Dragonfire Produces Traveler Space Ships

[nezeray]

I saw the sample at Gencon and loved it. While I agree they're pricy, I think they're worth the price. They remind me of my Tactic Tiles, which I've had for over a year and never had a problem with.

I'm waiting for the Far Trader, since that's my favorite ship.

As for labels, I'd prefer to NOT have labels. this way if I want a "game room" instead of "Small storage locker 1" I can have it without putting a sticker over the label.

James / Nezeray

 

[GhostWolf69]

My two cents.

Like the idea.

I would not like lables since I could draw any other label I wanted on it.

Undecided about the scale. I do not own any 15mm at all, so I guess 28mm is ok for me.

I don't really care about the perfection in layout vs the Rule book as long as the changes are small enough and everything is represented.

At that price, I'm not buying.

I would have prefered dirt-cheap paper instead.

You see I have lots of transparent hard plastics sheets in my gaming room (even big poster sized ones), so what I normally do is slip a paper copy of a map (any map) under it and play, draw (white-board pen) and spill coffee on the hard plastic surafce ontop.

So for me to buy this product it would have to come down to less than half the price listed. Honestly... 100$ are you kidding me? For a sheet of plastic that I can buy myself, for say 10$, and slip a copy under? Not going to happen.

/wolf

 

[newtraveller]

I can't imagine ever spending that much for a mini...

Sry, just can't see it happinin'.

 

[EDG]

The Iris valve change is an accident, and I will fix it the next time we make Scouts. The proportions of the Free Trader were changed, with permission, for production reasons to keep the costs down.

Cool, just checking, didn't know if it was an accident or not .

So I guess there's a class of slightly differently proportioned Free Traders out there .

 

[Infojunky]

Now, the real question is will they do custom orders? i.e. player produced deckplans for personal campaigns?

 

[nezeray]

I can't imagine ever spending that much for a mini...

Sry, just can't see it happinin'.

Have you seen the new Hydra from Reaper minis? $50.00 retail. I bought it for an adventure I'm getting ready to run.

I can understand the apprehension though, there are many games/figure sets that I can't see spending that kind of money for.

James / Nezeray

 

[Paladin]

I saw them and GenCon and they looked impressive. Unfortunately, they are out of a price range I'm willing to accept.

The reason that these are priced the way they are is that they are made of 1/8 inch (3mm) thick plastics, that are scratch resistant. Between that and the size that they turned out, this is what they cost based on materials and time to make. They are also designed to be very durable and last longer than paper or cardboard counterparts.

Would they be significantly cheaper if done in wood?

Now, the real question is will they do custom orders? i.e. player produced deckplans for personal campaigns?

That would be cool.

 

[Allensh]

while they look great, at the current price (which may be eminently fair, given the materials and labor) they are not something I can afford.

Allen

 

[Imperator58]

Excuse my nievette, but aren't thouse a touch expensive? I would buy up both in a flash if they were ninety percent less money. On the design side, some custom ones would be cool. It takes two minutes to make the specs, but the plans take forever to make, and it would be great not to have to bother.

They are indeed appallingly expensive; I was quite interested in them until I saw what they went for! Jeez Louise. Running light cardstock deckplans through a laminator is juuuuust fine, thenkew. I'll stick with my trusty old Seeker deckplans!

 

[Dragonfire]

Ok, to answer some more questions. Yes they are expensive, but that is because we tried to make them out of quality materials. We want them to be able to last for lots of games. We have players that have been using our other products for over two years now, and playing every week with them. They are holding up well. I guess it is all personal preference.

On the 15mm side of things, I just put those plans up on the website. They are half the price of the 28mm ones, because they take half the material and half the time to make.

They can be found here:
http://www.dragonfiresigns.com/store.php?crn=223

As for the Far Trader, we are currently going to see what the response is to these ships and then start taking people's opinions on which ones to do next.

And yes we can work with custom plans that players have but together. Send me an e-mail and we can look at what we can do.

Lucas Amodio
Dragonfire Laser Crafts

 

[BenTOGS]

"The reason that these are priced the way they are is that they are made of 1/8 inch (3mm) thick plastics, that are scratch resistant. Between that and the size that they turned out, this is what they cost based on materials and time to make. They are also designed to be very durable and last longer than paper or cardboard counterparts."

