Dropzone Commander: v1.1+ - Because a white metal ball told me to do it

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Dropzone Commander: v1.1+ - Because a white metal ball told me to do it

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Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Organized play has been talked about for a while now, i'll ask if there's any new developments.

DZC 2.0 has definitely been pushed to 2018, they're aiming for april right now.

Rumor has it that Dave will announce acquisition of the Halo license at Spiel along with the timeline for the associated kickstarters. not actually a rumor

They allegedly finished moving facilities and are in the process of switching distributors so maybe we'll actually be able to purchase things Soon :v:

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 08:59

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 04:56

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I did not see this coming. It'll certainly make Spiel more interesting.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 18:00

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I think it was rumored that destroyers are meant for hunting atmospheric targets. My wild speculation would be an Electrolaser or something similar. The thing in the centre is the laser that creates a conductive channel through the atmosphere and then those ribbed things at the end of the prongs discharge electricity along it. With the UCM i feel they wouldn't build it like that if the form wasn't at least related to the function.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2017 09:36

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

No one from Hawk actual at Spiel it turns out. Everything is handled by VME, the german distributor. Good folks but not privy to internal details.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2017 10:00

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Previous years definitely had Hawk staff, including Dave. But it's a major shake-up right now obviously.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2017 19:56

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I'm not sure how much i'm supposed to pass on right now but if you read the fluff that comes with the rules you might envsion that this ship does not stay exclusive forever *cough cough*

# ¿ Jan 26, 2018 18:30

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

At least everything is digital nowadays and you can make new masters and molds if the old ones are lost in some forgotten basement.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2018 14:51

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I'm betting on something like that from all i know.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2018 16:45

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Oh right, this thread is still around! :v:

Thanks for giving the summary, Ugleb.

Also the destroyers are said to have 13 variants across all factions.

Edit: 13 variabts has alreay been mentioned, im good at posting

Bistromatic fucked around with this message at 14:19 on Mar 14, 2018

# ¿ Mar 14, 2018 14:10

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I think people are going purely by looks, i didn't see any stats either.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2018 08:21

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

In case you're not in the dropfleet facebook group you can find them here: http://hawkforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10521

# ¿ Mar 23, 2018 13:53

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Afaik open beta rules for 2.0 should be coming out soon so you miggt want to hold off on buying books.

As for minis, the starter should be fine for the first few games but you'll want to expand to at least 800 or so with a commander and a deck of cards pretty soon. No need to go straight for 1500 though, even for seasoned players 1000 points can be quite fun since you need to build slimmer armies and think carefully about how to cover all required roles.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2018 11:26

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

# ¿ Apr 21, 2018 17:15

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

The damage table is terrible and i want to abolish it.

Currently the formula for doing damage boils down to E + d6 > A + 4 or as most people memorize it: Equal E and A damages on 5+, deviate from there.
This is unnecessarily complicated for absolutely no reason.

If you add 4 to every armour value in the game it you basically ditch the +4 in the above formula and you just gotta check if E + d6 > A or in words: Does my Energy plus the d6 exceed the Armor?

It's not some huge game breaking this but damage rolls happen so often that every bit of streamlining helps. And what really gets me is that i see absolutely no advantage in the way it's currently done.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2018 19:25

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Finally got off my rear end and posted about damage tables in the facebook group. Come argue with me for sensible mechanics if you're on there :v:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/604774826202800/permalink/2142502845763316/

In addition to that i also got off my rear end and finished up my Shaltari Tutorial, i'm on a roll here.

crossquoting from the painting thread:

Bistromatic posted:

Who's ready to finally learn about Alien Sparkleships?

Algonquin Tribe Shaltari

Took me a while but i finally managed to sit down and hammer out a decent draft for another tutorial. Shaltari are quite a different beast from my main UCM fleet, they�re absolutely loaded with tiny details and they have very strange technology so none of the little bits are readily identifiable as anything familiar. For this scheme i went with comparatively simpler techniques and relied more of the amount of details than fancy execution to get the overall effect. Judging by the reactions they get it works out.

Hull:
Do Test pieces! The sprues have plenty of extra parts and if you put on too much violet or purple you can�t really lighten it up.

