Grijisland and the People's Drabic republic have been teetering on the edge of war for a long time, but this last set of small insults exchanged via messenger bird has been the last straw. Now both sides dispatch their mechs to cross the lands of death and go beat the crap out of the other nation. Because one is a highly capitalist monarchy and another is communist and neither side particularly likes the other. This is set roughly around the cold war in terms of tech.
1 design, where you make new stuff, 1 revision where you change old stuff, then the strat phase where you pick which two lanes you're pushing down. Expense is dirt simple, there are three resources, Oil, Ore, and Land(most organic materials).Cheap you have all the resources to make a thing, it is deployed to the limits of capability. Expensive One of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 1, rarer, 1 per squad typically. Very expensive One of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 2, very rare, 1 per battalion. National EffortOne of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 3, you only get one, pick where to deploy it.
Stolen without shame from Happery, who stole it from NUKE9.13’s Battle for Aljadid, this game runs off two four sided dice, or “2d4”, which are rolled and compared to the below table to figure out how successful the design or revision in question was.
Roll (Probability): Result
2 (1/16): Utter failure. You get nothing except the knowledge of what not to do.
3 (1/8): Buggy mess. Whilst you managed to make something, it isn't really usable.
4 (3/16): Below average. It works. Not especially well, but it works.
5 (1/4): Average. You get what you asked for, more or less.
6 (3/16): Above average. It works, and somewhat better than might be expected. Not a lot better, mind.
7 (1/8): Superior craftsmanship. It does its job and it does it perfectly. Its performance is exceptional and it is as reliable as clockwork.
8 (1/16): Unexpected boon. Not only does it work, but it does things you never even expected it to. If no 'bonus features' make sense, then you just get experience with some related field.
As you can see, this system tends more towards the middle then the extremes, which, yes, means you are less likely to do super well and get something super cool, but also means you’re less likely to fail miserably, completely, and totally. And isn’t that worth some minor sacrifices?
As well, each attempted design or revision also has a Difficulty. These ratings assign a modifier (+/- #) to the roll, changing the effective result. The Difficulties in question are Trivial (+2, Requires no new knowledge at all and has no notable challenges involved), Easy (+1, Actions where some minor challenge is found but nothing really that hard), Normal (+0, Actions involving new concepts or technologies, or old technologies being made better, but nothing intentionally revolutionary), Hard (-1, Entirely new concepts or technologies not using what you already have, but already implied or based on what came before), Very Hard (-2, Actions involving entirely new stuff where you only have a tiny idea of what you are doing), and Ludicrous (-3, Ok, this time you have no idea what you are doing, but according to theory it’s at least possible. Maybe).
There is also the Impossible Difficulty, which means you flat out fail because whatever you are trying to do is impossible with your current understanding of the world. You’ll still get some experience though, as you bash your head against the invisible walls of science repeatedly, over and over again. As well as a few headaches. But I'm sure most scientists would believe that is a small price for progress, especially the kinds of scientists found contributing to arms races.
Both sides start with 1 of each resource.
M1 Exoframe: A Humanoid Mech powered by spite and a very small combustion engine. Mostly intended for civilian use, and as such unarmed and underarmored. 1 Ore, 1 Oil.
Hunting rifle: A big Rifle for hunting deadly game, usable by Exoframes. Can punch through civilian exoframe armor and the tough hide of the animals which inhabit the lands of death. 1 Ore 1 land
The lanes are as follows, going from the Grijisland side to the People's Drabic Republic.
The Falling and asphyxiation lane.
The Crevices of falling, a set of rocky ravines which one must walk atop the walls of if you want to get through. Highest plateua in existence with unstable ground, what it sounds like, no one has set foot here long enough to name it Plagued with sinkholes and cave ins, but strangely always flat when people first arrive. Treacherous mountains of doom, a bunch of mountains with very slick sides, don't trip, Here there be Dragons.
The OH GOD FIRE, and dying via choking on smoke and ash lane.
Volcano zone, an area of absurdly high geological activity, watch out for lava and ash, Here there be Dragons. Constantly on fire forest, no no one knows why the heck it keeps burning. And finally, the desert so hot there are storms of glass, what, is the name not enough to clue you in that here is a place humans should not be?
The cold slow death lane.
Ice flats, a massive thin sheet of ice across a shallow ocean, don't fall in, there are... things beneath the ice which don't take kindly to people, or machines, or sunlight. Constant blizzard forest, Same deal as the one constantly on fire, no clue why its like this, but the natives do not like people, Here there be Dragons. Land of the surprisingly swift glaciers, these masses of ice flow with surprising speed gouging great crevices in the earth, and seem to go out of their way to crush those trying to get through.
Faction threads linked below. Better formatting to come. Map will be drawn via contest. Better names for zones may be given by the first people to conquer them. "Here there be Dragons" Is something written on your maps and in your notes on the regions, but neither side knows if there are actual dragons. It's about a 50/50 chance given the absolute seething hatred the lands seem to present to outsiders.
Grijisland Aristocracy linkDrabic design commune link
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Topic: Vanilla mecha arms race of gruesome death (Read 400 times)