Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Merchanters And Stationers - Take #9

So we begin playtesting M&S this weekend. I have completed starships, alien creation, setting generation - two actually! One for Humans Only and one for Aliens Only, chargen is straight from StarCluster 3 with some professions barred - No PSI, no military in the Aliens Only setting, and a few mechanical and fluff bits for life in the settings including a nasty Stress Mechanic, equipment will also be from SC3, and station creation.

I need some kind of space combat mechanic. I'll want something simple! Possibly some stake setting gambling thing, or maybe something component based. I don't necessarily need anything on the first day, but eventually it will come into play.

I have some glimmers of ideas, so I'll let you in on what I come up with! :D

Oh! And I need to play-test the playing card resolution mechanic! That's new too!

3 comments:

  1. For space combat, if we ignore delta-V and abstract it, we're looking at some sort of pilot skill vs pilot skill with factors such ship speed/ship maneuverability thrown in?

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  2. Hi David!

    In the Cherryhverse, position and speed are everything. Coming into a system with a high relative V, everything else is unaware of you. You count on your ordnance arriving just after your wavefront, and traveling at a substantial fraction of c to penetrate armor. There is no time for maneuver if done right! This is what I need to simulate.

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  3. Ow! I meant to continue, but hit publish!

    What you've got is nice and light, but doesn't feel like Cherryh's combat, and if the idea is to play in a universe that feels like Union/Alliance/Compact Space, that's very important.

    Thanks very much for the suggestion! :D

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