ok so I have not read nor seen any of GoT ever (if it is ever finished I might), but if it turns out that - in the end - something like the following happens I will get my frown on so hard:
spoiled for wild guess based on no info whatsoever
suppose there is a character who is particularly cunning and an excellent commander but also an amoral bastard (maybe not outright "evil") who is for a time thwarted from victory by coalition(s) of other characters (especially ones seen as more "good"). And in the end, after he is dead, one of his children or grandchildren is overthrown in a coup by his longtime adviser and strategist and it is the child or grandchild of that adviser who eventually complete the conquest and re-unify the kingdoms.
Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
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simonwolfi can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered Userregular
the new Battletech Q&A went up a few days ago and it's pretty good stuff although, of course, lots of nerds don't know how game dev works and are like CAN YOU NEGOTIATE JUMPSHIP FEES? when the devs are talking about, like, prototyping the combat engine.
- Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
- Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
- Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can’t act again until the next Round of combat.
- After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you’ll get to go again.
- This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You’ll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.
When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.
And now the really cool part:
We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs’ Phases for use later in the Round.
Any ‘Mech that isn’t an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.
With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs’ actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.
What’s so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they’ll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they’ll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn’t theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin’s Centurion with a Jenner I’d reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)
As you’d guess, there’s also a lot of value in using this tactic to locally outnumber an opponent. You want your engagements to be uneven in your favor, and you want to be able to fall back from any engagement in which you’re outnumbered. Focusing your forces in one spot when your enemy is spread out is right out of Sun Tzu.
Our initiative system, which allows you to reserve units, means you can locally outnumber your enemy in time as well as space. If you can take three actions in a row, and all three actions are effective fire on a target with no chance for it to respond by moving or returning fire… you’ve essentially made part of the turn a 3-on-1 battle.
Conversely, reserving your faster ‘Mechs to break up long sequences of enemy action with opportunities to respond can be useful in preventing your own forces from becoming focus-fired.
We’re reinforcing the role of Light ‘Mechs in other ways, but this system is a significant component of their value. Light ‘Mechs get to choose where and when they engage, and if used carefully can be exactly the tool you need to get out of a bad situation. Heavy and assault ‘Mechs pack a much bigger punch, but the tradeoff is that they’re inherently more predictable - and thus are more often reacting than acting.
The crazy part is that this sounds like they may actually have found a solution that makes Light Mechs viable in tabletop. In the stories, lights are supposed to be scouts, artillery spotters, and so forth. They had a point. In the tabletop, they often just kind of took up space.
So the Death From Above RPG team has actually started test-driving this initiative system for their twitch stream tabletop games and it apparently works pretty well. I guess even the head of Battletech tabletop dev at Catalyst Game Labs is a fan.
I really like the idea that maybe at the end of all this we might have not just a cool video game but a souped-up Battletech tabletop game made with game design principles from after the 1980s.
I saw a good comment on the system that it might be cool to base the initiative phases off of max speed (or max speed + weight) rather than just weight class. It would cover cases where you have an unusually fast heavy (like the 3025 era Dragon) or clunky light (Urbie). Since the Dragon, for example, has to give up a ton of firepower for that speed it seems like it would be good to bump it into a higher initiative bracket.
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
I ate an engineer
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ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
oh also for tabletop RPGs I tend to make up most stuff as I go so usually just compile a few long lists of place / people names that I can pull from as needed.
I usually have some starting stuff planned out, although how much depends on what kind of campaign. If it's a political game, then I have the major factions, some motivations and enough to start some intrigue. If it's something small in scope like Leverage, I will have have the big bad planned out, some henchmen and one or two things I can throw in to hint at a larger arc antagonist. If it's something like Wagon Train in Space, then I will probably steal the Traveller tables for random planet generation, come up with the idea for a story and let the PCs loose.
I don't really do big fantasy stuff anymore. But when I did, I didn't really do massive scope stuff. Generally most of what I'd plan would be in a single kingdom maybe with a neighboring kingdom or two.
