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[Kashyyk]

Mercenary Commander

The United Nations of Earth, in an effort to instil peace for mankind, has decreed every single military disbanded. And amazingly, they all did. Unfortunately however, this put millions of soldiers out of work, and thousands of pieces of military hardware into warehouses. Also unfortunately, the nations of Earth still wanted to gain the upper-hand over their neighbours, and without a national military, this became the job of enterprising mercenaries.

And what with all the ex-soldiers and old military gear now lying around, these mercenary groups were everywhere.


Some of you with good memories may recognise this. I have finally gotten a working set of rules for this, and I now need playtesters. I'm looking for up to 12 players, but ideally an even number around 6. As this is a playtest, once we're done, I will go away, fix the rules, add some new capability and come back. Those who don't get to play this time get priority in the next playtest. (if there is one)

So, to sign up I want a unique 3/4 letter ID (Preferably relating to your username in some way), that's it.

Sign ups:
1. [MSCE] mastahcheese
2. [TAR] Taricus
3. [HEAP] scapheap
4. [GRIZ] GrizzlyAdamz
5. [KING] kingfisher112
6. [GREK] Grek

Reserves
1. [VRX] Virex
2. [TPHT] TopHat
3. [RPG] RolePGeek
3. [MAX] Elfeater

Spoiler: Briefing (click to show/hide)

You are the commander of a troop of tanks. You will be split into two equally sized teams. Your mission is to neutralise all hostile vehicles in the area. My mission is to make sure the rules aren't horrendouesly broken. Expect there to be changes to the mechanics/maths/rules as and when needed.
Almost every roll is one or more d100s with modifiers. The aim is to hide most of the rolls and maths from the players, as you don't need to know the details in order to play the game. However, if you feel something is horribly broken, doesn't hesitate to let me know.
Remember, I am not a tank history specialist, I am a programmer. Logic and maths is easy, I'm working on the realism.

Spoiler: The Turn (click to show/hide)

All turns are submitted simultaneously. Each tank then makes an initiative roll, and are ordered highest first. Each tank then moves in turn according to the initiative list. Each crewmember of the tank expends one tick of action, all completed actions are resolved and then play proceeds to the next tank. Each turn consists of 10 ticks. Once every tank has had a full turn, the players then submit their orders for the next.

Spoiler: Commands (click to show/hide)

Every turn, you must give orders to each of your tanks and it's crew. A simple, "Alice Drives, Bob aims the Gun, Charlie is the Loader, etc." will suffice for the crew.  "Go hide behind the building at G9 and shoot tank KASH-2" is perfectly acceptable for tank commands, though you are welcome (and encouraged) to give more detail. Conditional commands are perfectly fine.

Commands may be posted in the thread or sent by PM.

Spoiler: Modules (click to show/hide)

There are eight modules in a tank, Engine (damage reduces acceleration and max speed and may cause a fire),  Ammo Rack (damage reduces reload speed, and may detonate),  Cannon (Used to shoot things, damage reduces accuracy and penetration), Turret Ring (Allows the turret to rotate),  Tracks (damage reduces turn rate), the radio (allows your crew to hear your commands) and the fuel tank (which if damaged may ignite).

The chance of ammo rack detonation or a fire depends on the state of the module after being hit. If the ammo rack detonates, destroying the vehicle instantly. Fire is a module status affect, and will damage it for 5% of it's max hitpoints each tick. Fire can spread to other modules, prevents repairs on burning modules and can harm crew members. Every turn that there is something on fire in the tank, every crew member takes 8 damage.

Spoiler: Crew (click to show/hide)

Each crew member gets ten action points (AP) a tick. Each crew member also has 20hp. These can be spent on various actions such as repairing and loading. Those types require a set amount of AP before the task is complete. A few others such as driving require a constant stream of AP from the same crew member.

Wounded crew work at reduced effectiveness. So long as a crew member is not dying, they can give themselves medical attention with only half the reduction in effectiveness.

