ACTA:SF release
- Thread starter Tankdriver
- Start date
Any remaining rulebooks (should just be people in US and Canada now) will be going out next week.
Pretty excited about the game, especially since i got my copy of the rule book (and new Legend hardcopy, glee!) on the 24th. My question is more about the PDFs, do you know when these will be released? i tend to play a lot from a laptop or iPad with my cheat sheets on it and use the PDFs for that, while using the hardcopy when showing friends the rules and making army lists. I know its not a priority, but a rough idea would be awesome
GalagaGalaxian
Mongoose
msprange said:
Direct orders, or to distributors as well? I ordered through my FLGS. I'm quite jealous to hear some stores already have it. Oh well, thems the breaks, I've got plenty to distract me in the meantime (namely pouring over my dad's old SFB books).
As I promised, here is the latest news I have:
Latest news on Starline 2500 via SVC:
Mongoose plans to catch up on all pre-orders by the end of January.
Fleet Boxes will be no later than the second half of January.
In February, they will officially re-do the launch of the fleet boxes to the wholesalers.
Kzintis will come out in March.
Gorns will come out in April.
They're trying to find a solution to cloaked Roms and want to have them out by the end of January.
We do have a few Federation squadron boxes left at ADB and we do have rulebooks available for order, should you choose to place an order. The last two Klingon boxes have just been sold and the Romulan ones have been gone.
Jean
Latest news on Starline 2500 via SVC:
Mongoose plans to catch up on all pre-orders by the end of January.
Fleet Boxes will be no later than the second half of January.
In February, they will officially re-do the launch of the fleet boxes to the wholesalers.
Kzintis will come out in March.
Gorns will come out in April.
They're trying to find a solution to cloaked Roms and want to have them out by the end of January.
We do have a few Federation squadron boxes left at ADB and we do have rulebooks available for order, should you choose to place an order. The last two Klingon boxes have just been sold and the Romulan ones have been gone.
Jean
Lincolnlog
Mongoose
Yes ADB does have rule books (not correcting Jean since we know she's an employee, simply confirming through experience), called and ordered one yesterday. Already trying to find a buyer for the October pre-order rulebook, but no hurry, since I'll receive the book I order yesterday before the pre-order even ships.
Thanks Jean for the update - shame we did not have an official update from MGP.
few questions?
What issue with the Cloaked Romulans - I had not seen anything other than it takes ages to make them?
Fleet box distribution mid to late January - is that UK or US as we have a tournament over here in February which makes this very difficult - I don't have 2400 ships so guess that means no point in going
given I need to get them and have them built / painted.
few questions?
What issue with the Cloaked Romulans - I had not seen anything other than it takes ages to make them?
Fleet box distribution mid to late January - is that UK or US as we have a tournament over here in February which makes this very difficult - I don't have 2400 ships so guess that means no point in going
given I need to get them and have them built / painted.I have gotta say this is really lame I have to wait till January 2012 to play a game that was supposed to be released in November 2011! I ordered 2 squadron boxes and a rule book they have had my money for months this is not cool at all. I have to say I may not be buying anything from Mongoose ever again plenty of other star trek models I could proxy.
Matt,
After reading Jean’s post I am wondering how this affects the singles and their release – I already have the base squadron set for the Federation and am planning the next “Capital Fleet Expenditure Programme”
Can we get an update on the projected availability dates please….
After reading Jean’s post I am wondering how this affects the singles and their release – I already have the base squadron set for the Federation and am planning the next “Capital Fleet Expenditure Programme”
Can we get an update on the projected availability dates please….
Folks, I can only tell you what I know. I know that Mongoose is going to make it a priority to get all of the pre-orders handled.
We really did want to get this game out right at Thanksgiving, but we also wanted it to be as right as possible. You would have been upset if we'd made a game with broken rules (and we need the outcomes to match predicted outcomes in SFB -- no bitsy lone frigate successfully whomping up on a dreadnought) and so we worked hard to get everything as right as possible. That did mean the date slipped a few weeks for the rulebook.
The cloaked Romulans do take a while to make, so it seems reasonable to clear the line for making regular Romulans so we can satisfy pre-orders more quickly.
Ships are being made -- think of it as we need a firehose to put out the number of pre-orders, but we thought we'd need a garden hose. It takes a bit to get the firehose in place, but I know Mongoose is working on doing just that.
