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March 2012
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS: this month is the new Nova Edition of Starmada. The new core rulebook will be released in PDF format in March and in hard copy (through stores and our website) in April. The four Star Fleet Starmada books (Klingon Armada, Romulan Armada, Alien Armada, Distant Armada) will be re-released for the Nova Edition over the coming months, but will remain available by mail order in the Admiral Edition. A conversion document, and a combined pack of all 160 of the existing ship cards updated to the Nova Edition, will be released on e23. The new Battleships Armada book will be released in June for both Nova Edition (in stores and on e23) and Admiral Edition (by mail order and on e23).
SHIPPING NEWS: We always hate to hear that either UPS or the US Postal Service has raised rates. In January, there was a double whammy in that both did. Unfortunately we do have to pass that on to our customers. While the shipping rates assume "worst case scenario," if we find we can ship it cheaper, then we'll refund the difference. WEBSITE: Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Joel Shutts, our graphics director, continues to update the website, do covers for the new products, shut down pirate websites, help out around the company, and learn more about the game business. One of our newest pages is for Starline 2500 where we display photos and 3d renders of the new starships. FACEBOOK: Jean continues to improve our page on Facebook, adding many new photos and other features. VIDEOS: StarFleetGames has taken its act to YouTube and we now have a YouTube channel. Our goal is to create a video for the new product releases during each month. We have "In the Box" videos to show you what you will see when you unpack your new game. We have also done "Spotlights" on a single product or product line. So pull up a chair and join us at the movies! Our newest uploads are: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 STARBLOG: Our StarBlog has moved to a new URL
and all links on StarFleetGames.com websites have been changed to match. The new
site is JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Have you ever wished you could accessorize your Starline 2500 Federation fleet with your own names and hull numbers? Well now you can!
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Rated Ace Tournament 37 has all of its Round 3 games completed and about half of the Round 4 games are finished. The games are exciting and the players are tough. Keep tuned: there's the possibility of an RKE civil war in the final rounds. We think all the players are having a good time and good competition. The judge is Kerry Mullan. CONVENTIONS WITH SFU GAMES Please send information to Jean via the email in her BBS profile, PM on the Mongoose or Federation Commander forums, or Message on Facebook. If you want convention support, please contact Mike Sparks at support@StarFleetGames.com. Your convention must meet a few simple requirements (one of which is being held in the United States due to shipping costs) which are here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/tournament/tourn_main.shtml GnomeCon is held on April 20-22, 2012 in Savannah, Georgia. We know there is a Star Fleet Battles Cadet Game scheduled for Saturday evening and there is lots of open gaming going on. For more information see: http://gnomecon.org/ A Call to Arms: Star Fleet First Official Tournament is tentatively scheduled for April 28, 2012 in London, England at Mongoose's headquarters. When we learn more, we'll let you know. Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. FC Forum Recent Posts
We are very pleased to see the medals, honor bars, and ribbons awarded to players being incorporated into their signatures. It is exciting to see lots of interesting conversations about a wide variety of subjects. Get in on the activity! While for new players the Federation Commander Forum is a little easier to
manage, the original (Discus-based) BBS is where most product development
takes place. If you have a proposal you'd like to see worked on, don't forget to
make sure it is mentioned here. It also has active F&E and SFB forums where
players run campaigns, Rated Ace tournaments and other SFB tournaments are organized (most FC tournaments are organized on the Forum), SVC's "My
Day" appears, along with current news and strategies dealing with Prime Directive, and each issue of Captain's Log is created. While less colorful
(no avatars or sigs), it is a vital part of ADB, Inc.'s communications. Range 8 is significant in Federation Commander, because it's the range where most direct-fire heavy weapons can be overloaded. Thus there is a tendency for players to try to dance at that range, dipping in to fire and dodging back out. However, if you compare the Range 8 "bracket" to the next-closest bracket, you will find that most weapons are significantly improved by being closer. Also, if you compare the Range 8 bracket to the next-further bracket, you see that many aren't too badly off and that bracket often extends all the way to Range 15. (This is particularly apparent for disruptors and is the key to the Klingon "saber dance.") Your ship has been surprised (D18.0). Most of your weapons are unavailable, and your warp engines are offline. What can you do?
