2nd Edition progress?

[dnd]

Told a few friends this was being released today and made tentative plans to try a session during the holiday weekend (we all have/had the day off from work today). Not the end of the world, of course, but for what it's worth... I too was expecting it to show up in the online markets by now.

[dnd]

Hah! I see it on VBAM store now.

Psst.. I suggest adding a blog post to make it more obvious it is now available.

Got my copy now. Congrats on the release VBAM Games!

[Tyrel Lohr]

Well, in the Mountain Time Zone it will still be July 3!

The files are uploading right now. The PDF is 24 MB, and I'm on DSL, so it's taking awhile to get uploaded everywhere. It'll be available on our site and DriveThruRPG for now. Later on it will appear on e23 and Wargame Downloads. Greg should have it up in the next day, and as for e23 I have to wait until next week to track people down since it's not as automated a process there as it once was.

Sorry for the delay for those that spent all day waiting for it. I ran into some snags this morning trying to get everything put together. I rebuilt the cover files and integrated the first bit of eleventh-hour notes from the playtesters. Do you want errata? Because that's how you get errata.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Ha, there were replies that prevented my post from going up, otherwise that would have been posted sooner!

Trying to get the uploads of files ironed out and everything working. It SHOULD be available through our site and DriveThruRPG now. I am double checking all that to make sure it works, then we'll let people know.

I wasn't going to say anything until I was a bit more positive things would work

[dnd]

I can confirm RPGNow (DriveThruRPG) is working correctly.

(Yeah, I know they take a cut, but I'm not a big enough fan of PayPal to otherwise use the VBAM store.)

[Tyrel Lohr]

Woohoo! Independent confirmation that they are working. Let me know if you have any problems with the file over there. We're testing out putting everything into a single PDF to make it handier for this release, but we're still seeing how things go.

And don't worry about it; there are a lot of people that prefer DriveThruRPG even without the PayPal issue. At some point we may be able to run credit cards through our new site, but that is going to be a while down the road.

Has anyone had problems downloading the book off of the VBAM store?

[Takaholic]

VBAM 2nd Edition is available on RPGNow at this time!

Downloading and printing as we post.

[nys]

Finally sorted out how to reactive my account. (I'm dnd from above.)

File looks great for viewing on PC.

If I may make one suggestion - a single column format is best for viewing on mobile devices. Might be something to check out if you're interested in experimenting with different flavors of electronic formats.

[Tyrel Lohr]

@Takaholic: I tried to make this new edition more printer-friendly, to the point of eventually stripping effectively everything but the interior illustrations. It once had a really nice, full color border -- but it's much easier to read this way.

Also, re: printing the book, I tried to set most of the section breaks in Chapter 3 so that they hit even pages. That should make it easier to print out updated section in smaller chunks should they need updating. And we do plan on fixing as much as we can that people run into before we go to print. Some sections are pretty tight and it might be hard to do, but we're going to try and do it. After this long in gestation, we just wanted to get it out there and then address any issues as they come up.

@nys: I'm glad you were able to reactivate the account! I switched forum software a week or two ago (it is a blur of 14 hour days during that period), and was hoping that it would run smoothly post transition.

Single column we might look into if we try to convert the book into an eBook format. 2-column doesn't work very well for printed material, but in theory (once 2e is fully locked down) I should be able to take the content in the current InDesign document and reformat it to 1-column without *that* much hassle, then maybe run it through Calibre to try and spit out the versions. We'll definitely plan on experimenting with that later this fall. If we end up doing that it will be added to everyone's existing accounts.

[aelius]

Picked up mine from Drive-Thru. Looks nice, but I am glad I kept up with your announced future expansions or I would be kind of disappointed. It is very much a clean up of the original VBAM rather than an outright change. I see how the streamlining and modularity of the rules will make expanding where the player wants easier.
I am very much looking forward to your official announcement of what those expansions are going to be, and approximately when they will be released.

[Tyrel Lohr]

@aelius: The Second Edition did end up hewing closer to First Edition than I'd originally planned, but we now have the outstanding issues from 1e addressed so that we can push forward with new books.

I'm waiting until Jay gets back from his vacation before we discuss our release schedule. We have a few tent pole projects that we're working on, plus some extra DLC that comprises small stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else but are too long for the Companion.

Now that 2e is released, however, I can go through and get the custom empire rules put back together with the new content that I have for that, and the Companion will end up as a catch-all for optional rules that we want to introduce to the game.

[Tyrel Lohr]

A first look at Jay's new With a Purpose game is now up on the web site! Take a look to find out more about this objective/mission based rules expansion.

For my part, I can tease that a new version of the Star Charts book that I had planned back in 2006 (pre-2e) should finally be out in the next month, too. I am finishing up the star system information, then will finish assembling all the optional rules and a few new human factions that you can use in the game.

[aelius]

Sounds good.
I like the unit design rules. Can't wait for the Engineering book...
Checked out the link. It looks like it could be fun. And for a more typical game it seems like you could use a lot of those missions as random events or public outcries. Just replace victory points with bonuses or consequences for your empire.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Someone on BGG asked what had changed in 2e, so here's what I told him:

Let me go through the book and provide a list of the more significant changes or additions to the rules:

* Rules were cleaned up to make them easier to find and reference

* Print-friendly layout

* Added two additional samples empires (Graal and Humans)

* More guidance on setting up a campaign, including options for using a point buy system to place colonies on the map

* Changes to Commerce Income to base it on Utilized Productivity

* Stealth & Concealment rules were rewritten

* Intel shifted to being a system-based resource, and missions rebalanced accordingly to make Intel more useful

* Diplomatic system reworked to be based around diplomatic states more akin to what we had for NPE in the Companion

* Cleaned up the Out of Supply rules to make them a bit easier to remember and apply, and limit their effects in some cases

* Removed Interception scenarios and made the encounters resolution more concise

* Made several changes to Combat to resolve some issues with flights, better codify squadron missions, shift Intel use to Scouts exclusively in setup, change how planetary flight basing works

* Modified bombardment missions to be consistent, added chance of additional collateral damage from intense bombardment, added bombardment surrender from Stars Divided

* Changes to ground combat to make it more static so that ground wars last longer, only transport fleets can carry troops now, broke 1e Marines into two different stats (Marines and Compact)

* Added more guidance for conquest of systems

* Added complete encounter example

* Construction times shifted to be the "super extended variety" that Jay often used in his PBEM games, broke the base construction capacity transfer rules out and modified them to work for everything, added basic rules for refitting one class to another

* Added rules for tech trading, operating alien units, and reverse engineering

* Added terraforming to base book, rules for reprisals, slightly expanded morale condition table, made a version of 1e Quick Expansion Colony Fleets standard

* A mix of old and new optional rules, all updated to 2e; biggest additions are non-aligned worlds (simplified diplomacy for one-system powers), simplified piracy, squadron command costs, several updated version of optional rules from Stars Divided, tech roulette (randomized force lists)

* Scenarios are largely the same, with the addition of a few 2 and 3 player scenarios that are better suited for that number of players.

* Unit construction rules that you can use to design your own units and force lists (probably the single BIGGEST addition to 2e)

* Expanded commentary on creating new source materials or converting from other sources

* 6 pregenerated maps, and hex templates that you can use when generating random maps


There are a lot of quality of life updates in the rules, with text being cleaned up to make things clearer or provide better explanation of what things mean.

I would say that if you're happy with 1e and don't have much need for the unit construction rules you could probably hold off and wait for more player reviews or a sale before you pick it up.

[sfsct3172]

Thanks! Bought my copy. Looking forward to expansions.