Dropfleet Weekend Part 2: Weapons Free!
October 31, 2015 by warzan
We're now moving on to the business end of Dropfleet Commander and look at how to use those heavy weapons and let rip with the main guns! Warren and Simon from Hawk Wargames delve into how shooting works in Dropfleet Commander and discuss how you spot other ships and more...
Check Out The Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter
Keep an eye out for more videos this weekend:
- Fri: Dropfleet Weekend Part 1 - Fleet Manoeuvres
- Sat: Dropfleet Weekend Part 2 - Weapons Free!
- Sun: Dropfleet Weekend Part 3 - Orbital Assault
Have you backed the game yet?
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Waited all the day for this vid!
very very nice
The Kickstarter has absolutely exploded and I am excited to get in on this game at the ground floor. Having pledged for 4 sets of Shaltari I am off to a good start. This game continues to look better and better as more info is released. It is clear that the kickstarter has gone far better than hawk imagined and as they play catch up with the amount of data and feedback they have received. This silence as the work has disgruntled a few because they love communication with the company during a kickstarter. This will sure change in the next 24hours and it has not stopped people from backing
SO EXCITED.
C’mon! Release all 3 videos at once please! Who wants to watch part of a video?
Just thinking about it would it make sense to up speed in low orbit and again in atmosphere to account for curvature?
The backers broke the Hawk guys a little yesterday, they weren’t expecting the acceleration of it!
well as long as hawks not making any move right now i’ll watch the vids over and over again i guess *g*
Still really excited about this game. seeing it in Action only imakes me want it sooner!
Dropzone Commander already looked impressive but as a fan of spatial encounters i’m more interested in Dropfleet Commander. I’m gonna keep an eye on it ! 😉
Can’t wait to see more on this! Getting some DZC in this weekend to celebrate.
The spike and scan values remind me a lot of modern naval warfare games where managing your electronic signature is critical.
Can’t wait until this is released!
I’ve increased my pledge! I hate you guys haha
Great, keep up the good work.
Just back from work, just what I was looking for 🙂
I can’t wait to get my hands on this beauty 🙂
Love the terminology; station keeping, weapons free, etc.
You should call the standard order weapons tight. Sounds better.
I waited for this Video really bad! 🙂
Thanks a lot for doing this BoW and Hawk games. Hopefully we will see another KS update today?
Great video, can’t wait for more.
Really excited for this! Great vid.
I like the way this seems to play. Still similar to dropzone but with some neat different mechanics.
Im in for captain.
Looking great. Really enjoying the videos.
June is so, so far away….
is there a mechanic to hide in the environment or since it’s orbital assumes you can see trough clouds and pretty much anything?
i guess i’d try a mechanic to hide my ships untill they are in spike + scan range (something like camouflage in infinity) but i don’t know if it becomes a little much cumbersome
It’s looking really interesting! Can’t wait for the release.
Well I can’t say I am surprised at how quickly this was backed, it’s a great looking game, and the ships just scream quality. I’ve backed the £65 set, I’d love to do the £110 but I’m not sure I can justify it, still some time to decide though
I’m so pleased with how well the kickstarter is going! All the best for the Hawk Wargames folks
Is there a record for fast-funding projects? Because this must be a contender…
It would be nice if the dial on the base could be changed easier without having to pickup the ship. (I assume ship placement is important.)
Hard to tell but maybe the 2 different colors to set could be on 2 different dials? Then easier to set the combination of colors.
The bases on the models in this video are early prototypes. The actual dials will be much improved.
The images in the kickstarter seem to have much nicer bases/dials for example.
Book-keepers and accountants everywhere will hate this game 🙂
It just grows on you all the time – great minis, nice mechanics, and a lot of tactical thinking.
This is getting more and more exciting. Seems to be a really great game.
Game looks great looking forward to seeing more.
i do like the UCM
I…love..these…rules.
Seriously, it ticks all my boxes, a merging of realism and fun in perfect amounts!
Can’t wait to get this game- should be pretty legendary with Andy Chambers working on it too- I was a huge fan of battle fleet gothic.
Hawk doing it right as usual. Rules seem to roll along rather neatly and the ships look very nice.
Backed this one can’t wait!
looks fun to me!!
Looks good!
@warzan it sounds like you never played Battlefleet gothic. You really did miss one of the best space games ever, now thank Hawk we all get BFG 2.0
This is just awesome!
cool game
Already in at the Captain level, and I plan on getting a starter set and kickstarter exclusive ship for each faction. With freebies of ships from all the factions you can easily get a decent fleet for all factions. Also those planet map packs look really awesome.
