So despite the fact that I've been told by many sources

"I'm never going to make everyone happy"

I've been working out a squadron base replacement that would maintain a physical HP number and some sort of toggle for activation on squadron bases while still maintaining a more hands free approach.

As I covered at length in my original post:

The most frustrating aspect of squadron play for me isn't necessarily the mechanics (though I have thoughts on those too) but rather the clumsiness of the pieces.

Carefully picking up the bases to adjust HP and move the little slider 10 to 15 times a round is just plain aggravating, not to mention, in games with clusters of fighters near ships, every interaction comes with the risk of bumping a ship. As someone who depends on that front ISD arc to finish the job, losing arc because I had to adjust the HP of a fighter is downright infuriating. Not everyone is willing to be cool about arcs lost to bumps...

With that in mind, I created the squadron command plates.



The basic idea was to take the dial and slider and move them out of the play area so interaction with the squadron base was limited to movement. After play testing, I released them to the public.

The biggest push back I received from folks either on the fence or rather against completely was it made tracking which squad had activated and what HP each was at more difficult.

With that in mind, I've been working on a design for a base that would basically make adjusting HP and activation as simple as clicking a button. The hope here being that the need to pick the unit out of the cluster to adjust HP or activate it be no longer necessary, instead the player would need only push a button on the base.




Keep in mind this is a rough sketch and doesn't include all the features, I'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say, or any thoughts on the idea in general.

This one is going to be tricky to fabricate, so any input would be extremely helpful before I begin lol

As one of those "on the fence" leaning opposed to the trays themselves. If this idea works as well as it sounds like it would I would buy at least a dozen and never look back LOL. Bonus if it could be done in a way where the base itself becomes the button meaning you could just push down anywhere. Keep us updated.

So it works like a pen when you click it and the thinger-ma-jig rotates once to extend or retract the tip? Neat idea. Make it so I have to "boop" my squadron on the head to reduce it's life.

Also, how do you increase the hull? Just move around the entire dial?

10 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

So it works like a pen when you click it and the thinger-ma-jig rotates once to extend or retract the tip? Neat idea. Make it so I have to "boop" my squadron on the head to reduce it's life.

Also, how do you increase the hull? Just move around the entire dial?

Yes! exactly!

and yeah it would only turn one direction so regenerating hull means a full rotation lol

16 minutes ago, Scummy Rebel said:

Bonus if it could be done in a way where the base itself becomes the button meaning you could just push down anywhere.

This was the original plan, and if I can do it I will, however, the activation mechanism, which isn't shown wouldn't work with that method... that said, I see what I can do lol

27 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

This was the original plan, and if I can do it I will, however, the activation mechanism, which isn't shown wouldn't work with that method... that said, I see what I can do lol

One of the guys I play with suggested a red/blue color light that changes color when you touch/press is built into the squad base. Seems to be similar to what you have going on here with hull.

9 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

One of the guys I play with suggested a red/blue color light that changes color when you touch/press is built into the squad base. Seems to be similar to what you have going on here with hull.

Similar only from a mechanical perspective. I suck with electronics. My original idea was going to be magnetic touch activated and would have a little digital display count down... too much work... I was bored and took apart a pen at work and it just kinda hit me. The activation piece is basically just a fulcrum and latch... all you'll have to do it push it down and the other side will pop up one red one blue.

Even if folks with fat hands ( like myself) would have to use the eraser end of a #2 pencil, it'd still be a huge improvement over plucking pieces up constantly. lol

I like this idea more than the other one. I'd want 3 colors. Black for generics. Grey for unique generics. Red for aces.

Just now, Undeadguy said:

I like this idea more than the other one. I'd want 3 colors. Black for generics. Grey for unique generics. Red for aces.

My current color coding idea was (base, cover, and cap)-black so they match the mat (the cover would have a printed number on it to differentiate which one it is) and the dial and button would be basically any color you choose (to color code similar to the plates)

So in your example, you'd have
red 1 rhymer
red 2 jendon
red 3 Stele
Grey 1-Black sq
Grey 2-tempest
black 1-4 tie bomber
black 5-8 tie advance

But the outside covering would all be black to make them blend better.

1 hour ago, Undeadguy said:

So it works like a pen when you click it and the thinger-ma-jig rotates once to extend or retract the tip? Neat idea. Make it so I have to "boop" my squadron on the head to reduce it's life.

Also, how do you increase the hull? Just move around the entire dial?

I am onehundred percent behind booping squadrons to death.

Making it a "Boop" would mean providing replacement squadron pegs for the FFG bases and tree's and would probably drive cost up over just a slipfit poke-r-spinner-thingy. That said, it also the much better overall design idea. As someone who owns and loves the V1 of the squad plates, I would be willing to invest in retrofitting my stands is it went to the boop, but wouldn't if it was the poke-r-spinner.

Heh, I know you said you're not as much into electronics, but a boop+sound effect would be ultra cool by using a small speaker attached to the base. Essentially you could sandwich that stuff below the visual dial if you wanted to spend a ton of time messing around with that... Actually, maybe when my plates come in shortly I will look at adding a push button speaker deal to them to add some sound effect immersion.

If you'd like an invester in your project, PM me. I'd be willing to "kickstart" your idea with at least some captial.

Your ideas are fantastic and it would greatly speed up the most time consuming aspect of Armada right now, which is fiddling with squadrons.

