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Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Year 2011 at ADB, Inc.

Steve Cole reports:

This was an unusual year for several reasons.

First, most of the new products tended to come out in two huge bursts, one at Origins and the other at the end of the year. That's not the normal way things work.

The deal with Mongoose got signed just before Origins and the unanticipated workload for the joint venture products pretty much destroyed the schedule for the second half of the year. (But for that, we would have seen Star Fleet Marines and possibly Federation Admiral released.)

And that's the second reason why this year was so different. Managing the joint venture deal (we had been trying to get one of these signed for years) completely changed the way we worked, and to some extent it changed the way we looked at the world.

The third reason why the year was so different was that the company underwent a major evolution. Mike Sparks and Joel Shutts proved capable of doing far more than we had ever thought to ask of them, and even Leanna started taking over tasks that had once been the province of her husband. (This resulted from the two spending every Wednesday morning taking classes at business school.) Steven Petrick hardly sets foot in the warehouse any more, and Stephen Cole had not been back there for years (but did spend a day there in December due to the massive sales).

Sales of PDFs on e23 became a major part of the operation. Over the year, we uploaded the GURPS books, a series of ship card packs for Federation Commander, the main rulebooks for each of our games, the first 18 issues of Captain's Log and the first SFB SSD books. We became the second-biggest seller on e23, behind only the store owners (our good friends at Steve Jackson Games).

Our page on Facebook continued to grow, passing 700 in March, 800 in May, 900 in August, and 1000 in October. Companies 10 times our size have only 50% more friends and actually have fewer posts, likes, and comments.

We got word that Federation Commander had won the Gaming Genius fan award for best space game.

More new things happened. The first apps were sold on the Apple iPhone store. Spam (which had always been a problem, with over a thousand such emails per day) suddenly dropped like a rock (to under 100 per day) in mid-February because the hosting company installed better filters. We tried to get out our first Kindle book, but ended up firing the company doing it because they made numerous changes (some of which would have gotten us sued by Paramount) without asking us or even telling us. These changes were discovered by accident at the last second, narrowly avoiding the suicide of the company. Internet piracy became a major problem, costing the company thousands of dollars a month in lost sales and requiring Joel to spend 5-10 hours per week filing the paperwork to have pirate upload sites shut down. Steven Petrick accepted a plane ticket to fly to Council of Five Nations, but spent a miserable day in Houston on the way home when bad weather shut down the national air transport system.

Some things stayed the same, such as Jean Sexton's winter visits (that start and end each years), the Company Picnic in May, and the annual visit to the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. We actually closed for Labor Day for the first time ever.

The First Half of the Year

The first half of the year was a mess because the three major projects were all delayed. (Federation Admiral and Star Fleet Marines were found to need some major re-design work, while SFB Module E3 Borak Star League was delayed because the outside designer had real-world interruptions.)

One bright note was that Steve Cole completed the Revision 6 versions of all of the Federation Commander products. Another bright note was that the GURPS version of Prime Directive Federation was completed and released. Steven Petrick completed the well-liked Module C3A Andromedan Threat File. The spring finished with the release of Captain's Log #43, including a special fiction story that fits neatly into an existing Trek episode.

Origins: Tour de Force

We released five major products at Origins, including the long-awaited ISC War, Starmada Distant Armada, SFB Module E4, Starship Aldo, and Transports Attacked. Of course, Captain's Log #43 was fairly new.

The show was abuzz (and not in a good way) with GAMA's plan (which they refused to change) to move Origins 2012 three weeks earlier. Over half of our customers said they could not go and many of the rest said that if others were not coming they saw no point. Eventually, ADB was forced to accept that GAMA had destroyed Origins 2012 for us and thousands of others, and we cancelled any plans to be there. Months of considering other conventions produced none worth the time and cost of attending.

The Deal with Mongoose

The first vague hints about this deal appeared in early March. ADB has long complained that 90% of the retail stores don't even notice we exist. They stock their shelves with the top five or 10 companies, and the other 50 companies that do hard-copy products get into less than 10% of stores. Steve Cole spent the last five years trying to get one of the top five companies to do a joint venture deal with us. Not only would that give us an instant best-selling new product line, it would get our company logos into stores (and information about our other games would be included in the books). Finally, Mongoose agreed to give the joint venture idea a try.

The Fall Rocks, or Was Rocky

Nobody had accurately predicted the amount of "Steve Cole time" it would take to do the approvals for the Starline 2500 ships. (Mongoose had also failed to accurately predict the time it would take to do the CGI work and started too late.) This requirement all but destroyed the fall schedule, forcing us to delay Star Fleet Marines and Federation Admiral to next year. In the end, we hope it was worth it.

Despite all of that, the ever-dependable Steven Petrick finished the revision to the Omega Master Rulebook and then moved on with Module E3, the Borak.

One bright spot this fall was Charles Diaz, a high school student who spent seven Thursday afternoons with us, learning about graphic design and general business.

The Final Act

During the second week of December, we shipped a bunch of new products (Captain's Log #44, Booster #31, #32, and #33, Module E3 Borak, and of course the first of the Mongoose stuff). We don't really know yet just how much the initial sales of the Mongoose joint venture stuff will be, or how many new markets the ad pages in that back of the ACTASF book will open. We're seriously questioning the decision we made to allow Mongoose to go ahead with a November release (which slid well into December). Would it have been better to delay the releases to February? Arguably so, but the decisions were made based on what we knew at the time, not what we knew by mid-December. Given a crystal ball, delaying to February would probably have worked out better in some regards.

A Final Analysis

We need to start this part acknowledging our greatest failure: that being that we just did not do a good enough job talking to wholesalers. Between products that got delayed (for one reason or another) and massive work, Stephen Cole (who is responsible for such things) only rarely got that job done. (He clearly has too many jobs.) It's not just telling wholesalers what new products are coming out and when, but they want cover art and complete descriptions 90 days in advance, which is rarely possible. We need to work on this because sales suffer seriously (and we lose shelf space in stores) when we don't do it.

Stephen Cole's time management plan was mostly honored in the breach (i.e., we felt bad about not doing it). Marketing Monday got blown off most of the time (see above), Customer Request Wednesday happened about half of the time, and Business Friday was consumed mostly by Mongoose. (We really didn't want to launch any more joint venture deals until this one proves the value of such things.) Now that we know, we are (cautiously) looking into more of them.

Friday, December 30, 2011

NEW COMMANDER'S OPTIONS, part 1

Spiffy Captain's Uniform 0.25
Spiffy Admiral's Uniform 0.50
Used (but mendable) Red Security Shirt 0.05
Expendable Red Shirt Body Guard 1.00
Slightly Used Agonizer Booth 0.10
New Agonizer Booth 0.25
Tribbles 0.01
Silver Platter (for enemy captain's head) 1.00
Gold Platter (for enemy captain's head) 5.00
Replace Drone Warhead with Tribbles 0.25

-Originated by Mark Kuyper; additional suggestions by: Jeremy B Williams,
Steve Petrick, David Crew, Maik Hennebach, Eric Stork, Andrew Harding, F
Michael Miller, Tom Carroll, found in Captain's Log #20.

(c) copyright by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

In Praise of Our Volunteers

The adventure game (wargame+roleplaying game) industry is a small one, and there isn't the kind of money inside of it that other industries have. The industry consists of creative game designers willing to work 60 hours a week for half the pay they could command outside the game industry, all because they get to BE game designers.

Even at that, the only way the game industry survives is by the hard labor of unpaid volunteers who (for honor, glory, and rarely some free games) provide no end of valuable services to game publishers.

Mike West answers rules questions on Federation Commander. Mike Curtis does the same thing for Federation & Empire, Jonathan Thompson and Jean Sexton for Prime Directive PD20 and PD20M, Gary Plana for GURPS Prime Directive, Richard Sherman for Star Fleet Battle Force, and Andy Vancil for Star Fleet Battles.