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CindersWhose sails were black when it was windyRegistered Userregular
ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
hello butts what television programme should i watch an episode of before going to sleep since i am now through izombie
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
the new Battletech Q&A went up a few days ago and it's pretty good stuff although, of course, lots of nerds don't know how game dev works and are like CAN YOU NEGOTIATE JUMPSHIP FEES? when the devs are talking about, like, prototyping the combat engine.
- Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
- Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
- Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can’t act again until the next Round of combat.
- After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you’ll get to go again.
- This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You’ll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.
When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.
And now the really cool part:
We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs’ Phases for use later in the Round.
Any ‘Mech that isn’t an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.
With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs’ actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.
What’s so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they’ll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they’ll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn’t theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin’s Centurion with a Jenner I’d reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)
As you’d guess, there’s also a lot of value in using this tactic to locally outnumber an opponent. You want your engagements to be uneven in your favor, and you want to be able to fall back from any engagement in which you’re outnumbered. Focusing your forces in one spot when your enemy is spread out is right out of Sun Tzu.
Our initiative system, which allows you to reserve units, means you can locally outnumber your enemy in time as well as space. If you can take three actions in a row, and all three actions are effective fire on a target with no chance for it to respond by moving or returning fire… you’ve essentially made part of the turn a 3-on-1 battle.
Conversely, reserving your faster ‘Mechs to break up long sequences of enemy action with opportunities to respond can be useful in preventing your own forces from becoming focus-fired.
We’re reinforcing the role of Light ‘Mechs in other ways, but this system is a significant component of their value. Light ‘Mechs get to choose where and when they engage, and if used carefully can be exactly the tool you need to get out of a bad situation. Heavy and assault ‘Mechs pack a much bigger punch, but the tradeoff is that they’re inherently more predictable - and thus are more often reacting than acting.
The crazy part is that this sounds like they may actually have found a solution that makes Light Mechs viable in tabletop. In the stories, lights are supposed to be scouts, artillery spotters, and so forth. They had a point. In the tabletop, they often just kind of took up space.
So the Death From Above RPG team has actually started test-driving this initiative system for their twitch stream tabletop games and it apparently works pretty well. I guess even the head of Battletech tabletop dev at Catalyst Game Labs is a fan.
I really like the idea that maybe at the end of all this we might have not just a cool video game but a souped-up Battletech tabletop game made with game design principles from after the 1980s.
I saw a good comment on the system that it might be cool to base the initiative phases off of max speed (or max speed + weight) rather than just weight class. It would cover cases where you have an unusually fast heavy (like the 3025 era Dragon) or clunky light (Urbie). Since the Dragon, for example, has to give up a ton of firepower for that speed it seems like it would be good to bump it into a higher initiative bracket.
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
Basically weight and room to alter stuff. You can make a very fast heavy. It's gonna top out a little slower than a very fast light but it will end up with more armor, and more firepower. It's just going to be a tin can in a fight with a more traditional heavy which will be much, much slower but with many times the firepower. A heavier mech has more room/weight to add stuff and so it tends to cost more in terms of either money or points to bring onto the table. But there are bizarre designs that can do the role of 100 ton scout mech. You don't see as many heavily armed light mechs because that's an Urbanmech and those are generally mocked because they often give you the worst of all worlds.
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
hello butts what television programme should i watch an episode of before going to sleep since i am now through izombie
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
the new Battletech Q&A went up a few days ago and it's pretty good stuff although, of course, lots of nerds don't know how game dev works and are like CAN YOU NEGOTIATE JUMPSHIP FEES? when the devs are talking about, like, prototyping the combat engine.
- Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
- Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
- Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can’t act again until the next Round of combat.
- After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you’ll get to go again.
- This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You’ll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.
When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.
And now the really cool part:
We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs’ Phases for use later in the Round.
Any ‘Mech that isn’t an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.
With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs’ actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.
What’s so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they’ll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they’ll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn’t theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin’s Centurion with a Jenner I’d reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)
As you’d guess, there’s also a lot of value in using this tactic to locally outnumber an opponent. You want your engagements to be uneven in your favor, and you want to be able to fall back from any engagement in which you’re outnumbered. Focusing your forces in one spot when your enemy is spread out is right out of Sun Tzu.
