Dropfleet Commander News - Kickstarter orders being dispatched - Ongoing!

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Iron_Captain**

This is my first Kickstarter ever. So excited. Only bad thing is that I can't have them right now

If they hit 300k, I will get Shaltari frigates and a cruiser for free, and PHR at 350k. Yay excitement.

**cincydooley**

Compel wrote:
Basically if you want a standalone spaceship game to play, go for the starter set.

You're pretty much guaranteed to get more play out of that than, for example, the Star Wars: Armada Boxed Set.

I handled playing the Star Wars Armada starter games maybe 4 times before being bored out of my skull.

The Dropzone Commander starter game on the other hand? I'm pretty sure I've played it at least 15 times now and I still haven't got a full handle on its tactics.

However, if you want a fully fledged UCM / Scourge fleet, that's going to lead on to tournament forces, go for the captain level.

If you want PHR or shaltari, go for Lieutenant, then bolt-ons, I'd say.

I had the exact opposite experience. Everyone we played with got rid of DZC after around two games.

Additionally, putting caps on where you want stretches to end isn't a bad thing. That doesn't make this any better in regards to their incredibly poor planning.

**Sining**

As someone who's played both, I prefer Armada. Mostly because armada games don't take 3 hrs for 1 game. Either that or my local meta is really really slow

As it is, I like the designs for DFC, but I'm not seeing the value of backing this over getting it at discounted retail a year or two later

**awbbie**

Those scourge ships are so hot!

**RiTides**

I've also played a bit of DzC (one of our local store players won the GenCon tourney two years ago, and came in second last year). Most of us ended up not being a huge fan of the rules, although we loved the models...

Hence my interest here - Andy "Mr. BFG" Chambers for the rules, Dave Lewis for the models - a match made in heaven

**cincydooley**

RiTides wrote:
I've also played a bit of DzC (one of our local store players won the GenCon tourney two years ago, and came in second last year). Most of us ended up not being a huge fan of the rules, although we loved the models...

Hence my interest here - Andy "Mr. BFG" Chambers for the rules, Dave Lewis for the models - a match made in heaven

Sorta where i am, RITides.

I initially bought in at the second to hugest pre order level ($350ish maybe?) and even magnetized all my PHR models so they could be carried and dropped....but the rules of the game fell very flat to us.

These dropfleet models look great, but in having trouble getting pulled in because of my previous experiences.

Plus it's hard for any IP to beat out Star Wars and Halo for my fleet battles. Only one that could has zero interest in auxiliary games. My god what I would do for a battle of Calth box that explored all the combat going on above the planet's surface.....

**Thimn**

Must be different strokes for different folks. While I enjoy Xwing and Armada I cant see those even being fleet games like Drop Fleet. Armada will have 5 ships or so available to the imperial faction by the time Drop Fleet is released. Armada just doesn't have the variety I need in a space game. This will have multiple factions with a good starting variety of shops.

The DZC rules I find very refreshing to 40k and my local community is having a large uptick in DZC players. So I'm really happy to see Hawk succeeding in this. Should help bring more players into the game.

**Duncan_Idaho**

You also do not need to buy ships just for their cards. Which for me made the difference btw. Aramada and DFC.

**RiTides**

Cincy - well to be clear I am all over this game

. It looks to me like my one reservation with their company (rules ability) has been most ably addressed, and the models are fantastic!

**zedmeister**

RiTides wrote:
Cincy - well to be clear I am all over this game . It looks to me like my one reservation with their company (rules ability) has been most ably addressed, and the models are fantastic!

Indeed they are. I've managed to grab one of the metal UCM New Orleans Strike Cruisers earlier this year - it's a lovely detailed piece that painted up nicely. Can't wait for the plastics.

**Hulksmash**

An Update would be nice with pictures of the PHR.

**Nostromodamus**

Hulksmash wrote:
An Update would be nice with pictures of the PHR.

Hopefully everyone will be back to work today after taking the opening weekend off, so maybe we'll see them soon.

**Mymearan**

I think they said the renders of PHR won't be done until the end of next week, since they didn't plan for PHR to be unlocked until three weeks into the campaign...

**prankster**

Yeah, they've said that they won't have renders of them for a while. Though hopefully they'll show us the concepts sooner than that.

They did post in the comments a few hours ago saying that they were working on an update to post in the next few hours. So, any time now, there could be another update.

**cincydooley**

RiTides wrote:
Cincy - well to be clear I am all over this game . It looks to me like my one reservation with their company (rules ability) has been most ably addressed, and the models are fantastic!

You'll have to teach it to me at adopticon or something.

The models are beautiful.

I should give the videos a watch.