Frank Brooks runs the Play-by-Email system as a volunteer. Paul Franz charges barely enough for the On-Line game system (for SFB and FC) to pay the server costs. Tenneshington Decals does made-to-order decals for our Starline miniatures and is run by two of our fans: Will McCammon and Tony Thomas.

Federation & Empire would not exist without Chuck Strong (a real-world colonel from Space Command) in charge of the overall game system. He keeps his staff (Mike Curtis, Ryan Opel, Scott Tenhoff, Thomas Mathews, and Stew Frazier) busy moving projects forward.

Very little would get done on any of our games except for the Playtest Battle Labs run by Scott Moellmer in Colorado and by Mike Curtis and Tony Thomas in Tennessee. And all of the other playtesters are invaluable to us.

We have other staffers who do specific things (and sometimes a wide variety of things) for us including Jean Sexton (Vice President of Proofreading and Product Professionalization); John Berg and Mike Incavo (Galactic Conquest Campaign); Daniel Kast (Klingon Armada); and John Sickels, Tony Thomas, James Goodrich, and Loren Knight (Prime Directive). Some vital part of the product line would grind to a halt without each one of them.

Added to this list are hundreds of others who, during any given month, by Email or BBS or Forum, contribute in some way to the company and its product line. They may report a glitch in an existing product, playtest a product in development, suggest a new product, point out something another company is doing what we may want to take a look at emulating, look up a rules reference for another player, report on somebody who using our property improperly, comment on a posted draft of a new rule, or simply ask a question nobody else ever dared to ask.

Many years ago, we began awarding medals, ribbons, and other "decorations" to staffers and others who contributed to each product, and some other projects. These awards not only recognize those who contributed to the various projects, but encouraged others to begin making their contributions to future projects. We have created the Wall of Honor at http://starfleetgames.com/ArtGallery/Wall%20of%20Honor.shtml. This is a tribute to over 30 years of volunteer work. We hope you visit it to say thanks to all the volunteers and their efforts.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Is 2012 the End?

This is Steven Petrick posting.

The year is nearly over, and in a few days time we will see the start of 2012. And once again we shall have doomsayers out saying that the world will end.

The current happy date is about 21 December when the Mayan calendar supposedly runs out. Why this is not seen as simply a larger version of 31 December (i.e., our 12 month calendar runs out every year) and the beginning of new long count is something of a mystery to me.

History is, however, replete with end of the world dates.

It is hard to believe but back in 999-1000 A.D. (C.E. if you choose) people literally ran into the hills in the belief that the world would end.

Truthfully, today we have more of an understanding that the world might suddenly end (at least in terms of the extinction of human civilization and perhaps of the human species).

We know about all those big rocks floating past planet Earth, and there is always a chance that one of them may have its orbit perturbed enough (or its long range trajectory was always heading for us anyway) and seek to become one with us. (Coincidentally, if I recall correctly one of those big rocks is due for a close approach sometime this year, but after it we are good to go until 2028 or so I have been told.)

We also know about volcanoes. By this I mean the "mega volcanoes" such as Yellowstone National Park. Modern science believes that about 50,000 or so years ago one of these let loose and almost drove us to extinction. And we were a lot tougher back then (we did not need indoor toilets or air conditioning and most of us could prepare food without the need of someone else to process the materials beforehand).

There is also, of course, all the global warming going on (which has been predicted to have various catastrophic effects "soon") as well as the continuing population explosion (just because we have always found a way to raise enough food so far it does not mean we will be able to do so in the future). This does not even mention the general concept of a Pandemic to make the Spanish Flu seem like a mild head cold.

We at least seem, for the time being, to be secure from nuclear annihilation on a grand scale (although nuclear terrorism seems more and more an inevitability).

Despite all of these dire warnings, I pretty much expect to go about my life pretty much as I have. There is nothing I can do about mega volcanoes or big rocks falling from the sky, and mother nature has been mixing and matching diseases for longer than we have been on this planet, and despite all the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments I have yet to see definitive proof that we as a species are causing global warming (the planet has had ice ages and periods of great warmth before we showed up as recognizable individuals in the fossil record).

And, in all honest, if the world were about to end, I would go about my own life as best I could. Going to the office and doing my job.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Got Any Marketing Ideas?

ADB, Inc., is always interested in great marketing ideas, ways and places to sell our products, as well as new products to sell. Our page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf) exists to put our products in front of other groups of potential customers. We also are releasing YouTube videos that show what you'll find in "the box" and our latest releases. You can catch our videos on our channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/starfleetgames.

We tried a lot of things that didn't work (Google Pay per Click, full-color ads in trade journals) and a lot of things that did work (banners on gamer websites, Star Fleet Alerts) and are always looking for new ideas. If you have any, send them to us at Marketing@StarFleetGames.com and we'll think them over.

Monday, December 26, 2011

This Week at ADB, Inc., 19-24 December 2011

Steve Cole reports:

This week was very busy for Leanna and Michael as we shipped orders (although that was slowed down by deliveries from Mongoose). The weather this week was cold, with snow on Monday and a few flakes on Friday. The spam storm mostly remained at well over 200 per day.

Nothing new went on e23 this week because Steve Jackson Games is closed for the holidays.

Steve Cole worked mostly catching up with things not done earlier and finishing the FLAP list for the recent products. He spent a lot of time updating the Wall of Honor. He also did the company Christmas alert and posted some new Starline 2500 ships for player review.

Steven Petrick finished updating the R3 SSD book, and worked on some things for Captain's Log #45.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date.

Mike kept orders going out, rebuilt the inventory, and managed customer service.

Joel is visiting his family in Lesotho (Africa) but did bust some pirates over the internet.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 1071 friends), proofread a few things, traveled to Amarillo, and did some marketing.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Our Wishes for You

On this snowy Christmas day, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas (or a happy other winter holiday of your choice). May you spend the day with friends and family, doing what you like best -- and if that includes blowing up a starship, may you find joy and happiness.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

ADB, Inc.’s page on Facebook is now up and running, and we’re finding a lot of new faces who haven’t been around the BBS or Forum. We have pictures up of ADB, Inc. staff, links to many of our videos, snippets of information, and interaction with our fans. Jean Sexton is the main voice you will hear on our page on Facebook. If she doesn’t know an answer, she’ll ask one of the Steves and ferry the answer back.

All that is left is for you to "like" the page for Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
if you haven’t done so already. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf.

Many people on our page on Facebook have not been on our BBS, so perhaps our new outpost on Facebook will become the place for those who want to keep up with current events without the intense atmosphere (and flood of information) found on the BBS. If you are very busy on a given day, checking our page on Facebook would tell you quickly if something important has been announced. The page also has its own art galleries, plus a place where you can post a review of our products. It also has discussions where you can link up with fellow gamers.

We hope to see you there!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Phasers Fire!

Phasers Fire!
By Jean Sexton (to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Warping space we go
In a trader that we bought
Our cash we hope to grow
Selling what we bought
Routes bring profits nigh
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to sell and fly
A trader shiny bright

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say

A day or two ago
We thought we’d make a run
To Texmex we would go
And have some jolly fun.
Our ship was laden high
Bad fortune was our lot
We went around some nebulae
By pirates we were caught.

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say

Our shields were falling fast
We thought we saw our doom
When a sudden blast
Lit up the entire room
A POL it had come by
And seen our sorry lot
It fired its weapons –- my, oh my
The pirates were upsot.

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it was to fight
A pirate ship this day
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it was to fight
A pirate ship this day.


(c) copyright 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Death of a Thousand Notes

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Lots of people have ideas for things to add to SSDs to make them "more user friendly." It basically comes down to trying to stuff everything in the rulebook and annexes in some form or another onto the SSD.