Our initiative system, which allows you to reserve units, means you can locally outnumber your enemy in time as well as space. If you can take three actions in a row, and all three actions are effective fire on a target with no chance for it to respond by moving or returning fire… you’ve essentially made part of the turn a 3-on-1 battle.
Conversely, reserving your faster ‘Mechs to break up long sequences of enemy action with opportunities to respond can be useful in preventing your own forces from becoming focus-fired.
We’re reinforcing the role of Light ‘Mechs in other ways, but this system is a significant component of their value. Light ‘Mechs get to choose where and when they engage, and if used carefully can be exactly the tool you need to get out of a bad situation. Heavy and assault ‘Mechs pack a much bigger punch, but the tradeoff is that they’re inherently more predictable - and thus are more often reacting than acting.
The crazy part is that this sounds like they may actually have found a solution that makes Light Mechs viable in tabletop. In the stories, lights are supposed to be scouts, artillery spotters, and so forth. They had a point. In the tabletop, they often just kind of took up space.
So the Death From Above RPG team has actually started test-driving this initiative system for their twitch stream tabletop games and it apparently works pretty well. I guess even the head of Battletech tabletop dev at Catalyst Game Labs is a fan.
I really like the idea that maybe at the end of all this we might have not just a cool video game but a souped-up Battletech tabletop game made with game design principles from after the 1980s.
I saw a good comment on the system that it might be cool to base the initiative phases off of max speed (or max speed + weight) rather than just weight class. It would cover cases where you have an unusually fast heavy (like the 3025 era Dragon) or clunky light (Urbie). Since the Dragon, for example, has to give up a ton of firepower for that speed it seems like it would be good to bump it into a higher initiative bracket.
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
Basically weight and room to alter stuff. You can make a very fast heavy. It's gonna top out a little slower than a very fast light but it will end up with more armor, and more firepower. It's just going to be a tin can in a fight with a more traditional heavy which will be much, much slower but with many times the firepower. A heavier mech has more room/weight to add stuff and so it tends to cost more in terms of either money or points to bring onto the table. But there are bizarre designs that can do the role of 100 ton scout mech. You don't see as many heavily armed light mechs because that's an Urbanmech and those are generally mocked because they often give you the worst of all worlds.
the new Battletech Q&A went up a few days ago and it's pretty good stuff although, of course, lots of nerds don't know how game dev works and are like CAN YOU NEGOTIATE JUMPSHIP FEES? when the devs are talking about, like, prototyping the combat engine.
- Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
- Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
- Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can’t act again until the next Round of combat.
- After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you’ll get to go again.
- This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You’ll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.
When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.
And now the really cool part:
We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs’ Phases for use later in the Round.
Any ‘Mech that isn’t an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.
With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs’ actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.
What’s so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they’ll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they’ll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn’t theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin’s Centurion with a Jenner I’d reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)
As you’d guess, there’s also a lot of value in using this tactic to locally outnumber an opponent. You want your engagements to be uneven in your favor, and you want to be able to fall back from any engagement in which you’re outnumbered. Focusing your forces in one spot when your enemy is spread out is right out of Sun Tzu.
Our initiative system, which allows you to reserve units, means you can locally outnumber your enemy in time as well as space. If you can take three actions in a row, and all three actions are effective fire on a target with no chance for it to respond by moving or returning fire… you’ve essentially made part of the turn a 3-on-1 battle.
Conversely, reserving your faster ‘Mechs to break up long sequences of enemy action with opportunities to respond can be useful in preventing your own forces from becoming focus-fired.
We’re reinforcing the role of Light ‘Mechs in other ways, but this system is a significant component of their value. Light ‘Mechs get to choose where and when they engage, and if used carefully can be exactly the tool you need to get out of a bad situation. Heavy and assault ‘Mechs pack a much bigger punch, but the tradeoff is that they’re inherently more predictable - and thus are more often reacting than acting.
The crazy part is that this sounds like they may actually have found a solution that makes Light Mechs viable in tabletop. In the stories, lights are supposed to be scouts, artillery spotters, and so forth. They had a point. In the tabletop, they often just kind of took up space.
