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@fellblade
Thank you! That guide was very useful quick question, i see both you and the guide writer used a metallic base coat(?) - is this how you achieve the metal sheen? I don't have an airbrush, so if i just apply a silver layer and ink and glaze on top of that, would it achieve the same effect? Never really painted ships before so this is new to me ^^

 Vertrucio wrote:
I plan to just commit and write a command system replacement for DZC/DFC, community supported and edited. Unless they handle the DFC command cards vastly differently, I won't even bother touching them.

It's a great game and company, but they have a few areas where they just refuse to live up to their own standards.

It'll be handled similarly to how there's entirely different mission card systems written by fans for Infinity to replace ITS.

I live the command cards in principle but in DZC at least the right card (which is randomly drawn) can win games, I lost my last game due to a command card.

Hawk seem to want to write tight rules but can't help themselves to include fiddly elements. In a game with supposedly no record keeping why on earth are frigates subject to crippling damage and its cumulative damage/status effects?

What size magnets are people using - I have not really tried this before but might do so when my own ships arrive.

I've heard 2x1mm and 3x1mm

@rabidaskal: Yes, I think using the metallic primer gives a really nice effect when used under inks. I still have some ancient GW inks, and Privateer Press ink works well also. I used GW Reikland Flesh wash where I wanted to shade the red, and Coelia Greenshade over the green.
I'm not sure about the photo policy, so rather than stuff a lot of pixels into this post, I will post some pics to the gallery (if I can figure out how to get them off my phone).*

As for magnets, I'm using 3x 1mm. They fit nicely into the hole in the model. I cut the peg off the turret or laser, and replaced it with a magnet as well. A small blob of green stuff, a tiny drop of superglue, and you're in business.

*Success! Go to the gallery and search 'Dropfleet' and you can see some of my crappy pictures.

Thanks guys - will have a go

 Silent Puffin? wrote:

 Vertrucio wrote:
I plan to just commit and write a command system replacement for DZC/DFC, community supported and edited. Unless they handle the DFC command cards vastly differently, I won't even bother touching them.

It's a great game and company, but they have a few areas where they just refuse to live up to their own standards.

It'll be handled similarly to how there's entirely different mission card systems written by fans for Infinity to replace ITS.

I live the command cards in principle but in DZC at least the right card (which is randomly drawn) can win games, I lost my last game due to a command card.

Hawk seem to want to write tight rules but can't help themselves to include fiddly elements. In a game with supposedly no record keeping why on earth are frigates subject to crippling damage and its cumulative damage/status effects?

Yea, here's hoping command cards when it comes to DFC will be somewhat better done in that regard, as having not even played DZC i've heard that the card system in there is too much RNGesus tricksy. As for the frigate thing, it's not hugely much to keep track of, for one crippling damage isn't cumulative outside of super weapons, it's an affect that happens once when you lose half your hull points. There are Crippling weapons that make you roll on that chart each time it scores a Critical Hit but those are monstrous super weapons at present that if one did shoot a frigate, it would be dead in all honesty... So at worst you'll take 1 crippling affect you may or may not have to keep track of and attempt to repair depending on the affect, if you even survive the crippling affect in the first place since a fair few of them make you take an addtional 2-3 hull damage which means the frigate will just go pop anyway.

 Brunius wrote:
I've heard 2x1mm and 3x1mm

Are there pre-made magnet holes? Would love to see a magnetizing tutorial!

 RiTides wrote:

 Brunius wrote:
I've heard 2x1mm and 3x1mm

Are there pre-made magnet holes? Would love to see a magnetizing tutorial!

I hear some preexisting holes are the right size, but don't know. There's some magnetisation tutorials out there (Scourge, PHR, UCM)

GenRifDrake wrote:
As for the frigate thing, it's not hugely much to keep track of

Its not but such extraneous dice rolling cuts across the ethos of the game. In BFG escorts were simply dead when they got crippled, I don't see why this couldn't have been reused in DFC when that's effectively what will happen anyway.

