Okay so I might of instigated this bit of controversy but I thought I should
make this clear that my intention was not as it seems.
The reason i asked about Fleet Books was that some people like to have
actually have these stats fully worked out so that they can use them as a
guide.
I never intended for it to be a publication where every body has to do it this
way just like that other unnamed games company.
Just like jon says in full thrust that all it should be used as a
guide not the hard and fast rules so come on guys be flex 8-)
> At 12:55 PM 10/15/97 +0100, Jon of GZG wrote:
Status: RO
> The FT fleet book is due soonish now,
How soon is soonish for us Yanks?
> At 12:55 PM 10/15/97 +0100, Jon of GZG wrote:
Status: RO
> The FT fleet book is due soonish now,
I'm working on it now; release date will depend on a number of things,
including finance and how soon the artist finishes the ship pics. Not this
side of Christmas, unfortunately, but hopefully not too far into the new year.
Copies should be in the US fairly quickly after they roll off the presses in
the UK. The artist (Tim Osborne, who did many of the illos for SGII) is
working as fast as he can on the ship drawings, but he's got over 100 ships to
do in total!! Those he's done so far look VERY
nice....
Each ship will be illustrated with a three-quarter-view line drawing and
a ship systems diagram (with permission to copy it and paste it into a fleet
record sheet), plus a panel of stats and a bit of PSB "blurb" about the class.
If we have room and time, I hope to also outline several class variants for
some ships as well as the "main" designs. As we've previously discussed on the
list, I hope the FB will be of use even to players who don't use "our"
background, as a resource of general ship designs.
** NOTE!! ** All the foregoing is what we PLAN to do - circumstances may
force changes in some areas, or we may come up with some better ideas!
Status: RO
Jon,
Are you using a new or tweaked ship design system for the ships in the fleet
book? Is it finalized (as much as you can anything is which is not yet in
print) yet?
thanks,
Status: RO
> Jon,
Yes, and No, respectively. Having decided that we're going to fix things like
the Battery Mass problems, and wanting to move to the "variable Mass drives"
(ie: a% of Mass per thrust level), this would invalidate all the "old" ship
designs anyway (even just moving A Batts from 3 to 4 mass would do that!), so
we've decided to go the whole hog and use a completely revised design system,
which will of course be expained fully in the Fleet Book. The system is nearly
there, but not yet finalised, we're currently doing a lot of playtesting to
see how the various systems and designs stack up to ensure we've got the right
feel to it. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks right now.
Greetings all,
I know people have already given their reviews of the Fleet Book but after
just getting my grubby little hands on one, I thought I'd give thoughts.
I've read most of the new rules, and glanced through the rest of the book.
The new rules: love them. Can't get enough of them. The movement system
strikes me as a good balance between "movie" and "realism" and also seems to
me to be instinctive, though I haven't played it yet. It's finally a joy
though to be able to have a ship travelling _sideways_... As for the
rest, I think they are good additions without adding unnecessary clutter to
the game. I'm itching to try them out.
Alas... being a designer, I seriously wish there could be improvement in the
look of the books. I don't know who the designers are beyond the credit, and
I don't mean any disrespect, but to me the layout seems a bit - well,
being
blunt - old. A bit tired. Okay, there's only so much that can be done in
black and white, but something a bit jazzier would be much appreciated by
someone like me who appreciates the look as well as the content. It's a minor
quibble. Please don't anyone take offence!
Otherwise, a sturdy good book that's been long awaited and, for me, adds some
really good new dimensions to the game. Now begins the wait for Bugs Don't
Surf..:)
PS: I picked up an Omega today. Phewie!! What a jumble! While still a sexy
looking ship, the casting is a bit off and the two stand idea.. well... could
have been better handled. Not as lead heavy as some of the GZG ships
(especially the NSL monsters) but still a worth addition. Shame about the
price...
----
I just got the fleet book. <man that was a SLOOOOOOW boat they were on...> I
have 2 things to say about it: 1) Great work. 2) The errata list that was sent
out earlier is incomplete. The sample design is wrong. A level one screen for
a Mass 85 ship is 4.25 (round down to 4) mass but the design lists it as 5
mass.
Chris