Do you think that the price point of $60 is too high?
A: We included the components players want (color laminated charts, mounted
playing board) and charged a fair price for them. This worked out to a price
that is fairly well in the middle of the pack for current releases such as
Ticket to Ride, Memoir 44, and similar games.
And if you still meet sales resistance with the $60 KLINGON BORDER, you can steer your customers to the $25 ACADEMY product, which has the same rulebook, but fewer ships and a lower-cost map. Once they buy that, you can sell them GRADUATION (now available in full retail packaging) and they will have the same parts as someone who bought KLINGON BORDER. And if that is still too high, send them to our website to download the FREE demo copy, FIRST MISSIONS.
Who among my current customers will buy Federation Commander?
A. Many many people.
The one-third of your customers who are fans of Star Trek. (While the fans
were unhappy with recent offerings from television, they remain very
interested in quality offerings in the genre.)
The one-half of your
customers who are ex-Star Fleet Battles players. (SFB has been around for 26
years and at least half of all current gamers have played it.)
Players of
any science fiction game including RPGs. (The fast and clean combat system
of Federation Commander invites easy access.)
Players of Star Fleet
Battles, A Call to Arms, Attack Vector, Saganami Island, Full Thrust,
Arclight, Silent Death, Starmada, Babylon 5 Wars, and Battlefield Gothic.
Are you pulling a White Wolf on us, tossing your SFB line and
starting a new one?
A. Absolutely not. SFB players remain a fiercely loyal
market. All SFB products are in print and will remain in print, and at least
two new SFB modules are scheduled for each of the next five years.
Will Federation Commander cannibalize my SFB sales? Will it fragment
the player base?
A. No, it won't. From our discussions with hundreds of SFB
players, virtually all of them have said they plan to add Federation
Commander to their collections and their current gaming repetoir, not
replace SFB with it. Some will use Federation Commander to resolve larger
battles in their SFB campaigns, others will use Federation Commander to
recruit new SFB players. All current SFB players know gamers who found SFB
too daunting and will use Federation Commander to bring these people back to
active gameplay in the Star Fleet Universe. Everyone who already plays Star
Fleet Battles will continue to do so, even while most of them also start
playing Federation Commander. Thousands of new players will embrace
Federation Commander and some of them will join and strengthen existing Star
Fleet Battles groups.
What are you doing to make players aware of Federation Commander?
A.
We are advertising in places where boardgames are sold, played, and talked
about. We have asked our loyal Star Fleet Battles players to host Federation
Commander demonstrations in their local stores. We have promoted and talked
about Federation Commander through our own web site and networks.
Is Federation Commander going to do what Star Fleet Battles did,
start as a simple fun game and evolve into a monster game that is basically
a lifestyle choice?
A: We already have Star Fleet Battles, and anyone who
finds Federation Commander to be less than challenging can move into the
existing Star Fleet Battles product line quite easily. So, we don't need to
turn Federation Commander into another Star Fleet Battles. We have designed
Federation Commander to stay at the complexity level it starts at.
Is Federation Commander going to turn into a backlist product line?
A. We have designed Federation Commander to be an evergreen, a game whose
core products will continue to sell to an ever-expanding audience for years
to come.
How is the Federation Commander product line designed to make my store more money?
Answer: We have a built-in up-sell. Each product ($60 or $30) comes with three $10 booster packs which are designed to integrate into it.
What else have you got to make more profit for my store?
Answer: Pewter starship miniatures. Each product ($60 or $30) is matched by three $35 Squadron Boxes and by one $99 Border Box, and the product is designed to require all four of these items (total $200 in sales!) to fully cover all of the ships in the battles in the rulebook.
What wholesalers will have it?
Answer: Alliance, ACD, Esdevium, Lion Rampant, Premier Hobby, Warpath, Aladdin, Brown Box, Brave New World, and Mindsports. If your wholesaler isn't on that list, give them our phone number (806-351-1950) and have them contact our Marketing Director marketing@starfleetgames.com.
