Dropfleet has stared off with a bang, and now its first week is done. That's right.... its only been a week into this kickstarter and we are looking at it breaking £300k (thats over $460k USD). There are some updates from the comment sections and a brief update from Hawk Wargames.
In the meantime while we are all waiting on more.... I think its going to be time to get a Dropzone game in.
Here are the latest updates
2,175 backers
$461,308 pledged of $61,066 goal
27 days to go
Update #8 - An eary Update and Launch Assets Pack Described
Posted by Hawk Wargames
As a few of the team are in the midst of travelling to various locations - Belgium for Crisis, Germany for a Dropzone Commander Bootcamp and Wales for a Retailer Gaming day... So we thought it best to post an early update, especially considering the increase since yesterday evening (UK time).
As this stretch goal has been well and truly unlocked, we thought we’d talk about how Fighters, Bombers and Torpedoes (known as ‘Launch Assets’) work. Each have strengths and weaknesses, but when used tactically they can cripple enemy ships and do damage that is disproportionate to their size. We are still testing the rules out, so they are subject to change, but currently Launch Assets have their own phase at the end of the turn. If the target is close enough to the launching ship, the Assets attack straight away, with only ship defences taking action. If not, they stay on the table until the next launch phase giving the opponent the opportunity to evade or get fighter cover.
Each type of Launch Asset has a distinct role in the game. Fighters and Bombers are typically launched from Fleet Carriers, with the player choosing which to launch. Bombers attack enemy ships directly and can inflict crippling damage, especially against targets with low point defence (such as most frigates). Fighters can be deployed to boost a ship's point defence, greatly reducing the bomber threat and protecting against enemy close action attacks.
Torpedoes are much rarer, fired only by select ships in limited numbers. They are designed to be capital ship killers and are massive, building sized ordnance. They are built to shrug off enemy point defence, with heavy armour surrounding an explosive core. Torpedoes punch into the centre of a ship before detonating, severely damaging battleships and dreadnoughts and destroying smaller escorts outright.
All three assets are truly tiny miniatures; as such the models offered are standard designs rather than race specific. They are somewhat larger than truescale (about 2-3x) when compared to the ships though, as we wanted them to be easily discernible! Due to the great success of the campaign so far we have the opportunity to produce them in full 3D injection moulded plastic complete with integrated flight stands! At their size it's simple to tie them to the rest of your fleet through painting choices, made easier and faster by the choice of black plastic, matching the bases of all the full sized ships.
Also unlocked, is the Dropfleet Commander Bases Pack!
(These include a clear rod for each base, along with sticker set.)
Thanks for your support, and we will be sharing information on the next few unlocks over the next few days!
The Hawk Wargames Team
QnA
thanks for grabbing this out of the comment section of the kickstarter....
FOUR HOBBIES of the EPOCHALYPSE
http://4hobbyepoch.blogspot.com/2015/11/dropfleet-captain-day-3.html
Dear All,
not wanting to let anyone down, we have to say that we won't have painted Shaltari Images this week - a backlog of painting has meant that we won't have the images until next week, though from a few base coat images we know they'll be worth waiting for!
- The Hawk Team
.....in the comment section.
So began a flurry of questions that made me think of a shark feeding frenzy.
Q
Any more PHR images coming soon?
A
Dave is now away at a Dropzone Commander Event this weekend in Germany, having paused the PHR to finish the Launch Assets he was working on. Depending on how the CAD goes, we should have more PHR images coming later next week, including frigates and variant weapons for the Cruisers.
- The Hawk Team
Q
Any chance to get DZC bundles in this KS?
A
we have bundles on our website in the form of army deals, however it's actually against kickstarter rules for us to offer existing or connected products as a part of the campaign - the rule is designed to stop the campaign for needed capital turning into a shop, and we're keen to follow the spirit of this, so we won't be offering bundled deals on kickstarter - sorry about that!
- The Hawk Team
Q
I inquired about images for the ground assets and dice.
A
Dear Tom K,
no problem at all - we've working on these as well, but it will probably be mid next week at the earliest, barring incident.
- The Hawk Team
Q
How many dice will we be getting in the faction dice set and will they be individual factions?
