More thoughts on Space Combat
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:58 pm
Had a great session of space combat this evening. I think the explanation of it needs a little polish. It does the job I wanted it to do: all players get to have a job and the tactical choices don't require complex vector maths.
I like that Operations failing makes it more difficult for the Pilot and the Pilot failing makes it more difficult for the Gunners. However, a simple -20% modifier to a skill roll is a bit flat - I think it could be more interesting to generate other problems from failing too. Or give the pilot more difficult tactical choices. Putting so much onus on the pilot makes it quite tough.
Also if the spacecraft is good, it doesn't take damage and the engineer doesn't have a great deal to do. There should be some kind of "MORE POWER!" options for the engineer.
A change during play
We made a small change that if the pilot fails the roll then the gunners can still shoot at the sub systems but take the -20% modifier. It was made more of problem that our pilot wasn't very skilled, so failed A LOT.
Little holes
A hole we spotted is that if you miss the sub-system you miss the hull too? We thought that weird, you might have missed the precise system but you should still be able to hit the barn door of a spacecraft. For the evening, we played it that if you missed the subsystem but still got under for the hull % then you hit it. That's quite difficult to explain in rules, so I need to think of a fair way of dealing with that.
They're all house rules at the moment, there are always more opportunities to test!
I like that Operations failing makes it more difficult for the Pilot and the Pilot failing makes it more difficult for the Gunners. However, a simple -20% modifier to a skill roll is a bit flat - I think it could be more interesting to generate other problems from failing too. Or give the pilot more difficult tactical choices. Putting so much onus on the pilot makes it quite tough.
Also if the spacecraft is good, it doesn't take damage and the engineer doesn't have a great deal to do. There should be some kind of "MORE POWER!" options for the engineer.
A change during play
We made a small change that if the pilot fails the roll then the gunners can still shoot at the sub systems but take the -20% modifier. It was made more of problem that our pilot wasn't very skilled, so failed A LOT.
Little holes
A hole we spotted is that if you miss the sub-system you miss the hull too? We thought that weird, you might have missed the precise system but you should still be able to hit the barn door of a spacecraft. For the evening, we played it that if you missed the subsystem but still got under for the hull % then you hit it. That's quite difficult to explain in rules, so I need to think of a fair way of dealing with that.
They're all house rules at the moment, there are always more opportunities to test!