There is no way that I am going to be using the bases to track anything. The pegs fall out and finding the correct orbital layer/spike combination is far too fiddly. They are a nice idea in principle but in practice I only used them until my ships started to get damaged before I resorted to using marker dice. I will make some Warmachineesque ship cards and get them laminated I think.

If the Ethos was to eliminate record keeping entirely, it failed not just with frigates but with everything. No crippling result is recorded on the base at all, that's all done with tokens still. And I like it that my frigates have a chance of surviving crippling damage to go on fighting, so I guess that's just me. *Shrugs* Corvettes at least auto-die from it.

As for the bases, eh, they seem hit and miss to most people. Mine seem to work fine, pegs included, they don't fall out at all and I use them infact sometimes as a handle to turn the wheel. xD I don't often view it as that fiddly as it's mainly to keep track of spikes for me, since most fighting is done in High Orbit less you risk being in Low Orbit, suffering a cripple hit and decaying into Atmo and burning up. Mostly Low Orbit exists for bombardment, troop ships and Frigate to manuver in to make it harder to hit them.

I do hope the command cards are a lot better then DZC ones or they wont be used. I understand they give flavor and some more options, but the DZC ones are just to random/not worth it/ just a bother. Plus the fact that the cards are shaped different. My main deck has square edges and my commander specific cards are rounded and not glossed...

There's no way I'm going to magnetize my PHR. After getting a few games in with a friends stuff as I await my pledge, seems like 3 starter boxes of your army is the best base for the game then go on to other things. To much of a pain to magnetize such small minis.

So far we use tokens for spikes and where we are in orbit. Makes it go quickly. Ill try to smooth out the stands so they turn easy when my stuff comes and see what I like more. Damage is also done with dice at the moment

I'd double check you've got the correct cards in your main deck. A lot of the first run (with square edges) have incorrect numbers of cards: check here

Game is not too bad.

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
Game is not too bad.

My first boxed sets should be arriving today/ tomorrow.

Likely be using some of my BFG ships and B5 ships as well as the official ones (ad maybe doing some rules conversions for them)

Well 2/3 of the Crippling Damage rolls inflict an auto 2 damage which kills Frigates outright (Apart from PHR) And coming from DZC, DFC runs a helluva lot smoother. I don't have any issue with the Activation cards personally but the pegs are a bit of a pain.

Also with regards to the Objective rush it makes sense both narratively and Hawks desire to avoid a bunch of fleets beating the crap out of each other over sod all in deep space so it seems to have been the lesser of evils on that front. As per the usual, it seems that the main rules are really simple but the advanced ones could get real complex real quick.

Really, really wish I had backed this on KS now. Ah well. I managed to get a rule book last week. Out of the five FLGS I've queried, only two got any product in at all- it was limited to a couple boxes of two player starter sets that were bought by the same guy, some decks, and a couple rule books (it's where I got mine). at one store. The other store got in a small shipment of a variety of stuff that sold out within a day. Of course, they all offered to order it for me... LOL

My review on the Dropfleet Commander rule book:

Still reading through the rule book. Initial impressions:
I do not like the A7 Landscape style of the book. Makes it very difficult to reference during a game. You can't really hold it in one hand while turning pages in the other. The overall quality is OK. Love the heavy weight, glossy pages, but the cover is just a little thicker than the pages, and it's already showing signs of use (wearing of corners, scratches). I can tell that my spine is falling apart and I really haven't been using this in a "gaming environment". All I've been doing is reading it. 31 pages of fluff... oof. 37 pages of rules, 21 pages of Fleet Building and Playing (missions, campaigns, etc). Then we get 102 pages devoted to the four initial factions, including fluff and ship stats. Then we get two pages of tokens for photo copying. These are a bit disappointing as they look very generic in style. I think they could have spent a little more time and effort into the graphics on these. Last couple pages are an index, which is awesome! and then splash artwork.

Where are the reference pages? As in, why did they not consolidate some of the most used charts- Orders Summary, damage tables, maybe a short summary of the more used rules into a couple pages at the end of the rule book? I am sure if I poke around online, I'll find some home made reference sheets already, but it just feels like an oversight.