A
The Faction dice are 10 per set, and all of one faction. If you would like multiple factions (or multiple sets of the same faction) just add to your pledge and then let us know on your survey.
- The Hawk Team
Q
Can we get an idea of how many launch assets we need?
A
this will depend on the fleet you choose and your play style. In a balanced fleet you will probably need what is in the pack, however if you go launch heavy you will need two (or if you go really heavy even three!) packs. We are trying to marry the options up with the averages as much as possible to give DFC players as much value as possible, while being viable and not game breaking.
- The Hawk Team
Q
When will we know details on the Beta weekend?
A
We would love to be able to give you firm details, but to a greater or lesser extent this will depend upon the number of backers from each area - i.e. if we have 10 admiral backers from New York and one from LA, we will probably try to base it in striking distance of the east coast. Dates also depend on longer term projects and schedules, but early February is our current estimate.
Sorry we can't be more specific. One thing we would say is that while one of the main attractions of the Admiral pledge is the Beta day, even if backer can't make it they will be consulted about the Beta rules that they are sent, and also that the total worth of the pledge already exceeds the cost, and will be even more worthwhile as we unlock even more stretch goals!
We hope this helps,
- The Hawk Team
Q
Any chance of purchasing additional UCM credits?
A
These are backer stretch goals and kickstarter exclusives - we want them to be nice rewards for backers, so we won't be selling them.
- The Hawk Team
About ships bumping into each other:
Dear all,
re: bumping. so far in game testing this has not been much of an issue. Here's why:
almost all orders involve moving at least half movement, and certainly the orders that are most useful when close to the enemy involve movement. This means that it is rare to create clusters of ships in a why that other space games can. When a ship model would be in the same space as another, the players will place as close as is possible - as ship movement distances are not exact (i.e. UP to half distance, Half to full distance) this means that unlike games with set movement tiles (such as some fantasy flight or heroclix games that player may know) there is no need to be exactly on a certain spot. As with Dropzone Commander and most other wargames, there is some small approximation, but the constant ebb and flow and movement and manoeuvring of Dropfleet Commander means this will not stay the case for long.
- The Hawk Team
Q
When will Dropfleet be available for retail?
A
this is covered under the FAQ, however for ease of use:
we are looking to delivery in June 2016, though it may be slightly later if there are any problems. Retail release with be about one month after backer receive their rewards - if the reward delivery is pushed back, so will the retail release. We want to make sure backers get their rewards before the game is sold at retail.
- The Hawk Team
Q
Regarding allowing backers to choose more than one reward option:
A
our campaign is about getting funding for plastics, and further funding for fun extras and cool add-ons. We believe that with our pledge levels as they are and the bolt ons that we have we are keeping to the spirit and idea of kickstarter and why we wanted to do a kickstarter in the first place. We also want to avoid having backers 'game' the pledges and bolt ons to get the most freebies and add-ons for the minimum of backing; while there will always be an element of this, we're sticking to our view that it's about not being a shop, but rather having backers who want to pledge to get the game going. This means we won't be offering multiple pledges for the same backer at the same level, and we believe that far from antagonising backers they will understand that we're staying consistent and honest about what our goals for the campaign are. Other campaigns do it differently - we respect that. But we want to stick to a consistent message and aim. We apologise if a minority of backers are unhappy with this decision, however (and again, we must stress this) we don't suggest or condone multiple kickstarter accounts in any way.
- The Hawk Team
Q
What frigates will a sprue make?
A
while this may vary when the sprue layout is finalised, we currently plan on the frigate sprue making 4 frigates of any type, rather than being limited to 2 more highly weaponised frigates and 2 strike carriers.
- The Hawk Team
Q
What are the battlecruiser options in the Commodore pledge?
A
Apologies for not answering. The three battlecruisers are a choice of Scourge, Shaltari or PHR, which are bolt on choices for other pledge levels as well. The Atlantis remains a one per high level backer Kickstarter Exclusive.
- The Hawk Team
yes that's correct, 3 total in any combination of the other factions, expect (not to be pedantic but just in case it starts a rumour) it's the battlecruisers not the battleships. The battleships and dreadnoughts will only be available via general release after backers receive their rewards.
- The Hawk Team
