Why ACTA Flails.

[lastbesthope]

Tankdriver, you have it right, as Matt Sprange has said before, "Play to the rules you've got"

LBH

 

[Darzoni]

OK, newbie shuts up now before I offend someone again.

Nah, this isn't offensive. I've often thought about this myself. Hell, I've been tempted to say "Okay, here's the list of the ships we consider 'official'." to my brother and friend.

But my point is that ACTA could be even bigger if there weren't constant rule adjustments and stat shifts. Because that's a turn off to some people, whether they be new players or grognards. It's especially disheartening to new players who're looking to an alternative to the 800lb Gorilla of miniature gaming. In my opinion, ACTA's core mechanics could be one of the defining systems for space combat miniature games if there was less confusion about "Where do I start?"

Though, I /would/ like officially cool stat cards...

 

[Chernobyl]

well, it could be a victim of the times. with the internet, game publishers are getting feedback from players with speed that would have been impossible a decade ago. Forums for this kind of discussion didn't exist back when 40K was still "Rogue Trader"

Chern

 

[CZuschlag]

I must be different.

I think these balance cycles are wonderful. Bad ships and experiences are minimized before they affect the health of the game system. How much damage was done to Star Fleet Battles by the War Cruisers?

This iterative balance mechanism of customer feedback is the future of gaming, and puts a premium on competitive balance. It's a standard mechanism in science and economics, and it's made its way to wargaming. And I'm excited about that.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Chernobyl, thats going back some... I think it would be better if the ships had cards with them that would be simple and easy with all the info and damage grids;

thats what feedback im getting when I demo

 

[Ripple]

I take a middle ground.

I like that there is a constant feedback system and that we are heard. More, that what we say is acted on. (yes yes...I have on occasion argued the other side here)

BUT...

It would be nice if changes and explinations of rules were packaged to appear on more regular dates. S&P handles this pretty well, rulemasters a bit less so. Our group has several players who do not read the forums and they are not always so cool with the 'ruling of the week' we went through for a bit. Or at least not end up with the rulemasters answer and the eventual errata answer being different a la the crippled and crit'ed speed debate.

Ripple

 

[animus]

The ship cards are a "no-brainer." If Mongoose isn't already in development of them, they need to have their heads examined.

First, it's badly needed - record keeping improvements will always improve the game.

Second, Mongoose is a publishing company. Cards are published. It's another income stream, right alongside the chits. They can sell card packets of established ships and then include them with ship models as value added. They can sell chits and cards together to bring in new players.

Granted, there are some difficulties - like how updates would work and the fear of the internet taking "intellectual property" (Gawd how I hate that term), but it's a good idea.

I'd pay for a set or two - I can't tell you how much I've spent in ink printing Chernobl's!

Also, I bet Mongoose could pay Chern a small royalty and use his designs. Again, a No-Brainer!

 

[Shadow Queen]

The ship cards are a "no-brainer." If Mongoose isn't already in development of them, they need to have their heads examined.

First, it's badly needed - record keeping improvements will always improve the game.

Second, Mongoose is a publishing company. Cards are published. It's another income stream, right alongside the chits. They can sell card packets of established ships and then include them with ship models as value added. They can sell chits and cards together to bring in new players.

Granted, there are some difficulties - like how updates would work and the fear of the internet taking "intellectual property" (Gawd how I hate that term), but it's a good idea.

I'd pay for a set or two - I can't tell you how much I've spent in ink printing Chernobl's!

Also, I bet Mongoose could pay Chern a small royalty and use his designs. Again, a No-Brainer!

Yep me too i feed my printer the ink to print lol

 

[Burger]

Maybe I should use that in my sales pitch... "Burger's ship viewer uses less ink than Chern's" :lol:

 

[animus]

Maybe I should use that in my sales pitch... "Burger's ship viewer uses less ink than Chern's" :lol:

Take heart Burger, I like yours for games where people know the game more but for newbies a picture of the ship goes a long way to helping them know the difference between a Tigara and a Troligan.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Just do a Gibbs ... a smack to the back of the head .. gotta love NCIS

 

[Chernobyl]

I'm not going to debate about whose is better - I got the idea for ship sheets from obsidian originally, and the cards developed from a back and forth between pixelgeek and myself here, and a lot of others on the forums. People like the reference they use for the reason they use them - convience, looks, whatever.
I will say that when I heard that the rule book and fleet book for 2e would be sold separately, I realized that all of our online reference sources would more directly compete with that book. Up til now, all the books with fleet info in them have had other reasons for purchase - Rules updates, new rules, whatever. Recognizing that I PM'd Matthew and encouraged they develop their own card system for that fleet book - sheets/cards are used by almost everyone out there, and its something that really is beneficial. So they definately are aware of our desires on this point...

 

[Burger]

Yeah I don't even see it as a competition, its just personal preference. The reason I created my sheets was because I liked Chern's old format so much, and wanted the new ships in that format

I hope Mongoose do release sheets, it would save me work

 

[Chernobyl]

and me! :lol:

 

[Tankdriver]

As far as the talk of a comprehensive book goes, this was at the top of the 2e progress forum

"The next CTA will be a two book release, one for the fleet lists and a smaller one for the rules themselves. This format will allow us update one or the other in the future, without requiring a completely new edition. It is our intention to have one hardback a year to supplement the game and make official articles we have released in S&P, new fleet lists, etc. Aside from models, nothing else will ne needed. Oh and yes, a new counter set will be available. "

It seems to me a big book with fleet lists and a seperate with just the rules is in the works, but I worry about the hard cover additions as new stuff becomes official.
Oh well, have to make money somehow.


And yes, the war cruisers all but killed SFB.

 

[Darzoni]

*does a happy dance* Let's hope it sticks then!

 

[TeknoMerk]

I wonder what changes, if any, there are between the current and new counters? IOW, should I plan to get the new counter because I will NEED them, or are they a nice-to-have?

 

[Obsidian]

Would be nice of them to produce the cards as well. I started the shipviewer as a way for people to be able to get up and running playing the game rather than photocopying and writing out the stats on the blank sheets Mongoose originally provided. It's no fun to spend 20 - 30 minutes writing out all the stats before you even put the models on the board.

I think there are a few things holding them back though. Probably the biggest one is the number of readily available free sites that people like myself maintain. Mongoose gets the benefits of the sheets being available without actually having to pay anyone to work on or maintain them. If there are changes to the stats all they have to do is release a book and be done with it. People like me will take care of the rest. If they had cards though they would basically be obsoleting the whole set every time they released a new edition which may lead to a whole mess load of extra stock taking up space in the warehouse. For example, how many copies of the rules supplements do you think they still have kicking around?

 

[Tankdriver]

This is a very good point. And as it seems ACTA is a very active tourney game, making things like that obsolete could lead to even more confusion at tournaments. Or even club meetings.

 

[Burger]

It is our intention to have one hardback a year to supplement the game and make official articles we have released in S&P, new fleet lists, etc.

Hope the new hardback will be a reprint with updated rules, rather than an expansion book like we curently have. That way we only need to carry 2 books (or even 1 book and a load of ship cards) around with us.