Release Date: No date set at this time. It was going to come out in Nov 04 but we had too many other things to do and didn’t want to rush this. Once that didn’t happen I thought that March would be the next open spot on the schedule but the boss lady says she thinks this smells like a Big Origins Release (tm). But again, at this point, no release schedule is set. What It Is: It is not really fair to call it "Star Fleet Battles Lite" as it is a separate game with some similar aspects. It is designed to be a starship combat game that is easier to learn and faster to play. Those who like more complex games can simply use bigger fleets. Physical Components: Not much hard data at this point. The die cut counters will be one inch square and full color. The rulebook will be fairly small. One concept (not yet locked in) is to have a core rulebook with stuff like movement and energy and phasers, and then give each race an 11x17 card with the specific rules for their race. Not sure how that’s going to work out. This will of course be a boxed game. Pay As You Go Energy: At the start of the turn, you’ll count how many points of power your ship has (combat damage reducing it of course) and get that many tokens. Currently there are separate warp, impulse, and reactor tokens but we may or may not keep those (or may make them an optional rule, or put them in the "are you crazy?" module). As you go through your turn, you’ll pay from this pile for whatever you do (move, shoot, tractor, transporter). At the end of your turn, you can keep unspent power equal to your batteries and phaser banks but the rest is just lost. We will probably use impulse to fly and warp to fight so that new generation trekkers aren’t confused. The tokens might be cards, counters, bus tokens, or something else. Faster, Shorter: There will be eight impulses (to cut down on the number of agonizing decisions). Weapon ranges will be shorter (hexes will have more kilometers in them). Damage will be done by a system where you roll one die to pick which of six charts you use (an alternative in test uses 11 charts and two dice). That chart then lists 10 damage points (and an alternate for each one). If you don’t have the primary or alternate you just don’t count it, but this means one die roll for ten damage points, not two for each one. And awful lot of bizarrely complex rules from SFB won’t be in FC, such as stasis field generators, electronic warfare (other than a +1 modifier for some terrain), 27 kinds of drones, 19 kinds of plasma, energy balance due to damage, legendary officers, crew quality, and well you can guess the rest. We won’t include fighters or PFs in the first products and may never include them. We just haven’t decided yet and don’t have to decide now. We may try to avoid having a historical timeline with refits and new weapons technologies. SSDs: The game will work nicely with both standard SFB SSDs and with the half-scale cadet ones. Not sure which will be the official version and which will be the "oh by the way" alternative. Target Market: Everybody who ever played a game or watched trek on TV. All those Ex-SFB players who thought SFB was too tough (or thought it was fine but couldn’t find an opponent who didn’t think it was too tough). Players of other games. SFB players who want to play huge fleet battles in an evening (maybe four hours for the biggest ones). F&E players who want a really extreme combat system. SFB players who want to use it to recruit and train new opponents, or who simply want to get their girlfriend to play something that includes a spaceship and some dice. RPGers who want a space combat system that’s not as "intense" as SFB. We’re not stupid. We already have the SFB players and we want the rest of the market, the ones without masters degrees in engineering, accounting, and physics. We’re going to make sure that Fed Commander stays where we put it so that the Fed Commander gamer base doesn’t fragment between those who want to use advanced rules and those who do not. Even Faster: While I want to avoid the rules layering of SFB (cadet, basic, advanced, commander, optional, whatever) there is a faster subset of rules for those in a hurry. Damage is just marked where you want it instead of die rolling and how you spend energy is not limited by source. Playtesting: This is being limited to invited groups. You can apply for the few openings we have each round of testing. (The next round won’t happen for a few weeks, and today is 26 Jan 05.) We want people who have active human face-to-face opponents and game every week (or more than once a week). We want playtesters who will actually send in a report (most do not, sadly). Public Forum Development: We have avoided this for several reasons, not least to prevent SFB players from scaring people with their "suggestions" to include every SFB rule you ever heard of in Federation Commander. We also don’t want other companies to steal our ideas, and we’re also trying to avoid the clutter of 3000 people who all suggest the same thing (the current group of about 30 has covered 99.99% of the ground). Product Releases: The overall title "Federation Commander" reinforced by the "something border" makes it pretty clear what the game is about without using the words "star fleet" since store owners who hear those two words leap to the conclusion that the game is just as big and complicated as SFB. There is a vague concept that each box will include one new monster, one new base, one new civilian ship, and one new terrain type. The first box will be "Federation Commander: Klingon Border" which will include the core rules, the Fed rules, and the Klingon rules (disruptors and drones). Those familiar with SFB know that the Zintis use the Klingon rules and the Orions can use many of the Fed rules, so those will also be included. Federation Commander: Romulan Border is the obvious second release. It will have the core book and also have the cards for the Gorns and Romulans (as well as Feds). It adds the rules for plasma and cloak. Federation Commander: Tholian Border will cover webs and asteroids. We might or might not include the Seltorians. We might even give the Tholians the particle cannons they used before they got here. Federation Commander: Deep Space is another title we’re holding in reserve. Nothing specific assigned to it yet. Federation Commander: War & Peace is another title we’re holding in reserve. Nothing specific assigned to it yet. Federation Commander: Unknown Kingdoms is a joke we mention now and then to get an off-color chuckle but it’s not a real product. Federation Commander: Are You Crazy? Is not a real product but a file where we put all of the rules we’re never going to use. In theory, we might do this as a free web product for SFB players who are, well, crazy. Then again, we might just send them all to group therapy. Federation Commander: Strike Fighters could be a good title if we ever wanted to include fighters and carriers. Kinda holding that thought in reserve. Federation Commander: Gunboats could be a good title if we ever want to include fast patrol ships. We’re kinda holding that thought in reserve. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 14 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2005 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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