Blown away by the miniatures !
Looks awesome can’t wait to kick start it 🙂
I want to have this game now.
great videos so far. The more I see the more I like it. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Roll on tomorrow for the next installment.
Must….have……now…
Although I am not surprised by the level of support that Hawk has received for this KS, it is crazy to think that PHR models will be funded before Dave even has a chance to finalize the initial renders. Congratulations guys on a terrific start to what should be a “stellar” KS. 😉
Cheers!
Looking good. I really like the spike mechanics. They are simple and elegant at the same time.
On Simon”s last move was he close enough with the Mothership for close weapons?
Definitely need microdice or chits for damage tracking. Maybe a Dice dock built into the stand.
I’m loving the burn through laser mechanic the game is using!
I can’t wait to see some rush missile games. Rushing up real close an opening up all the missiles and fighters at close range. The idea of a dive bombing run sounds awesome with the point defense weapons. Seeing that ship get blown away was awesome, I can only imagine now how this gonna look with 10-15 ships a side just blowing each other apart as others ships are dropping troops off for conquest!
I’ll be interested to see how well wolfpack tactics work out in this game. I can’t wait for it to be released! 😀
Right, get some double team action going on, hitting from both flanks on a mother ship.
I agree with Warren: “I want this game now!” Even a small engagement like this is looking exciting.
In space, no-one can hear you shout awesome
Nice demo. Please consider making the “find out more…” box a bit smaller as it is clipping of part of the head on some ankles.
roll on part 3
I can’t wait. the design and rules are outside the box on this stuff. i love every ship. Im hoping for some resistance fighters. i mean when the ships crash somethings left right? metal minis are better than plastic. old school heavy metal something that has weight and value. I really want a metal mini! keep up the reports.
Can’t wait to get my hands on my neautiful spike hedgehog ships
Definitely have to jump on this kickstarter!!
Still looks good. I do wonder if disks that went under the bases would be clearer for the levels?
great videos!
I really need this game right now ^^
This feels believable….. Damn you BOW I’ll have to explain to my wife why Kickstarter is going show up on my credit card.
I can see how this game will play well with the other. I also can’t wait to see the critical tables and what happens when a ship goes BOOM!
THOSE…
UCM…
SHIPS…
ARE…
AWESOME!!!
The design of these ships are amazing, I just had to pledge for a 2 player starter set. The mechanics look great, too. I’ll be keeping my eye out for the Shaltari and PHR fleets to see what they are like. The models look smaller than I thought they would be, but that doesn’t matter when they look this cool.
i would add some 7mm dice frames for small dice on the bases less likely to move our get picked up by accident
Dane
This game looks great
game looking better and better.
I love the ideas on show. Hats off to Hawk!
Weapons Free!!! BOOM looking forward to the next episode
This series is so cool. Its reallu awesome that you giving us pick into the rules. I dont really know plethora of games but this one look really fresh. I would really want to know how army composition will look like, snd how mny ships do i need to play this one. After a yesterdaus video im in i pledged starter box and dudes im so hyped on this game you wouldnt believe it
AAAGGHHH!! Too many game, so little time.
Bring on the next video!
wow i want it
It seems like a good counter-measure to being targeted by enemy ships would be spacecraft that fire “flares” that have the appearance of a large ship going weapons free but are just dissipating a large amount of energy. I wonder if this game has anything like that.
I am super excited about this game. Im glad theyre keeping the more streamlined nature of DZC in DFC.
Now that we’ve seen a comparison between Scourge and UCM weapons, I wonder what sorts of special weapons characteristics the Shaltari and PHR will have.
I am exited to learn more about the rules. Run silent has got to make for some interesting encounters.
pew pew
Want this game soo bad!! I get a somewhat of a Homeworld 2 vibe form the game specifically when thinking about how best to balance fleets.
Take my money please.
Love the video – great shooting mechanics – especially burn-through and defensive fire. Question though – Once a ship has ‘spiked’ it seems as though the spike remains over to the next turn or so. Is Silent Running the only way to remove spikes or do they diminish with time? Also, if a ship in high orbit targets a ship in atmosphere will it get a +1 or +2 penalty.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s vid.
Excited to be a backer!
I made my pledge and looking forward to the game.
Happily backed as soon as I could. Excited to see how campaigns will play out across both games.
Another great video. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s video. Going to play a demo game so we can see the game in action?
ooohh I cant wait for my chance to shout weapons free!!! I love space ship battle games and this seems to be the culmination of all that is good with some nice new innovations
hoping there is some sort of campaign play from Dropfleet down to Dropzone… that would be interesting
Like this game. The scan/signature/spike mechanic is simple but elegant.
