New Stretch Goal is Smokin'
A new stretch goal has been announced.
Personally I will probably use cotton / fabric (probably painted) to represent smoke and fire but this is still nice. I am mostly excited about this quote:
"...and we've asked our brave authors to add rules for the effect of smoke clouds."
Very exciting for me as the visibility issues created by the tremendous smoke in a close fight are often mentioned in writings.
I would have expected smoke rules to already be in there. If not, they're leaving it awfully late to get the thing playtested properly and into production to meet the August deadline.
It will be interesting to see where they go with this. The word "smoke" does not yet appear anywhere in the rules :)
I think Andrea has already been working on smoke rules... might have even been in his early drafts and just left out to simplify the game some more.
I am sure a lot of the hobby people will do something similar. These would make great bases for those hobby efforts as well. Would make them much easier to pick up and move from ship to ship as needed. I can also say that many Wings players used cotton and such for their flame and smoke markers, and made the switch to my acrylic once because they are so easy to use and store.Originally Posted by Beowulf03809
Yes, I am sure you are right.
I will too. My own AoS rules use fire and smoke markers to represent ships aflame and broadsides fired. My own markers are black cotton wool dabbed with red and yellow poster paint for fires, and strips of white stuffing material on blue bases the length of a typical ship for smoky broadsides. They look bl**dy good, imho. But I can see why plastic ones would be popular. I'm sure they'll go down a storm
Do you have any problems with them coming apart?
No, none at all.
Not impressed at all by the last couple of stretch goals to be honest. With the best will in the world they're fan produced accessories, not anything that would make me want to bump to a higher pledge level.
Come on Ares, give us something to make us sit up and pledge - an East Indiaman or a merchant would be nice
Not having played AoS minis before, do you recommend any other similar types of markers to the two you mentioned - ships aflame and broadsides fired?
I also have fallen masts and "struck" flags from Rod Langton , plus markers showing ships at anchor and ships on springs. I try to use as many "model" markers as I can to enhance the visual appeal
Ah but then you are trying to get the complete thing in one fell swoop. But you have to remember the idea that the game companies want to keep you interested in buying more ships, more accessories. More ships as stretch goals would mean they would be coming to us in a year or more instead of a few months. Expect expansions to be worthwhile instead. Although a merchant expansion pack of a eim and a few merchies at say the 300k line would be reasonable imho.
Thanks.
sounds interesting i cant wait until its actually all complete so we can play and see everything all together
What about mirrors?
And here I thought no politics on the bar. Smoke and mirrors being the favorite dance of career politicians and other con-men.What about mirrors?
This humorously made me realize I'd totally forgotten about broadside created smoke screens when I did my Heart of Oak/Signal Close Action mash-up rules. Whoops.
It would be nice if we were given an example of something similar to get a visual perspective. A brief text description as well. Is it a horizontal plate representing smoke, or is it vertical?
It's horizontal... I should have photos of them and the combat ruler next week.
Good question Andy, one would think vertical might be a better representation of gun smoke, fires could be either depending on whether they went on the base, a mast, or somewhere else. I have played Flying Colours (GMT) and they gave you a choice of marking ships status with marker chits on the board or recording them on a log. The chits on the board were a real pain, stacks of markers on top of/next to the ships looked awful so logs were much better. But as I've mentioned elsewhere some ship status information should be visible to all not just the ship owners. Fires, masts down, explosions and being in chains are obvious to everyone and should be clearly designated somehow. I would think an explosion marker could be pretty easy to devise. Broadside markers would need to be placed on the base I think.
Wonderful. That would be much appreciated. My intention is to set this up as a convention demo game. These might be a neat visual to add to it.
Let me reflect on that.What about mirrors?
When we ran our Battle of the Nile demo games at shows back in the 1990s and early 2000s we had a shoeboxfull of black and red cotton wool on standby for L'Orient, just in case :)
Boss, I'm not sure this one will get 20K of mileage--I'm past tap-out and still need to add 3 TP#2's somehow, so I'm all but out of the game--but if you can encourage then to announce the next stretch after this, and if it's a big bang it might be good for 40-45K.
Usually, in the KS's I've watched and the one I've previously participated, having two queued up announced at a time has helped--people get excited about the farther goal, which helps drag the near one over the finish-line faster.
At 17 days to go, given that this stretch we're roughly averaging 2.5k/day and an assumption of 25K/goal, my gut is telling me we'll probably meet this goal, but the next is gonna be shaky... over by about $1800. If we assume about 7-8 backers a day, then Lieutenants should get TP#2 in about 4 days, Mates about 3 days before the end.
17 days * $2.5K/day=$42,500 expected further pledges; $42,500 - $15,697 = $26,803 ... IF we make it across the finish line there, it's probably going to be End of the Line for this KS, unless we see something dramatic like a "Total Pledged In One Day" goal. And it's getting even more iffy if people keep dropping out... we just lost one Early Bird Captain, going by the drop of one backer and $240 in pledges.
Last edited by Diamondback; 03-30-2013 at 15:13.
I'm not in charge of the stretch goal amounts, but I personally would have put these smoke markers at a $10k or $15k "mini stretch". Not because I don't think they are a worth while addition to the game, but because the project needed a bigger boosting stretch goal at this point.
