A question for the ACTA Community

[BravoStork]

Evening, morning or afternoon to you all.

Ever since Mongoose announced that they would no longer be publishing Star Fleet or Noble Armada, I've found myself lacking a decent tabletop game that I could invest my time into. And on the whole, it seems as if this community is unwilling to let these games, or at least the mechanics, fade away. As a result, I have found myself mulling over this question to you all for some time.

Are there people in this community who would be willing and enthusiastic in creating our own version of ACTA? Something that could use a wide range of miniatures and combine the best traits, wherever possible, of both games.
As I said, I've been thinking about this for some time. Even tossed around a few ideas for a SW version of ACTA on paper and word doc, but that was sidelined as real life asserted control of my attention.

The question is out there...what do you say?

 

[AdrianH]

For one thing, just because Mongoose isn't supporting any version of ACTA at the moment does not mean you can't keep playing it. You've left out my favourite version, B5:ACTA, which I still play despite it having been out of production for years. It just means there aren't going to be any rules changes, so what you know won't suddenly become out of date.

There are already a couple of threads from people doing their own work on ACTA:
Horribly Imbalanced Custom Ship Design Rules (NA)
ACTA for 2300AD Star Cruiser

And at one time someone had a home-brew version for "Battlestar Galactica", though I don't know what became of that.

I'd certainly be interested in a fan-made version of ACTA which incorporates all the ship and weapon traits of previous versions. Players could then take or leave traits as they like to customise the game to their choice of universe. (There might be IP issues involved with copying trait names such as "Armour piercing" or "Agile", but that's nothing compared to the IP issue of copying the name "ACTA". )

Finally, Mongoose are still producing a version of ACTA, though it's not called that. "Victory At Sea" is basically ACTA:WW2, and the fact that it is restricted to a 2 dimensional tabletop is less of an issue for sea-going ships than for starships. :lol:

 

[Rick]

I have to say that I've never played ACTA:SF - I read through the rules and came to the conclusion that they were no longer the ACTA that I wanted to play. I've stopped playing ACTA:NA due to not being able to find opponents. However, I'm still playing ACTA:B5, got several fleets and still find it the most enjoyable of the ACTA variants. Just because a rule set can no longer be supported due to licencing restrictions doesn't mean it's 'dead' - I for one will be playing it for many years to come.

 

[Nerroth]

While A Call to Arms: Star Fleet has had its primary development shifted over to ADB, the game is by no means dead. The heavily revised "version 1.2" rulebook is being primed for release, which should lay the groundwork for the game's future expansion efforts to get back up and running again.

That said, Rick brings up a fair point - due to the nature of combat in ACtA:SF (where most ships fight at tactical warp speeds), there is a very different feel to the game relative to what you see in those incarnations in which battles are fought at "sub-light". The Venn diagram of ACtA players might show some overlap between editions, but ACtA:SF may, by its nature, remain at something of a half-step apart from its fellows.

 

[Rick]

While A Call to Arms: Star Fleet has had its primary development shifted over to ADB, the game is by no means dead. The heavily revised "version 1.2" rulebook is being primed for release, which should lay the groundwork for the game's future expansion efforts to get back up and running again.

Ah - I was actually talking about ACTA:B5 here, not SF! I'm sure most people on these boards are aware that ACTA:SF is alive and well; I just don't play it as a personal preference.

 

[Nerroth]

Ah - I was actually talking about ACTA:B5 here, not SF! I'm sure most people on these boards are aware that ACTA:SF is alive and well; I just don't play it as a personal preference.

Oh, sorry - I was referring more to the opening post, which I read as assuming that Mongoose had brought ACtA:SF to an end, rather than turning the reins over to ADB.

In the long run, I wouldn't be surprised to see another space setting used for ACtA - be it a home-spun universe (perhaps the one that Blue Shift was/is intended to run in?) or yet another licenced property.

 

[Da Boss]

Evening, morning or afternoon to you all.

Ever since Mongoose announced that they would no longer be publishing Star Fleet or Noble Armada, I've found myself lacking a decent tabletop game that I could invest my time into. And on the whole, it seems as if this community is unwilling to let these games, or at least the mechanics, fade away. As a result, I have found myself mulling over this question to you all for some time.

Are there people in this community who would be willing and enthusiastic in creating our own version of ACTA? Something that could use a wide range of miniatures and combine the best traits, wherever possible, of both games.
As I said, I've been thinking about this for some time. Even tossed around a few ideas for a SW version of ACTA on paper and word doc, but that was sidelined as real life asserted control of my attention.

The question is out there...what do you say?

Sounds fun to me - I less time than I would like to try stuff but ACTA remains one of my fav systems and B5 in particular - I did even start tinkering with "3rd Edition" rules

 

[Bellicose]

Bravostork, I am enthusiastic at the idea. I posted a rough draft of my design ideas in the thread "Horribly imbalanced design system" . I have played around with it a bit since i made that post. I do think it is quite workable if people make the effort.

 

[Stu--]

Only came here looking to see if mongoose did a space station for ACTA.
And... I see yet another game system dropped by them!


It almost beggars belief they have any customers left....




To the poster: Full thrust is alive and well and delivers a good game.

 

[Maelmordha]

I'm a bit puzzled why Mongoose don't just do a generic set for ACTA and supplement it with ideas for different backgrounds. The player contribution to supplement such a set would be voluminous! Most of the work required to produce such a set has already been done and just needs rebadged imho.

I mean there's High Guard, and 2300AD for a start and TV series like Space Above and Beyond and Battlestar Galactica could do with some gaming options. There's also games that would fit well in such an on table system like Homeworld, Masters of Orion and so on. I'm sure the community would jump at the chance to mold their favourites with ACTA and share them online. Some sort of GZG/Full-Thrust tie in could work as well (for the models at least).

Generic Campaign supplements, tools and ship types would keep interest alive. Add things like a full on boarding module (Snapshot/Laser Command style) and you have a pretty solid core ruleset that would sell and have huge community support without the full on licence debacle.

I know I would jump at the chance.

 

[Bellicose]

Masters of Orion...... Ah memories. I agree though, a generic version with a deign system, influenced by Noble Armada would be super.