Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Aigre Excalibur]

The Early 21st Century, the world faces an escalating UFO invasion.

This is a minimalist mission based RTD, with a focus on repetitive, short, brutal missions with clear objectives. Cartography and layout of each mini-scenario will be in the form of a simple flowchart or graph. The teams will move from area to area to clear out the enemy and achieve their objectives. The focus will also be on ER style infantry combat.

The enemy aliens possess both aggression and initiative. They will actively respond to the player teams, attempt to ambush them and/or cut off their lines of retreat. It is entirely possible for the enemy to achieve first strikes and initiate combat with opening kills on the player group despite the players having "done nothing wrong".

Wiki with game info: http://rtdufodefense.wikia.com/wiki/RTDUFODefense_Wikia

Character Creation Template:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Pvt Yegor Smirnov
Age: 32 ((Well... The current year was never specified. ))
Gender: Male
Nationality: Ex-Soviet
Role or Previous Occupation: Paratrooper
Bio/Appearance, etc.: Yegor is a grim and fatalistic young man. Born and having served in Soviet Union, he could never quite come to terms with its dissolution. But now, with the danger of alien invasion threatening the whole Earth, he rallied to the call, hoping to finally find peace of the mind - or, if needed, peace of the grave. "Nobody but us" as they say in the Air-Borne Corps.

Stats:
Strength:     +1
Dexterity:    +0
Endurance:    +2
Charisma:     -1
Mind:         +0
Fate:         -1
Intuition:    -2

Skills:
Explosives:   +0
Con. Weapons: +2
Melee Skill:  +1
Psychism:     -2
Auxiliary:    +0
Medical tech: +0
Science:      -2

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Commissar Leonardo Roland Jean Kane
Age: 80
Gender: Male
Nationality: Soviet Politburo
Role or Previous Occupation: Commissar and voice of the people.
Bio/Appearance, etc.: A old soldier of questionable Unshakable sanity. He has come out of retirement to rid the earth of alien scum. He appears to be wearing an old soviet commissar's uniform with a bear-skin greatcoat and a tall fur hat. In his early life, he was an American Marine who defected to Mother Russia to embrace freedom from bourgeois pigs.

Stats:
Strength:     -2
Dexterity:    0
Endurance:    -1
Charisma:     2
Mind:         1
Fate:         -1
Intuition:    0

Skills:
Explosives:   1
Con. Weapons: 1
Melee Skill:  1
Psychism:     -2
Auxiliary:    0
Medical tech: -2
Science:      0

Old Textbabble

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Character stats: Mostly the same as ER. Distributed the same way too. Just use the existing stat calculator to roll out characters.
You start with 0 in everything
+1 levels means -1 elsewhere.
Every increase costs an additional -1

Strength: Used for heavy lifting and hitting.
Dexterity: Rolling to dodge, etc.
Endurance: Surviving damage and effects.
Charisma: Used for some mind skills, also used to influence teammates' rolls against morale checks
Mind: used to resist and inflict psychic skills. Also affects personal morale checks
Fate: Fate
Intuition: May come in vital for sensing that ambush and warning the team.

Skills:
Explosives: Replaces Handiwork. Roll to not blow yourself up. Also used for setting traps and improvising weapons.
Conventional Weapons: Roll to shoot
Melee Skill: Replaces uncon in ER. Roll to brawl.
Psychism: Not quite like exotic weapons. It's like trying to use your brain without an amp.
Auxiliary: Skill with Robots, vehicles, computer systems.
Medical tech: What it says on the can.
Science: Replaces General Knowledge. Affects retrieval and experimentation on alien artifacts and prisoners.