I know two of three of the remaining stretch goal items that are being worked on (that I know about) are much more exciting and should drum up some pledges. You also need to factor in the end of campaign up swing. With maybe a few exceptions out there, every successfully funded project has an up swing in the last week.
Was anything more ever mentioned about the Donald MacLeod prints or original paintings?
I missed it if it was.
That, being a bit "out of the box" might shake things loose a bit.
The anticipation for the next stretch goals is like waiting for a breeze in the doldrums. I know they will come but the waiting is driving me mad.
Right, Boss, I'm just suggesting a nudge from you might carry a little more weight than from the rest of us. I for one will admit that I had an "I'm sure they'll be nice, but as a stretch at this amount this is bull and I'm not buying it" reaction to 'em. IF it gets there I might add a few, but I'm not making the effort for a Last Big Push as I have with prior goals.
Re the ending uptick, that's just a normal trend--I've seen a rare few where it didn't happen, so I'm treating last-day spikes as a "bonus" and erring conservative. Sorry, to get much farther Ares needs belt-'em-out-of-the-ballpark homers, and right now they seem to be going for base-hits in the bottom of the 7th Inning--I'm not backing out or reducing my pledge (when I make a pledge I stand behind it barring dire emergency), but if I'm going to make the effort to end-run the pencil-pushers...I know two of three of the remaining stretch goal items that are being worked on (that I know about) are much more exciting and should drum up some pledges. You also need to factor in the end of campaign up swing. With maybe a few exceptions out there, every successfully funded project has an up swing in the last week.
I've not heard any more about it... but then I do not hear everything. The GAMA trade show also through a wrench in the works as well. Not only were they gone for pretty much a week, they have to play catch up on their normal duties (meaning non-KS things) now that they are back. Back before the KS project launched, we did talk about offering posters of the cover art, signed by either the artist or Andrea, or both. Logistics became an issue with those, and I think the idea was sunk.
I have no doubts that we will have the uptick at the end of this campaign.
I have just a few more dabloons in the budget but not yet sure how I want to use them. I'm probably going to have to wait until the last couple days of KS to commit until I know what remaining goals may show up. It's sad not to be able to let them know now that there's that little bit extra coming but that is how it has to go with me right now. I'm sure there are probably many other KS pledges that would also throw in some more at the end but it's 'hidden' money until the last goals are announced and people make final decisions on what options they want to commit to.
Hey Hajj, any good possibility of us seeing a preview of the smoke markers this weekend?
They were supposed to show up yesterday, but FedEx did not drop them offMaybe today.
Since I get two free when we meet the goal, I was thinking the $4 was for two of them. I was assuming. If they're $4 each and I need one for every ship...that's gonna add up fast. I think they need to clarify if the $4 is each or for two of them. They're going to need to look really neat if they're $4 each.
It would be good if we knew what they were for :)
They are $4 for a pair.
Dave, I think Andrea is writing some rules for them. But for now, they are just visual reminders of when a ship fires it's guns.
Boss, they're gonna be in either the Ares or AA catalog after the KS is done, right? I'm at the Something's Gotta Give point and trying to decide what I can safely defer to afford the Commodore upgrade.
Go for the upgrade you'll be happy you did. One set is nice but two is twice as nice. You'll be able to cut something out that you don't even know you don't need at this time.
Please tell them to hurry up on that and give us some details, even if it's preliminary rules. I'm trying to order a turn key package for convention demos. It's leaning towards me possibly needing (12) ships, so that would be a potential need for (12) smoke markers.I'm trying to determine what's important and what's not. After my wife freaks out at me blowing the huge wad of cash on more toys, it might be difficult for me after the fact to tell her "But hun, I've realized I didn't spend enough and I really need to buy this other stuff too."
Hope we can get a gander at these cool accessories that will enhance our game's visuals. Do they sit on the base or attach to the model like the Wings markers to the pegs?
Back up to 881!!!
So all current goals unlocked for all available levels. This is a good sign.Back up to 881!!!
With a week left, if Ares wants to see current backers increase pledges, they need to rollout another stretch goal quickly. I wonder, though, how aggressive they will be now given the multiples the company has reached of its original target.
I would like to see more info: picture of mat - even if a drawing - to better understand the grid overlay, fuller explanations of rules accompanying some of the stretch goals, etc.
New stretch goal is hours away according to latest from Ares..max's out at 250K. The world will hold it's breathe...(name that quote!)
Also maxing out at 1,000 backers so interested to see what it will be.
ho hum, the new stretch goals are basically offering more of the same
It'll be interesting to see what the final total's are going to be, 1000 backers and $250,000 looks a long way away.
But that's the one based on the backers isn't it. My reading of the announcement is that there'll also be a $ based stretch goal. I just hope my reading is correct.
I like the "number of people" goals as boosts for providing existing bonuses to a broader audience since width (number of players) is as critical as depth (amount of individual contributions) if not more so to the long term success. But I do hope for one more dollar-oriented stretch goal.
While the extras and upgrade for the pledge levels are great, I do not see reaching 1000 backers or 250k as possible at this time.
Last edited by The Barrelman; 04-08-2013 at 10:07.
More smoke markers and counters hmmmm....
They will be offered through AA for sure.
I think you would be safe getting 4 pairs to begain with. Not every ship is going to be firing on the same turn, so I don't see a need for 1 or 2 per ship (even if that would mean more sells for me).
The smoke clouds lay either on the base or on the mat next to the ship (depends on the size of future ships).
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