Federation Commander

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Federation Commander is a tactical starship combat game system, produced and developed by Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. (ADB) It is designed to represent combat between vessels of various factions in the Star Fleet Universe, such as the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.

Federation Commander is largely based on Star Fleet Battles (SFB), and carries over many of its basic rules and game dynamics. It was designed to be a game which would be similar to Star Fleet Battles, but which would provide more ease of learning and playability. It provides a balance between tactical nuance and ease of playability, in order to provide a game which is more accessible for newer gamers, or those with limited time constraints.^[1]

Some Star Fleet Battles rules were omitted from the game, in order to make gameplay more streamlined, and to eliminate some processes which some players found overly complex. Another motive was to make game rules and dynamics more understandable for new players.^[2]

[edit] Game rules and dynamics

One key method of increasing ease of playability is the distinction between Squadron and Fleet Scale combat. Each starship or base (or space monster) has two ship diagrams, representing its weapon options, shields, number of shuttlecraft, available warp and impulse power etc. The same starship (such as, say, a Federation battlecruiser) has one diagram in a more detailed Squadron scale - the kind of scale seen in Star Fleet Battles - and another, more simplified one in Fleet scale - a similar scale to the Cadet scale seen in SFB.

Both scales use the same rule system, allowing gamers to play a fast-paced duel or starbase assault in Fleet scale, or a more detailed cruiser clash or squadron battle in the aptly-titled Squadron scale. (Examples of each scale of starship can be seen at ADB's Federation Commander legacy site in PDF format.)

A list of questions and answers concerning Federation Commander - and its differences from Star Fleet Battles - is available here.

The game uses much of the same mechanisms as Star Fleet Battles, such as power allocation, multiple systems, and ship maneuvering. however it gets rid of some processes which some found burdensome, such as atmospheric maneuvering, and Marine guards defending aboard ships.^[2]

Power allocation is handled differently, in that power does not have to be fully allocated at the start of each turn. Players can make new decisions during a turn by using a "pay-as-you-go" power allocation system, which creates a more real feeling of actually commanding a ship.^[3]

[edit] Game materials

Game materials, including rules and documentation are sometimes released separately, in various packs. Therefore, some items can be discussed according to their manner of release.

Products for Federation Commander are broken up into a few distinct categories. There are full sets that provide everything needed to play, including dice and dry-erase pens. "Attack" products that supplement the main sets with new ships, scenarios and specialized map board sections. And "Boosters" that provide extra (non-random) ship cards.

[edit] Introductory materials

Cover art for Federation Commander: Academy, featuring a Federation Constitution-class heavy cruiser and a Gorn battlecruiser against a Klingon D7 battlecruiser and a Romulan King Eagle.

Federation Commander First Missions includes introductory rules for Federation Commander: Klingon Border, as well as ship diagrams for a Federation CA and a Klingon D7. It is available at this link (in PDF format).

Federation Commander: Academy is intended as an introductory mission, placed as an intermediate product between the First Missions PDF and the two 'border' supplements. It includes the rulebook from Klingon Border, and details for four starships (The Federation CA, Klingon D7, Gorn BC and Romulan KE) and a map. It is possible to use any of the other FC products with Academy as it has a full rulebook, but the idea is to buy Federation Commander: Graduation, the companion product that provides everything from Klingon Border that isn't in Academy (1" counters, mounted mapboards, 14 ship cards).

[edit] Full sets

Box contents of Federation Commander: Klingon Border.

Cover art for Federation Commander: Klingon Border, featuring a Federation Kirov-class Battlecruiser facing a Klingon C7 Heavy Battlecruiser, also showing the captains of each respective vessel.

Klingon Border is the original set released for Federation Commander, and contains a 60-page rulebook, reference play sheets, ship diagrams and counters for various ship classes in the Federation's United Star Fleet (including the fabled Constitution-class starship portrayed in Star Trek: The Original Series) and the Klingon Empire's Deep Space Fleet (including the famed D7 class battlecruisers, seen serving the Klingon and Romulan Empires in the Original Series) Two ship classes from the Kzinti Hegemony, the Tholian Holdfast's famed Patrol Corvette - the vessel from "The Tholian Web", an Orion pirate raider vessel, as well as a number of freighter craft, base stations, starbases and a space monster - the feared Planet Killer - are also included.