Ranged Weapon modifiers:

Weapon ranges: Range bonuses and penalties are applied at
Close-Combat (CQB) range, which covers melee and close-in room to room fighting.
Short-Range - About the distance of your average pistol practice range, 20m or less.
Bushfighting range - Around 20 to 100m, most assault carbines are designed for this.
Medium range - Standard Assault Rifle range, from 100 to 300 meters. Said to be the ideal infantry range in open combat when fog of war is considered.
Long Range - Anything above 300m, which is the limit of what the human eye can see and hit accurately with iron sights under battlefield conditions.
Extreme range - The kind of ranges that require special optics to fight at.

Pistols: Range bonuses are: +1, 0, -2, -4, -infinity, -infinity
Submachine guns: Range bonuses are 0, +1, -1, -3, -5, - infinity
Carbines: Range bonuses are -1, 0, +1, -2, -4, -infinity
Assault Rifles: Bonuses are -2, -1, 0, 0, -2, -4
Battle Rifles: Bonuses are: -3, -2, -1, 0, -1, -2

Starting Armory:
The science stat is also meant to be used for gathering specimens properly and using materials safely for research.

Guns:
We get some standard 21st Century tech. Anything more has to be invented using alien stuff and SCIENCE. We also start with a hangover of US Military Surplus M16s. Other types of 21st century guns will have to be acquired more expensively by player request. Other guns can also be designed and researched.

M1911A - Fires .45ACP weighing 15g at 252m/s with 952 joules of energy. 1.1 Kg unloaded. About 1.6kg Loaded with 8 rounds.
Colt RO365 SMG 9mm NATO - THE SMG of the M16 family. Fires 9mm Parabellum weighing 7.45g at 396 m/s with a total energy of 584 joules. Around 3kg Loaded.
M4 Carbine - Shorterned version of the M16 family. A muzzle velocity of 880m/s gives it an energy of 1394 joules. 3.4kg Loaded.
M16A2 - Fires 5.56mm NATO rounds weighing 3.6g each at 990m/s with 1764 j of muzzle energy. Total weight of 4kg with magazine. 0.75kg per loaded 30 round magazine.
M14 - Fires 7.62mm NATO rounds weighing 10g each at 840m/s with 3528 joules of muzzle energy. Weighs 5.2kg loaded. 1.1kg per 20 round magazine.

First Sidearm is free. Everything else is $1000 each. Standard Ball rounds sold at $2 each. Hollow Points and FMJ at $3 Each. Empty Magazines at #50 each.
Hydroshock rounds - $20 each. A hollow point round optimized for maximum fluidic shock on top of bullet expansion.
Soft-nose Jacketed rounds (SNJ) - $20 each. A compromise between FMJ and Hollow point that is actually effective in bringing out the cover-penetrating qualities of FMJ and the bullet expansion effects of hollow points.
Hardened penetrator rounds - $50 each. Usually heat-treated steel of some sort as a bullet penetrator. Can over-penetrate most personal armors.

Gun accessories and Optics sold separately...
Reflex optics - a magic dot that followers the aiming point of the gun no matter what angle you look at it at. Works brilliantly at short ranges. The refractive qualities of the lens might still gimp your ability to judge range and drop at any substantial distance.
Red Dot - A little red dot for fast target acquisition.
Magnifications of various powers.
Also combi-scops and variable zoom scopes.
Other accessories include foregrips, slings, underslung weapons, lights and lasers, silencers, bayonet mounts, receiver modifications, magazine modifications...

Melee:
An overhead swing produces in excess of 120 joules. Most slashing actions are between 80-100 joules. Most thrusting actions are from 60 joules.
M9 Bayonet - 12cm handle, 18 cm blade. about 200 grams.
VTAC Tomahawk - light hatchet, about 1kg. Performs like a fire-axe. Good against doors.
Functional Modern Longswords/katanas - What it says on the can. Made from tough heat treated steel (that still performs nothing like swords made from hand-made tempering) - Anything from 2-5 kg.
Military Machettes are also available.