So the Death From Above RPG team has actually started test-driving this initiative system for their twitch stream tabletop games and it apparently works pretty well. I guess even the head of Battletech tabletop dev at Catalyst Game Labs is a fan.
I really like the idea that maybe at the end of all this we might have not just a cool video game but a souped-up Battletech tabletop game made with game design principles from after the 1980s.
I saw a good comment on the system that it might be cool to base the initiative phases off of max speed (or max speed + weight) rather than just weight class. It would cover cases where you have an unusually fast heavy (like the 3025 era Dragon) or clunky light (Urbie). Since the Dragon, for example, has to give up a ton of firepower for that speed it seems like it would be good to bump it into a higher initiative bracket.
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
Depending on the version of BT you're playing, weapons selection can be a pretty big difference.
I might sacrifice overall firepower on my Dragon or Ebon Hawk to get speed, but my hardpoints can still accommodate bigger guns with a greater firing envelope. This allows you to build things like Medium or Heavy Gauss / PPC snipers.
With Love and Courage
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
things i am considering:
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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simonwolfi can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered Userregular
Alright, plan for today: finish watching GoT, get reading done so I'm prepared to finish writing this chapter this week, stress out over upcoming deadline
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
hello butts what television programme should i watch an episode of before going to sleep since i am now through izombie
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
Jacobkosh
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
hmm
looks interesting
not sure if i can watch it though. it doesn't appear to be on netflix and i don't have a cable package with bbc america
the new Battletech Q&A went up a few days ago and it's pretty good stuff although, of course, lots of nerds don't know how game dev works and are like CAN YOU NEGOTIATE JUMPSHIP FEES? when the devs are talking about, like, prototyping the combat engine.
- Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
- Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
- Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can’t act again until the next Round of combat.
- After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you’ll get to go again.
- This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You’ll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.
When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.
And now the really cool part:
We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs’ Phases for use later in the Round.
Any ‘Mech that isn’t an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.
With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs’ actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.
What’s so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they’ll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they’ll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn’t theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin’s Centurion with a Jenner I’d reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)
As you’d guess, there’s also a lot of value in using this tactic to locally outnumber an opponent. You want your engagements to be uneven in your favor, and you want to be able to fall back from any engagement in which you’re outnumbered. Focusing your forces in one spot when your enemy is spread out is right out of Sun Tzu.
Our initiative system, which allows you to reserve units, means you can locally outnumber your enemy in time as well as space. If you can take three actions in a row, and all three actions are effective fire on a target with no chance for it to respond by moving or returning fire… you’ve essentially made part of the turn a 3-on-1 battle.
Conversely, reserving your faster ‘Mechs to break up long sequences of enemy action with opportunities to respond can be useful in preventing your own forces from becoming focus-fired.
We’re reinforcing the role of Light ‘Mechs in other ways, but this system is a significant component of their value. Light ‘Mechs get to choose where and when they engage, and if used carefully can be exactly the tool you need to get out of a bad situation. Heavy and assault ‘Mechs pack a much bigger punch, but the tradeoff is that they’re inherently more predictable - and thus are more often reacting than acting.
The crazy part is that this sounds like they may actually have found a solution that makes Light Mechs viable in tabletop. In the stories, lights are supposed to be scouts, artillery spotters, and so forth. They had a point. In the tabletop, they often just kind of took up space.
So the Death From Above RPG team has actually started test-driving this initiative system for their twitch stream tabletop games and it apparently works pretty well. I guess even the head of Battletech tabletop dev at Catalyst Game Labs is a fan.
I really like the idea that maybe at the end of all this we might have not just a cool video game but a souped-up Battletech tabletop game made with game design principles from after the 1980s.
I saw a good comment on the system that it might be cool to base the initiative phases off of max speed (or max speed + weight) rather than just weight class. It would cover cases where you have an unusually fast heavy (like the 3025 era Dragon) or clunky light (Urbie). Since the Dragon, for example, has to give up a ton of firepower for that speed it seems like it would be good to bump it into a higher initiative bracket.