Jean
We really did want to get this game out right at Thanksgiving, but we also wanted it to be as right as possible. You would have been upset if we'd made a game with broken rules (and we need the outcomes to match predicted outcomes in SFB -- no bitsy lone frigate successfully whomping up on a dreadnought) and so we worked hard to get everything as right as possible. That did mean the date slipped a few weeks for the rulebook.
The cloaked Romulans do take a while to make, so it seems reasonable to clear the line for making regular Romulans so we can satisfy pre-orders more quickly.
Ships are being made -- think of it as we need a firehose to put out the number of pre-orders, but we thought we'd need a garden hose. It takes a bit to get the firehose in place, but I know Mongoose is working on doing just that.
Jean
well i stopped getting into fc cause i thought this game might be more appealing to my friends. the holiday was the only free time i had to do a real good demo to get them interested so thats a bust. $600 dollars worth of pre-orders that i dont have, and im stuck driving 45minutes to closest retailer who still doesnt have the game. i think ill paint what comes and call it a day, theyll look nice on a shelf next to my micro machines.
IraShaine1972
Mongoose
So........wont be seeing this anytime soon for us that have ordered fleets. And no offers to cancel orders or anything of that nature. Nope nothing.
At this point I would really like to just get my money and come back to this game when it is truly ready to sell. MGP just continues to kick the can down the road on a product line the IS NOT ready for the market. Instead of being upfront and apeasing us it seems they are determined to hold MY money with a death grip rather than let me have it back. Product wasnt ready as promised. At the 3 week late point given probably at least another month which probably will mean at least 6 weeks.
I am not saying I wont come back I just want to use my money for something that I can use now. MGP was unable to fulfill their delivery date by a pretty large margin at this point. Still given an indefinite expectation. Once I see the items in a retail establishment then my order is no longer a "pre-order" just an unfilled order weeks to months delayed.
As far as I am concerned I dont feel that MGP has any rights to my money any longer. If I cant get my order cancelled then I will probably see if I can file a Paypal claim if its not to late for that at this point.
sheesh.
Gimme some customer service for crying out loud.
At this point I would really like to just get my money and come back to this game when it is truly ready to sell. MGP just continues to kick the can down the road on a product line the IS NOT ready for the market. Instead of being upfront and apeasing us it seems they are determined to hold MY money with a death grip rather than let me have it back. Product wasnt ready as promised. At the 3 week late point given probably at least another month which probably will mean at least 6 weeks.
I am not saying I wont come back I just want to use my money for something that I can use now. MGP was unable to fulfill their delivery date by a pretty large margin at this point. Still given an indefinite expectation. Once I see the items in a retail establishment then my order is no longer a "pre-order" just an unfilled order weeks to months delayed.
As far as I am concerned I dont feel that MGP has any rights to my money any longer. If I cant get my order cancelled then I will probably see if I can file a Paypal claim if its not to late for that at this point.
sheesh.
Gimme some customer service for crying out loud.
IraShaine1972 said:
Seconded. I've previously sent an e-mail to customer service about my order simply asking a question regarding my order. It's been 72 hours, but I understand with the holidays that there might be a communication lag. If I don't here something by next week, my order's getting canceled and I'm just ordering from an online realtor. I'd rather have ordered directly from Mongoose and supported them and (more so in my eyes judging by the steps Jean's taken to communicate with us - ADB), but at this rate the online company can have my order. A command cruiser ain't worth getting dragged along like this.
I didn't mind paying extra this time round to support Mongoose, but this is frustrating....
Folks, I let SVC know about feelings I have seen expressed here and he's aware of how our customers are reacting. I wanted to share with you his response from our boards.
Comments from SVC:
Guys, nobody is getting screwed (at least not on purpose). It turned out that the orders were a lot more than expected, that the production was somewhat slower than expected, and Mongoose got overwhelmed. There was no evil plan to lock up your money for extended periods; they honestly took orders they honestly thought they'd ship on schedule. Best laid plans of mice and Klingons. (ADB is literally 1000 miles from the Mongoose facility in Ohio or we'd all be over there helping ship stuff so Robert could focus on manufacturing it.)
There is some confusion out there which makes things look worse than they are. Probably from us not talking enough.
Jean (and I) post a lot more updates about what's going on than Mongoose does. It's a corporate culture thing. (We're just chatty people.) Matthew is, to some extent, not posting updates because he knows Jean will do it for him and will do a proper marketing lady job of posting it. (It's a joint venture and if ADB can handle the public relations while Mongoose concentrates on production, that's GOOD for YOU, not bad acting on the part of Mongoose.)
