) on how the ISC could be (ahistorically) integrated into the General War, and a mini-scenario that would have the Romulans and Gorns trying to keep the ISC from establishing their outer ring of bases while the General War gets going on the other side of the map (the combat damage that results could unbalance the rest of the war though). But the bulk of the rule book (25 pages!) is taken up with the Pacification Scenario, broken down into smaller areas for each border they tried to drive their wedge into. It’s longer than the actual Pacification, since it is assumed for this version that it is not interrupted by the Andromedans.

I also blew a bunch of money on other things by ADB while I was at it. I got Module R11: Support Ships, which was also surprisingly thick. (96-page SSD book, instead of the more common 80.) In general, there’s nothing really “exciting” in this one, but it still has some neat stuff, and there are a number of interesting short essays talking about several general ship types; a real boon to anyone interested in the background of the Star Fleet Universe.

And I got Captain’s Log #36. (Yes, I am a few years behind on my collection, why do you ask?) It’s a fairly standard issue, fiction, new ships, scenarios, and so on. Nick Blank has another set of great deckplans, this time for the Romulan Snipe frigate.

And now, a preview:

The next version of the F&E Vassal module is under way. I’ve re-done a bunch of stuff in the ISC extension to match the published version. Now I’m starting to tackle a complete rework of the capital charts. The idea is to only need those during a capital assault without recourse to the main battle mat or fleet boxes. Here’s a work-in-progress preview (the full version would have another three systems):

The idea is to have the two battle lines in miniaturized forms right with each system display. Some of the ‘bonus’ slots will need stacking multiple units on occasion. I plan on making some ‘tokens’ that can be dropped on the defending fleet to mark if they come from the static or mobile forces. (Similar ones will be done to mark ISC Core Ships on the normal form.)

I’m still working out the color scheme and main layout, and any comments on that will be appreciated. I was originally planning for the Mobile and Attacking force boxes to go at the bottom of the form, below all the system displays. I’m wondering if maybe they should go [i]above[/i] the systems. It would be much handier during an assault, though it would get in the way of day-to-day tracking of bases and facilities in the capitial hex.

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