This is relatively benign when the SSD in question is a small ship, but on larger ships it quickly becomes a nightmare, as those ships already use a lot of the available space and trying to find room to add just a little bit more text results in SSDs that have to be shrunk to the smallest allowed size and bloated with text.

Some people want to have (on almost every Lyran SSD) a note reminding players that ESGs are destroyed on "drone" damage points. A similar note on Hydran ships for hellbores, plus one that fusions are destroyed on "torpedo" damage points, and oh yes that note is also needed on the Lyran SSDs to remind players that disruptors are destroyed on "torpedo" damage points.

While I was working on the update to the Basic Set SSDs it was requested that every Klingon SSDs include a note that "Security is destroyed on "flag" damage points, and if all security is destroyed see (G6.0) for mutiny" as a "useful reminder. And by the way, add a note that "Anti-drones are destroyed on "drone" damage points, and be sure to include a reference to the rule about the best weapon being destroyed on every third hit.

The list of requested "useful notes to add to SSDs" keeps growing (include a list of the number of points of energy needed to fire a standard and overloaded version of the weapon, and make sure to mark warp power for those weapons that need warp power).

I realize that Star Fleet Battles is a large game with many options, but there comes a point where all the notes that are requested for the SSDs makes them just blobs of black where you cannot tell an box on the ship from written text nearby.

At some point you need to have a basic understanding of the rules for the given systems on a ship, and be able to access the annexes if you have a particular question.

Adding more and more notes just makes the SSDs so busy they will become unplayable in their own right.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Playing Star Fleet Universe Games Long Distance

Playing games by email or by post is an alternative to playing face-to-face. While there are a few differences (i.e., your opponent isn't sitting across the table from you), it is the same game.

When playing Star Fleet Battles or Federation Commander using the Play-by-Email (PBEM) system you and your opponent submit your orders for the turn to a moderator via email. The moderator then processes them, and sends a "SitRep" (Situation Report) to the players via email. You receive the results, write up your next set of orders, and then submit your orders once again. The process is repeated until the game is completed. Sounds simple? That's because it IS! It'll take a little getting used to (after all, what doesn't?), but once you've got the hang of it, you'll be lobbing photon torpedoes (or whatever your weapon of choice is) at opponents from all over the world.

Every FC or SFB PBEM game has at least three participants: two or more players and one moderator. The moderator's purpose is to accept orders from the players and carry them out, reporting the results of those orders to all players. While (s)he is not a player, the moderator fulfills a very important role in the game. Good moderators and good players make for a good, enjoyable game. Moderating a game is also an excellent way to learn more about the game's rules.

Prime Directive games can be played by posting on the Forum. The GM of the game gets players, approves their characters, then sets up situations for the characters to face. It takes a bit longer because the players are not sitting around the table, but it also allows people who are spread out across the world to play.

Players of all our games are expanding the frontiers of playing long distance. Some are trying chat, some are adding webcams to that, many are trying out VOIP so as to get close to a face-to-face experience.

While there are some disadvantages to playing long distance (it does take longer to finish a game), there are advantages as well. You can play against people in other parts of the world (how often do you get to Australia, anyway?), you can play multiple games at once, and you can have large multi-player games (without worrying about running out of chips and soda).

For more information about playing long distance, drop in on the Forum (http://www.federationcommander.com/phpBB2) or BBS (http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/).

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Lights! Cameras! The SFU Hits YouTube!

Ever wished you could take a peek inside a shrink-wrapped box or look behind the pretty covers of a book? Then these videos are for you.

The brainchild of Mike Sparks, our YouTube videos are of three types. The first is about a specific product line and you can hear Steve Cole (yes, he is the talking hands in our videos) discuss the products that are in one of the different games. The second kind is what ADB, Inc. has released in a particular month. These are a great way to catch up quickly on the new items.

It is the third kind that let's you see what is in the box. A boxed game such as Federation & Empire is taken out of the box item by item so that you can see what's in there. From rulebook, to charts, to maps, to counters, each item is shown and discussed. It's a lot of information to pack into a short clip, but SVC and Mike manage it.

Check out our channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/starfleetgames and be sure to bring the popcorn!

Monday, December 19, 2011

This Week at ADB, Inc., 11-17 December 2011

Steve Cole reports:

This was a quiet week for the two Steves, and a very busy week for Leanna and Michael. The weather this week was cold but not particularly miserable. The spam storm mostly remained at well over 200 per day. We got the first shipment of 2500-series miniatures, but still don't have any rulebooks and got word that fleet boxes won't happen until next year. (We have had to cancel dozens of orders for them as the credit card company will not hold orders that long.)

New on e23 this week were Captain's Log #17 and Captain's Log #18.

Steve Cole mostly took the week to rest and recharge, trying to burn off the stress of the last two months. The intense pressure of that time took a lot out of him, and he needs to take better care of his health. But he didn't goof off the whole week! He did a bunch of Wall of Honor updates (which won't be posted until Joel returns on 18 Jan), successfully worked out a deal so Tony Thomas and Will McCammon can do decals for the 2500s, wrote the annual report, answered weeks of unanswered emails, wrote marketing copy for e23, did the large print edition of Captain's Log #44, wrote a blog about the fiction story he wrote for Captain's Log #44, did several pages of Captain's Log #45, and cleaned up his desk (not that you can tell by looking at it).

Steven Petrick worked on the update for the R3 SSD book, finishing the Klingons and Hydrans.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date.

Mike kept orders going out, rebuilt the inventory, and managed customer service.

Joel did website updates, chased pirates, and helped Mike.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 1065 friends), did some marketing, and mourned the loss of her faithful dog K'Ehleyr.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

How to Find Opponents

Steve Cole writes:

Many gamers are looking for new opponents. This is nothing new. When I was a teenager, there were maybe four war gamers in Amarillo that I knew, but there must have been more as the one store that carried Avalon Hill games (then the only wargames) would sell one or two now and then that my friends and I knew we didn't buy. Funny, it never once occurred to us to ask the store manager to give our phone numbers to the other guys. When I was in college, SPI (then the second wargame company and rapidly becoming larger and more innovative than Avalon Hill) had an opponent wanted list. I sent in my dollar to get it, and found only one person (of the 20 on the list) who was within 120 miles; the first and last person on the list were each 450 miles away (in opposite directions).

These days, the concept of contacting other gamers has had decades to mature, works much better, and there are a lot of ways to do it. For best results, you should do all of them.

If you play Federation Commander, then you can go to the Commander's Circle and enter your data (as much or as little as you are comfortable with) and perhaps find opponents near you. We are gaining new sign-in's every day, and since it's free you can try it every month or two and find out if somebody nearby has signed in. http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/Commanders%20Circle/

Primarily for Federation Commander players, the Forum has a topic where local stores and groups post announcements and invitations. Players can let other players know they're around. How silly would you feel if you found out that the guy who you've been arguing with on the forum for years actually lives in your town. (That HAS happened.) http://www.federationcommander.com/phpBB2

You can to go to a local store and ask them to let you post a notice looking for opponents. You could also run a demo of your favorite game(s) and "grow your own" opponents. If a person already plays the game you are demoing, he'll doubtless drop by just to swap phone numbers.

Many towns have community bulletin boards on the local cable company's "home" channel. These are variously free or cost just a couple of dollars. It's hit-and-miss, but you could get lucky. (When I commanded Company C of the 1-39 MPs, I gained a dozen new recruits in a year that came from cable TV.) You could also buy a cheap want ad in the newspaper or the free advertising newspaper (American's Want Ads or whatever yours is called) found in quickie marts. There is also Craigslist, but you should use the normal caution you would for meeting a stranger.