F&E Strategy of the Month The introduction of scout pods has given most empires an opportunity to pair scout pods and carrier pods to create an escort-able scout carrier for extra electronic warfare. The Federation has the ability to create a tug that has both six fighters and two electronic warfare points, without being overloaded. Demotivationals Throughout the month our graphics director places on the website various cards called Demotivationals. These are like postcards with an image and a phrase that is often used for humor. To see our previous Demotivationals click here. Mini of the Month Starline 2500 Romulan SkyHawk
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New Releases Communique #75 has been posted to the Commander's Circle. Recently Released To be releases on March 2012 To be Released in 2012 PDF SALES: ADB, Inc. continues its relationship with Steve Jackson Games and their e23 Warehouse. We chose e23 because they have a philosophy that agrees with ours -- our customers are honest and honorable and wouldn't aid people who want to steal our products. Furthermore, we know from experience how devastating a computer crash can be and want our customers to know that they don't have to worry about the loss of their e-products bought through e23. What do we have there? We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFs for sale on e23. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products. RECENTLY RELEASED ON e23 RECENTLY RELEASED ON DRIVE THRU RPG NEW MINIS
Star Fleet Fiction We had worked out the plan ahead of time. The scout and the cargo boat would stand off from the main asteroid belt by three kilikams and scan for anything suspicious. My boat and the 715 boat would fly through and around the asteroid clusters blasting the vacuum with our own active scanners. We didn't have to scan the entire asteroid belt, which would have taken days, only three selected points where a passing cruiser had reported unresolved scanner signatures.
We approached the first cluster and turned up nothing on our active scanners. While the scanners could be detected at 70 kilikams, the communicators could be picked up from several times that far away. I was ready to move on, but Slish-tak, the Hilidarian who commanded 715, signaled that he wanted to take a closer look at something. "I don't like the shadows I am seeing on that rock," he explained. I watched as he landed 715 on a 400-meter asteroid and debarked his Marine khad in their battle armor. A few minutes later, he radioed his report.
"Definite workings of a mine," he reported. "We have found cavities, tool marks, mine tailings, and assorted trash. Tigermen, by the look of the empty ration packs. Scanners say that they had a bubble shelter over the deepest shaft less than a week ago. The atmosphere traces on the rocks are their standard air with a touch of argon." "Good work," I responded. "Was it Tigermen, or just some pirates who stole their rations?" "Hard to tell," he said, "but my nose says it was Tigermen. Didn't look like a government or military operation, though, more like a commercial miner. It does not smell like a pirate, although it may be an unsanctioned civilian operation." This was most curious. Vellish was inside the pre-war Klingon border, and while the Tigermen had pushed us back from their capital, this was still behind the current front lines. I directed the flotilla to move to the next suspected cluster of asteroids. The hair on my back was itching before we got there. I could already feel the Tigermen, and I knew just how to make them help us in our search. I directed both search boats to begin firing phasers into the asteroids, trying to flush the enemy into revealing himself. If they were military, the trick wasn't likely to work, but commercial asteroid miners just trying to make a quick profit on the vanadium and rhodinium deposits in this belt would panic if they thought they were being fired on. (Continue reading here) Ask Admiral Growler TRACTOR BEAMS Andrew J. Koch asks: An interesting question regarding tractors. If you win a tractor auction over a turn break, as I did for one point of power, does your opponent get an opportunity to block your rotation with negative tractor? ANSWER: No. His chance to block the rotation happened when the tractor beam was re-established in the Energy Allocation Phase. Once he failed to break the tractor, the rotation was going to occur. The only other place he can fight the tractor is in the Ship System Functions Stage (6B4). There is no provision in (G7.42) for a tractor auction to take place other than in the Energy Allocation Phase, or "during the turn", i.e., during the Ship Systems Functions Stage. (G7.42) TRACTOR AUCTIONS: If a tractor beam was established during a prior turn, then the two ships involved must determine if it is broken at the start of each turn. This is done by an auction during the Energy Allocation Phase. Auctions may also be held during a turn. Note that the player who is maintaining the tractor must announce his intention to either maintain or drop the tractor link. If he announces that he will not maintain it, there is no auction. Follow-up question: That is what I thought, but I think I should mention that (G7.351) does say "a unit with energy allocated to tractors can designate this energy for use as negative tractor at any point". I think this was the passage Jason was reading that caused the confusion. ANSWER: While you might regard the writing of (G7.351) as sloppy, it does not change WHEN you can apply the energy. It just tells you that whatever unused tractor energy you have available is neither positive (able to reach out and grab something) or negative (able to repel an opposing tractor trying to grab your ship). When you allocated that one, two, three, whatever points to tractor during Energy Allocation (assuming you were not engaged in a tractor auction at the time), you did not have to designate it as either positive or negative. It becomes whatever you want it to be when you use it. Jason Gray asks a follow-up question: So when in the Sequence of Play can you apply allocated tractor power to negative tractor? ANSWER: This was provided in the initial answer to Andrew Koch's query: The Ship System Functions Stage (6B4). (Ask Growler continues here. ) F&E Q&A PRODUCTION: BUILDING THE BEST Q: Rules in the production section indicate that the costs to build the OOB items are indicated on the OOB, but I'm not finding that. Where are they? Q: Is there a simple guide to what the Star Fleet Universe is? You tell us it
isn't Star Trek, but that doesn't show us what it is. Send questions to Jean at design@StarFleetGames.com and SVC will decide which one Jean will answer next. Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool".
We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website. We have new images of our next game Star Fleet Marines posted on our BBS topic page. STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page NEW MINIATURES! Starline 2500 Klingon B10 Battleship
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