Dropzone Commander Unit Stats 2.0

Now the majority of people have their copy of Battle for Earth it’s time to explain how the ‘Living Document’ for the unit stats will work.

Hi Dropzone Commander players. I hope you are all having fun with the new rules and getting some good games in. I know it’s been a little frustrating that unit stats seem very fluid at the moment, however that stops as of today.

You may have noticed on the app that there is now a Unit version and App Version. The App version is simply the version number for the App code itself, the unit Stats have a separate version number, and will also have their own place in the Changelog.

We said we’d be using a living document for the stats so we can keep the game balanced and fresh. The process for this will be as follows:

Players playing the game:

Ultimately the important thing. The players play games of Dropzone Commander with the unit stats as they are on the Army Builder. These are now locked and won’t change for 3 months. This gives us time to analyse the feedback from players and see where things need changing. During this phase we will also be working on stats for any new additions to the game to make sure they have a place within the faction they are for.

Feedback:

There are multiple ways of players to give feedback, directly via the contact form on this site, if it’s popular enough we may even add a form for Dropzone Unit feedback. We monitor the community pages on Facebook and Discord servers too and of course you can mail us on Facebook. Or send us an email to info@ttcombat.com. All we ask is for feedback to be constructive, explain why a unit needs to be looked at. Examples of why in your own games would be appreciated of course. Feedback from games on tables take precedence here!

Usage of units:

One of the benefits of the Army Builder is that when people save their armies to the database we can use that data to evaluate what units are being taken and which ones aren’t. Although it’s not a complete picture, it can help us to see where a unit really needs some work. So if you make a list, saving it helps to evaluate this data. No personal information is saved to the builder, just the units you’ve chosen for your army so never worry.

Unit Updates:

After 3 months we will make some changes, we’ll announce the day this occurs, the Unit Stat Version number will change. The updates will be entered into the changelog and the unit stats will be updated. They will then be locked again for 3 months.

By doing this we feel we will be able to provide a game that stays fresh, balanced and makes sure all units are viable.  The App will still be updated for functionality and for usability in these 3 months. Feedback on that will always be appreciated.

What About The Rules?

The new version of Dropzone changes up some rules in big ways! We based these changes on feedback from the beta testing and from the feedback from our awesome playtesters (names in the book!). Some of these changes have been very positively received, and some are a bit more controversial!

Oh and of course there are a few Traffic Jameses in the book too! Unfortunately with such a big new edition there will always be things that slip through the cracks.

We’re listening to feedback on the rules too, and will be putting out an FAQ and errata document once everything has settled down. Clarifications on rules, and a couple of changes based on others (you all have done things we weren’t anticipating!). These will be available online first, and we’re currently working on a small format book with just the Dropzone rules (no more carrying around the massive BFE every game) which will incorporate any tweaks into it.

11 Replies to “Dropzone Commander Unit Stats 2.0”

  1. Please please please make the rules a living, electronic document as well. Like you said, mistakes are always going to happen, a living document allows you to actually fix them instead of introducing the additional hassle of errata documents.

    Plus, speaking as a veteran Talon and general game promoter, it is so much easier to get new people hooked on the game if they can sink their teeth into the rules without the barrier of having to buy a book first.

  2. Kudos for the design team, using the technology to learn about what players really play!
    I hope that the web app will be enhanced with player’s support, as there’re a lot of things in our “whish list” hehe, but you’ve my admiration and support, congrats for the work done!

  3. Please publish the living stats also as a printable pdf document with presentation akin to old manual. I find the web Army Builder and the reference it generates not so very pretty and unreadable. Perhaps enchance your website to generate such document eligible for printing in A4 and Letter sizes (user choice) on the fly.

  4. Agreed. Please also consider releasing the entire ruleset as a free online living document. It’s wonderful for being able to go grab the latest up-to-date ruleset in one place and can be a huge help in evangelizing the game when people can read over the rules before buying.

  5. A step in the right direction. Would it be possible to print profiles in standard tables (with single header per profile type) rather than name: value pairs?

  6. Looks much better now. For me personally it would look even better with tables having automatic width (adjusted to column content) and aligned to left side (so I guess first two could be folded into one, and the second would be the weapons one). As it is there is too much white space to cover with one’s eyes between values. Keep up the good work!

    P.S. Some values are displayed as “null”. I guess empty cell would be better in this case.

  7. Could you try to compress those tables further, they are still taking whole screen and thus contain a lot of whitespace around values, increasing distance between them and decreasing readability. Why not try to achieve stock look of the profiles, like presented in BFE rulebook:
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-TH9gAwzLHCmZ8JGlErADwVPooIRcarC
    ?
    The font is BankGothic Md BT (if it’s the same as used in Dropfleet ship name stickers).

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