The quickest result, probably, is Starlist. Go to http://starfleetgames.com/starlist.shtml. Enter your data in the form, and you'll get a list of local players back. (This may take a day or two as it is done by hand.) Starlist is the most effective hunt for new players because the database has some five thousand players in it, far more than all of the other sources combined. The only drawback is that Starlist works with full information (name and address) and those who are seriously concerned about identity theft often find this uncomfortable. In all reality, however, Starlist would not give an identity thief any more information than a local phone book would, and if that's enough for those criminals to operate, they would be vastly more likely to use the phone book than to request a copy of Starlist.

You can find opponents for all of our games on our BBS. Go to http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/ and you'll see "Seeking Opponents" on the main menu. You can post a notice there (and search the previous postings). Again, you can post as much or as little information as you are comfortable with.

Friends of our page on Facebook can use the Discussions tab and find topics for the various games. Not a friend? Become one here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf

With more effort, you can post opponent wanted notices in a whole lot of boardgame sites (see http://www.starfleetgames.com/links.shtml for suggestions).

If there is a game convention within driving distance, it's worth a trip to see if you might find someone who is also within driving distance. If there is a game club in your home town, or a store with a gaming area, go there and set up the game and wait for somebody to ask what it is. (Even better, take a friend who will play the game with you so you won't be bored.) If there is a star trek club in your home town, show them Federation Commander or Star Fleet Battle Force. There are people who have printed a card with the logo of one of our games and their Email address and left these in the windows of their cars who got Emails from other gamers in their home towns who were seeking opponents.

You can go always go to SFB Online (http://www.sfbonline.com/index.jsp) and play Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander on-line with live opponents from around the world for the princely sum of $5 per month. You might even stumble into somebody local.

There are probably more ways than this to find opponents, but unless you live in a cave somewhere, you can almost certainly find a new friend within a short while by trying these methods.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS #69: WORDS MEAN THINGS

Steve Cole muses: Just thinking to himself about the curious origins of common words.

1. Caliph is the Arabic word for successor. Back when Islam was one big empire, those who held the primary leadership position after Mohammad died were designated as his successor, or caliphs. The empire was known as the Caliphate. After a few of those, the empire fragmented into separate nations (some of which survive to this day, others of which underwent various changes, divisions, and amalgamations to produce other Arab countries we see today.

2. Calliope, a kind of steam organ used by circuses to attract a crowd and set the pace for the performers, was the name of the ninth Greek Muse, the goddess Calliope. Her name was a combination of the two Greek words for beautiful and voice, and she was in charge of poetry.

3. Calumet, the name for a ceremonial Native American pipe used originally to establish fur-trading deals with French explorers in the Saint Lawrence valley, is the French word for "reed flute" which was the closest thing the French could compare it to. At the time, nobody from Europe knew what tobacco or smoking was.

4. Camera, the device that takes pictures, is the old Latin word for chamber. In 1802, Thomas Wedgewood invented photography, and went to the store where he bought a camera which was made by a company that had been making very fine cameras for over 200 years. The concept goes back to ancient Greece, where it was known that if you stood in a dark room which had a tiny hole open to the outside sunlight, an upside down image of the outside world could be seen on the opposite wall. (This was the camera obscura, or dark chamber.) This quaint phenomenon was mentioned in scientific literature at various times over the next two thousand years. (Some think that Leonardo da Vinci used this method to produce a "photograph" now known as the Shroud of Turin.) Over the two thousand years, people discovered that various lenses and mirrors could sharpen the image and even turn it right side up. By 1600, someone had figured out that you did not need to darken an entire room, just a small box, which was known as a camera. The open back of the box would be covered with oil paper or a glass plate. An artist could set up a camera pointed at his subject and lines on the glass plate or paper would give him the proportions of his subject. Lines drawn on the blank canvas created a framework for the painting. What Thomas Wedgewood invented was a means for using silver nitrate on a glass plate to form a permanent image. Tin quickly replaced glass (producing "tin types") and eventually paper replaced tin.

5. Camouflage, a pattern of paint or colors intended to avoid the enemy detecting the ship, tank, or soldier, is an old Persian word meaning "smoke blown in the eyes". This was often done as a joke but some Persian entertainers would use a smoky room to make sure that the audience did not learn all of the secrets of their performance. The French adopted this as camouflet which was a smoke bomb used when you detected the enemy trying to tunnel under the walls of your castle or your battle position. You would dig down to meet their tunnel, and drop a camouflet smoke bomb into it, then block up the hole. The enemy tunnel crew would then abandon the tunnel in a panic, and your own troops could move in somewhat later and block up the tunnel, preventing it from being used to plant explosives. The British then adopted the word into the current form as a term for painting battleships in World War I in patterns of light and dark to make them harder to see. In World War II, camouflage was applied to tanks and even some infantry uniforms.

6. Canard, a false or unfounded story, is the French word for duck. It goes back to an old French expression, which was "to half-sell a duck" meaning to convince someone that you could deliver a wild duck seen flying overhead, that is, to make a fool of them with a silly claim or story.

7. Canary, a small songbird originating on the Canary Islands, is derived from the Latin word Canis, or dog. The first explorers to reach the Canary Islands noted that one of them was populated by wild dogs, and hence the islands became the "Isles Canis" or "Islands of the dogs". By the time the islands were actually inhabited and the local songbirds were domesticated and exported, the dogs were long exinct.

8. Cancel, to retract or withdraw, comes from the Latin world for lattice. Monks and scholars copying scrolls would notice mistakes. As no one had invented erasers, one would simply mark out the mistake with criss-cross lines (looking somewhat like a lattice) and write the correction next to this.

9. Candidate, someone who is running for election to office, comes from the old Latin word for shining pure white. Someone declaring his candidacy, or apply for a job, or ask the a girl's father for permission to court her, wanted to look his best. To accomplish this, he would have his toga laundered and then rubbed with certain types of white chalk to achieve the sparkling appearance of newly fallen snow, thereby declaring that his character and intentions were as pure as the fallen snow. The word Candor comes from the same source.

10. Cannibal, one who eats the flesh of others of his own species, comes from the voyages of Columbus. Wanted to write his reports, Columbus asked the locals what they called themselves. They responded with "caribe" from which we get the Caribbean Sea. However, Columbus thought that he was in Asia, and that the natives were trying to tell him that they were the subjects of the Great Khan, so he reported the name as Canibes, from which the word cannibal derives as it moves from Spanish to French to English. Later it was found that some of the people of the West Indies ate human flesh, and some Europeans thought they all of the Cannibals did, and so the incorrect name was incorrectly applied. Later, explorers of Africa and South America found other flesh-eating cultures, and applied the term to them as an adjective, not a noun. Later, scientists applied this to various animals species that were found to consume their own kind.

Friday, December 16, 2011

The Twelve Days of Christmas, Kzinti Style

Written by the BBS Gang

On the first day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
An antimatter armed probe!

On the second day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the third day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the fourth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the fifth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the sixth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the seventh day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the eighth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the ninth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the tenth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the eleventh day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Eleven fighters fighting!
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the twelfth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Twelve drones a-launching!
Eleven fighters fighting!
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

(c) Copyright 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Free Stuff for Star Fleet Universe Players!

Steve Cole writes:

We have a lot of free stuff on our website. Let me point you to some of the most popular things. Doing this in alphabetical order we start with Federation & Empire. They have play aids and countersheet graphics here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#FNE

Some people do not realize that you can download what amounts to a free copy of the Federation Commander game (well, enough of the game to play a few battles). First Missions will give you enough of the game that you can try it out. Go here to download it: http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/Commanders%20Circle/first-missions.shtml

But that's just a start. Commander's Circle has lots of free resources such as various formats of the Master Ship Chart, Ship Cards, the current and back issues of Communique, scenarios, and playtest rules. If you register, then you can find other Federation Commander players.

