Okay, here’s something different. I’ve been brewing this for a while, but never got around to writing it up. I eventually decided that I may as well put it out there, get some feedback, and see what people think of me posting a different sort of game here. So grab a friend and some dice, and enjoy.
Top Games
This looks really fun! I need to dig up or buy enough dice to play, and also convince one of my friends to give it a try… hmm.
I’ve always been fascinated with game design like this, and you’ve come up with something very creative. I’d love to play it and see if there are any balancing issues that emerge, have you had a chance to test it many times?
I’ve played it several times, and all of the fairly obvious corner case build specs (for example, “PPPPPP”) seem to have fairly straightforward counters (such as “anything with an I in it” in that example).
Hopefully this beta release will get me some feedback on any other issues that emerge. I may eventually polish it up and sell it for a buck or two on DriveThruRPG or the like.
I really like the way Armor works, very clever and quickly seems natural once you understand it.
One thing that troubles me is that the Shield module seems rather ineffective next to the power of bypassing all shielding instantly by rolling a 6. Shields are certainly not without value, but compared to the other options it seems like it might not often be worth the investment.
I’ve got a few other thoughts, but I think I should probably try it out and see how it really plays before trying to guess. You’ve certainly succeeded at creating a game with subtleties!
Neat change of pace, Nathan.
I haven’t played this game yet, but it sounds quite interesting. My trouble is that all of housemates have very short attention spans and wouldn’t be into learning a new game like this.
If I find someone to play it with, I’ll let you know.
-John
An interesting game.
I’ve had the chance to start part of a game, but I accidentally left out about half of the battlefield in my haste, so I’ll probably have to start over.
I opted against spending 20 minutes explaining the game, and just had my opponent go through the motions as watch me play, it seems to have turned out fairly well so far.
When I finish up this game/progress some significant amount, I’ll give a more thorough assessment.
I’ve had the pleasure of playing two full games of this now.
So far, I’ve spent no points on mobility, because it’s just so easy to totally lock down an area without it. If at all, I wouldn’t get more than 1 mobility, because I hardly need to move more than that in a turn. I just fortify, and let my opponent dash themselves against my defenses, if they aren’t failing to run through them.
I really like the depth of strategy the multiple Initiative layers grant. I tend to blast all the lower initiative guys with my first waves, to minimize actual damage done to me.
My setups in each game were this, I think:
The first one:
PPIASP
This game went fairly well, as I focused on 4-cost, 1-cost, and 6-cost guys, and ended up with a hefty advantage, seeing as my opponent tended to lose more than 1 guy invariably from every encounter with more than one of my mechs, while mine armored down, or took shield hits, retaining most of their combat effectiveness.
The second one:
SASPIA(I only chose this
I won this game as well. I mostly took the defensive, but we both cheated, so I’ll bar this game.
This looked so interesting that I decided to try to implement it in Game Maker. While I foresee no problems once I get down to actually building the game, I’ve run into some pretty major hurdles with GML’s obtuse array handling.
I just realized I have a question about the rules.
Do the shield counters stay on permanently, or do they fall off at the end of combat?
I’m guessing they fall off, but you specified that you should use counters so you don’t forget, and you don’t ever say to take them off.
you might want to clarify in either direction.
Sorry for spamming up here, just trying to point out a couple of things.
The first seems to be that if a player with a build of MMMMMM foes first, he or she can win absolutely without contest before his or her opponent even takes a turn, and with incredibly high chances if their opponent goes first and has less than 2 “M” modules.
The second is that you specify in the rules that “There is no such thing as a level 0 mech,” which brings up the question of what happens if a Mecha with level “A” takes a hit. I’m not sure whether that’s what you intended, seeing as I honestly see no way to even indicate a level 1 Mecha. However, if there really is no such thing as a level 0 mech, it makes putting a module in slot 1 entirely useless.
Keep in mind, I have played multiple games successfully and enjoyably, through slight interpretations, but I did have to avoid falling into any of those potential rules discrepancy.
Blagh
“…which makes makes putting an ARMOR module in slot 1 entirely useless.”
And
“…potential rules discrepancIES.”
Ack! Knew I’d left something out.
v0.81 changelog:
* Reinstated missing centerline rule
* Clarified functioning of shields and armor
Please let me know of any part of the rules that needs “slight interpretations” – I want to make things as clear as possible.
Perhaps this: (assume that all mechs have the same initiative to simplify things) When the player whose turn it is carries out “fire” first, and they happen to destroy all the opponent’s mechs, the opponent still gets to “fire” all of their attack dice back despite apparently having no remaining mechs.
The rules are certain about this when reading carefully (all these shots are technically happening “at once”, anyway), but it might be reinforced more clearly? I’m not even sure if I’m communicating what I’m talking about effectively.