First, prime your models black. Metallics usually work best on a black undercoat. It doesn�t really matter if it�s a small rivet or something but if you�re doing a whole mini in metallics there should definitely be black underneath. If you want to go the extra mile you could look into gloss black primer for an even better effect. If you do be sure to send me pictures! Since wasn�t going for maximum shiny i just went with the Vallejo airbrush primer i normally use.

Next i sprayed a basic gradient of Gunmetal, Chainmail and Silver, going lighter toward the front.

After that i hit the front with some violet. A light coat will look almost pink, a heavier one will bring out the colour you see below. Definitely do experiment, even the light coat with look great after it gets a little bit of violet.

The final touch on the hulls is the violet. I sprayed it all over but went lighter on the front and heavier on the back. You can reach a very dark colour with two or three coats, use this to build a nice gradient over the whole of the ship. Below you can the comparison before and after the violet, so don�t worry if your ships don�t look great after just the purple.

Overall i went a bit darker than i had originally planned. This helps all the glowy bits stand out more though so all is well.

Set your ships aside for a while and let them dry thoroughly, i recommend at least 24 hours.

The Golden paints will have a pretty glossy finish so hit your fleet with some satin varnish. This will help you make out details and also protect the purple in case you need to make corrections I also found that the glossiness plays a pretty big role in how the metallic purple comes out. I went with Citadel Munitorum Varnish as that has just the right amount of shine for my taste.

You also can�t really do touch-ups on the metallic purple but since the varnish will protect the paint underneath you can clean up small mistakes with a bit of thinner. You can do this before the cores and hit your models with a second coat afterwards or if you�re confident in your cleanliness you can wait until after the cores are done. In any case, once you get to the dots you /will/ appreciate it.

Cores:

Varnish or no, next up are the cores. Start out with Meridius Blue and try to get a nice even coverage with two or three thin coats. In general you want to avoid too many coats on these parts, even if they are thin ones. Otherwise the paint will build up about the dots on the cores and make them harder to paint neatly afterwards.

After you got the basecoat down shade with Coal Black

Highlight by mixing in white and go all the way to pure white. Be sure to let the paint dry thoroughly then give it a thin and even glaze with Turquoise Ink, this will give a nice depth and richness to the colour.

Sadly the picture for this step didn�t come out too well but i think you can still tell the difference.

Details:
From here on you can do things in any order, i decided to proceed with the dots.

I used Schmicke Primacryl Titanium White, it has great coverage and a nice consistency. Thin it down only a little and add some drying retardant. Then take a small brush with a relatively heavy load and carefully dab a bit of white on each dot. You�ll get a feel for the right brush load and thinning pretty quickly and the retardant will help to keep the pain wet on the brush.

Don�t worry if you mess up, as long as the paint is relatively fresh you can easily do cleanup with a stiff brush and some Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. As i mentioned before, a coat of varnish really helps to protect the underlying paint. Without it you have to be extremely careful not damage the layers beneath.

After the white the dots get a wash of P3 Turquoise Ink, this both gives them a bit of colour and acts as a pin-wash. You can be relatively generous, i think it actually is a nice effect if the turquoise extends outward a bit and adds a little bit of variety to the purple.
The picture below shows the difference.

Apart from a million dots a Shaltari ship has a whole bunch of other details. I decided to do these in a gold tone. Nothing fancy here, just a basic gradient of Deathless metal -> Bronze -> Gold at the very tips. Larger parts get a 50/50 mix in between the steps.

The weapons got the same treatment as the cores but i skipped the Coal Black as i wanted them to glow more brightly and they didn�t need the �depth� of the cores.

And that�s it, all done! In my opinion Shaltari don�t require super fancy techniques but they strongly reward patience and diligence.