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
So there's two ways of looking at it for tabletop battletech (and I fully expect, and hope, things work a bit different in the computer game they are working on, its a different medium): there are the construction rules and then there are the pre-made mech designs.
Going just by the construction rules there isn't any clear divider into the 4 standard weight classes. A 35 ton light is potentially very very similar to a 40 ton medium. Most of the formulas for engine weight, speed, jump jet capability etc... are based on the total weight (usually in 5 ton increments) not what class you are in.
That said, there does tend to be more of a distinction in the roles and loadouts between the weight classes of mechs from the fiction. The mech designs in the books are deliberately sub optimal (even terrible at times) compared to what you can make with the construction rules. This is deliberate. Mechs in the books tend to have loadouts that conform - more or less - with the roles for light / medium / heavy / assault.
Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
hello butts what television programme should i watch an episode of before going to sleep since i am now through izombie
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
Jacobkosh
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
hmm
looks interesting
not sure if i can watch it though. it doesn't appear to be on netflix and i don't have a cable package with bbc america
Person of Interest then.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
ok so I have not read nor seen any of GoT ever (if it is ever finished I might), but if it turns out that - in the end - something like the following happens I will get my frown on so hard:
spoiled for wild guess based on no info whatsoever
suppose there is a character who is particularly cunning and an excellent commander but also an amoral bastard (maybe not outright "evil") who is for a time thwarted from victory by coalition(s) of other characters (especially ones seen as more "good"). And in the end, after he is dead, one of his children or grandchildren is overthrown in a coup by his longtime adviser and strategist and it is the child or grandchild of that adviser who eventually complete the conquest and re-unify the kingdoms.
that doesn't sound likely unless they introduce a character matching that description in season six
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
hello butts what television programme should i watch an episode of before going to sleep since i am now through izombie
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
Jacobkosh
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
hmm
looks interesting
not sure if i can watch it though. it doesn't appear to be on netflix and i don't have a cable package with bbc america
Person of Interest then.
ok fine
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
but seriously Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is excellent.
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
My sister loved Lie to Me but she loves procedurals. And it's only 3 seasons. She still sometimes complains to me about how The Mentalist ended, which wouldn't be as bad if it hadn't lasted 7 seasons.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
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thatassemblyguyJanitor of Technical Debt.Registered Userregular
hmm, guess I should have started the re-subscription process for the HBONow sooner than this..
*stares at the dreaded 'Pending' on the Google Payments screen*
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
My sister loved Lie to Me but she loves procedurals. And it's only 3 seasons. She still sometimes complains to me about how The Mentalist ended, which wouldn't be as bad if it hadn't lasted 7 seasons.
But then I guess it's your own fault really if you expected they could resolve in a satisfactory way the identity of the MYSTERIOUS SERIAL KILLER they built up for over half a decade.
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
My sister loved Lie to Me but she loves procedurals. And it's only 3 seasons. She still sometimes complains to me about how The Mentalist ended, which wouldn't be as bad if it hadn't lasted 7 seasons.
hmm. i can definitely dig on a procedural
have you seen Numbers? It's in netflix I think. That was a good show.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
My sister loved Lie to Me but she loves procedurals. And it's only 3 seasons. She still sometimes complains to me about how The Mentalist ended, which wouldn't be as bad if it hadn't lasted 7 seasons.
hmm. i can definitely dig on a procedural
have you seen Numbers? It's in netflix I think. That was a good show.
ooh that's one of those i always meant to watch and never did
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
So good. see you in 6 days 23 hours HBO
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ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
Posts
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I'm afraid of finding out that it's true
He's so cute and this apartment is so nice and I packed and moved in 3 days and escaped my evil landlord and hired movers
I really hope it's not true
But I have a feeling it may beeee
Oh well I will sleep now and see what happens
you're gonna turn into a cat
:winky:
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Well then at least I won't be allergic to cats for sure
Either that or I would die immediately
spoiled for wild guess based on no info whatsoever
What other advantages/disadvantages are there for weight class? Like, I'm assuming the fast, low firepower heavy still has something to differentiate itself from being a mid-class or w/e.
