"Why is the Federation and Empire Bigger Map $165?" Topic

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Can anyone please explain to me why the link

Can anyone please explain to me why the Federation and Empire Bigger Map is $165 USD? Aren't most games (and a six foot table to play them on) cheaper than that? Do people buy this? Aren't most games (and a six foot table to play them on) cheaper than that? Do people buy this?

That is a lot for map that doesn't even have all of the Lyran and Hydra empires in full. It has been many years but I think there is a better map. Good luck!

Well, first, go to a local print shop, tell them you want something 4'x6' printed out in color on a single sheet and see how much they charge. Add something to cover keeping your business running and either a license fee to the "Star Trek" people or put money aside to pay them off when they come for you. Then add 50% because "Star Trek." ("Star Wars" would be 100%)

And they're restricting sales to humans only, so evidently ONLY people can buy this, which must severely limit the customer base for an SF franchise.

I have no idea how much "games" cost. Last time I looked, you could get a Chess board and pieces for under $20 USD if you weren't fussy. A 5'x9' table with a 30mm CLS battlefield and armies could be rather more.

It would appear that either the $100 USD version of the rules comes with a map, or you can buy a (presumably smaller) map for $14. USD Given the graphic quality of the map shown, I'd buy myself a white sheet at a thrift shop, a hex stencil and some craft shop paints. Maybe some black or dark blue dye? Bound to be an improvement, either way.

"Can anyone please explain to me why the Federation and Empire Bigger Map is $165.00 USD"

Presumably they think that is the price the market will bear. Time will tell.

I agree with Martin Rapier.

You know, apart from the question of griping about board game components on TMP, I sometimes wonder what percentage of hobby stuff is even intended to be part of a game.

Think of all the RPG companies who produced, say, a dungeon-master's guide but not a player's handbook, the miniatures companies who never got around to the opposition army, or the rules companies which go through rules editions so fast the army handbooks never quite keep up. Are they ALL well-intentioned failures? Or do they sometimes look at their customer base (us) and say "these idiots will buy anything so long as we stick Name X (TM) on it. Watch me prove it!"

And we keep proving them right.

I play F&E every few years, this would be great, tho perhaps at a lowere price point.

Of course, I am asking a rhetorical question. The two regular maps are $14. USD It seems that double size "should" be $28 USD, Quadruple Size oughta be $56. USD This is more than THRICE that? So a better question might be: if you bought this map, were you happy with your purchase?

For your better question, you'd have to ask a board gamer. I am, at worst, only a bored gamer. Am I missing a clue to the sizes, by the way? I'd have figured the smaller maps to be two sheets of 8 1/2 X 11 paper. Since the larger one is described as needing a 6' table, that would make it three times as long, so nine times the total area, so on a straight multiple $126. USD

But it's not a straight multiple. You do standard-size sheets at home with your printer, or at work with the boss's photocopier. A single piece of maybe 4x6 in color means special equipment at a print shop. They have to pay for the special equipment, so you pay for the special equipment.

If it's any comfort, pretty much everyone I know has something they'd like to buy but can't afford. What makes this one worth whining about?

I once inquired how much it would cost to print the 5 mapsheets of Campaign for North Africa. Turned out to be around 100 euro. And that was a few years ago…
Having to print this (on demand I'm guessing) on a single 3 by 6 sheet of paper is going to be costly,now add on a bit of profit, licencing cost and the (domestic) shipping that is included in the price… yes, steep, but for a niche product not unreasonable.

I used to play F&E (2006 to about 2012) and had the larger map (laminated). It was pricey even then, BUT it was a god-send. Imagine being able to put several fleet markers or other stacks of counters in one hex, instead of one huge one.

Have you noticed inflation in the price of pretty much everything? I have. As others have said, go price your local print shops and get back to us with what they quote you.

[q] The two regular maps are $14. USD USD It seems that double size "should" be $28 USD USD, Quadruple Size oughta be $56. USD USD This is more than THRICE that?[/q]

Your math is wrong. It's twice as big in BOTH directions so it's four times the size. Four times as big in both directions is 16 times the size.

It's the inverse square law. It's how we get 8x10 prints from 4x5 negatives.

As I recall, back when I bought my copy of the large map in about 2006, it was $70 USD-ish, laminated. I just checked the US Govt's CPI calculator, and it said that said $70 USD would be about $107 USD now. Which is a crock, but it gives a very rough lower bound of what it really ought to cost.

I checked at Staples, for an 8x3' banner map, and it started at $144 USD… UNLAMINATED.

So while I have a personal grudge with ADB/Steve Cole, I have to be fair and say that the price isn't really all that out of line. Nobody's forcing you to buy the large scale map after all. You can play F&E using the standard map, though it gets tricky at times with all those stacks of counters.

Whitphoto, it might be a square law, but it's certainly not an inverse square law ( getting smaller as distances get bigger).

Indeed you're right. Almost all of my use of it was for figuring out lighting, where I'd have to figure out how much higher to crank flashes to get a good exposure