We shared space with the Dropzone Commander folks at NOVA, and the lead clearly loves DZC, as he purchased a ton of the pre-painted lasercut buildings from 4Ground (I think). He ran the Dropfleet Commander demos at Gencon, and unfortunately, he was not a fan of the system. The main issues he had were:
1) Complexity of shooting. While the Target Signature concept is very thematic (I'm sure Ruckdog will love it), the demo host said it was very complicated and no one was able to pick it up during the demos. Because he was constantly helping people figure it out, he didn't do much else.
2) While the various 'altitudes' are interesting (Atmospheric, Low Orbit, High Orbit) he felt they just made the complex Target Signature math even more complicated, while not adding meaningful depth, but maybe he didn't grasp the tactical reasons for switching levels.
3) Ultimately, the main thing that bothered him was simply this: Dropfleet Commander is a spaceship wargame, but the space combat portion isn't how you actually win the game. Instead, what matters is what is happening on the Ground game level. Both players start at High Orbit, and are trying to simultaneously insert ground forces on an undefended planet surface. You win the game by capturing more ground objectives than your opponent, so the Ground vs Ground combat is ridiculously important (and extremely simple) while the space combat doesn't seem to matter at all (and is very complicated.
I expected he wanted something like Firestorm Armada's System Wars: Attacker/Defender spaceship scenarios where the battle can be used to inform the players on how they will play the Ground Combat game. I really like how System Wars addresses this: play essentially a normal Firestorm Armada Scenario, and your final Battlelog can be spent to gain perks during your next Planetfall game... Or vice-versa.
Ray of Hope: On the plus side, it sounded like he has some influence on the game's design, and the extensive feedback he provided from the Gencon demos might be used to make some adjustments before launch. I'll also admit I like how DFC feels more thematic than FSA. FSA is really a WWII naval combat game, as few of the game mechanics reflect the outer space theme. From movement to firing to damage to boarding, the entire game could be played using Topside miniatures WWII ships, and it would play just fine while feeling thematic. Just remove FSA Boarding and Shunt machanics, and you're set for a fantastic naval game.
