The first, most casual, and most usual way the game is played among individual gamers not involved in regular group play is what's called the ""Pick-up game"". Each starship class (nonship units also) in "SFB" has what's called a "Basic Point Value", or BPV. This is considered the "cost" of the ship, besides its value in combat. In the pick-up game each player or team is allotted a certain number of BPV (casually referred to as "points") to "buy" the starships and nonship units they will play. There are also optional items of equipment available that can also be purchased and added to the player's order of battle (including ship "refits" and sundries such as improved drones or fire control, mines, extra boarding parties, multirole shuttles or fighters, etc.). Availability of optional items is usually restricted by race/empire and the historical year of the battle's setting. Gaming commences when all players have "spent" all their BPV and gathered the required game materials to deploy their chosen battleforces. All players must agree on entry conditions for their forces (weapons status, hex(es) of first appearance, presence of "terrain" such as asteroid fields or minefields) and the "ground rules" that will be in effect during play (mainly which optional rules will or will not be used such as electronic warfare, mid-turn speed changes, cloaking devices, or the use of "transporter bombs" and mines). Several types of plotted movement systems are available in the "SFB" rules but most player groups in the pick-up game opt for the "free" movement method in which players proceed through the game turn without a prepared movement plot. Instead they decide how their units will move one impulse at a time. Typically victory in the pick-up game demands simple destruction of the enemy force(s) but players may devise other victory conditions by mutual consent.