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November 2019
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS:
BOOSTER #37-38
In about a week we will release the first new Federation Commander products in five years, Booster Packs #37 and #38. These (along with the subsequent packs #39 and #40) will be the ships that would have gone into Flagships Attack, but we decided to release the ships in separate boosters in order to get them into your hands faster. Booster #37 will include the leader versions of the Federation NCL and DW, the Kzinti CM and DW, and the Tholian CW. This will also include three Hydran ships, which are currently intended to be the Warrior destroyer leader, the Apache war cruiser leader, and the Lion Hunter war destroyer leader.
Booster Pack #38 will include DW and CW leaders for the Klingons, Lyrans, Vudar, and WYNs.
Booster Pack #39 will include leaders for the Romulans, Gorns, and ISC.
Booster Pack #40 will include more leaders from a variety of empires.
MORE BIG NEWS ADB SALUTES AMERICAN VETERANS
SHAPEWAYS
On October 31st, 2019, ADB released a total of 41 new items:
The new 1/7000 Elite scale ships began with sprues for the Federation, Klingons, Romulan Eagles, Romulan Hawks (unrefitted and cranked arrow), Kzintis, Tholians, Neo-Tholians, Lyrans, WYN-Aux, and Seltorians.
The second release for the new 1/2500 Prestige Scale is the Federation CAR.
Ships released for both 3788 and 3125 scales include: Romulan unrefitted Condor, Gorn DNL (plain and scaley) and heavy medium cruiser, as well as the Lyran and LDR heavy Jaguar. We did two WYN Barracudas on a sprue to reduce the cost for each ship.
Released in Omni Scale are the Gorn Battlestation in both augmented and original form.
You can check out the store here:
Check all these out here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc Don't forget to follow us: https://www.shapeways.com/designer/adbinc  WEBSITE:
Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Samantha Todd, 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.
TWITTER: VIDEOS: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 DOING VIDEOS OF THE SFU
A customer asked about posting "tutorial videos" for our games. We like it when people do that (and even give commendation medals) but you need to have us check the videos to make sure you aren't violating something somehow (or that you didn't make a rules error). Doing such videos to make money is not cool. Please drop us an email before you post the videos.
STARBLOG: STAR FLEET'S LEGIONS EXPAND: This month we feature Battle Group Hampton Roads, headquartered in Hampton, Virginia. CO William Phillips reports they play Star Fleet Battles and Federation & Empire. They also enjoy attending gaming conventions. Read more here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/battlegroup_HamptonRoads.shtml
Do you have a battle group? Be sure to report your activities here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/report.shtml
Do you want to see if there's a battle group near you? Check out the map here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/battlegroup/gather.shtml#US
Facebook Fan Pages
So join us on Facebook and get a fix of your favorite game there, too! JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Tenneshington Decals continues to provide custom decals for all currently produced Federation Starline 2500 miniatures. For more information or to download the order sheet, check them out at www.tenneshington.com. Or if you prefer, email Will McCammon at: will@tenneshington.com or Tony L. Thomas at: scoutdad@tenneshington.com.
Jupiter IV Decals is a source of decals for the 2400 line and will do custom decals as well as all official SFB names. In the near future Jupiter IV will move into the 2500 line and will work to get every listed name on the Starfleet registry completed in both scales.
Their website is: JupiterIvdecals.com
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Sapphire Star:
The first Sapphire Star game concluded with Peter D. Bakija's Gorn
tournament cruiser defeating Paul Graves' Inter-Stellar Concordium
tournament cruiser in the final round.
The second Sapphire Star Tournament officially began on 8 November
19, and two of the first round games have already concluded. Sapphire
Star #2 is scheduled to have its final game conclude in early
January, 2020. Some rounds have been extended to three weeks to allow
for breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years.
You can follow the Sapphire Star Tournament #2 here: https://sfbonline.com/show_results.jsp?tournament=sapphire2 Good luck to all the players!
To restate the rules:
There will be strict deadlines: two weeks for each round. When matched with an opponent you have 72 hours to agree to a time to play. If the game cannot be completed, you must agree to a schedule to resume the game at the time the session ends, and must finish within the deadline. Any game not completed on time (or if both players request it) will be adjudicated and, if the game is inconclusive, the judge reserves the right to declare both players lost and fill the spot with a wild card. If someone drops out, disappears, or just won't schedule his game and there is time to put a wild card player into his place, we will do this if we can find one. If not, it will count as a forfeit and the other player will win and advance. There will be no forfeits in the final game, even if we have to find a wild card player (or have two players fight for the wild card spot) and start the two-week clock over again. Wild cards for the second and third rounds (and possibly the first round) will come from those who did not advance from those rounds.
We do note that Thanksgiving occurs during the tournament, and for that purpose will allow a third week for that round. This is again the "Vacation" issue. Players may already have family get together plans and not be able to play that week. They are not, of course, required to take that week off (if they have no plans) and could complete the tournament in that week if both agree to play.
Signups are still open. Please remember to sign up on SFBOL and the shopping cart.
DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES Star Fleet Battles games are held weekly in Tempe Arizona each Friday at Game Depot from 2:00 -7:00 pm. Eric Phillips is the person to contact.
Star Fleet Battles games are held regularly in Indianapolis, Indiana at Family Time Games. Anthony Harding is the contact person. For more information see: http://www.meetup.com/Star-Fleet-Battles-Indy/.
Star Fleet Battles games are played regularly in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday afternoons at the Soldiery. Lee Hanna is the contact person.
Games are held in Spokane, Washington on an irregular basis. Contact them to see if there's a game scheduled. They meet at The Gamer's Haven, 2114 N. Pines St., Suites 1 & 2, Spokane Valley, WA 99206, (509) 443-5992 http://www.thegamershaven.net/
A Call To Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month Comets are represented in ACTASF by combining the rules for asteroid fields and dust clouds. While comets can be any size, all comets consist of a small, frozen ball of ice with a long, thin tail following behind. The main ball of ice at its head should be 1 to 2 inches in size and is treated as a very small asteroid field. The tails of comets are typically 6 to 18 inches long and 1 to 4 inches thick and use the same rules as dust clouds. (End of A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month)
Mini of the Month Daniel Bostwick painted this Andromedan Conquistador (3788 Scale, Smooth Fine Detail Plastic).
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New Releases Communique #167 has been posted to the Commander's Circle Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released To be released in 2019
FC Booster Pack #37
FC Booster Pack #38
FC Federation Epack #5
A Call to Arms: Starfleet Book 2
GURPS Klingons Revision
Star fleet Universe Index
To be released in 2020
Captain's Log #55
SFB Module R13
The rest of the Starmada Unity Edition
A new F&E module to be named later
ACTASF Book 3
SHAPEWAYS:
We’re now offering some of our miniatures and some new designs on Shapeways. You can check out the store here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amarillo-design-bureau-inc?sort=newest
PDF and EBOOK SALES: RECENTLY RELEASED ON Warehouse 23 Briefing Room, USS Mallory (Continue reading here)
Ask Admiral Vanaxilth Scatter-Packs
Scott Bauman asks: After a scatter-pack shuttle has released its drones, the shuttle could later be boarded and captured by an enemy. When can a boarded and captured enemy scatter-pack shuttle begin to move?
ANSWER: Kommodore Ketrick replies: Under rule (FD7.42) a scatter-pack shuttle that has been captured by boarding parties will regard the capturing side to be "friendly." Under rule (J1.865) the shuttle can begin moving immediately. This is considered to be a "mid-turn speed change," but is considered an exception to (C12.343), although the shuttle is bound by the acceleration limits of (J1.22). So, a shuttle nominally capable of Speed 6 can accelerate to Speed 3 as soon as a pilot is aboard. Randy Blair asks: Suppose a friendly unit pulls in a shuttle that had been used as a scatter-pack (and expended its drones). How soon can the deck crews load more drones on it? Is it the same as a fighter? ANSWER: Kommodore Ketrick replies: See (FD7.42). You can begin loading drones, but it will still have to be "serviced" by a deck crew for 32 impulses. So basically you can have one deck crew servicing the shuttle and one deck crew loading drones during the first 32 impulses. After that, you can have two deck crews loading drones as only two deck crews can work on the shuttle at one time, and the shuttle must be serviced (whether removing the scatter-pack system and making the phaser operational, or just re-initializing the scatter-pack system, it takes one deck crew and 32 impulses). Follow-up question: Rule (FD7.42) says that a scatter-pack that has not released its drones must be serviced for 32 impulses. What about a scatter-pack that has released its drones and has itself become inert after doing so?
ANSWER: Kommodore Ketrick replies: You can still transport a pilot on board, and fly it back to a ship (or tractor it back on board), and it still needs to be serviced for 32 impulses. See (FD7.4152) and (FD7.42). F&E Q&A
CONSTRUCTION Q: What is the construction cost of Federation PDUs after adopting the Third Way (508.31)?
A: On and after Y181S (Turn #26) the new construction cost of Federation ground bases with doubled fighters is as follows: Built at Shipyard: 4+6 Self-Generated: 5+6 Upgrade: 7+6 Use the designator "PDU+" for Federation PDUs with doubled fighters. Fed PDUs cannot use F-111s per (527.14). Q: Regarding the second turn of PF deployment. As I read rules (502.612), (502.62), and (502.63), the Lyrans should get 18 PF flotillas to place on bases and enough PFs beyond those to put a half flotilla on every PDU they have on their original planets (up to one on each minor planet, two on each major planet, and four in the capital). But there is also rule (502.615) which says that if there aren't enough bases to put all the PFs (and the Lyrans don¹t have enough bases), than the PFs must be placed on available PDUs within the limits thereon. So, do the Lyrans have to place their base PFs on all their planets¹ PDUs (so every PF they get on the second deployment turn beyond the ones they put on a base are blocked from deployment and a PFT can¹t pick them up) or only on PDUs on captured planets and/or on any extra PDUs on their original planets? A: There are four categories for PF deployment; Bases (original and later construction), Initial Home System PDUs (your original planets), added Home Systems¹ PDUs (those added to original planets), and PDUs on captured planets ‹ in that order. Rule (502.63) covers the initial Home Systems¹ PDU deployment and is a one-shot deal. Any original PDUs lost during the game obviously aren¹t there to base PFs on. If you build PDUs later, you will have to buy PFs if you want them. The other categories are controlled by (502.62). As you receive those flotillas you place them where you wish in the categories defined. You can place these PFs on captured planets (if you have PDUs) first. Only if you have more PFs than slots available and the remainder placed in the replacement pool (502.615) to resupply PFTs once emptied (Phase 6E or 2B4).
