Poll

Was the release of Firestorm Taskforce and Dystopian Wars Fleet Action a good move by Spartan?

Yes! FSA and DW take too long.
1 (16.7%)
No! FSA and DW are better in a classic "long play" format.
2 (33.3%)
Yes! I like the Taskforce and Fleet Action rules better.
0 (0%)
Other (please describe below!).
3 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 6

Voting closed: July 30, 2016, 12:53:56 pm

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Author Topic: MBS Monthly Poll #2  (Read 2886 times)

Ruckdog

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MBS Monthly Poll #2
« on: July 04, 2016, 12:53:56 pm »
Spartan games has now released faster playing versions of both Dystopian Wars and Firestorm Armada. Was it a good idea for Spartan to try and follow the apparent trend of smaller, faster, "Skirmish" style games? Do you think these versions of FSA and DW are better or worse than their longer playing originals?
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Last Rites

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2016, 11:18:04 am »
Are these new rules available to download already? Would like to take a look and see what all has changed.
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Dakkar

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2016, 01:44:20 pm »
Quote from: Last Rites on July 05, 2016, 11:18:04 am
Are these new rules available to download already? Would like to take a look and see what all has changed.

Not available for DL, which is another HUGE mistake - releasing "quickstart" rules but not making them free PDFs does no one any favors. It seems extra silly when *everything else* is a free PDF.

Also, my personal play experience/perception is that the "fast play" is no faster due to the use of a convoluted Damage Table. In other words, if these are an accurate preview of new editions, I may not be interested. :-(

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Landlubber

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2016, 04:02:28 pm »
Yeah, that is a little strange. The DW Fleet Action stats are available for free download, just not the rules (when last I checked).
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Ruckdog

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2016, 10:29:53 pm »
Yeah, near as I can tell, niether Taskforce or Fleet Action are available for download, and I was not able to find any hard information on when they might be available. That's okay, though, as thiis question is really intended to be more about the concept of these fast play editions,  not necessarily just about their relative quality. I will tweak the poll responses to reflect that.

Quote from: Last Rites on July 05, 2016, 11:18:04 am
Are these new rules available to download already? Would like to take a look and see what all has changed.

I will bring my Fleet Action book to E&E for you to take a look at on Saturday!
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Ryjak

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2016, 05:45:25 pm »
No, because nothing good comes from releasing the fast-play version this way.

1. All the taskforce two player box sets are decent, but there is no way they can compete with the main fast play game out there: X-Wing. X-Wing players will have zero incentive to try taskforce.  Unpainted models, unknown story and IP, etc.
2. Neither fast play version leads to anyone playing the main version of either game.  The rules and gameplay are far too different.
3. I haven't played either system, but the right way to create a fast play version is to create a streamlined rule sets for the typical "small" version of the main game (patrol fleet in firestorm armada)... And this does not address the main problem, which is these games take too long the play. A better approach is to create a new version of each game which has less rules and details, so they play faster.  What Spartan did instead is create a "simple" version for their "skirmish" games, while having complex rules and a large-ish model account game.  This is completely backwards from how these games should be designed the play. The more distinct units you have in a game, the simpler it needs to be, if you're concerned about play length.
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Quickdraw

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2016, 01:04:53 am »
Other.
Yes and no.
Yes.....It's a good business move. They are trying to accomadate for a common complaint/crticism of their games. And they have succeeded. I see on the Spartan forum that those sorts of people are generally happy with the attempt. They have also attracted brand new players that may have seen the full games as too expensive.
No.....It's been horribly received by established Spartan Gamers. Again, using the Spartan forum, folks hate the rules. I have not played these rules, but I have read extensive reviews. And I've got to say the damage table seems awful. Random damage results and a convoluted process just doesn't make sense.
Overall they had a good idea and executed it poorly. And from that result people are happy that they tried, but don't seem to like the result.
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Creon

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2016, 04:12:30 pm »
Looking over the rules I don't know if it's bad with the random damage. Just something to get used to
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Pendrake

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2016, 06:06:06 pm »
I knew nothing about any of this until I saw this thread <big shrug>
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Last Rites

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Re: MBS Monthly Poll #2
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2016, 11:11:43 am »
Is there anyway you could elaborate on the changes to make the game faster? Since we are often limited on times for a game, possibly getting in two games in the same period is pretty intriguing. However, i do feel like this is just a distraction from Spartan, while they try to juggle all the tings they have going on.
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