Remember that the guys at Mongoose are all working as hard as they can (Matthew and Rob come into the office on their vacation days and work many hours) and information posted is that day's best guess (and often is a "no worse than this" scenario). Matthew has written a huge check for more equipment (due next week) and has put up the money to hire more employees. His heart and his wallet are supporting YOU.
As for this thing about "Pre-order customers get screwed while new orders are sent right away" that's an accident of accounting. The original plan was for Mongoose to send a designated amount of stock to ADB, since (given shipping times and the daily flood of orders) any attempt to ship exactly what ADB needed would mean they'd be sending daily small shipments of whatever was ordered in the previous few hours. Matthew and I discussed many times just how many ADB thought it would need so that we didn't end up with lots of stock on hand while pre-orders to Mongoose went begging. They actually sent less than half of the contract specification (with ADB's approval) and no fleet boxes. We shipped our pre-orders and ended up with a very few squadron boxes beyond what orders came in (and those have almost all gone). So it was truly an accident of guessing what ADB needed, not a deliberate plan to screw the pre-orders. We did discussing having us ship orders Mongoose was holding but the paperwork to transfer them was just impossible (thanks to the modern merchant bank system).
Rulebooks are not in short supply, but as the Mongoose warehouse is trying to ship pre-orders in the order received, an order placed with Mongoose today for a rulebook may not be sent if it takes time away from producing ships. Since rulebooks were in no shortage and already packed in cartons from the manufacturer, Mongoose sent us a bunch and we have them in stock (although we just sent most of that stock to a wholesaler who is furious that none of his order has been sent by Mongoose, so we may be out by week's end).
==
Now you know what we know.
Jean
Comments from SVC:
Guys, nobody is getting screwed (at least not on purpose). It turned out that the orders were a lot more than expected, that the production was somewhat slower than expected, and Mongoose got overwhelmed. There was no evil plan to lock up your money for extended periods; they honestly took orders they honestly thought they'd ship on schedule. Best laid plans of mice and Klingons. (ADB is literally 1000 miles from the Mongoose facility in Ohio or we'd all be over there helping ship stuff so Robert could focus on manufacturing it.)
There is some confusion out there which makes things look worse than they are. Probably from us not talking enough.
Jean (and I) post a lot more updates about what's going on than Mongoose does. It's a corporate culture thing. (We're just chatty people.) Matthew is, to some extent, not posting updates because he knows Jean will do it for him and will do a proper marketing lady job of posting it. (It's a joint venture and if ADB can handle the public relations while Mongoose concentrates on production, that's GOOD for YOU, not bad acting on the part of Mongoose.)
Remember that the guys at Mongoose are all working as hard as they can (Matthew and Rob come into the office on their vacation days and work many hours) and information posted is that day's best guess (and often is a "no worse than this" scenario). Matthew has written a huge check for more equipment (due next week) and has put up the money to hire more employees. His heart and his wallet are supporting YOU.
As for this thing about "Pre-order customers get screwed while new orders are sent right away" that's an accident of accounting. The original plan was for Mongoose to send a designated amount of stock to ADB, since (given shipping times and the daily flood of orders) any attempt to ship exactly what ADB needed would mean they'd be sending daily small shipments of whatever was ordered in the previous few hours. Matthew and I discussed many times just how many ADB thought it would need so that we didn't end up with lots of stock on hand while pre-orders to Mongoose went begging. They actually sent less than half of the contract specification (with ADB's approval) and no fleet boxes. We shipped our pre-orders and ended up with a very few squadron boxes beyond what orders came in (and those have almost all gone). So it was truly an accident of guessing what ADB needed, not a deliberate plan to screw the pre-orders. We did discussing having us ship orders Mongoose was holding but the paperwork to transfer them was just impossible (thanks to the modern merchant bank system).
Rulebooks are not in short supply, but as the Mongoose warehouse is trying to ship pre-orders in the order received, an order placed with Mongoose today for a rulebook may not be sent if it takes time away from producing ships. Since rulebooks were in no shortage and already packed in cartons from the manufacturer, Mongoose sent us a bunch and we have them in stock (although we just sent most of that stock to a wholesaler who is furious that none of his order has been sent by Mongoose, so we may be out by week's end).
==
Now you know what we know.
Jean