This is going to be awesome.
Have a look on kickstarter for dropfleet commander. The funding is amazing!!!
Really liking the look of this game
really looking forward to this now
this stuff looks awesome !
“Missile Cruisers”…”Flak Frigates”…”Close Action weapons”! Even the terminology of the ships and actions is drawing me in. Roll on June next year!
Okay I completely lost myself in the kickstarter :D, great to see some video’s about the mechanic. Thanks!
Scourge ships are some of the most gorgeous minis I’ve seen. I wonder though if they are too similar (especially the different cruisers) to tell apart easily? Might need to differentiate with slightly changed colour schemes.
The hype is not real?
Or would it technically be real because they underperformed? I’m confused now…
I believe you can never have too much spaceship games in your hobby room and this one looks stunning!
Pledged at Captain level as me and my mate will split the two forces. However Shaltari are my DZC army of choice so will probably have to up my pledge to include a couple of Shaltari Starters. The video’s so far have only increased my interest! Energy signatures, different orbital levels, alternate activations, all sound really good.
Well I’m backing. Have the feeling I’ll end up with at least a starter fleet for each faction!
I’m liking the signature spike mechanic. Really will make all decisions have some sort of impact to weigh up against while playing the game.
I need this in my life. That is all.
Doing!
Can’t wait for this to come out.
Pledged! can’t wait for release now.
WEAPONS FREE!!!!!!!!!!
The layers (ha) to this are impressive! Weapons Free!
Looking better and better, I want it now………..
Looking not so good for the Scourge at this point.
Btw. count me in for my faction modell.
Weapons free, indeed!
great looking mechanics, Love the range, visibility thing, it would be interesting if there were ways to use fake decoys to flare up distract shooting
Dropfleet looks better and Better!!
I have lost all self control, I get whatever Warren tells me to now
The game seems to have really clean mechanics, and these videos are a great idea to get the concepts across to us potential backers. Thanks guys
The Pew-Pew, Pew-Pew looks interesting, and such a teaser hint for whats ahead.
Very informative vids so far!
Commenting for the possibility of a limited ship! 😀
Game is looking great. Love the videos on it. Great job guys.
Really liking what I am seeing. Have no fear UCM the PHR are here, so look out Scourge. Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree, yes I’m lit up like a Christmas tree.
Great video. The gameplay looks solid but I don´t actually like the idea of not having to roll to wound. It doesn´t make sense for me the fact that a frigate would have the same chances of damaging a Battlecruiser as to damage another frigate.
Anyway the system is quite fast paced and very tactical and that I do like.
Finally got time to back this project! 200k! This is amazing 🙂
Looks fun
Wow I really like this look and feel of this, I can’t wait to see the PHR unlocked!
Looks a great game, I’ve decided to back the Kickstarter as it will complement my dropzone commander
With each of these I’ve watched Im more and more gutted that i missed out on the top pledge level, but so glad I’ve backed this game. Im unbelievably excited to get playing it!
This will probably be the longest KS ever as far as I’m concerned, does anyone have a Dylorian I can borrow ?
that sure is a nice video for painting, the problem is that as you don’t focus on what is said you end up watching it 3 times 😀
Goos summary, would also like to know about the different weapon systems.
Great shooting Warren!
The more I see the more I like
Captain pledge done
Looks good. I have a suggestion if you are interested. It’s only rough idea i just came up with when Simon’s ship exploded, but i think it would add some interesting dynamics to the game. ( You might have this in the game already of course. )
I thought it would be good if the battle space filled up with dangerous debris as ships were destroyed. There could be two kinds: floating debris, and flying debris.
Floating debris is a ship that has been disabled and is floating in roughly one spot. Such debris is dangerous to go near as it can spin unexpectedly and suddenly in any direction, perhaps due to an explosion, or perhaps due to some other innocuous piece of debris smashing into it. Other ships moving within, let’s say, 1″ of floating debris are hit by the floating debris on a roll of, let’s say, 1, as the debris spins unexpected in their direction.
Flying debris is the result of a ship exploding. As well as the initial effect of the ship exploding and possibly hitting nearby ships a number of pieces of large debris fly off across the battle space in random directions. The number of pieces could be decided by a d6 or d3 ( depending on the size of the ship ) and the direction by a dice with arrows on. The same rules as for going near floating debris apply to flying debris but in addition flying debris moves X” a turn, and anyone its flight path could also get hit.
