Well... I've started coding again finally.

[wolfwings]

Sat down since it's POURING rain right now off-and-on, and am working out an extendable vehicle-combat system... it's a little complicated for tabletop use except in 1-on-1 or similair situations, but it's actually quite simple for the base mechanics, has shrinking-returns for larger investments in a single point, but can still favor a focussed-design ship over a 'jack of all trades' econo-box of the same point value.

It has a definate relative in IronClaw-style mechanics as a modern tie, increasing die size to a point, then add another die and climb again, and 'die rolls' compare the values rolled highest-first on each side to tally up points for one side or the other.

Damage is the trickiest part to explain, but it's not that bad once you understand it... basically, it's a lot worse to attack with a 'powered down' item that's damaged, than to just start unloading with whatever the gun's capable of doing most of the time. So once your proverbial cover is blown, start shooting full-power since you have the same penalty if you keep the power-level low as if you ramp back up to full power at that point.

Only real problem is the mechanics are simple and clean, it's going to be harder to build a good table of multipliers for point-costs, which are akin to MekTon Zeta or Champions or similair. Everything has it's powered based on the number of points invested in it, but some things physically cost 1 credit for every point, others may cost 50 credits for every point, for example. I need to figure that part out still...

So it's a clean core mechanic, with a complicated cost-equation since calculating costs is a one-time affair for the most part compared to the number of times you have to use the calculated values.

Comments

Suggestion

[lionman.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend doing mock-ups of what you're thinking of, and start building tables of what those mock-ups can do. That way you can see what sort of loopholes you might have.

Re: Suggestion

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Been doing that. I build the actual game mechanics (movement, to-hit and damage) so it seems pretty loophole-free, but you're right, I do need to stress-test worst-case builds still. :-)

The adantage of the system though, is that at worst, you end up with numerous D12's, and even the worst ship will have a lot of D4's. So having more dice than someone can be as strong as having larger dice. So sure, it's easier to hit a barn than a VW bug, but the barn can take a LOT more bullets before it'll fall down than the VW bug would. :-)

It's just figuring out the cost multipliers to make spending 50 points in one slot as effecient as spending 50 points in another slot now.

I.E. Is having an engine that's better at tracking, ergo targetting, as good as an engine that's better a dodging, ergo anti-targetting? And what about a 'balanced' engine that, for example, caps all relevant dice to d6 or below, but can give a bonus to targetting AND evasion? Are all those worth the same points, or should the 'limited but balanced' engine be worth 70% of the points of the optimized engines, or the other way around?

That make more sense?

Re: Suggestion

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Sure, it makes sense to me. And I'm the sort that's very much in favor of having a system such that everything has something to counter-balance it.

If X weapons do the most damage, there's at least one defense, Y, that's renders that weapon almost useless. It makes people either make ships for specific purposes/fights, or leads them to get middle-of-the-road ships, that tend to leave the element of chance to be the deciding factor in a fight.

[mira-fastfire.livejournal.com]

Hey sweetie. *nuzzles* I've been meaning to call you for over a week now, but I don't think I'll be able to.

I want to apologize for not contacting you since the Loscon thing. It was inappropriate and wrong of me to hide like that without even letting you know what was going on. In a nutshell, I hid behind the idea of "working things out" only I wasn't.

But I want to talk to you. I'm not hiding anymore. I love you.

Please call me...? If I don't answer my cell, try my home number...okay?

*nuzzle*