The artwork is good, and really captures the Dropfleet universe. Really like the UCMS Avenger schematic in the center of the book. Too bad it wasn't a fold out so you could take it out and hang it up on a wall.

The diagrams are clear, but show a lack of style and/or use of graphics. They are rather plain and bland.

No painting guide? No hobby guide?

Overall, I'd give the book a C+. It's physical construction is on the cheap side, the diagrams are bland and uninspiring, and there are no reference pages with a summary or consolidated most used rules like what you would expect in a rule book. No hobby section hurts a new player to table top gaming. A7 Landscape in a soft cover makes the book almost unusable in one hand. The layout is very good; it flows form one section to another well. Each section is clearly marked. This is not a beginner friendly or inexperienced rule book/game. Finally, no reference to Hawkwargames.com , which is an excellent resource for Dropzone Commander, and I was hoping it would be the same for Dropfleet.

Since I posted this to a local group/Facebook, I got a few replies that informed me that in the two player starter set, there is a reference sheet, and each fleet starter has a reference sheet for that fleet. We had a lively discussion of "Noob Friendly" vs. "Experienced Friendly". IMHO, the rulebook is experienced friendly. No reference charts, no hobby/paint guide, limited/bland diagrams, few play examples limited to only the most complicated rules, no example or how to build a fleet, no "play this scenario first!" make this an Experienced Player book. From what I understand, as I don't have the two player starter set, it comes with reference charts, instructions on how to assemble the models, a "how to play" starter scenarios, and a recommended fleet for the UCM and the Scourge. Dropzone is referenced in the book, mostly in the campaign section. It's rather cool that you can integrate Dropzone Commanader into your games of Dropfleet Commander.

If you are an experienced table top player, then you should do fine grabbing a starter fleet box, commander cards, and a rulebook. You might have to visit hawkwargames.com for some pointers/help, but shouldn't be too bad. New players/first time table top gamers, should look for a two player starter set. BTW, the two player starter set is a good deal. The fleet starter boxes are MSRP US$60. The Two player starter set is MSRP US$100, comes with UCM and Scourge starter fleet, rulebook, dice, tokens- so not a bad deal!

Hawk Wargames has also promised a revamp of the website to include Dropfleet Commander and online resources. It's a small company, and they have been very busy getting the Kick Starter pledges mailed out.

 Tamwulf wrote:
Really, really wish I had backed this on KS now. Ah well. I managed to get a rule book last week. Out of the five FLGS I've queried, only two got any product in at all- it was limited to a couple boxes of two player starter sets that were bought by the same guy, some decks, and a couple rule books (it's where I got mine). at one store. The other store got in a small shipment of a variety of stuff that sold out within a day. Of course, they all offered to order it for me... LOL

My review on the Dropfleet Commander rule book:

Still reading through the rule book. Initial impressions:
I do not like the A7 Landscape style of the book. Makes it very difficult to reference during a game. You can't really hold it in one hand while turning pages in the other. The overall quality is OK. Love the heavy weight, glossy pages, but the cover is just a little thicker than the pages, and it's already showing signs of use (wearing of corners, scratches). I can tell that my spine is falling apart and I really haven't been using this in a "gaming environment". All I've been doing is reading it. 31 pages of fluff... oof. 37 pages of rules, 21 pages of Fleet Building and Playing (missions, campaigns, etc). Then we get 102 pages devoted to the four initial factions, including fluff and ship stats. Then we get two pages of tokens for photo copying. These are a bit disappointing as they look very generic in style. I think they could have spent a little more time and effort into the graphics on these. Last couple pages are an index, which is awesome! and then splash artwork.

Where are the reference pages? As in, why did they not consolidate some of the most used charts- Orders Summary, damage tables, maybe a short summary of the more used rules into a couple pages at the end of the rule book? I am sure if I poke around online, I'll find some home made reference sheets already, but it just feels like an oversight.

