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Post by Adam on May 6, 2009 7:22:44 GMT -5
Any new ideas on this since we last chatted about it?
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Post by Peter on May 18, 2009 9:35:37 GMT -5
There are a few new ideas I'm considering implementing.
I'm sticking with the idea of Agility Points - in space, the difference made by the power of engines and the spacing of thrusters is going to change how manoeuvrable the ship is, rather than its speed.
I'm tempted to change the way critical hits work so that a critical result always effects the first critical effect that has not yet taken place (unless a precision weapon is used to cause a specific critical effect prematurely).
This also provides a counter to ships using too much long-range firepower - about all a long shot can do is remove an enemy ship's long-range weapons.
Also, all weapons, including kinetic weapons, sonic weapons and missiles, will now be most effective in close range combat.
I'm also trying to think of cool things for escorts to do. I'm tempted to make the setting a little softer and allow defensive fields (such a technology seems impractical from an engineering perspective, thus making it compulsory)
Changing the suppression mechanic is also a significant concern. I still want minor damage to have an effect, and with all of those miraculous nanomachines (yay!), suppression effects are going to be quite temporary.
How's this for a suppression rule:
If, at the start of a ship's activation, it has accumulated suppression points in excess of its suppression score, it suffers a relevant damage effect chosen by the opponent until the end of its activation.
This also makes precision weapons more interesting: they can inflict a bunch of automatic suppression on an opponent.
I'll write these in as soon as I get the chance - then I can start thinking up ships.
Actually, I'm going to put up a faction/ships debate thread and another thread for the battlefield skirmish game.
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Post by Adam on May 18, 2009 10:46:16 GMT -5
There are a few new ideas I'm considering implementing. I'm sticking with the idea of Agility Points - in space, the difference made by the power of engines and the spacing of thrusters is going to change how manoeuvrable the ship is, rather than its speed. Interesting and unique. I like it. I daresay certain sizes of ship or certain races' ships would have set speeds, though (or not? Perhaps Agility points can be 'spent' on/otherwise used to grant increased movement distance). I'm tempted to change the way critical hits work so that a critical result always effects the first critical effect that has not yet taken place (unless a precision weapon is used to cause a specific critical effect prematurely). Sounds sensible. Less random and therefore more controllable on your side of things, as well as more predictable for the players. This also provides a counter to ships using too much long-range firepower - about all a long shot can do is remove an enemy ship's long-range weapons. Also, all weapons, including kinetic weapons, sonic weapons and missiles, will now be most effective in close range combat. You knew I'd approve of that before I even typed it. I'm also trying to think of cool things for escorts to do. I'm tempted to make the setting a little softer and allow defensive fields (such a technology seems impractical from an engineering perspective, thus making it compulsory). Come on, ancient dead stargods downloaded into massive AIs that enable humanity to use faster-than-light drives? No sir, no space opera to be seen here, sir. ;D Go for it, if you want defensive fields in your setting then do it. In any case, you can still have a 'hard' sci-fi feel to a story that's written in partial (or complete) defiance of what would probably happen in the future; even 40K feels gritty and successfully suspends disbelief most of the time, and series like Dune involve space-folding, force fields, psychic spice and Terminator type machine-vs-human wars while still maintaining a scientific feel (I don't think I've read the original, but I've read some of the prequels, and this one scientist's attempts to build a working space-folding engine are a major plot point and thus looked at in detail, and the force fields block firepower from both sides and so have to be switched off for a fraction of a second when the ship shoots, and so on). Changing the suppression mechanic is also a significant concern. I still want minor damage to have an effect, and with all of those miraculous nanomachines (yay!), suppression effects are going to be quite temporary. How's this for a suppression rule: If, at the start of a ship's activation, it has accumulated suppression points in excess of its suppression score, it suffers a relevant damage effect chosen by the opponent until the end of its activation. This also makes precision weapons more interesting: they can inflict a bunch of automatic suppression on an opponent. Depending on what these suppression effects are, that sounds not-too-bad. Make ships with decently high suppression scores, or ways of synergistically buffing each other, even amongst ordinary craft - in fact, you could make it a global rule, in the main book, that a ship within X" of a friendly ship gains +1 to its anti-suppression stats. Factions meant to use lone-ranger ships could have special rules (faction-wide or on the ship itself) that this doesn't apply, and high basic anti-suppress stats.
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Post by Peter on May 18, 2009 11:51:03 GMT -5
Sorry about the pedantic mod edit there (interstellar =/= FTL).
