Starter Question

[Melkor]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to buy a starter fleet box, but wanted to ask a few questions before doing so.

1) Are all of the Mongoose scale ships the same size, or did a miniature revision happen at some point?

2) From reading another thread, I noted that the SFB minis were a different size than the Mongoose ships. Has this changed? Are SFB minis now compatible in scale to Mongoose minis?

3) I also read that the early rules were somewhat of a mess. Was the miniature rulebook that came in the Fleet boxes updated to reflect errata?

Thanks.

 

[billclo]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to buy a starter fleet box, but wanted to ask a few questions before doing so.

1) Are all of the Mongoose scale ships the same size, or did a miniature revision happen at some point?

2) From reading another thread, I noted that the SFB minis were a different size than the Mongoose ships. Has this changed? Are SFB minis now compatible in scale to Mongoose minis?

3) I also read that the early rules were somewhat of a mess. Was the miniature rulebook that came in the Fleet boxes updated to reflect errata?

Thanks.

The Starline 2500 ships are all 1/3125 scale, about a third larger than the Starline 2400s. Some people do use their existing collection of Starline 2400 minis to play the game with no issues. But the Starline 2500s have much more detail and are of course larger.

Here is a comparison picture:

I do not know about the rulebook that comes with the current Fed or Klingon boxes, but when I bought a Gorn fleet box back in January, it had been updated with errata. But it only contained the ships for the Gorn and Kzinti in it. If you just want to learn the very basics of the game, the pocket rulebook is fine. If you want to know about the background of the various Empires, history of the General War, plus campaign info, and info on terrain usage then you need the main rulebook.

There has been an ongoing effort to update the rulebook and issue a PDF version, but it hasn't yet materialized.

 

[mdauben]

1) Are all of the Mongoose scale ships the same size, or did a miniature revision happen at some point?

The only change in the Mongoose ships (aka Starline 2500) is that most of them were changed from resin to metal construction after the initial release. No change in scale.

2) From reading another thread, I noted that the SFB minis were a different size than the Mongoose ships. Has this changed? Are SFB minis now compatible in scale to Mongoose minis?

No, the miniatures produced by Amarillo Design Buearu (aka Starline 2400) are about 1/3 smaller than the Starline 2500 miniatures. The latter also have more surface detail to go with their larger size. Still, there is nothing to stop you from mixing them together in one game, as the size of the miniatures has no impact on game play.

3) I also read that the early rules were somewhat of a mess. Was the miniature rulebook that came in the Fleet boxes updated to reflect errata?

I think that is something of an exageration. There is errata and there are a few issues with the rules, but overall they work fine. There will doubtless be a second edition of the rules, but I would not expect them any time soon. IIRC, the latest Fleet Box mini-rulebooks have been updated with current errata.

EDIT: D'oh! Ninja'd by Billco! :lol:

 

[Requete]

I just bought a Klingon fleet box (at my wife's insistence: keeper!) and the mini rulebook does not incorporate the errata. It may have been an older box because it was priced at 100 USD rather than the more usual 150 USD.

As far as the rules being a mess, I do not see them as such and I've seen some messy rules in my day. They are fine. Also, the official errata file is only 2 pages of actual errata; the other pages are updated ship pages (1 ship per page).

ACTA: SF has less errata than many good quality products that I have seen. I have been reading a lot of stuff about it on the web lately and I am impressed. There are a few people who complain about balance but more who do not appear to have those issues.

In my experience with gaming, lots of groups get into a "groupthink" mode where they cannot solve a particular tactical problem because they all begin to approach it in the same way. That's not a problem with the game.

That is the riddle of steel... er, lead.