I think a lot will depend on how much $$ I drop on the 27th Christmas shopping.

**Hulksmash**

Alex C wrote:
Hulksmash wrote:
An Update would be nice with pictures of the PHR.

Hopefully everyone will be back to work today after taking the opening weekend off, so maybe we'll see them soon.

Mymearan wrote:I think they said the renders of PHR won't be done until the end of next week, since they didn't plan for PHR to be unlocked until three weeks into the campaign...

I'm happy for their success but great googaly moogaly? I get a limited launch for specific products (i.e. plastic starters/sprues). I'm ok with this plan like CMoN has been doing lately where things are planned out and they don't have a problem saying "Thanks, we're done.". But shouldn't you have everything ready for such a project, especially renders, of the 4 primary fleet factions if your goal is to get them all in plastic? I mean renders should at least exist simply because if they don't make it in plastic they'd still be designing them in resin right?

The planning and execution on this leave a lot to be desired. But at least it's doing well

**RiTides**

I think they just didn't expect to get this far this quickly (well, they've said as much!). One thing that I've noticed about Hawk - they make a great product and offer it up as-is... they were one of the last major games to launch without a Kickstarter. It was really impressive to me how he did everything for DzC, then revealed it to the world to great success.

I think here, we're seeing it a bit earlier in the process - two main factions done and basically ready to tool the molds, second two factions not quite ready. They don't offer up concept art or anything like that - it's just still in Dave's head / CAD screen being worked out.

I am really looking forward to seeing the PHR though (likely next week), and the other Bolt-on cruisers, although those have been mentioned as coming at the end of Nov. So, I may just stick with the split of the two-starter pledge, and wait to get the big ships when they launch (since any bolt-on here will still be just a variant cruiser).

At first I was a little bummed at the scope but now that I see exactly what they're offering, and given their history, I'm happy to just get the core stuff and await more awesomeness in the summer launch

as I'm sure they'll be beavering away on incredible models to supplement the core between now and then!

**Nomeny**

I finally took a look at this and I'm kind of blown away by the miniatures. I know Hawk can pull this off, but it's almost inspirational to see the quality of the product the dude can put out.

**Duncan_Idaho**

The KS was actually just intended for the starter-box and they hoped that with a lot of luck they would barely be able to to de other two starters. They were floored by the amount of money thrown at them.

**zedmeister**

Update 4

Update #4 - Stretch Goals, Unlocks and Bases

As we enter the start of Day 4, we want to express our gratitude again for the amount of support we have been shown so far!

We are stunned to have gone through 11 Stretch Goals (listed below) since reaching our initial goal:

Unlocked: £70k - Race Pins (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £100k - Hostile Map Set (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £110k - Faction dice (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £130k - SHALTARI PLASTIC STARTER FLEET UNLOCKS (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £140k - Acrylic Tokens (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £150k - 1 Free Scourge Cruiser Sprue (makes 1 cruiser with all upgrades)
+ High Rank Backers - 1 Free Scourge Frigate Sprue (makes 4 Frigates)
Unlocked: £190k - Alien Map Set (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £195k - Art Print 2 (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £200k - 1 Free UCM Cruiser Sprue (makes 1 cruiser with all upgrades
+ High Rank Backers - 1 Free UCM Frigate Sprue (makes 4 Frigates)
Unlocked: £210k - PHR PLASTIC STARTER FLEET (Bolt-on)
Unlocked: £230k - Art Print 3 (Bolt-on)

We have listed the next stretch goals:

£240k - Nocturnal Map Set (Bolt-on)
£250k - Kickstarter Exclusive Paper Radar Map (Bolt-on)
--- Other Stretch goals will be added ----
£300k - High Rank Backers - 1 Free Shaltari Frigate Sprue (makes 4 Frigates)
--- Other Stretch goals will be added ----
£350k - High Rank Backers - 1 Free PHR Frigate Sprue (makes 4 Frigates)

As well as the following targets for free rewards too:

£300k - 1 Free Shaltari Cruiser Sprue (makes 1 cruiser with all upgrades)
£350k - 1 Free PHR Cruiser Sprue (makes 1 cruiser with all upgrades)
£500k - Frigate Bonanza (Super Reward) 4 Frigates for each race (16 Frigates total!)

Backer number Free Rewards:

2000 backers: UCM Credit (more information to follow)
3000 backers: UCM Dog Tag (more information to follow)

As listed above, there will be more stretch goals and Bolt-ons added to this list in between some of the higher goals. Keep an eye out for these on the Kickstarter Campaign and we will send an update about more of these soon.

Before we go, here's an update about the Bases for everyone to look at too:

This bases update has been posted into the campaign page for all to see as well!

