Dropfleet Commander Post-Launch Effort Thread

[me_in_japan]

I finished my UCM demo fleet. There are 3 cruisers in this group (2 regular, one heavy - the chap with the beam weapons above and below is heavy), and 4 frigates. As can be seen, the cruisers all share a hull, as do the frigates. In fact, each cruiser sprue can make 1 of 5 different ships, and likewise the frigate sprue can make 4 frigates, of 5 types, with a max of 2 of any one type. These minis actually paint up very quickly, and are very fun to do between more serious painty work.

everyone


just cruisers


just frigates


Onwards and upwards. Next on the to-do list is the scourge demo fleet, then back to finish up my 12 remaining UCM.

[The Other Dave]

Dang! Impressive work! Can't wait to see the battleship painted up.

[Mushroom Kid]

Wow, that's some beautiful work.

[job]

Nice color scheme! I like the light blue.

[me_in_japan]

thanks for the kind words. the blue is actually PP trollblood base, which since i sold my trollbloods is just kinda sitting around being not very useful. so, it was pressed into service for the UCM. looks ok, though, i agree

[job]

I'm going to have to steal your idea and adopt my own color for marking my fleet.

[Primarch]

So, today I had a crack at DFC courtesy of ToD.
First off, the ships are very pretty up close. I an very impressed with the designs, though I liked the human fleet more than the Scourge.

I lost my first game at the beginning of turn 2 as both my objective scoring vessels got annihilated before they could land troops, but I couldn't stop ToD from deploying one unit of infantry, thus pretty much ensuring he would win on victory points. So, we went at it again, this time I mirrored ToD's approach and dropped my strike ships into the atmosphere before they could be blown up. The game was pretty close, though I was able to squeeze out a victory by nuking one of ToD's controlled areas from orbit, preventing him from scoring on an area I couldn't contest.

So, with one win and one loss under my belt, what did I think?

DFC seemed to really be a game about what you can't do. You can fire all your guns OR you can change direction, you can't do both. You can change direction or you can hold your position, you can't do both. You can't shoot certain guns at ships in the atmosphere. You can't launch strike craft at ships in the atmosphere. Etc. Now, this seems to be some pretty clear decisions from the game designer, who obviously has way more experience with the game than I do. Some things did seem counter-intuitive though. 18th century galleons being unable to aim broadsides effectively I get, computer controlled, gyro-stabilized turrets being unable to lock onto enemy ships unless the pilot goes in a perfectly straight line, not so much.
Once ships made it into firing range, combat seemed fairly standard, ships have X guns in Y arcs with Z dice. Nothing revolutionary there. It worked well I think. Armour and Point Defence were a simple mechanic that gave you a chance to shrug off a hit or two.
The range finding mechanic was a little fiddly, though due to the small board most ships spent half the game on top of each other so it didn't really matter from turn 3 onwards. On a bigger table, the rules would probably play a bigger part.
The orbital layers rules were ok, though something that was easy to forget, even with the base dials. Something that would improve with more games played I guess.
Overall, once you get your head around the enforced limitations on your actions, I think the rules are ok. The only rule that I really didn't like was how hard it was to shoot enemy ships in the atmosphere. Some weapon systems just don't work. Others have a really hard time hitting. Even craft designed to work in the atmosphere just don't seem equipped to deal with enemy vessels in their own layer.
From a game perspective, I have no objection to playing again and maybe, juuuusssttt maybe, I would think about perhaps possibly pricing up a starter fleet. Despite my criticisms above, the game was fast, easy and with a few tactical options to consider, plus it fits my preference for keeping both players actively engaged in a turn.

My single biggest turn-off for the game isn't rules based or model related. It's the concept of the game itself. The lack of any attacker-defender roles doesn't work for me. Why are both sides attacking the same empty patch of ground at the same time? It seems strange that A)Neither side holds the ground positions, despite there clearly being Surface to Orbit weapons in place and the B)Both fleets are trying to invade the exact same patch of ground at the same time, without having first achieved local superiority in the airspace overhead. The example I gave ToD was it's like the Germans trying to counter the D-Day landings by launching an amphibious assault on the Normandy beaches.
This has zero effect on the actual game itself, but for me it really kills the immersion and makes it feel like it is just a game in the same way that Chess or Snakes and Ladders are just games. I'm not commanding an alien armada or a fleet of valiant humans defending their home, I'm just picking whether to be the Dog or the Shoe in Monopoly: Outer Space Edition.
Yeah, it's probably a minor point for most folks, but for me it puts me off enough that I think my limited hobby resources might be better used elsewhere.

The ships are nice though.

[The Other Dave]

Thanks for giving it a shot! Like I said, part of the issue may be that these are really small demo games on a really small table, which plays up the rock-paper-scissors aspect of some parts of the rules. But there are certainly a lot of abstractions made in the name of game design, I'll give you that! I think the atmospheric restrictions would show their reasoning better in a bigger game as well - you only have 6 turns, and loitering around a given cluster in atmosphere (yes, safe from the predations of ships in higher orbit) means you're not getting troops to other clusters since atmospheric movement is so restricted. To get your strike cruisers to other clusters to support puts them at risk. In theory, anyway.

[Primarch]

I wouldn't be against giving it a shot at a higher points level on a bigger table. Things did feel pretty cramped with nowhere to move on the demo board, so it might not have shown the game at it's full potential.