I usually have some starting stuff planned out, although how much depends on what kind of campaign. If it's a political game, then I have the major factions, some motivations and enough to start some intrigue. If it's something small in scope like Leverage, I will have have the big bad planned out, some henchmen and one or two things I can throw in to hint at a larger arc antagonist. If it's something like Wagon Train in Space, then I will probably steal the Traveller tables for random planet generation, come up with the idea for a story and let the PCs loose.
I don't really do big fantasy stuff anymore. But when I did, I didn't really do massive scope stuff. Generally most of what I'd plan would be in a single kingdom maybe with a neighboring kingdom or two.
I
need an adult
you're the adult
*shock, gasp*
which i liked btw
i also liked how it was like
oh this is a fun monster of the week kind of show and there is some underlying story and tension between some characters and just good fun and OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK WHEN IS SEASON TWO COMING OUT
@Jacobkosh
other important questions:
- who is the Oda Nobunaga of GoT
- who is the Ragnar Lothbrok of GoT
- who is the Cyrus the Great of GoT
Basically weight and room to alter stuff. You can make a very fast heavy. It's gonna top out a little slower than a very fast light but it will end up with more armor, and more firepower. It's just going to be a tin can in a fight with a more traditional heavy which will be much, much slower but with many times the firepower. A heavier mech has more room/weight to add stuff and so it tends to cost more in terms of either money or points to bring onto the table. But there are bizarre designs that can do the role of 100 ton scout mech. You don't see as many heavily armed light mechs because that's an Urbanmech and those are generally mocked because they often give you the worst of all worlds.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Basically weight and room to alter stuff. You can make a very fast heavy. It's gonna top out a little slower than a very fast light but it will end up with more armor, and more firepower. It's just going to be a tin can in a fight with a more traditional heavy which will be much, much slower but with many times the firepower. A heavier mech has more room/weight to add stuff and so it tends to cost more in terms of either money or points to bring onto the table. But there are bizarre designs that can do the role of 100 ton scout mech. You don't see as many heavily armed light mechs because that's an Urbanmech and those are generally mocked because they often give you the worst of all worlds.
Depending on the version of BT you're playing, weapons selection can be a pretty big difference.
I might sacrifice overall firepower on my Dragon or Ebon Hawk to get speed, but my hardpoints can still accommodate bigger guns with a greater firing envelope. This allows you to build things like Medium or Heavy Gauss / PPC snipers.
person of interest
cuckoo
the messengers - 1.5 stars recommended for me. i have to know what that means
lie to me - was that any good? i never saw it
hmm
looks interesting
not sure if i can watch it though. it doesn't appear to be on netflix and i don't have a cable package with bbc america
So there's two ways of looking at it for tabletop battletech (and I fully expect, and hope, things work a bit different in the computer game they are working on, its a different medium): there are the construction rules and then there are the pre-made mech designs.
Going just by the construction rules there isn't any clear divider into the 4 standard weight classes. A 35 ton light is potentially very very similar to a 40 ton medium. Most of the formulas for engine weight, speed, jump jet capability etc... are based on the total weight (usually in 5 ton increments) not what class you are in.
That said, there does tend to be more of a distinction in the roles and loadouts between the weight classes of mechs from the fiction. The mech designs in the books are deliberately sub optimal (even terrible at times) compared to what you can make with the construction rules. This is deliberate. Mechs in the books tend to have loadouts that conform - more or less - with the roles for light / medium / heavy / assault.
Person of Interest then.
that doesn't sound likely unless they introduce a character matching that description in season six
ok fine
that's a fucking earth bender
the book is one of my favorite of all time and I really liked the miniseries
@neco I still play swtor
*stares at the dreaded 'Pending' on the Google Payments screen*
so isn't handling this aspect during play
hmm. i can definitely dig on a procedural
have you seen Numbers? It's in netflix I think. That was a good show.
ooh that's one of those i always meant to watch and never did
If you are looking at procedural, may I suggest Psych for all of your fake psychic needs?
This was said in the actual play thread for our Star Wars game: