New Firestorm Rulebook

[markymark1970]

Ran two quick FA games last night, just to test out the new rules as I have only played twice and my opponent had never played.  A few quick reads of the rulebook did not reveal that it really is kinda hard to use in the middle of a game.  Many rules are hodgepodged in different sections (via the index) and you have to look in all locations to find what you're looking for. 

Firing arcs seemed to be a BIG issue.  For example, looking at ship stats, Dindrenzi gun racks don't have arcs listed.  Couldn't find anything on them, so we made up our own arcs.  Looking for something else, I ran across "gun racks have either port OR starboard", but this was three turns into the game and the damage had already been done.  Turrets are not listed in the index, but do not have arcs defined in the Directorate ship stats.  I'm sure I'll run across their arcs when I'm looking for something else.  Should not be hard to have arcs listed for all weapons and not just some of them.  Also resorted to the Spartan forums on several occasions to locate info.

I'm sure it will get better with time, use and familiarization, but I see some definite opportunities for improvement.

What are your impressions of the rulebook?

[Andrewchristlieb]

I haven't noticed an issue with it yet but to be honest Im still using my beta PDFs during games if I need to look up something.

Although generally listed as a single weapon system, Broadside weapons labelled Starboard/Port are separate weapons which may both declare their own attacks against targets in their respective Arcs, with full effect. Gun Racks on the other hand are a single weapon which can choose to fire into either the Port or the Starboard Arc.

If you look on the ship's stats with turrets you should see them saying "Turret (any)" which means they can fire once in any direction .

[Ruckdog]

If you think the 2.0 Firestorm book is bad, you should have seen the 1.0 edition! 

It has been interesting watching Spartan's rule sets mature over the last few years. The beginnings were truly rough, but I think they have really hit their stride now, thanks in no small part I'm sure to the efforts of the play testers like Andrew. So, my impression is that the FA 2.0 rulebook is a vast improvement over its predecessor, though I have to admit that the DW 2.0 sets a whole new standard for ease of use and in-game reference.

[markymark1970]

I haven't noticed an issue with it yet but to be honest Im still using my beta PDFs during games if I need to look up something.

Although generally listed as a single weapon system, Broadside weapons labelled Starboard/Port are separate weapons which may both declare their own attacks against targets in their respective Arcs, with full effect. Gun Racks on the other hand are a single weapon which can choose to fire into either the Port or the Starboard Arc.

If you look on the ship's stats with turrets you should see them saying "Turret (any)" which means they can fire once in any direction .

Ok, when I looked LAST week, there were some without "any".  Since that time,someone wove a spell...

[markymark1970]

If you think the 2.0 Firestorm book is bad, you should have seen the 1.0 edition! 

It has been interesting watching Spartan's rule sets mature over the last few years. The beginnings were truly rough, but I think they have really hit their stride now, thanks in no small part I'm sure to the efforts of the play testers like Andrew. So, my impression is that the FA 2.0 rulebook is a vast improvement over its predecessor, though I have to admit that the DW 2.0 sets a whole new standard for ease of use and in-game reference.

Naw, it it bad at all, still relatively quick, simple and fun (speaking as a SFB player, everything is simple).  Just some room for improvement.