Spoiler: Meet your Vehicle (click to show/hide)

For this first battle you will all be in command of the German Panzer IV. It has five crew members, (Commander, Gunner, Loader, Radio Op and Driver). In the original vehicle, the Commander doubled as a Spotter, although Spotting isn't yet included in the game. All of your crew are equally proficient at each role, and are essentially identical.
Pz IV Stats
Hull Front/Side/Rear = 50/40/30
Turret Front/Side/Rear = 80/50/40
Power to Weight = 20
Hull Turn Rate = 10
Turret Turn Rate = 20
Average Penetration = 70
Average Damage  = 30
Reload cost = 50 AP
Base Acc = 30
Max Acc Bonus = 70AP
Engine HP = 80
Ammo Rack HP = 60
Cannon HP = 40
Turret Ring HP = 20
Tracks HP = 100
Radio HP = 50
Fuel Tank HP = 50
Total HP = 500

Spoiler: Damage and Death (click to show/hide)

As our tanks will be slinging explosive at one another, it is inevitable that something is eventually going to get broken. Assuming the shot penetrates, it will then proceed to deal damage to the modules and crew inside the vehicle, doing this brings the tank closer to death and reduces it's overall effectiveness. If at any point, all the crew members of a tank are either dead or dieing, or the tank's total hitpoints (found by summing up the hitpoints of all it's modules) is below 25%, the tank is declared dead, and ceases all actions for the rest of the battle. Any surviving crew are assumed to have abandoned the vehicle and are making their way off of the battlefield on foot.

A note: Friendly Fire is ON.

Spoiler: Avoiding the Above (click to show/hide)

Naturally, it's a lot easier to kill your enemy if they haven't killed you first. To prevent your tan's untimely demise, you should make use of cover (Hard and Soft). Hard cover is anything that can physically prevent a shot from hitting your tank by being in the way. Houses, rocks, brick walls, other tanks, they all count as hard cover. Soft cover is anything that doesn't block shots but instead reduces the accuracy of incoming shots. Bushes for example. Making the most of both will improve your tank's survivability immensely.

Here we see a Pz IV (left) holding it's own against a Cromwell (center) and an M7 (right). Note the wall giving hard cover, and that wierd translucent thing (a bush) giving soft cover.

Spoiler: Collisions and Ramming (click to show/hide)

Sometimes you get bored of lobbing shells at your enemy. Sometimes they've really annoyed you. Sometimes you just need to get through a bit of troublesome terrain. That's when you get up to top speed and crash headlong into the offender.
The successful rammer will:
Be travelling at a high speed
Be a lot heavier than the victim (difficult here, as you're all using the same tank)
Collide with the thinnest piece of armour available
Provide whiplash insurance to all of their crew members
Driving into terrain or corpses is perfectly safe for your tank, you only have to worry about colliding with living tanks (Allied and Hostile).
You cannot drive through buidings. You can drive though garden walls and cars (destroying them in the process). You can also go through bushes, with no harm to either of you.

Spoiler: Driver (click to show/hide)

For each whole turn that a tank has the same driver, it may regulate it's speed and change direction to the full extent of it's capability. If the driver is not driving for a whole turn, the tank may change direction, or regulate speed, but not both. If a tank's speed is not regulated, it 'coasts', and slowly loses speed.
Every tank has a current speed, a max/min acceleration and a turn rate. The acceleration max/min depends on the surface the tank is on and the state of the engine. The driver can choose any value between the max acceleration and the min. (The min always being negative).
A tank may turn up to it's move rate in degrees each tick and moves a number of squares per tick based on it's speed. (1 square per 5km/h)

Spoiler: Loader (click to show/hide)

Loading the cannon of a tank permits it to fire as many shots as are in it's magazine, before it must be reloaded again. The cannon may be reloaded when the magazine is only partially emptied, but the cannon may not be fired until loading is complete.
A cannon can be loaded by one or two loaders. The time taken to load the cannon is indicated in it's stats. An additional loader speeds the process at half effectiveness. If loading is partially completed and both loaders stop loading, the progress is lost.

Spoiler: Gunner (click to show/hide)

One of the few tasks that improves results based on how long has been spent doing the task. If the task is interrupted for any reason, the bonus resets. This task also includes rotating the turret and firing the cannon.
The longer a gunner spends aiming at a target, the bigger the bonus to hit becomes. Each cannon has a maximum aim bonus and a base accuracy. Shots get maluses if the shooting tank is moving, the target tank is moving, if there is cover in the way or if it is at long range. Conversely, short range shots gain a bonus. The cannon's penetration reduces at long range, and increases at short range.

Spoiler: Radio Op (click to show/hide)

Having a radio op and fully functional radio allows the tank to recieve commands from the player. A damaged radio increases the chance that orders do not make it through. Manning the radio is a constant task.