Prime Directive players can find a treasure trove of play aids, including medals, insignia, maps, the timeline, and lots of other goodies to spice up a game. These can be found here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#PD

Star Fleet Battle Force
has new cards and play aids as well. These are located here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#SFBF

Star Fleet Battles
players have the Cadet Training Manual and Cadet Training Handbook. These were done as a way to get players into the complicated Star Fleet Battles game system. You can download them for free here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/CadetTraining.shtml Also available on the same webpage are lots of SSDs for the game.

We have wallpaper for your computer so you can show your SFU pride. Those are here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/wallpapers.shtml

Don't forget Hailing Frequencies, our free monthly newsletter. Covering all our games, you can read back issues here: http://www.federationcommander.com/Newsletter/past.html Don't forget to sign up to get the link delivered straight to your email box each month. You can "opt in" here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/newsletter.shtml

There are many historical documents which are available for download. Maps, deck plans, assorted graphics, and much, much more can be found here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/historicaldownloads.shtml

Browse our master index to find all sorts of interesting information: http://www.starfleetgames.com/masterindex.shtml

As you can see, you could spend days browsing. We hope you enjoy what you find.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Finding the Exploitable Flaws

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Games can provide insights into a lot of things, and computer games have come a long way from the clunky early days.

One of the early computer games was "Sun Tzu's Ancient Art of War." Laughable now, but it was pretty high tech for its time.

There were a variety of "enemy commanders" you could choose from, each representing a difference in programming. Most of them I quickly found ways to beat, but one commander would give me fits all the way to the point where the game was no longer playable on the available computers.

Crazy Ivan.

No matter what you were doing, Crazy Ivan would just attack and keep on attacking. Since the computer could put all of its forces in motion at once, and you had to select each of yours and give it orders, Ivan would always "have a march" on you.

I gradually found the way to beat Ivan was to retreat if possible. Get my forces moving away from his so that I could mass them and try to beat Crazy Ivan piecemeal. The problem was Ivan would often intercept my scattered forces before I could gather them, and sometimes you just could not retreat from someplace because it would generate troops, and the last thing you wanted was for Ivan to generate more troops.

Things were complicated further by the computer apparently having a "random failure" feature.

My favorite organization was to create armies of just archers, and deploy them in lines as far from the other side as I could, and as close to my retreat route as I could. Even if the enemy was all barbarians (the supposed non archer counter to archers) I would kill some of them when they charged, then retreat, and just repeat until I killed all of the barbarians and any knights . . . the supposed counter to barbarians . . . and archers . . . the supposed counter to knights) that showed up.

But every once in a while I would find my troops deployed incorrectly, the formation order had been changed (apparently something the computer did randomly every once in a while), and my archers would be overrun and wiped out.

This was, however, where one of the other flaws in the game appeared.

The game could only handle a set number of "armies" at one time. Thus, every time I lost an army, I would immediately select one of my other armies and divide it into a whole army and an army composed of one "soldier." This kept the enemy from using the blank "army" slot from my destroyed army to create a new one of his own. And, of course, if I destroyed on of his armies, I would do the same thing. Thus, eventually, the computer could not create any new armies for itself, and over half the armies on the map would be one-man armies created to keep the computer from generating new armies.

Play a game enough, and you find an exploitable flaw.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Captain's Log #44: "A Call to Arms"

Steve Cole writes:

A Call to Arms: It seemed so easy when I agreed to it, such an obvious and simple project. To support the new ACTASF product line, all I had to do was write the history of Day One, the day that the Klingons invaded the Federation. Players have been waiting for this story to be written for a long time. It proved a difficult challenge (just tracking down which ships were known to be, or could have been, with the Third Fleet on Day One took entire days of digging).

My plan was to write not just one big story about one ship and what they did on that one big day, but (to honor the title) I wanted to show readers everything about what happens to a very large military force and an entire nation when a whole lot of things happen in a very short period. I decided to tell the story through the eyes of "one of every kind of person" who would experience it. That lofty goal proved impossible (there was not time or space to include some "kinds of people" such as a diplomat, a high government official, the real wonks at Star Fleet Intelligence, a freighter captain, a small mining station) but in the end I surprised myself as to how many different "kinds of people" were included. By showing how multiple ship captains each met the situation in their own unique way, I could show that not every professional officer is an interchangeable part. I have always been fascinated with the concept that people on the first day of a war do not know what the readers (long after the war) already know (and subconsciously assume everyone who was actually there already realized).

I started doing research: what stories had already been written during and around the Day One events? There were several of these, and I almost wanted to include notes to tell the reader "now go get this story and read it before you go on." Conscience requires me to note that "my" story sometimes includes a few lines of dialogue from these other authors. I consulted with an expert on the subject of "authorship" who said it would be ok to do that without listing them as co-authors of the greater story (their contributions amounted to about 1% of the total), but I insisted on acknowledging them in these notes.

"Ghostlight: Day One" by Ed McKeown from Captain's Log #9 was always a favorite story, covering the destruction of Battle Station K7. I decided that one part of my very large project would be to tell the story of the same battle, but from another point of view. That made it easy for me, as I did not have to invent the tactics, which is always the tough part. It bothered me a great deal to kill off Commodore Thomas.

"A Friend in Need" by Allen Gies from Captain's Log #18 happened a few days after Day One, but included some key information about the battle. My scenes for the Oaxaca take place before and after that story. Having two sub-stories about battle stations allowed me to have one of them surrender and another be destroyed, because war happens that way.

"Return of the Hood" by Dale McKee in Captain's Log #25 took place years after Day One, but included a flashback to that day. I added two scenes to that story, and borrowed several lines and elements of the Hood's final battle, more than I was really comfortable with, but to include that final scene at all required that much re-use of another writer's work.

"For the Honor of the Flag" by Mark Tippet in Captain's Log #26 takes place a month after Day One, but the first scene includes a key review of things that happened, and all of that information was worked into my story. (A passing reference to the deceased captain of Agincourt tore at my heart, and I had to bring him alive if only to kill him off.) I wrote some of the same scenes from the point of view of the guy on the other end of the intercom, copying a bit of dialogue into a different setting.

"Snap Count," one of my own stories published in Captain's Log #33, took place a year or two before Day One, but I brought in some of the characters, including the irascible Commander Crawford (the namesake of both Tos Crawford and John Crawford, two great friends).

"The Librarian," a snapshot I wrote in Captain's Log #39, was brought in, at least one scene from it.

When Mongoose did the cover for ACTASF they asked me for a ship name to use. One of those available was Valiant, and they picked it. Writing the scenes for that ship was kind of fun, as I could use a character I had created (but never published) some time earlier. Captain Rankin was a man who had the highest medal Star Fleet could give him but was filled with self-doubt about his own abilities. I asked Steven Petrick to review my battle plan and he said "you have to first feint at this ship to get him to drop his speed before you can run off to bag that ship" and that is just what Captain Rankin did in "my" story.

I must confess that the "town council" scene on Delta Pavonis III was inspired by a real-world meeting I took part in as a military police unit commander assigned to support local authorities. No person or words from the real-world event were copied into my fiction, but seeing so many talented people trying to simultaneously contribute their talents and protect their own turf was as fascinating as it was terrifying. Well, ok, the local sheriff did want to be absolutely positive that my troops were not going to be carrying firearms in his town. I couldn't blame him for that, and that wasn't what we were there for. (We just managed the traffic flow that time, but I did see a different real world sheriff send troops including myself to deal with drug gangs who were "not afraid cops but were terrified of soldiers.")

As I wrote the different scenes, I took time to bring in the individual flourishes and character traits that sometimes get lost in writing a big story about one small group. Jean remarked that I had done more to "make her love the characters" than anything I had written before, which was surprising to me since each character got so few words in the overall story.

