"Most popular" Topic

So boys and girls here are two questions for the most popular.
1) What spaceship rule are most popular now, example: Full Trust, Starmada, Attack Vector, SFB etc????
2) What type of movement system is most popular, example: plotted, impulse, initiative – takeing turns moveing etc.

I have my thoughts but was curious what others think.

Travis

Full Thrust

Full Thrust , semi pre plotted

Silent Death. No plotting….

If I had to say I have seen more Starmada games played then Full Thrust played lately, but here on TMP Full Thrust seems more popular.

Here locally
Starmada
B5 A Call to Arms
Battlefleet Gothic
Silent Death
Full Thrust
Federation Commander
Star Fleet Battles
Attack Vector

I like Starmada, and I really like Klingon Armada.

Starmada is pre-plotted simultaneous Newtonian movement.

B5 ACTA, Battlefleet Gothic, and Star Blazers are the three I see played most often, but that last is always being played by the same two or three guys, so "popular" may not be the right word for it. Silent Death and SFB/FedComm would probably be next, as I know both are on the play schedule for people I know. Same with Full Thrust. I've played Galactic Knights once. I haven't attempted Renegade Legion Leviathan in many years. Never seen Starmada, Attack Vector, ASFOS, BDSB, RCR, or the current form of Battlespace (Battletech Space) played.

The last poll we had on it seemed to indicate that Full Thrust was by far the most popular, although since it was technically the "most fun space game" and not simply the best might make it not as applicable to your question… TMP link

Starmada is pretty popular locally. Full Thrust is good and it's free. I just don't think it's design system is as balanced and flexible as Starmada.

Thanks,

John

Full Thrust is the most popular… until you try and do *fighter combat*….

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

"Most popular" and "best" are not the same. One is a function of what is known and played by more individuals (for whatever reason), the other is a comparison of all available choices, whether well known or not. So keep that in mind.

Full Thrust is probably the most well known and played spaceship game. It is also well liked, which is an important consideration. Many players consider it to be the best game among those they've played or looked at, but how many of those have looked at or played more than even three different spaceship games?

I'm not being critical of Full Thrust; its popularity is certainly well-earned. But popularity really isn't a valid measure of quality. Else we'd all just chuck it and play WH40K, because it's "the most popular miniatures game."

I, for one, don't like plotted movement, so Full Thrust falls lower on my list than other games. But I still know it's the "most popular" spaceship game and by default that makes plotted movement the "most popular" movement system. But I doubt the latter is why people prefer it.

(As a caveat, it may be that SFB or Battlefleet Gothic are "more well known" than Full Thrust, as they have bigger store presence and milieu recognition. So really all you're getting here is answers to the question: "Which spaceship game is assumed to be most popular by TMP members who look at topics like this and respond?" )

Here are game ratings from Board Game Geek
Full Thrust Rating 7.34 users owning 329
Starmada AE Rating 7.87 users owning 70
Federation Commander: Klingon Border Rating 7.59 users owning 471
Battlefleet Gothic Rating 6.93 users owning 627
Attack Vector Tactical Rating 7.29 users owning 212
Star Fleet Battles Captains edition basic book Rating 7.23 users owning 285
Silent Death the next millennium deluxe set Rating 7.49 users owning 154
Looks like Starmada is rated the highest but has the fewest players
Battle Fleet Gothic is rated the lowest but has more players.

Looks like Starmada is rated the highest but has the fewest players
Battle Fleet Gothic is rated the lowest but has more players.

Which falls well within the realm of predictable results given the nature of gamers and of the companies involved.

Starmada is going to have a smaller but dedicated fanbase just like many other under-marketed games, while BFG is going to have attracted a lot of "40k in space? Cool!" purchases with the final opinions of those 40k players being "Eh, it's okay."

All of those results are skewed by being from "yet another fan-site", just like TMP's poll results are. Note the generally higher rankings for those games that have a gridded map (ie. the boardgames) vs those that are typically open tabletop.

Farstar that's true, and if you look at the ratings they are not very far off. I you choose any of these games you have not made a bad decision. I would read reviews before buying and buy what you might like.

My fav's are Starmada and Federation Commander.

I do think that Users Owing is relevant so check out your local gaming scene and see what they are playing.

Very cool guys thanks for the input.
I will say that what folks have said in the post regardless of why is itself a clue as to what is most popular and what is best.

Travis