I have paper deck plans that are 30 years old, in perfect shape. The price for your are waaaay too high. Besides, with all the unique designs online, & a copier/printer, I won't be purchasing these. Though, I will order them pre-paid for my customers.

 

[Foxmeister]

I must say I'm impressed by the size of the "Scout, Type S - 15mm scale" - 306cm by 170cm! At $30, remarkably cheap for 5.2 square metres of plastic!

Regards,

Dave

 

[Dragonfire]

I must say I'm impressed by the size of the "Scout, Type S - 15mm scale" - 306cm by 170cm! At $30, remarkably cheap for 5.2 square metres of plastic!

HAHAHA. Good catch Dave. I fixed that on the website. Yeah that would have been quite a deal. <grin>

Lucas Amodio
Dragonfire Laser Crafts

 

[GhostWolf69]

I guess it is all personal preference.

I don't know friend. That's a pretty lame defense/selling argument for someone trying to hawk a piece of plastic for 100$.

You know what could give you an edge though? If they came with a lifetime warranty. If it breaks you could send it back and get a new one free of charge. Now THAT would be a selling point.

As it is I would be MAD to put a 100$ map on my table cause I would just be paranoid about my friends doing something stupid… never mind my kids.

As it is, I use free (or virtually free) paper. Yes it is not “durable” but when it starts to look like crap I print a new one… also for free. But that is not the best part. The best part was that I wanted a hard top plastic surface to play on too… so I bought a really cheap sheet of transparent plastic for say 10$ (cheap by comparison that is) and I use it for all maps and floorplans. (Repeating myself, I know)

Good luck in your endeavor.

/wolf

 

[rust]

As it is I would be MAD to put a 100$ map on my table...

We discussed this over on my German "home forum", and almost all
of the reactions were considerably less civil than yours.

The idea to buy a 100,- USD battlemap for a game with a core rule-
book that costs 30,- USD did not go down well, and people also do
not expect to use such a battlemap often enough to make it worth
the money - it seems that boarding scouts and free traders is not
considered a core activity of Traveller.

 

[EDG]

it seems that boarding scouts and free traders is not
considered a core activity of Traveller.

That's why I asked how often it was that people actually had combats on scout ships and free traders... I'm sure it happens sometimes (as Firefly attests) but I'd assume that most combats took place outside of those craft (like planetside, in alleyways, out in the open, whatever).

I never did get an answer to that question though...

 

[Dragonfire]

I must admit I am quite surprised by the strength of the negative response that I am getting here on this forum. We have had quite a bit of positive response from people on our wooden sailing ships, which are priced in the same price range. They have sold very well and we won an Origins Award for one of them this year.

Now I am a firm believer in giving the customer what they want, so I will ask you to put your money where your mouth is, I will offer the lifetime warranty against normal wear and tear. If the board breaks or get sscratched up from normal play or accidental dropping, Send it in an we will replace it at no charge. This does not cover if one of your kids decides to draw on it in permanent marker or your dog decides to use it as a chew toy.

Does this satisfy your desire for a quality product?

Lucas Amodio
Dragonfire Laser Crafts

 

[rust]

We have had quite a bit of positive response from people on our wooden sailing ships, which are priced in the same price range.

I do not doubt that at all.

However, in a campaign with sailing ships boarding actions (the action
scenes of all Age of Sail movies) are very common, while in most Traveller
campaigns they are less so.

And this gives Traveller deckplans an at least somewhat smaller "gaming
value", so people are understandably less willing to pay what they con-
sider a lot of money for an item they will not be able to use often.

 

[towerwarlock]

For the price of those ships, I would hop over to www.hirstarts.com buy a few of their scifi molds, 100lb bag of hydrocal and build a fully 3-d ship detailed however I wanted, and still have the molds to build various other scifi buildings and ships I wanted. I have done so and am currently working on the scout.

 

[Twi'lekk_Den-keeper]

Dragonfire, these responses are from all the Traveller fanatics, ie, the only people who might have even thought about buying a 100 dollar piece of glorified plastic for a rpg. The wooden ship designs are more commonly used by far in their respective games, and look nicer. It makes more sense to pay that much money for carved/painted wood than a piece of plastic with a grid on it. The same is true when paying for a miniature like from Reaper, it may have been easier to make or less expensive, but it looks expensive, and the ships don't.
Towerwarlock, that looks sick. I might just make one of those for the heck of it, forget Traveller.