I also thought, given that the battle is taking place in orbit of a planet, that the debris might tumble towards the planet such that it is only around to cause trouble for a certain number of turns. Perhaps it falls 1 ‘level’ every turn, or something like that.
Should have done after the lander!
Great models. Would love to know how the paint went in those Scourge ships – awesome appearance.
I really like the range mechanics in this game. Adds some interesting tactical detail and keeps you focused on what’s happening throughout the game, not just waiting to take your shot.
Just give me all the ships I’ll set up a ship fund me site.
Realy enjoying the look of this almost all of my mates have pledged now.
Me and the guys in my gaming group have been looking for a good space battle game. Now I think we found it. Really love the models.
Such a great vid. Wondering if there is a better way to keep track of damage, other than using dice? D6 probably aren’t the best, better with a D12 I would think… or a D20.
iam going to back these kickstarter a new take on space combat oh refreshing
Hawk have done it yet again. I can’t wait until the PHR are unlocked, hopefully we get to see the pics soon.
Im sold!
Wanting this game, will pt3 put me off backing the kickstarter? Doubt it 🙂
really looking forward to this release from Hawk!
At this moment I’m wondering if at some stage of the game always every ship goes weapons free until the end. Have to see how this works out with larger fleets. Looks good thou.
Looks very interesting. Thanks for this, now I will have to check out the Kickstarter.
Can’t wait for DFC to make it to release – going to be quite some time, but eager in anticipation 🙂
Keep it up Hawk!
all I can hear throughout this vid is PEWPEWPEW
Hoping the ongoing success of the kickstarter allows all 4 factions to be fully plastic!
This looks to be a cool game.
Pew pew? No! What sound do they make @warzan?
Looking forward to learning more about the ground combat. The dice mechanics seem very straight forward and quick.
Curious to see if they are going to just add modifiers to the three different weapon types we’ve seen now, or are they going to end up with a wide variety of weapons (looking at you Shaltari.)
I’m thinking you could get print outs of satellite pictures to play this game on.
Never got into any of the space combat games, but have been interested for a long time, now that time has come!!
The dice gods have frowned upon your burn-through laser.
I really love the scourge stuff, great looking models.
Def seems like a good game.
Most of my club mates are going in on it.
The only down side is the pledge level with the 2 player box set has 1 free model. Between 2 people sharing that’s a tricky.
Love the models.
UCM have a lot of dice.
Well un límites Range seems cool and signature too, but then why you gone to double speed? If you are giving more chances to hit you?
In thinking on new mechanics of targetting depending on scans and signature but just speed trust Will be diferent, try to hit a Humbee at 150kmh with a hmg hole and try it vs a harrier at match 2… Well from my point of view for now several thinks i Will change.. Btw Incredible miniatures.
Interesting concepts, good video
The game just looks better and better. Can’t wait for June.
Everyone I know who’s into Dropzone is absolutely stoked about DFC, but also I’ve heard lot of interest from people who haven’t played Dropzone at all.
So what do we think the minimum/average size of fleets are going to be? I’m betting on 10-15
I don’t know what’s scarier, Burn Through Lasers, or swarms of missiles!
The more I see of this game, the more excited I get!
I hope there will be rules – probably in the scenarios section – for garrisoned cities. Although in this example both sides are trying to deply troops to the asteroids, in the main game – according to the story line – it’s mostly UCM trying to drop troops on defended cities. So I hope the game will start with a defended with plenty of troops dug in on the ground.
I like Dropzone 🙂
I like the mechanics!
This game looks amazing i cant wait for it..In for Commodore….just need to decide if i stick with scourge with all these awesome ships being revealed….
Looks exciting!
It looks like some of the ships are really big!
The rules look ok
Interesting game
I’m waiting for the release of this game 🙂
Damn you BOW now ive gone and backed it! But on a serious note i cant wait to get this, the spike mechanic, unlimited range and being able to drop troops onto sectors its just going to be amazing. More videos of this would be great!
Also who doesnt like weapons free 🙂
So many games, so little time. Is this the space game I should get into…
Are the rest of the minis made in resin?
I like the concepts 🙂
Interesting range mechanics
the housekeeping of the ships might be a problem
The models look fantastic, but I don’t think my painting would do them justice.
Nice videoseries as always!
Can’t wait to get the shipment in from KS – just looks awesome!
These lasers sounds like fun 🙂
If I had Dropfleet, I would like to fire my weapons 🙂
I only watched the series last weekend, but Warren said its not to late to comment for the win, so here I am.
Dropfleet weapons are cool!
I loved the Dropfleet Weekend!
The ships look pretty good.