Spoiler: Paramedic (click to show/hide)

Gives temporary hitpoints to wounded crew members and prevents death. Temporary hitpoints are lost at twice the normal rate if a crew member is injured again. A paramedic only has one chance to rescuscitate a dying crew member. If they succeed, the crew member is back in action with 1 temporary hitpoint. If they fail the roll, the crew member dies in their arms. The action must start within 1 turn of the mortal blow. Any damage to a dying crew member interrupts the rescuscitation and kills them instantly. All paramedic actions take 40AP

Spoiler: Mechanic (click to show/hide)

Gives temporary hitpoints to modules in the vehicle. A damaged module can never be brought back above 75% of it's maximum hitpoints. These temporary hitpoints are lost at twice the normal rate if the module is damaged again. If a module drops below 25% hitpoints, it is considered broken until brought back above 25%. Mechanic actions cost 40AP

Spoiler: Firefighter (click to show/hide)

Prevents fire spreading from the target module, and attempts to put out the fire on it. Each attempt costs 10AP.

link to the game thread is here

[mastahcheese]

IN

[MSCE]

This looks totally awesome.

[adwarf]

In

[DORF]

[scapheap]

In

[HEAP]

[Grek]

Since this is a playtest, do you want us to try degenerate and unrealistic actions that we think might break the game (so that you can determine where the weak points in the engine are and fix them), or would you rather players try to play as normally as possible (so that you can determine what parts of the engine are fun and which are not)?

[GrizzlyAdamz]

Haven't read the rules yet, so pending: [GRIZ]

I feel I should have spent more time in world of tanks.

Is this going to be illustrated?
So, 10ticks per turn, 10ap per tick? Lets see, medic/mech takes 2/5 of a turn, firefighting 1/10, reloading (single) 1/2, reloading (double) 1/4 (2.5 ticks? how are half-ticks handled?).
You say when we reload, if we stop progress is lost. If this were a vidya, could raise problems: we could either attempt to reload without fear of being interrupted, (mag goes back in instantly), or we could exploit it to empty the mag quickly, (it pops out, we can instantly start reloading again & skip that part). Not so much in a forum game.

[Kashyyk]

Since this is a playtest, do you want us to try degenerate and unrealistic actions that we think might break the game (so that you can determine where the weak points in the engine are and fix them), or would you rather players try to play as normally as possible (so that you can determine what parts of the engine are fun and which are not)?

I will live that entirely down to the individual player. Both sides have their uses.

I feel I should have spent more time in world of tanks.

That and Frozen Synapse

Is this going to be illustrated?

Yes. Pixel art style exampled above.

So, 10ticks per turn, 10ap per tick? Lets see, medic/mech takes 2/5 of a turn, fiPefighting 1/10, reloading (single) 1/2, reloading (double) 1/4 (2.5 ticks? how are half-ticks handled?).

Correct. Crew can split their attention between ticks, and put their AP in any number of actions. The second reloader has to spent 2AP for every 1 put into reloading by him. Any AP not used in a tick are lost. So at the beginning of the match Only your Driver, Radio Op and Gunner actually have a chance of doing anything.

You say when we reload, if we stop progress is lost. If this were a vidya, could raise problems: we could either attempt to reload without fear of being interrupted, (mag goes back in instantly), or we could exploit it to empty the mag quickly, (it pops out, we can instantly start reloading again & skip that part). Not so much in a forum game.

That is true, I do intend to turn this into a videogame eventually, so that's something I'll have to address (along with the other non-realistics that I've had to keep in).

[kingfisher1112]

[KING] is in.

[Kashyyk]

Alright, you're all added to the list. Grek, I assume you want in, but can I have it for definite please.

Also, I will give it 24 hours from the OP timestamp to wait for more sign ups. This will then become the OOC thread.

[Grek]

Put me down as [GREK] then.

[Taricus]

Put me in the waitlist/reserves. I'll Also take the tag [TAR] (Yes, it's three letters. Problem?)

[GrizzlyAdamz]

How far can each tank move in a given turn? Does terrain affect this?

Also, I'd like to make a note here: top-down view minimizes the utilization of that most important of tank tactics: hulling down.
Is it ok to just put orders in the tactics thread?

[Parsely]

Holy shit this looks insane. PTW.

[Kashyyk]

I'm away from my comp until tomorrow, so you all get a time bonus.

How far can each tank move in a given turn?

That depends on your speed in km/h. You move 1 square per 5 km/h.

Does terrain affect this?

Only your maximum speed limit.

Also, I'd like to make a note here: top-down view minimizes the utilization of that most important of tank tactics: hulling down.

That's included. Those garden walls will block shots that would otherwise have hit your hull.

Is it ok to just put orders in the tactics thread?

That's fine with me. Most people have PM'd them though.

Holy shit this looks insane. PTW.

Why thank you kind sir.

[Virex]

Could I be added to the wailing list as [VRX], please? Also, don't tanks usually have flimsy topside armor?