I could love to push the base to change actuation slider between colors, maybe for HP counter, if it was easier to actuallu turn the dial with a small knob on top and it was smoother on that adjustment.

Hell, make that possible for shield dials while your at it.

8 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

Making it a "Boop" would mean providing replacement squadron pegs for the FFG bases and tree's and would probably drive cost up over just a slipfit poke-r-spinner-thingy. That said, it also the much better overall design idea. As someone who owns and loves the V1 of the squad plates, I would be willing to invest in retrofitting my stands is it went to the boop, but wouldn't if it was the poke-r-spinner.

So this device would likely replace the current FFG base.... which I wanted to avoid entirely with the V1 'cause I thought that would be a major issue with folks, but seeing as people use rulers that are up to .0625" off without issue, these bases should be no problem, as I can print within a tolerance of .03125"

That said, the user would keep the clear FFG tree that the squadron figures attach to, they would then insert the bottom of that tree through the hole in the cap piece and pull the cap up as high as it will go. Then they'd insert the bottom of the clear tree into the new provided peg. The peg is going to be a firm rubberized material or flexible plastic with a threaded split tip. Once the tree is inserted into the peg's split tip the cap will come down and thread into the peg tightening the tree in place.

As shown, the peg is part of the new base:



and the cap will screw on over the threaded area tightening the clear tree in place.

47 minutes ago, Karneck said:

I could love to push the base to change actuation slider between colors

That's the idea:



Basically when you push blue down it will compress the spring and red will pop up. red has a latch that will hold it up and when you push that latch in the spring will push the blue peg up.


That's the idea anyways lol

I'm happy we have people much smarter than me working on this.

"Our top men."

Okay, so now my plan is to use the plates and combine it with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/5-button-Push-Musical-Sound-Module/dp/B00HKJV0TO/ref=sr_1_68?ie=UTF8&qid=1491501599&sr=8-68&keywords=push+button+speakers

Squad takes damage and I push a button to get the sound. With the 5 button one, I could attach it to anything with 5 or less hull and essentially have a recorded sound file play that says something like "shields at 80%!" or when it is down to 1 hull "One more hit and I'm gone!" with some star wars music/effects in the background.

THEN, if you get your spring concept working, I can go crazy and try and rig something up to play a sound when that is used!

...I swear I spend so much money on these things when I get excited.

3 minutes ago, Flare_22 said:

Okay, so now my plan is to use the plates and combine it with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/5-button-Push-Musical-Sound-Module/dp/B00HKJV0TO/ref=sr_1_68?ie=UTF8&qid=1491501599&sr=8-68&keywords=push+button+speakers

Squad takes damage and I push a button to get the sound. With the 5 button one, I could attach it to anything with 5 or less hull and essentially have a recorded sound file play that says something like "shields at 80%!" or when it is down to 1 hull "One more hit and I'm gone!" with some star wars music/effects in the background.

THEN, if you get your spring concept working, I can go crazy and try and rig something up to play a sound when that is used!

...I swear I spend so much money on these things when I get excited.

That's gonna add some bulk to the plate, but it could be fun.

I can hear Luke's "I can't shake him" as you approach zero HP lol

Shame you cant sell the idea to FFG anymore. Its really good.

1 minute ago, Ginkapo said:

Shame you cant sell the idea to FFG anymore. Its really good.

Thank you.

Yeah, it does kinda suck. Whether I sold it or not, FFG could make a much higher quality device.

I'll do my best with resin casting and 3D printing, but they have access to manufacturing processes and materials I can't even start using without a fairly high investment. It's a bummer.

Just now, Darth Sanguis said:

Thank you.

Yeah, it does kinda suck. Whether I sold it or not, FFG could make a much higher quality device.

I'll do my best with resin casting and 3D printing, but they have access to manufacturing processes and materials I can't even start using without a fairly high investment. It's a bummer.

My suspicion too. I am sure you will do a good job, but I dont think you have access to the capital or consumer base to make it readily affordable whereas they do.

Just now, Ginkapo said:

My suspicion too. I am sure you will do a good job, but I dont think you have access to the capital or consumer base to make it readily affordable whereas they do.

Exactly.

Though to be fair, if I can keep my development costs low, this may be cheaper than my squadron plate.

Resin is fairly cheap in bulk and the quantities it'll take to make these is low. I could probably make 100 or more complete mechanisms out of an $80 set. Paired with the cost to make a silicone mold at $150 for 500 parts or so... maybe $1.10 each in resin, then $2-3 in 3D printing so overall final costs like $5-6 each or bulk for a discount like 5 for $20 or 10 for $40

buuuuuut that's all up in the air.... I'll try to keep my costs low but who knows lol

You might want to check and see if there are any Fab-Labs around you. Then you can have access to all kinds of resources for design, printing, etc.

1 minute ago, Cusm said:

You might want to check and see if there are any Fab-Labs around you. Then you can have access to all kinds of resources for design, printing, etc.

Fab labs? Do you mean local factories?

Short for Fabrication Labratory; typically at a local University, community college or liabrary. Open to the public and they have setup including CAD, 3d Scanner, 3D printer, laser cutter and various other items. Cost and times vary. They are setup for students, business owners and anyone can design, prototype and run small batches of items. I have not had a chance to check out the ones local to me, I have a ton of stuff I want to 3D print and acrylics to cut.

https://www.fablabs.io/labs