Well, so much for getting a good night's sleep tonight. 

Also, do I get the dubious honour of saying I got the first purchase? 

Darn it, I was playing vidya' games rather than siting here pressing refresh.   

But just bought mine.

(Idle curiosity... Are you the same Weirdo from the ADB/FedCom Forum?)

You should buy it because it is 99.44% perfect, which is more than 98%.

...

Oh, you want more detail?

Unity builds more upon Admiralty than upon Nova, it is true, but there are some Nova refinements involved. It's not strictly an update to Admiralty. That being said, I suppose the rules modifications COULD have been presented in Rules Annex II, but for a couple things:

1) That still would have required you to buy another book.

2) Presenting it as "(Admiralty) Rules Annex II" would have implicitly maintained the Admiralty/Nova split, which was the primary problem this edition is meant to address in the first place. It is called UNITY, after all.

What can't you live without?

A) A finely-crafted rules set taking what was best from each prior iteration of the game and building something even better. A comprehensive sequence of play is provided, and the rules are fully cross-referenced.

B) Our most streamlined and balanced construction/point-costing system to date.

C) Dedicated seeking weapons.

D) Six brand-new scenario templates, adding to the six from previous editions.

E) 48 sample ship displays from 14 different fleets across five separate universes.

If that isn't worth $13, I don't know what else to tell you.

Well, you asked what you were missing, and I told you. If it's not enough to sway you, so be it.

In the end, you don't have to move away from Admiralty. The Starmada police aren't going to kick in your door for playing an "outdated" edition (I believe there are still some Compendium advocates out there somwhere). That's the reason I included the Backwards Compatibility rules; those who absolutely love Admiralty (or Nova) can meet up with Unity players and play with little to no problem.

As far as ELINT/mutual support go, I think that should be a separate discussion topic.

Hello,

I just purchased Starmada for the first time. I decided to take advantage of the deal being offered for both the book and the PDF. So far I am liking what I am seeing, I think the greatest attraction for me is the chance to use a simple game system with diverse choices that produce deep gameplay. The fact that I am not stuck with someone else's premade ships is a nice bonus to be sure. I did just post a question about seeking weapons over in the "Game Design" section of the forum. If you guys have time to help me out I would be very appreciative.

The books have arrived, and will start shipping tomorrow.

UPDATE: All orders to-date of the Starmada Unity Rulebook have shipped. If you haven't received a shipping notice and/or your actual purchase, please let us know.