Thanks again for everyone who has backed the Kickstarter so far, and we look forward to sharing more information with you very soon.

The Hawk Wargames Team

**cincydooley**

Duncan_Idaho wrote:
The KS was actually just intended for the starter-box and they hoped that with a lot of luck they would barely be able to to de other two starters. They were floored by the amount of money thrown at them.

Which still indicates poor planning.

It's not the end of the world, but there are folks that are understandably hesitant when a company is poorly prepared for a KS launch.

**Eldarain**

Really like those bases.

**RiTides**

On that base - Oh man, I think I'm in love. The color will show how "visible" that ship is to others, and the altitude indicator, along with damage, all right there... very cool!

It does look like the fire arcs won't come painted (it says "painting optional") - but as these are aimed at miniature gamers who will be painting the actual models too, that shouldn't be an issue (since they're raised and thus easy to paint white).

**Eldarain**

Knowing.nothing about DZC, is there a need for Modcube token sets?

**RiTides**

I was torn on that Eldarain, but we didn't make one yet - with the smaller scale, I feel like it's harder for the cubes to blend in, and a lot of the book-keeping for DzC comes from remembering which units are supposed to activate together, rather than buffs / debuffs / etc. I think it's very likely we'll make a set for Dropfleet if it needs extra tokens

but I love the fact they've put so much info on the base that they're already cutting down on the amount of book-keeping needed!

**Killionaire**

I like the BFG-throwback of areas in which to paste names on the ship bases, plus pre-made stickers for that. It feels odd in a ship game to not have your individual vessels named, especially with the system of having them in various split battlegroups. It'd certainly help identification.

**Duncan_Idaho**

Which still indicates poor planning.

It's not the end of the world, but there are folks that are understandably hesitant when a company is poorly prepared for a KS launch.

Their planning was realistic at that point in time. But sometimes life does not hand you only lemons but flowers and you are floored by how much support you suddenly can find.

**RiTides**

With all the content here, I think it'd be best to let those who don't like the campaign structure to have the last word / not continue to go back and forth about it. Hawk is running a different kind of campaign, and it's certainly not going to be for everyone. Once they show off the PHR renders next week at least we will have all of the main content and folks can just decide based on the offerings whether to back or wait for retail

. It's a limited campaign, there is both good and bad to that... it's not a problem to have differing opinions, but it'd be great not to continue having a circular discussion on it.

Regardless of all that, these are some good guys (and very approachable at the conventions they go to, although they're always swamped!) so it's great to see them doing so well with the funding progress

**zedmeister**

Some comments

Dear all,
just to make this completely clear in in case of confusion, we will 100% not be releasing the UCMF Atlantis as a bolt on. This model will only ever be available to backers at Captain and Admiral level. While we are doing Shaltari, Scourge and PHR battlecruisers latter in the campaign, and there may be something else for the UCM at that point (information pending), the Atlantis will not be available as a bolt on at any point, or for retail at any point.
Thanks as ever,
- The Hawk Team

Dear Jason,
you are correct - The Atlantis, and all Kickstarter exclusive Battlecruisers are special ships designed for fun games and scenarios. Their rules will be released online, and they are designed to be used as proxy models for standard ships of the same class, to be released later.
The exclusivity is designed to come from the cool model, and not rules - having and of the exclusives will only mean you have an unbalanced advantage in fun games, similar to having one of the special commanders from Dropzone Commander. As ever with our games, we want to make them about balance rather than 'buying a win'.
- The Hawk Team

**Hulksmash**

Duncan_Idaho wrote:
Which still indicates poor planning.

It's not the end of the world, but there are folks that are understandably hesitant when a company is poorly prepared for a KS launch.

Their planning was realistic at that point in time. But sometimes life does not hand you only lemons but flowers and you are floored by how much support you suddenly can find.

I call a bit of bull. They were "hoping" this would pay for a plastic starter. Were they just going to put out the plastic starter with no support? Probably not. So they would then be planning on releasing I'm assuming the primary factions they have had since day 1. They even have said they thought PHR would be opened up like in week 3. So they obviously were planning beyond the starter and it's piss poor planning to me.

Granted, they're doing very well and it's likely to be a great success. And I'm happy for them. If this picks up locally I could see playing it. It's going to have to go up against Armada here but it'll have a solid shot if they do it well. FSA never really took off but I hope this does. Because they have plastic space ships

Additionally I'm looking forward to the PHR images. I'll probably go in captain on this if it hits 500k because I see the value in that one. I'll just pick up the PHR fleet at retail because the bolt-on is likely more than retain with a 20-30% off discount.