Agility Points allow a ship to move more or less than the standard move distance or to turn (making the maximum permissible speed of a ship 6 + 2 x Agility inches per round). All ships have an Agility of at least 3, and it costs 2 Agility to turn the ship through (pi/4) radians.
In a slight homage to special orders, ships can make a Command check to double their Agility at the cost of not being able to fire long-range for the turn. As ships cannot fire behind themselves, gunlining will need quite a bit of creativity to be workable. The problem with this is that the plasma-based weapons that might be rendered useless by a ship overcharging its laser drives are not actually close-range. Oh well.
The suppression effects are the same as critical damage effects, only removed at the end of the ship's activation. Basically:
Suppression: The shot penetrates the ship's armour, breaking a line supplying coolant to the lightning cannon battery. The weapon is taken offline until the chief engineer comes round and duct tapes it back together.
Critical Damage: The shot tears through the ship's armour and detonates, blasting the entire lightning battery apart and sucking its crew members into the icy actually quite pleasant vacuum of space. The chief engineer comes round with a reel of duct tape and seals off the exposed plasma duct to prevent plasma leaks causing further problems throughout the ship.
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Post by Adam on May 18, 2009 19:20:31 GMT -5
All sounds rather spiffing, especially the duct tape, but I must ask... ...why? Dude, 45 degrees. Then everyone knows what you're on about. Edit: Sorry about the pedantic mod edit there (interstellar =/= FTL). I just realised you meant my post. So I changed it back (no abusing your power, you ;D). Yes, interstellar =/= FTL, but interstellar =/= fast. Wormholes and other means of instantaneous travel are generally lumped in with faster-than-light travel. We can have interstellar travel now, if we point a probe in the vague direction of a planet and launch it. Sure, it'll take 900000 years to get there, but it's travelled from star to star, yes? Interstellar. If you want to get anywhere quickly, or dare I say instantaneously, you need faster-than-light travel, preferably in the form of a nifty shortcut through space and time. And there's your wormhole. So there.
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Post by Peter on May 19, 2009 1:52:51 GMT -5
no abusing your power, you Abuse of power? Whatever could you mean? Awww... At least you don't have humans being unable to build interstellar drives until they encountered the Emissaries.
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Post by Adam on Sept 21, 2009 9:14:26 GMT -5
Have you written any more of this lately? The EV board's been kinda quiet...
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Post by Peter on Oct 6, 2009 13:53:38 GMT -5
With the changes to how I envision the background, I'm trying to figure out a way to minimise the rules impact of different environments.
A fluff element that I've added is that all craft have to enter an atmosphere every so often - military grade spacecraft generate heat faster than they can dissipate it when running normally. That allows for the occasional atmospheric battle.
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Post by Adam on Oct 7, 2009 2:08:37 GMT -5
Have a look at the BFG celestial phenomena rules - basically terrain for space battles. (Asteroids, gas clouds, planets/planetoids, etc, as well as random screw-you things like solar flares. Don't put those in...)
BFG has high/low orbit fighting rules as well, which you might want to look at for your atmospheric battles.
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Post by Peter on Oct 7, 2009 5:51:31 GMT -5
Position markers?
As a possible method for handling the acceleration and velocity of ships, how about giving each ship a 'waypoint counter' showing where it will be at the end of its next turn?
It shouldn't be too hard to run the maths, and the only real issue is figuring out where the next waypoint goes.
Of course, it does mean using counters, so you might not be too happy with it.
The other advantage is that collisions become incredibly easy to resolve. If something is between the ship and its waypoint marker, roll to see if the ship collides with that object.
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Post by Adam on Oct 7, 2009 8:06:55 GMT -5
That's quite a good idea actually. Yes it involves counters, but that's not really an unforgivable sin (and it's your game anyway, whether I don't like it personally doesn't matter as much ). It also involves thinking ahead (maybe too much thinking ahead? If you're using alternate activations how about reducing speed and manoeuvre values but allowing ships to activate twice a turn providing they only attack once?) and it's realistic. Come to think of it, you could use Aeronautica Imperialis-style manoeuvre cards that help you place the waypoints.
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Post by Peter on Oct 7, 2009 8:28:46 GMT -5
I also have a few ideas for super-sized one shot equipment - things like a short-range Alcubierre Drive, an "Eclipse Cannon" and possibly some other, similarly awesome, equipment.
In other news, I found a site which discusses the problems of developing effective manned spacecraft, and discusses a variety of propulsion systems.
The most entertaining one is the 'Project Orion' method, which is a very effective way to take off from a planet, but carries the slight drawback of requiring the repeated use of tactical nuclear weaponry.
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