The artwork is good, and really captures the Dropfleet universe. Really like the UCMS Avenger schematic in the center of the book. Too bad it wasn't a fold out so you could take it out and hang it up on a wall.

The diagrams are clear, but show a lack of style and/or use of graphics. They are rather plain and bland.

No painting guide? No hobby guide?

Overall, I'd give the book a C+. It's physical construction is on the cheap side, the diagrams are bland and uninspiring, and there are no reference pages with a summary or consolidated most used rules like what you would expect in a rule book. No hobby section hurts a new player to table top gaming. A7 Landscape in a soft cover makes the book almost unusable in one hand. The layout is very good; it flows form one section to another well. Each section is clearly marked. This is not a beginner friendly or inexperienced rule book/game. Finally, no reference to Hawkwargames.com , which is an excellent resource for Dropzone Commander, and I was hoping it would be the same for Dropfleet.

Since I posted this to a local group/Facebook, I got a few replies that informed me that in the two player starter set, there is a reference sheet, and each fleet starter has a reference sheet for that fleet. We had a lively discussion of "Noob Friendly" vs. "Experienced Friendly". IMHO, the rulebook is experienced friendly. No reference charts, no hobby/paint guide, limited/bland diagrams, few play examples limited to only the most complicated rules, no example or how to build a fleet, no "play this scenario first!" make this an Experienced Player book. From what I understand, as I don't have the two player starter set, it comes with reference charts, instructions on how to assemble the models, a "how to play" starter scenarios, and a recommended fleet for the UCM and the Scourge. Dropzone is referenced in the book, mostly in the campaign section. It's rather cool that you can integrate Dropzone Commanader into your games of Dropfleet Commander.

If you are an experienced table top player, then you should do fine grabbing a starter fleet box, commander cards, and a rulebook. You might have to visit hawkwargames.com for some pointers/help, but shouldn't be too bad. New players/first time table top gamers, should look for a two player starter set. BTW, the two player starter set is a good deal. The fleet starter boxes are MSRP US$60. The Two player starter set is MSRP US$100, comes with UCM and Scourge starter fleet, rulebook, dice, tokens- so not a bad deal!

Hawk Wargames has also promised a revamp of the website to include Dropfleet Commander and online resources. It's a small company, and they have been very busy getting the Kick Starter pledges mailed out.

So to your points....

The books layout is homeage to Battlefleet Gothic rulebook as theirs was like that. Not saying I agree with it as it takes up a lot of space, but that's the reason.

Reference pages are in the starters. 2 player and single player starter boxes come with ref sheets.

Really its the same, as you cant just play with the rulebook, you need the models so..

The tokens are cheap because its a good deal getting them in the 2 player set. They are/will sell nicer ones later they stated.

Why would there be a painting or hobby guide? Kinda silly as its a rulebook. Dropzone doesn't have either of those. They do tell you in the starter fleets what colors they used though.

A lot of what your asking for is in the actual sets where you buy ships. Your opinions your option, just I think its a fairly uneducated one. Not to be rude, you just may not know all that stuff is in the starters.

str00dles1 wrote:


So to your points....

The books layout is homeage to Battlefleet Gothic rulebook as theirs was like that. Not saying I agree with it as it takes up a lot of space, but that's the reason.

Reference pages are in the starters. 2 player and single player starter boxes come with ref sheets.

Really its the same, as you cant just play with the rulebook, you need the models so..

The tokens are cheap because its a good deal getting them in the 2 player set. They are/will sell nicer ones later they stated.

Why would there be a painting or hobby guide? Kinda silly as its a rulebook. Dropzone doesn't have either of those. They do tell you in the starter fleets what colors they used though.

A lot of what your asking for is in the actual sets where you buy ships. Your opinions your option, just I think its a fairly uneducated one. Not to be rude, you just may not know all that stuff is in the starters.

Actually, I don't think you read my entire post. Looking at your comments:

The books layout is homeage to Battlefleet Gothic rulebook as theirs was like that. Not saying I agree with it as it takes up a lot of space, but that's the reason.