I also took time to bring in some themes that had bothered me for years. Commander Crawford was good enough at his job to be kept in it, but I felt I had to say that nobody really wanted an officer who had been held captive (and brainwashed) by an "evil alien enemy about whom far too little is known."

Being a guardsman myself, I had often had the feeling that "the regular military" did not give us enough respect. (Being a State Guardsman I often felt that the National Guardsmen regarded us a people they'd rather not have around. I also, many times, had to accept that the "real cops" were not excited to have the help of half-trained "military policemen" who were sent to help them during major events and emergencies.) I could actually see Star Fleet taking guardsmen who were serving on starships and using them to fill up remote stations so they could use their own (less qualified) Star Fleet people on newly activated ships. I have, from personal experience, seen business and military organizations shuffle their own less-capable people off to third-rate jobs but still prefer their own people to better-qualified strangers from another organization.

I wanted to show people that fighters in SFU must be integrated with ships and used in mass formations if they are to be used to their best advantage.

Most of all, I wanted to show that you don't always know what's really going on. For a student of military history, those nice pretty maps of what everybody was doing on the first day of World War II or during Operation Desert Storm all seem so complete, so organized, and such a perfect picture of what happened. For the guy actually at headquarters trying to figure it out from radio reports, it's not that pretty and not nearly that clear or obvious. Having been (on a much smaller scale) the military commander trying to keep track of a dozen moving elements by way of unreliable radios, I can tell you that it's quite a challenge.

In re-reading the story I wrote, I found myself wanting to tell more of the story, and wanting others to tell other parts. I am already writing the story of Mister Oregon, the fascinating story of that Dunkar linguist on the Klingon police ship that gathered up those outpost crews, and the story of Commander Crawford. I really want to read stories other people write about the Hornet and the Agincourt in the days between Day One and "For the Honor of the Flag."

Monday, December 12, 2011

This Week at ADB, Inc., 4-10 December 2011

Steve Cole reports:

This was the week that Captain's Log #44 was finished and the workload shifted from the Steves to everyone else in the office. The printer doing the cards for the boosters lost the work order when our contact there went out of town, and delivered them three days late, delaying wholesaler shipments of the new products until Thursday.

The weather this week was cold, dropping below freezing every night and staying below freezing most of each day. We had a snowstorm that started at 1am Monday and lasted until Tuesday noon. The spam storm mostly remained at well over 200 per day.

We did not get anything new put on e23 this week.

Steve Cole finished Captain's Log #44 on Monday, then started working on the FLAP list (finish like a pro). Steve finished Communique #72 in time for Joel to send in on Friday, a day early. He also set up the Captain's Log #45 files, and rumor has it that three or four pages are already finished. SVC also spend Thursday teaching Charles how to use graphics to convey information and make it easier to find. Steve Cole actually spent most of Saturday working on the assembly line due to the high volume of orders.

Steven Petrick worked on record keeping for Captain's Log #44 and started work on Captain's Log #45.

Leanna kept accounting up to date, started the wholesaler shipments for Captain's Log #44, Boosters 31-32-33, and Module E3. She started on the massive mail orders.

Mike kept orders going out, managed customer service, and (mostly) got the new products printed.

Joel did website updates, chased pirates, and most of all helped Mike. The Wall of Honor was updated for those who won Gold Star, Silver Star, and Bronze Star medals, but everyone else will have to wait until Joel returns on 18 Jan. Charles came in on Thursday and Saturday to complete his high school intern training program.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 1057 friends), proofread the last pages of Captain's Log #44, proofread Communique #72 and the December Hailing Frequencies, and did a bunch of marketing for ADB and Mongoose.

We had the first half of the annual Christmas party on Wednesday because Joel is leaving for six weeks with his parents in Africa.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Exploring Excellent Ebooks

We have continued our long-awaited move to offer more of our products as PDFs by way of the e23 and DriveThru RPG websites. So far on e23, we have released a lot of stuff for Federation Commander, including the Revision Six Reference Rulebook, the 72 ships from Federation Commander Briefing #2 (divided into six packs of 12 ships and a separate rules pack), and more than a dozen Ship Card Packs. Our ebook PDFs are in color and high resolution. PDFs of most books are searchable (older Captain’s Logs are not).

The way e23 works, once you buy a product, you can download it again for no cost if you lose it or if we upload a revised version of that edition. Thus, the people who bought Reference Rulebook Revision 5 were able to obtain Reference Rulebook Revision 6 for free (and to download it again when we discovered we had accidentally left out rule 4S).

We must note that these products are copyrighted and are not to be uploaded or passed around to your friends. Doing so is piracy, a criminal act, and may result in us deciding not to offer any more PDF products. We have already uploaded many Starmada, Star Fleet Battles, Federation & Empire, and GURPS Prime Directive products We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFS for sale on e23. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products.

Our Prime Directive PD20 Modern books are sold as ebooks exclusively through DriveThru RPG.

So check them out! Many people like the fact they can search our rulebooks for a keyword and find everything that pertains to that issue. Others like the fact they can carry around multiple books on one device. Some Ship Cards are available exclusively through e23. Whatever your reason for using them, we hope that you enjoy them and rate them.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

HAILING FREQUENCIES AND COMMUNIQUE RELEASED

Steve Cole reports:

We have released this month's issue of the Hailing Frequencies newsletter and this month's Communique. Hailing Frequencies has the latest company information and covers all of our games. You'll find news on the latest releases both in print and e23, information on the company, and even serialized fiction. Hailing Frequencies also has links to the latest Star Fleet Alerts, which are press releases about new products and when they will be available for order. From Hailing Frequencies, you can link to Federation Commander specific news in the latest Communique, a free PDF newsletter which is full of good things for FC players, including new ships, a new scenario, and updated schedules and rules.


You can subscribe to Hailing Frequencies at this link:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/newsletter.shtml

Friday, December 09, 2011

The Twelve Hours of Day One

The Twelve Hours of Day One
By Jean Sexton

On the first hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
The saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the second hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Two asteroids
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the third hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the fourth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the fifth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the sixth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the seventh hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the eighth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Eight frigates fighting,
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the ninth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Nine Marine squadrons,
Eight frigates fighting,
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the tenth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Ten remote bases,
Nine Marine squadrons,
Eight frigates fighting,
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the eleventh hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Eleven warning stations,
Ten remote bases,
Nine Marine squadrons,
Eight frigates fighting,
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.

On the twelfth hour of Day One the Klingons took from me
Twelve POLs policing,
Eleven warning stations,
Ten remote bases,
Nine Marine squadrons,
Eight frigates fighting,
Seven cruisers cruising,
Six battle stations,
Five colonies,
Four ground bases,
Three trade routes,
Two asteroids,
And the saucer of the good ship Hood.


Please note this is NOT historically accurate. To find the true toll of Day One, read "A Call to Arms" in Captain’s Log #44.

© copyright 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

HOW NOT TO GET INTO THE GAME BUSINESS

Steve Cole writes:

I constantly see things on industry mailing lists and in my Email where people want advice on entering the game business. The best advice I have is my free book which you can find at www.StarFleetGames.com/book as a nice multi-chapter PDF.

In one recent case, an individual wrote to say: "I just lost my job and have decided to be a game designer for a living. I need a stable income of $4,000 a month. How long would it take me to get there? Three months? Six?"

I laughed and cried at the same time. For one thing, I don't make $4,000 a month now and I've been in the industry over 30 years. (A few years I have made that much, barely, but not in the current market.) The sad fact is that except for the lucky three or four, game designers won't ever make that much. Worse, you probably cannot make a living as an independent game designer at all, since game publishing companies were (99% of the time) created to publish the owner's games because no other company would publish them.