Paint List:
VGA = Vallejo Game Air
VMA = Vallejo Model Air

Hull:
Prime Black
VGA Gunmetal
VGA Chainmail
VMA Silver
Golden Permanent Violet Dark
Golden Transparent Dioxazine Purple

Cores:
P3 Coal Black
P3 Meridius Blue
P3 Arcane Blue
White
P3 Turquoise Ink

Gold:
P3 Deathless Metal
Golden Iridescent Bronze
Golden Iridescent Gold

Dots:
White
P3 Turquoise Ink

Citadel Munitorum Varnish

# ¿ Jun 18, 2018 06:57

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Also the people who don't comprehend that it's purely about more intuitive presentation instead of changing the odds.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2018 13:44

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

That very same! I was out of it for a few years too but grudgingly joined again eventually due activity becoming increasingly centralised there. For what it's worth i haven't seen any nazi scum since i rejoined, just run of the mill grognards :v:

# ¿ Jun 19, 2018 18:18

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Feeling real salty right now.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2018 12:48

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

For me the two biggest considerations are usually:

Special Orders: Put ships that like the same orders in the same BG. For example a Moscow really wants to go Weapons Free while a New Cairo doesn't benefit at all from Weapons Free.

Strategy Rating: Glass cannons and especially Strike Carriers really want to activate before any substantial enemies so they prefer small BGs.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 06:20

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

But with guns down the entire sides.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2018 08:02

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

I posted the Pride of Hiigara before but yeah i'd really have like to see new shapes and vertical ones at that. Both because they're interesting to me personally and to minimise the amount of footprint and overhang of these fuckoff huge ships. Practical placement concerns are actually one of my bigger beefs with the game at the moment. They really should either provide incentives for ships to stay away from each other or just remove the option of stacking ships.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2018 18:20

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Ugleb posted:

TTCombat are now looking for DzC beta feedback.

I was starting to wonder if this was ever going to happen. Time to dig out my old feedback notes since last i asked the previous feedback got lost in the great reshuffling.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2018 15:25

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

wdarkk posted:

Apparently Talons got their refund rolled into their talon points and I totally forgot about that. Now I'll have to wait for however long that takes.

I'm happy if they're still honouring that, i had kinda given up on it after hearing nothing for so long.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2018 19:43

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

You don't have to align the stickers with anything specific but it helps to have them always in the same alignment. For example I put mine so that spikes are always on starboard and altitude is always portside instead of trying to figure it out every time I have to set a state.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2018 14:34

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

LordAba posted:

Also, I don't use the pegs for tracking hull points because they are a pain (I just use dice), but it is worth painting up a couple pegs in different colors and use those as squad indicators. That way is you have 2 squads with 2 gargoyles each you can add a red peg to two of them, a blue peg to two of them, and track them easily.

I don't remember if i posted this before but i really like these silicone rings and some adhesive page markers for battlegroup tracking:

# ¿ Sep 30, 2018 18:50

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Sojenus posted:

file name says resistance but i don't see a single bolted on metal plate

no zig-zag panel lines either

# ¿ Jan 24, 2019 08:39

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

see those wide, hinged windows on the side? clearly it's a UCM food truck.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2019 11:15

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

Spotted the Zeus with 15.

I general i'd say i'm cautiously... hopeful?

Did they ever say a word about a Talon program equivalent?

They pretty much lost me completely with the way they handled that and the beta feedback. I might pick the game back up with my local group if the rules turn out to be good but i don't see myself doing promotion again.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2019 12:54

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

i could see making the area around the eyes even brighter and then going gloss black for the eyes themselves.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2019 16:22

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

First round of Dropzone 2.0 Errata is out
https://community.ttcombat.com/2019/09/19/dropzone-commander-faq-errata/

No opinion on it yet because i haven't sat down with both the book and the errata. Seriously reinforces my desire for a digital ruleset though. In this day and age, how do you publish something like this with a straight face?

quote:

Page 264 - Landing - Paragraph 2 - Remove the second sentence.

Bistromatic fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Sep 19, 2019

# ¿ Sep 19, 2019 15:32

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 04:56

Bistromatic: Oct 3, 2004; And turn the inner eye
To see its path...

And (free) PDF Rules!

Which means you can have up to date rules in one searchable document instead of cross referencing a book and a bunch of errata you printed out!

I still have a soft spot for this game and this will definitely have me taking another look at it.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2020 18:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Dropzone Commander: v1.1+ - Because a white metal ball told me to do it

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