I've met most of the staff of Hawk Wargams including Mr. Chambers. Who, coincidentally wrote Battle Fleet Gothic, and the A7 Landscape idea was widely considered a bad idea and failure back then, so why bring it back? And why would a game company want to associate it's own, totally different space battle game to the space battle game of another company, and one that is not nice at all to other companies? At least the BFG book is only 160 pages, and not 224 that this book is.

Reference pages are in the starters. 2 player and single player starter boxes come with ref sheets.

See this:

...there is a reference sheet, and each fleet starter has a reference sheet for that fleet.

Really its the same, as you cant just play with the rulebook, you need the models so..

Actually, no it's not, because most players will trade or not even use the extra fleet that comes in the two player starter, not to mention the dice, tape measure, and punch out tokens you get. To play this game, you need: Rulebook, Command Cards, a fleet, some d6 dice, a 4'x4' gaming area, and tokens that you can photocopy out of the rule book. A friend or opponent with their own fleet helps too.

The tokens are cheap because its a good deal getting them in the 2 player set. They are/will sell nicer ones later they stated.

They stated where? on their very poorly organized forums? I mean, A+ for communication, but F for the website when it comes to Dropfleet Commander. That should have been built and done prior to the launch of the game.

Why would there be a painting or hobby guide? Kinda silly as its a rulebook. Dropzone doesn't have either of those. They do tell you in the starter fleets what colors they used though.

Pick up any rule book for any table top miniatures game that requires you to assemble and paint, and you will find a hobby section. Go for it. I'll sit and wait as you rack your brains to find one that doesn't have one. Oh, except for Dropzone Commander. Which is made by... Hawk Wargames.

A lot of what your asking for is in the actual sets where you buy ships. Your opinions your option, just I think its a fairly uneducated one. Not to be rude, you just may not know all that stuff is in the starters.

As I am talking about the rule book and not the actual starter fleets or two player start box, my opinion is a very educated one. If you would have taken the time to read my entire post, you would have read:

...in the two player starter set, there is a reference sheet, and each fleet starter has a reference sheet for that fleet.

and

From what I understand, as I don't have the two player starter set, it comes with reference charts, instructions on how to assemble the models, a "how to play" starter scenarios, and a recommended fleet for the UCM and the Scourge.

Right there in the title:

My review on the Dropfleet Commander rule book:

(emphasis mine)

TLDR; Reading is hard! Comprehension is even harder! But not I don't want to be rude about your ignorance about my post.

Negativity aside, it's a fun game, I like it, and looking forward to more from Hawk Wargames!

Offhand, without going through everything single rulebook I own, literally none of mine that aren't GW books from 4+ years ago have a painting and hobby guide in them.

This includes
Batman hardback (the new suicide squad starter box does have assembly instructions but nothing more)
Marvel
Dropzone Commander
Every Single Mantic Rulebook.
X-wing and Armada (well, obviously, but for the sake of completeness I'm mentioning them)
Imperial Assault doesn't even mention the possibility of painting your miniatures, or show any painted minis at all.

Remember rule #1 on Dakka is "be polite"... let's drop the argument and just stick to discussing this great game.

Thanks all

I've now played two games using the 2-player starer box, and run two public demos at a show yesterday.

Compared to other space combat games (Armada, Full Thrust, Battlefleet Gothic), the ground Sectors make a big difference. Not just the idea of orbital altitudes and landing ground troops; BFG had a scenario which did something similar. It's the "take and hold" nature of holding clusters that makes the game play differently.

There's more that needs explained up front than with DZC; altitude, orders, the scan/signature range concept and spikes all need to be introduced right from the start. Nothing particularly complicated individually, but it all adds up.

4-HP ships being Crippled - I'm not sure that's really necessary. Most of the time they blow up anyway, so it might have been easier to just give them 2 HP and be done with it (and adjust the other rules interactions accordingly, of course).