In another case from some time ago (I'm going to blur some facts here so that nobody can tell who I'm talking about), a young game enthusiast decided to quit his day job and focus his full time efforts on game design and publishing. His wife said that she would allow this only if he "brought home" a paycheck of a defined amount each month. He had some money from an inheritance which was separate property and his wife allowed that he could use this. Well, he went through the nest egg, borrowed money from savings without telling his wife, maxed out the credit card he got for the business, and then got two more cards (those offers in the mail) without telling his wife and maxed them out. All the time (his company lasted 18 months and did a dozen products) he was "bringing home" the required paycheck. His company was making a profit beyond expenses, but not enough to cover the paycheck, but the paycheck continued because (a) his wife insisted and (b) he was sure he would start making more sales any time. One of the credit cards was a $5,000 cash advance spent on advertising (which produced few if any new sales). Every month, he wrote that paycheck but came up short elsewhere. He had established credit with the printers and with the companies that sold him advertising pages so he ended up deeply in debt to the printer and to advertising publishers. Worse, his first product (which sold well enough) ran out of print, but it was going to cost $20K to reprint it and the dwindling rate of sales (nowhere near as good as it had been 18 months earlier) would not support the debt load, but he "had" to reprint it to avoid looking like a company on the way out. Finally, with no more places to borrow money and creditors threatening legal action, he took the case to his wife for a home equity loan. She, of course, had no clue that his company was $40K in debt (for which he was personally liable) or that most of the family savings account was gone. It's a wonder she didn't kill him or leave him, but she did force him out of the game business immediately. He sold out for what he could get and applied that money to the debts. Moral of the story, if you are married, make your wife a part of every business decision and do not keep secrets from her about family money.

In another case (actually, there are four or five of these I have seen, all about the same), an enthusiastic game designer who knew nothing about the industry but was sure his game was the next big thing got a home equity loan, printed thousands of copies of his game, and THEN (and only then) asked other game companies how to contact stores and wholesalers to sell his game. He had no clue what size the market was (few games sell over a couple of thousand copies) or who the wholesalers were or what it would take to get them to buy (some now demand that you pay them $500 for advertising before they will carry your game) or even what the discount structure was (which meant that his cost per game was fairly close to the 40% of the retail price he had printed on the games). Moral of the story, learn as much as you can about the industry before you spend a dime getting into it. GO READ MY BOOK FIRST.

I see lots of gamers who think that running a retail store, and on-line discount store, or a game publishing company involves low work and high reward. It does not. If it did, a lot more people would be in this business

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Defining Victory Then, and Now

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Today, as most of you are aware, is the 70th anniversary of the incident which brought the United States of America fully into World War II.

It is not the day that the first Americans died in that war, or the first day that Americans returned fire against our then enemies.

I can use word here, names in fact, that will have no meaning to most of you.

The USS Panay in the Pacific theater.

The USS Reuben James in the Atlantic theater.

Americans were dying in the war even before Pearl Harbor.

It was not any different leading up to 9/11/01.

Al Qaida was killing Americans long before they commandeered four jet liners to kill more Americans in a single day than died at Pearl Harbor.

We actually defeated our enemies in World War II, albeit with a lot of help (the truth is that the German ground forces were ultimately ground up and destroyed in the Soviet Union, at a terrible cost in lives to the people of the then Russian empire). Even if, even then, we settled for less than our stated goal of total victory (Hirohito got to remain on the throne and was not tried for his actual involvement in getting the ball rolling).

In this modern time we are "declaring victory" and pulling out of the war zones. As might be expected, the numbers of attacks by our real enemies picked up in those war zones so that they can also "declare victory."

The meme in the muslim world will not be that the United States, or the West in General, defeated Al Qaida or the Taliban, but that the Holy Warriors proved unconquerable and the United States blinked in the face of their dauntless courage and fled.

That it took more than a decade for victory to be awarded to Al Qaida and the Taliban will be seen as irrelevant.

That it may take them another decade before they can launch attacks in the West and against the United States is irrelevant.

God is on their side (just ask them), and the infidels are already in retreat.

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Star Fleet Universe Wallpapers

Joel Shutts writes:

Many do not know that we have a page where you can download wallpaper with Star Fleet Universe art.

Check out what we have on http://www.starfleetgames.com/wallpapers.shtml

Big monitors, small monitors, we have something for nearly everyone. 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1680 x 1050, even 2560 x1600. If you need a different size, we'll see what we can do to fill that desire.

If there are any other sizes or any other images that you would like to see turned into wallpaper, please feel free to contact us at graphics@StarFleetGames.com and we'll work your request in.

Monday, December 05, 2011

This Week at ADB, Inc., 27 November - 3 December 2011

Steve Cole reports:

This was theoretically the final week of working on Captain's Log #44, although as Saturday evening drew to a close we lacked a page coming from an outside author, half a page of unresolved F&E Q&A, term paper ranks, and some graphics. The weather this week was cold, often freezing at night. The spam storm mostly remained at well over 200 per day.

New on e23 this week was Module E3 Triangulum Galaxy.

Steve Cole worked mostly on Captain's Log #44, working to midnight most nights. He found time for some other projects, including a meeting to help the Kyocera dealer with social media marketing, creating a Star Fleet Alert, a three-hour visit with his dentist, and sending Boosters 31-32-33 to press.

Steven Petrick worked on mostly on Captain's Log #44, although he finished creating his pages early in the week and focused on proofreading pages others had created. He actually did a substantial amount of work on Captain's Log #45.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date, working with Mongoose to coordinate the wholesaler billing for the joint venture releases.

Mike kept orders going out, rebuilt the inventory, sent out the alert, and managed customer service.

Joel did website updates, chased pirates, and helped Mike.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 1,054 friends), proofread Boosters 31-32-33 and Captain's Log #44 (and wrote a bit of what is in it), and did some marketing.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS #68

Steve Cole muses: Just thinking to himself.

1. Being a success is a matter of defining goals. If your only goal is to show up at the office with a pulse, you can still be a genius when you achieve your goal.

2. I finally got to see the first episode of GRIMM and found it very entertaining. It's basically a rehash of Buffy with some more realistic combat and a couple of ideas borrowed from Charmed. (Some would say it's darker.)

3. The Gold Mining Morons are back in Alaska for another season of trying to find, well, gold. I know that my health could not stand the trip, but gosh, I wish I were with them! Being an engineer, and a successful business owner and military unit leader, I suspect I could set them right and point out some logical flaws in their plans. Leanna would never have let them miss a lease payment.

4. In a recent conversation, a friend who is a skilled tradesman remarked that times were tight and he wished that Company A would pay him for the work he had done. I asked him when was the last time he had asked them for payment, and he said he had never talked to them. This sent up a curious eyebrow, and he said that the original work order had come from Company B, which had paid half of the bill up front, but told him that Company A would pay the other half on completion. Repeated contacts with Company B had yet to produce any reason why Company A had not mailed a check.

I pointed out that he should never have undertaken the work without talking to Company A, seeing as how they were going to pay for half of it. (Just a friendly "nice to be working for you great guys" note would have been sufficient to trigger a response that would have signaled go-ahead or ask more questions.) He said that this wasn't necessary as both companies were highly respected local businesses that had a reputation for always paying their bills. I pointed out that, obviously, something was wrong, and pushed him to contact company A. He whipped out his smart phone, looked up their number, and contacted them.

Turns out, Company A had been trying to contact him, but not to find out where to send the check. It seems that the work was part of a deal that Company A and Company B were negotiating, but the negotiations were never finished and the deal is currently more or less dead (meaning that the work my friend did will never be used). Company A pointed out that as it had never signed the contract, had never authorized the work, and the work was not satisfactory, it was not actually obligated to pay him at all. Company A suggested that since Company B had told him to do the work, he should look to Company B for the other half of his payment. (Even if the work was not needed, Company B, alone, had entered into the verbal contract for it to be done. Company B had no authority to bind Company A to a contract.)