Federation Commander: Romulan Border is a complete set like the original, not just an expansion. A version that eliminates the duplicated materials (the box, boards, and dice, and has just the ship and scenario sections of the Romulan Border rulebook) called Romulan Space is available directly from the manufacturer. It presents all-new Federation starship classes (nothing duplicated from Klingon Border), five Romulan ship classes as well as two Gorn ships, a base, civilian craft and a monster.

[edit] Supplemental materials and booster packs

Cover art for Federation Commander: Klingon Attack, featuring a Federation New Jersey-class Battlecruiser against a Klingon D5 and D5W.

As boxed sets have all the rules, including the specific rules for empires not seen in that particular set, any of the other materials of interest can be used, but they are generally associated with a particular 'main' product.

Federation Commander: Klingon Attack is a direct expansion to Klingon Border with 16 additional starships for the races from FC:KB, as well as new scenarios and two new map panels featuring planets.

Federation Commander: Romulan Attack is a direct expansion to Romulan Border with further Romulan, Gorn and Federation ships, and two map panels featuring asteroids.

Federation Commander: Tholian Attack concentrates on the Tholians, and introduces the Seltorians to FC with rules for new weapons and the Tholian Web. The two map panels include pre-set web patterns.

Federation Commander: Battleships Attack contains half as many ship cards as normal, but they are double-sized to fit the extra-large ships on them. Also includes the usual counters, scenarios and two new asteroid map panels (different from the Romulan Attack ones).

Federation Commander Booster Packs each contain more ship counters than ship charts. The booster sets all have an associated main product, with the idea that if you buy the three boosters associated with a particular main product, you will have exactly the same number (and type) of ship cards as counters for them. While the boosters are not random, they do generally each contain one ship type that was not in the main release.

Currently (February 2008) there are 18 Booster Packs associated with the various main products, as well as Line of Battle, a 'booster' with double-sized cards from Battleships Attack.

[edit] Future releases

Planned future releases include:

Federation Commander: Distant Kingdoms will be the third boxed set, and will introduce several empires 'distant' from the Federation: the Lyran Star Empire, Hydran Kingdom, Lyran Democratic Republic and WYN Star Cluster. It is currently (Feb 2008) scheduled for March 2008.

Federation Commander Briefing #1 will be a collection of scenarios and ships, many of which had been published places like Captain's Log but had not been in a 'regular' FC product before.

Federation Commander: Borders of Madness will include several ships in Fleet scale from Star Fleet Battles which will not be included in the main Federation Commander releases, such as scout vessels, commando starships and space control ships (dreadnoughts serving as home vessels for fighter craft and fast patrol craft).

Also, many rules which have been excluded from the main Federation Commander modules will be included for those who wish to use them. In contrast to the step-by-step release schedule for various races in the main line FC sets, each race seen in SFB which will have a representation in Borders of Madness will be included in the first module.

As this game is intended for an audience already familiar with SFB, this release will be primarily available from ADB's mail order site. There is no current hard 'plan' on what will be done, or when the product will be worked on, much less released.

Some other titles have been reserved for future development, but have not yet been assigned to specific races or scenarios. They are:

• Federation Commander: Deep Space
• Federation Commander: Next Frontier
• Federation Commander: War and Peace

[edit] Online version

Federation Commander On-Line is a service which is part of the SFB On-Line service that allows players to play Federation Commander across the Internet. The client that allows this to happen is written in Java so that it can be used on any operating system that currently supports a 1.4.x or greater Java Runtime Environment.^[4]

[edit] Miniatures

Also, a series of related miniature box sets are scheduled for release alongside each title release. Due for release alongside Klingon Border was a Federation and a Klingon fleet set, as well as a set containing the other warships, freighters and bases seen in FC:KB. A similar set of box sets, with matching ships for Klingon Attack, Booster Zero, Romulan Border, Romulan Attack and Tholian Attack have also been released.

[edit] See also

• Star Fleet Battles
• Star Fleet Universe

[edit] References

[edit] Further information

• Official online game site; Contains huge list of resources, information.
• ADB's revised Federation Commander Home Page -more user-friendly interface.
• Federation Commander online - Various resources for playing online
• Player resources, SFB website various online player resources
• ADB's legacy Federation Commander site
• ADB's Discussion Board Federation Commander threads (old site, mostly from early 2007)
• Federation Commander webforums (current forums site)
• Federation Commander: Klingon Border at BoardGameGeek