With just the 2-player starter game, the effects of signature spikes doesn't really make much difference - everyone glides in under Silent Running for the first two turns, then everyone's so close that it hardly matters whether you've got a major spike or not. With a bigger mat, different deployment options and cluster positions and a wider selection of ships, it will probably become more important.

I'm a little worried about the Shaltari ground capability. Warp gates are extremely effective for their price and they are even (sort of) more survivable than other strike carriers due to their lower hit points and the dubious frigate crippling rules. The fact that they also act as a defense battery doesn't help matters either.

I have only played starter games so far though and when Corvettes become available Warpgates will become a lot more vulnerable and chaining them will become problematic so it may work out in the end.

Yeah, I get the feeling they're missing a lot of the in atmosphere game right now.

Destroyers, for example, aren't even statted. Corvettes are just one entry.

After getting the demo/learning games out of the way, I think I'm going to jump straight up to some 2000 and 3000 point test games using proxies for Battleships and other things, just see if the game holds up.

I'm a huge fan after playing a few games, including a linked Dropzone / Dropfleet battle, where our ships kept blowing up in the air over the battlefield, scattering burning wreckage on the poor ground pounders fighting below.

To review the contents of the starter set:
Rulebook: B+. Honestly, it's good quality. Paper's glossy, great illustrations, nice detailed fluff. Rules are well explained, though some rules are hard to find. All rules illustrations are clear. Main issue are a few contradictory rules sections that need errata, since those were parts that clearly changed from the playtesting (which visibly has improved the game: See terrain and new clusters changes).

UCM Fleet: A+. Best spaceship models I've had yet from a minis game. They're gorgeous, and are intelligently designed as to cover each other's seams. They magnetize easily and lend themseves to modification for converters. Wonderufl.

Scourge Fleet: B. Solid spaceship models and I do like their look more and more. The ventral seam on Scourge Cruisers needs care to go together correctly, and the frigate sprue is a little fragile. They still look great when assembled though, but are not as elegantly designed as the UCM ones.

Tokens: C. They're functional, and little more. It certainly is no FFG token fest.

Bases: A-. They do their job well, the dials move smoothly and they track statuses well. The Pegs suck though, and stickers need care.

Reference sheets: A. They're perfect. All the stats and key tables are kept together on a pair of sturdy double-sided sheets, one for each player. Or both for yourself if you need it. Same with the 'quick start' mission to rapidly get you playing. Model building guides are solid.

Overall: A-. I'm going to be playing this game a lot more, especially as new models come out.

(vs other Space games I play)

vs Star Wars Armada: Dropfleet Commander is more dynamic, and less finnicky. Pre-Painted vs not and the Star Wars IP are personal pref, but I prefer Dropfleet. The scenarios are more interesting, and you get a wider range of movements. Armada's mostly decided at a few key points in the game, and you generally are commited to a plan at Deployment. Dropfleet has more diversity of how you can act to counterplay your opponent. Also, fighters are more elegantly handled in Dropfleet IMO. I initially had really high hopes for Armada, but the issues of how the game is easily 'decked' and how meta the scenarios get soured it slightly over time. Plus the slow releases mean most fleets look rather similar around 1-2 archtypes. Also the damn FFG card-chase model...

vs Battlefleet Gothic: BFG's issue was always that the super diverse races virtually all played their own game, leading to some negative play experiences (particularly as Eldar or Necrons were involved) and poorly balanced races like Orcs. DFC is much tigher balanced, though the forces a little more symmetrical in their mechanics. I feel no need to break out the old BFG now that DFC exists, though I did in a way like how sturdy BFG ships were.
Improvements to the Orders system in DFC clearly reflect an issue in BFG, where nearly all the 'half your firepower' orders sucked hard. I do miss Brace for Impact though.

vs Firestorm Armada v2
Firestorm is a much simpler game. It's solid, but every faction plays fairly similarly and it's a lot less scenario based. The model differences are your preferences of course, and I do like some Firestorm forces. Again like the above, I find DFC more interesting due to orders and the general issue of weaker ships suffering due to Firestorm's DR/CR system.

