I didn't have any of my SFB/Federation Commander miniatures to compare, but they LOOKED about the right scale (1/3788). So about 2-3 inches long each...?

Hmm ... that price seems more accurate then. Is there a map of some sort? Always the same map?

The map is random- it uses hexagonal tiles for sectors of space, and they are flipped when you move into them for a Fog of War type effect- so you never know what is in each sector before you move to it.

d'oh! I even downloaded the rules a little while ago, just hadn't given them a read-through yet (and apparently forgot I had them, since I clearly could have easily looked this up.

Thanks!

You don't know whether or not the game designers are Star Trek fans. As a Star Trek fan I'd also have to take umbrage with your inference that the series all about the combat. True there is an element of combat to the series, but its far from the only thing that goes on, in fact they're constantly mentioning how they're explorers not "warriors". I find the game feels much more like Trek than if all you did was run down the map and shoot at each other.

Combat is much easier than in the CCG and the fact that there's actual points scored for making a kill and I would suggest that the CCG is not a fair comparison at all (even though I find the card game enjoyable enough). Most of the missions for the Klignons (because they mostly draw combat missions) are about dealing damage, or destroying outposts, so I'm not sure where you're coming from thinking combat has no importance in the game. Can you win without shooting at the other person yes, because there's other strategies to winning the game other than combat, but it still plays an important part. I would say that if you or the other poster didn't have your bloodlust satisfied for combat, then you must have only played in a 30 minute demo, where it didn't come into play. If you would have played a full game theres a likely chance that you would have destroyed a ship or two.

All that to say, its not a full on combat game like Heroclix no, there are other strategies to victory then beating your opponent to a pulp, and if you want to just shoot #### then this isn't the game for you. I said all this before and wouldn't have even replied to your statement if it wasn't for your statement about Trek being all about combat, and how there was none in the board game which are both untrue.

the game )IMO_ is similar to decipher's in the extent that it was all about combat , either, you explored, scored points based on objectives, if you engaged in combat (and survived) you gained points, i never inferred once that it was solely on combat, perhaps you are reading a lil too much into my statement?

That's pretty cool, and I think I knew that a little bit already.

With that information, I'd say this game is only slightly overcosted as opposed to being priced by a bonkered chimpanzee.

The price seems a little high to me, but fairly comparative to other board games. Other games in this price range I will usually wait until I find them in a sale somewhere to buy, but since this is about Trek I'm happy to pay full price.

The Star Trek Expeditions game OTOH is very cheap for a board game. Very good value, but it doesn't have as many minis. I also feel like I don't quite have the full game yet until the Expansion for it comes out in October.

No, you said that because the games creators didn't focus solely on combat, that they weren't fans of the show, its not a huge leap in logic. The card game had nothing to do with that part of the statement, and only mentioned it wasn't a fair comparison because while neither are just combat orientated, unlike the majority of instances in the CCG (the rare cases where your deck is built around combat), combat in Fleet Captains isn't counter-productive.

Although I've only read the rules so far, I really like the balance between combat and exploration in the game. Seems so very Trek to me. The game actually reminds me of an old PC game called 'Birth of the Federation' that I used to really enjoy, but better since it incorporates characters from the various shows. Although Birth of the Federation had a strong diplomacy aspect as well, and had 5 major races (Fed, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian and Ferengi) and minor races and the chance of a Borg Invasion. Hopefully with expansions this game will eventually incorporate all of that as well (plus the Dominion and maybe the Breen!)

No, Freedwood, i only said "that's what happens when a game designer designs the game." it was a counter reply to the poster comment that it wasn't clix based game. - my way of saying hey, the designer probably wanted other options to winning than combat.

butm as i stated, you read it in a different text.

Heh I read it as a negative comment too. Funny how text on the internet does that. I see now that you meant it as a positive.

I still have a strong suspicion that the makers are fans of Trek as well though.

No, actually you were responding to my post, which didn't say anything about it not being a clix based game. It is, in fact, a clix based game. My disappointment was that I was looking for a miniatures combat game, and it's not that.

Not being a miniatures combat game has nothing to do with being designed by a game designer rather than a fan. SFB and Federation Commander were designed by game designers, and they are miniature ship-to-ship combat games. The new FFG X-Wing game is a miniature ship-to-ship combat game, and certainly seems well designed.

I get that the designer of this game probably wanted other options than combat. That really has very little to do with my post though. As I said, it's a great boardgame. It's just disappointing to me because I was hoping for a great ship-to-ship combat game set in the Star Trek universe. I like Federation Commander, but I was hoping that the clix bases would let the designers capture the feel of the ships with simpler mechanics (and I think they have, but it's not at all the emphasis of the game).

To reiterate - I'm not disappointed because I think it's a bad game, or because I think it's poorly designed. It's just not what I was hoping for.

Right. To me it seems like a whole season of one of the Star Trek shows - you explore multiple sectors of space, you probably have multiple encounters (any of which would be an episode or even two episodes in itself), you probably have a couple quick ship-to-ship actions. It's a cool boardgame. Seems well designed to me, and the quality of the materials is very good.

I actually was responding to his statement which I thought was negative, I don't have a problem with someone not liking the game because they want something else. I would argue that it isn't a clix based game, they could easily have had the game without the clix as all the information is on the card and you could just indicate which power distribution click you are on (as I had to do when I drew the Enterprise E because they gave us the same dial for both Enterprises). Its really not just a single type of game, its cross genre you even build a deck during set-up.