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Sky Marshal #2 represents a serious philosophy change for Starfire. The goal is simplify, clarify, and make the game flow better. And not just playing Tactical Starfire and Scenarios; most important to me is Campaign Play. The Starfire Design Studio wants Starfire to again become a fun and easy to play game, not a bookkeeping nightmare.    Sky Marshal #2 corrects a lengthy list of problems with Imperial Starfire and covers nearly every area of Starfire that had a problem except for two areas (Spying and Ground Combat). Even the areas around Ground Combat are addressed to some degree and a new bombardment table is included. However, the best thing is that huge amounts of paperwork are eliminated in a number of areas including Communication (and message tracking), the IFN and all forms of shipping including maintenance, Strategic Movement, Surveying, and finally Colonization. These things used to take more time than anything else while playing a campaign. Well, they now take a great deal less time and paperwork to handle so that player can worry about Strategy and not tracking what is happening.    The NPR and Political Rules undergo some major fine tuning and clarifications (I rewrote BOTH sections paragraph by paragraph and things are much clearer and most situations should be covered. Additionally, a new section deals with NPR Governments Types which make NPRs much more than the old "all are the same" NPRs. (PS: You really don't want to find the Machine Race, the J'Rill, nor the Military Theocracy).    The income system is overhauled from the Ground up making your empire much more flexible. Emphasis is placed on Colonization instead of Industrial Expansion. Military Conquest for income is now a Viable option and NPRs are less likely to just roll over and give you the keys to their world.    And finally, all the Alkelda Dawn technologies have been integrated into Standard Starfire making Campaign play much more interesting for all.    I'm very proud of the work that the Starfire Design Studio and the others mentioned in the Credits (try to read and acknowledge these hard working people) have done to make this possible. No doubt heavy use will show us a few problems but that can only be expected. We worked on SM#2 up to the very last minute.    I hope that you all enjoy the new campaign play.    Just remember one thing, BEWARE of all NPRs, they are MUCH more aggressive and are no longer patsies to use to build income.    Back