Battlereport and a good general game review at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5AELr9IZis

I finished putting my PHR fleet together yesterday. I've done some various methods for them, including some being pushfit, some being magnetised, some just straight glued on.





Will probably type up a bit more about the specifics tomorrow.

I have two UCM Starter fleets in the mail coming my way soon. I'm getting more and more excited for this game! Really looking forward to playing with the "final" rules (they used beta rules at GenCon, and I have no idea what the differences were/are between then and now). Had to go online for my fleet as only a couple FLGS's even got an order in, and it was pretty small and apparently it was all bought out by the same guy... Hey, if he wanted to spend a couple thousand dollars on it, all the power to him. I just wonder what he is doing with 12 Two Player Starter Sets, and what looks to be about 12 each of the starter fleets. /shrug Curiously enough, he didn't buy up all the rule books or command cards.

I'm kind of confused about something in regards to the Frigates and crippling damage. Pg. 48 of the rule book says

Ships with a starting hull value of less then 4 are never subject to being crippled and do not roll on the Crippling Damage tables.

Starting Hull Value of less then 4 is every frigate in the game, so... ? Or are you reading this as any ship with 1, 2, or 3 hull points and I'm reading it as 1, 2, 3, or 4 hull points?

About the tokens- there was a kick starter not too long ago about using custom d6's with whatever you wanted on the sides. I'll dig for it later, but I thought why not do something like that? Get a 16mm d6, and have the sides marked:
1. Minor Energy Spike
2. Major Energy Spike
3. Crippled
4. Low Orbit
5. Atmosphere
6. ??? Maybe Special Orders?

At most, you would have three dice next to your ship (Spike, Crippled, and Orbit). Possibly 4? The only other option I can think off to get rid of tokens on the map would be a card sized sheet in a card sleeve for each ship that you would write the status effects of the ship in dry erase markers.

That would beat the heck out of cluttering the map up with tokens and fiddling with a ship base every time it took damage, changed orbit, got a spike, etc. etc. It doesn't solve the problem of a lot of record keeping (not that this game has a lot), but it moves it from the map to the side of the table.

I'd think that energy spikes and orbit would still have to be represented on the table. I'd hate to spend a lot of time during my turn asking "OK, what orbit is that ship in? Does that ship have a spike on it? How much damage has that ship taken? What was the orbit of that ship again?" Anyone that plays Star Trek Attack Wing, X-Wing, or Heavy Gear is all too aware of what too many tokens next to a ship looks like.

Frigates commonly have a hull value of 4 or 5. - This means they suffer 'crippling damage'. But it's fine, 2/3rds of the damage results in the crippling table cause 2 damage points or more. - In other words, autokilling most frigates.

There are however ships that do have less than 4 hull points, specifically corvettes and most importantly, void gates for the shaltari.

This makes Shaltari Void Gates a real pain in the rear to deal with, as you need to do all 3 damage to them to kill them, as opposed to, most of the time, just the 2 on a standard frigate.

I would probably suggest continuing to mark orbit on the base - the High/Low/Atmo sections are pretty widely marked so don't need too much peering.

Major spikes, minor spikes and 'silent running' could be done with tokens though, like X-Wing. Spikes are effectively analogous to stress tokens and you could use a focus token for silent running.

While I wait for mine, one person in our group bought it post KS in the FLGS.

We used lots of tokens and dice, as it was most often quicker.

Damage = Dice. I understand what they did with the pegs and all, but most people ive seen talk about it in the FB group is its crappy, they fall out, get lost, and hard to see unless painted. So D10s or so see to be the way to go

Orbits - We have tried the spin dials. If you don't smooth it down very well and cut it nice, its very hard to move them. I prefer this way, but we used FFG colored chips to mark where we are. Blank if in space, Blue if low orbit, and green if atmosphere

Spikes - Same as above with dials. Also used FFG chips for this. Minor is a gold chip, Major is a red chip. No one silent ran so we didn't use anything for that.

It was quick, but when my stuff comes im going to try my hardest to get the dials to spin easily as id rather use that then color chips.