A few more increasingly upsetting phone calls, and more information came out. Company B had not told Company A that my friend had been hired until the work was complete. Company A said that if they had been asked before the work had been started, they would have pointed out some unusual special requirements (which my friend was never told about). Even if the contract were to be signed now, the work has been wasted and would have to be done over. (As Company B did not communicate the special requirements, Company A says Company B should pay. Company B says that Company A never told them there were any special requirements. Company A says it would have brought these up if Company B had done what the unsigned draft contract required and consult them before any outside contractors were hired.)

This sent up another red flag for me. Where there other outside contractors that Company B had (in their enthusiasm for the project) hired before the deal was signed? It wasn't my job to get involved in this, but I suggested a few lines of inquiry and it developed that there were three more people, hired, by Company B with the understanding that Company A would pay some percentage of the bill (in one case, all of it). All three of these people had done some things (ordering materials that might or might not be usable elsewhere). I'd say that Company B can expect to spend some time in small claims court after a judge tells the contractors (including my friend, who still won't believe it) that Company A never had a contract with them.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

PLAY ON-LINE

Many people do not know that you can play either STAR FLEET BATTLES or FEDERATION COMMANDER on-line in real time against live opponents.

Eight years ago, www.SFBonline.com was created to provide players of STAR FLEET BATTLES with an on-line gaming experience. It was a smash hit as hundreds of gamers joined the battles. Tournaments and other competitions, plus general opening gaming, have gone on around the clock since then. It since expanded to include FEDERATION COMMANDER!

Now you can play with real live human (not to mention Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, Tholian, Orion, and other) opponents all over the world in real time 24 hours a day! The computer automates many functions and acts as a friendly assistant for mundane chores.

For the modest subscription fee of less than $6 a month per game system, you have access to most of the ships in the STAR FLEET BATTLES/FEDERATION COMMANDER game systems as well as new ships still in playtest and development. The Java Runtime system is compatible with Windows and Macintosh systems.

Never worry about a lack of opponents. Never worry about opponents who don't show up for games day because of silly reasons like family reunions or their own weddings. Don't be cut off from your regular gaming group while on vacations or business trips.

Even better, you can join in on-line tournaments and campaigns, and your victories will add up to a higher and higher average score!

The system also allows you to chat with friends, taunt your enemies, and watch other players fight their own savage battles. (Why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from someone else's?) This "observer" system allows players of either game to learn the ins and outs of the other game before deciding to invest time and money in it.

We continue to develop FEDERATION & EMPIRE for an on-line environment and have playtesters working out the kinks. We'll let you know as soon as it is ready to release.

So come to www.SFBonline.com right away. Players can even fly the FC Federation CA, FC Klingon D7, and the SFB Federation and Klingon tournament cruisers as a free trial, or watch any game in play. Legendary SFB aces and new FEDERATION COMMANDER aces strut their stuff in combat arenas all the time, and you can learn from the best.

Friday, December 02, 2011

"Here Come Andro Ships"

Here come Andro ships!
Here come Andro ships!
Using their RTNs!
Mambas and Pythons and their motherships
Are filling panels again.
Ships are shooting, Marines boarding;
Displacements left and right.
Prep your photons and fire your phasers
‘Cause Andros fight tonight.

Here come Andro ships!
Here come Andro ships!
Using their RTNs!
They’ve got motherships filled with other ships
With their panels empty again.
Feel your ship go somewhere diff’rent –-
What a dreadful sight!
H-E-T, don’t fail me now
‘Cause Andros fight tonight.

-- filked by Jean Sexton

Copyright (c) 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS #67

Steve Cole muses: Just thinking to himself about the verbal RPGs which he and Steven Petrick play to amuse themselves during exercise walks or sometimes during dinner.

1. The best one is the RPG Die In Place. These are always campaigns, and take two weeks to six months to play out. SPP plays the leader character, while SVC is the GM and handles the extensive cast of up to 30 NPCs. The overall situation can being inspired by a movie or TV show or be made up out of whole cloth.

Over time, Steve Petrick has played:

A. A tank colonel in Vietnam. This was first one, nearly 20 years ago, and went on for a year. In a climactic final battle, Colonel Petrick had to lead a bayonet charge to break through the final NVA trap and save his trapped command during the Tet Offensive. One NPC, the young Lieutenant Castle, won the Medal of Honor and later came to visit Petrick in the old soldier's home.

B. The second-in-command of a survivor group during a Zombie Apocalypse. This campaign was repeated later when a different Petrick was told to take his battalion of paratroops and go secure a remote island as a final bastion of humanity.

C. The commander of an Army battalion in Iraq when the US homeland was suddenly wrecked by terrorists using over 40 nuclear weapons. He had to fight his way out through the desert, trying to reach an intact US base in Kuwait.

D. A poor infantry captain stuck commanding an engineer company (with lieutenants and sergeants played by members of the Star Fleet Staff and various SFB players). Lieutenant Ken Burnside kept breaking the rock-crushing machine by trying to do too much during his shift, leaving Lieutenant Andy Palmer to clean up the mess during the next shift.

E. An advisor to a Mayapultpec rebel group trying to win independence from Mexico.

F. On a trip to EuroGencon, a lightning bolt struck the airliner. When the lights flickered, Steven Petrick found himself on a planeload of Army Reserve officers being sent to a war in Europe in an alternate timeline. The US Army was desperately patching together units to stop the onslaught of the Nazi Germans (who had survived the stalemated end of WW2 and were trying to invade France again). In this episode, Gilbert Gottfried was Petricik's executive officer!

And many other roles including peacekeeping in Africa, defending a lonely Iraqi hill from an Iranian invasion, a campaign in purgatory where he was (literally) fighting demons of various colors, and more.

In one very elaborate campaign, the roles were reversed, with Steve Cole playing a reserve engineer captain called up for Korean War II (under the command of Major Hillary Clinton) while Steven Petrick was the sadistic Gamemaster.

2. Time travel: These are usually one-time dinner discussions and are not so much RPGs as they are practical problem-solving discussions. One Steve will travel back in time with a limited number of modern weapons (and sometimes but not always soldiers trained to use them) and be told to win a battle someone lost.

A. One such battle involved Steven Petrick, alone but with a sniper rifle, at the Battle of Bladensburg, the last chance to stop the redcoats from burning Washington.

B. A recent discussion gave either Steve the mission to arrive on June 1st, 1863, and win the Civil War for the south. The choice was one M1A2 tank, one F16C fighter, or one AH64D helicopter (with perfect maintenance, a maintenance crew, unlimited stockpiles of ammunition, and a vehicle crew). Steven Petick wanted the AH64D, since it could cover wide areas, hover, support troops, and so forth. With it, he planned to sink Farragut's fleet (saving Vicksburg), knock out key bridges feeding all of the Union armies, and wreck Washington DC. (I thought he was going to have a hard time sinking warships or wrecking buildings with anti-tank missiles, but he thought he could make it work. I also thought that, sooner or later, someone was going to hit the hovering AH64D with a lucky cannon ball.) Steve Cole (me) picked the F16C, noting that by carefully picking a central location, he could sink Farragut's fleet with laser-guided bombs, wreck the bridges feeding Rosecran's drive from Nashville to Atlanta, keep Meade from bothering Lee all that much, AND pound Washington DC into submission.

Several trips have gone to the Alamo (or Rorke's Drift, or Custer's Last Stand), with various small quantities of modern weapons. The Custer episode in which Petrick's cavalry troop rode into battle on Harley motorcycles was especially fun.

3. One of the briefest games is to nominate two military leaders for an appearance on Deadliest Warrior. They must be historical, fairly well known, and a technological match. (Patton would have no problem defeating Attilla the Hun, giving the disparity between a Sherman tank and a few horses and swords.)