Q: Does the tug, convoy, or other eligible colony building unit(s) (446.12) or (445.52) have to be included in the battle force (302.233) during each round of combat at the location of the colony? Rule (446.12) is silent on this matter, but (510.231) or (510.232) may apply. A: Any unit or units acting in the capacity of a tug setting up or upgrading a base or colony is/are treated as a tug for these said purposes under (302.233). (End of F&E Q&A) ASK AUNT JEAN Dear Aunt Jean, Where does the GURPS Prime Directive Revision stand?
A: My apologies for not getting more done on this. I got engaged in October and things got behind as my fiance and I went house hunting. I am working on a pagination problem in the index and hope to have that fixed by December.
Send questions to Jean at marketing@StarFleetGames.com and she will answer as soon as she can. 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: Wallpapers 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 FC Tactic of the MonthFINESSING YOUR DAMAGE REPAIRS Consider carefully the order in which you allocate odd repair points to your damaged systems. For example, let¹s say you have a frigate with a warp hit and a few hull hits. Repairing the warp hit takes three repair points so, with your frigate¹s two repair points, it will take two turns to fix it.
Rather than allocating two points on one turn and then the final point to complete the warp repair on the next turn, do it like this. Spend one point to completely repair a hull box, and one point to begin repairs on the warp box. Then, on the next turn, allocate the two points for the turn to complete the warp repair. This idea may sound pointless, but if you look at the damage charts you will see that hull boxes protect warp boxes. Repairing that hull box first may just protect another warp box during a later damage volley. This trick is also useful for larger ships and not just frigates, but the main point is to think about the order in which you allocate "odd" numbers of repair points. If you have no damaged hull boxes, you could always perform a partial reload on a drone rack with that one point.
Attacking a large base (base station or above) can be tricky because of the power of phaser-4s. However, if you are willing to take some damage on the way in, a good way to deal with the base and tremendously amplify your damage is to use T-bombs.
Charge the base and, at Range 3 or less to the target hex, place as big a stack of T-bombs as you can in an empty hex adjacent to the base. Preferably, transport the mines by dropping a shield that does not directly face the base. Set the mines to detonate for any size class, radius one. Then use launched shuttlecraft and/or drones to blow your own mines, thereby punching a hole in the base¹s shield. Because the base can only rotate slowly, you time the explosions to occur so that you will have at least several subsequent impulses to fire through the base¹s now down shield. Additionally, because of how mines detonate, you are likely only going to set off some of the mines. That means you can achieve two separate volleys of damage per impulse, which will quickly strip the base of weapons. Depending on the forces involved, you could strip the base of weapons in just one turn, and thereby suffer only one blast from the base for your efforts. You should set the mines when you are at Range 3 or less because you want to minimize the time the base has available to sweep the mines before the mines are set and ready to explode (two impulses after being laid). Additionally, the impulse the mines are set, you will want to be at Range 2 to the mines. That way, you can launch your shuttles and/or drones timed to move on the following impulse (and thereby detonate mines), again minimizing the opponent¹s ability to destroy your shuttles and/or drones to prevent them from detonating mines. If the base is orbiting a planet, then you have a huge bonus. Use the lee of the planet¹s "line of sight shadow" to approach the base so that it cannot shoot at you. Depending on the base¹s setup, you might be able to trigger multiple mine blasts over several impulses before you overrun the base, thereby preventing the base from shooting back before you start stripping it of weapons. If you are desperate, use your own ships to detonate the mines. You can string your ships out so that each ship only takes one or two mine blasts, but the base keeps getting hammered with internals on the same down shield. (End of SFB Tactic of the Month) F&E Strategy of the Month While rule (308.3) details the conditions under which an attacker can win an approach battle, attackers should be mindful that proceeding straight to the fixed defenses after winning an approach round is not always desirable.
By offering further approach rounds even after satisfying the conditions to proceed to the fixed location, an attacker opens up the possibility of devaluing an opponent¹s fixed defenses. In short, you give yourself an opportunity to inflict more damage on key units of the defending fleet before fixed defenses can ever play a role in the combat. So next time you are attacking a fixed position, consider if you would be better off getting straight to your target or continuing to approach and giving your opponent a chance to cheapen the value of his defense.
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
The Federation Commander site and Forum continue to grow as more gamers continue to find them. All of our games currently have topics in the Forum. If you have any comments, questions, or requests for our Graphics Director, this is the place to let her know. Come see what the commotion is about and join the Federation Commander Forum now.
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show our games and to teach potential players some basics. 