Explosives: Come in Frag, HE and Chemical.
M203 GL - fires 40mm grenades up to 400m. (150m effective) 1.36 kg unloaded.
M72 LAW - 2.5kg launcher with 1.8 kg rocket. Maximum range of 1000m, (165-200m effective) 250mm RHA penetration.
AT4 6.7 kg disposable launcher - Max 2000m effective 500m. Comes in a variety of warheads including High Explosive, armor piercing, HEAT and bunker-busting variants.
M18A1 Claymore - anti personnel mine, 1.6kg. Fires 700 1/8 inch steel balls at 1200 m/s.
Composition-4: Fairly stable plastic explosive. Comes in 0.57 kg blocks. Requires Blasting Caps to detonate. Has a yield of 6.7 MJ/kg.
Fragmentation Grenade
Thermite grenade
Smoke grenades - comes in pretty colors too.

Prices to be decided.

Psychism: Just listing skills.
Mindscrew - Mindfray equivalent. Just drives target crazy - Difficulty 1
Healing - What it says on the can - Difficulty 1
Battle Meditation - Like the Jedi Equivalent, buffs the squad - Difficulty 2
Panic Enemy - What it says on the can - Difficulty 2
Kinesis - Blasts target with kinetic energy - Difficulty 3
Pyrosis - Sets things on fire - Difficulty 3
Barriers - It's like an energy shield, unknown effectiveness against bullets for now. Difficulty 4
Mental Domination - Tries to really mindscrew the target and possibly control it - Difficulty 4
Open Portal - Doesn't really screw with physics, but blurs the barriers between dimensions to cause area of effect panic effects.

Auxiliary:
Fibre-optics visual cable - for viewing round corners/doors
Field Radio - Wireless communication pack. Very bulky. Can be jammed.
Non-Wireless Radio - Used in some urban operations when jamming and normal radios don't cut it. Wires can be physically cut.
Encoding and Decoding Machines - Protects your communications from snooping alien spies.
Field PDAs/Laptops. - Lets you surf the internet and play solitare.
Gun Cameras - A camera attached to a fire-arm or launcher to facilitate blind-firing. The recoil will still produce interesting effects when firing this way though.
assorted drones, exoskeletons and stuff to be researched/designed by players.

Medical:
Anti-shock Meds
Painkillers
Clotting agents
big pack of gauze
tourniquets
chest seals
steroids
a scalpel
alchohol based disinfectant
assorted needles
tape
cloth and slings

All drugs sold at $50 per dose. Miscellaneous first aid items sold at #50 for 3 units.

Armor and apparel:
Battle Dress Uniform - Standard heavy fabrid uniform made from 50% nylon,, 50% cotton. Gives some kind of protection from the elements and padding for strenuous activity. Free
Tactical Rigging - Carries up to 10 ammunition pouches or other items. Free
Parachutes - For dropping out of the sky to land on things or even hijack UFOs. $250 each
Reserve Parachutes - In case of chute failure due to weather or AA fire. $250 each.
Wingsuits - Fancy skydiving uniform. For precision paradrops.

Interceptor Armor - A suit of Kevlar fibers with Ceramic Ballistic Plates 2kg for a full suit of kevlar. 2kg for each front and back plate. 1 kg for each thigh and shin plate. 10kg total. $4000 for a whole suit. $1500 for just kevlar.
Dragonskin Armor - The most hyped armor in the world, made from titanium alloy plates. 2kg vest. 6 kg for a suit that includes thigh and leg coverage and a coif. $6000 for the vest. $15000 for a suit.
Advanced Combat Helmet - Kevlar and Twaron fiber helmet. Somewhat stops bullets and shrapnel. $200, 1kg.


Some Tactical concepts:
Cover - Soldiers are drawn to cover. You shouldn't be caught in the open unless moving quickly or through deliberate stupidity.
Posture - If you find yourself in a perfect firing position, you aren't using cover properly. Rolling to dodge will also let your character prone. You will also prone if caught in the open to somewhat increase your survival chances.
Blind-firing - Spraying bullets in the general direction of the enemy is somewhat feasible.
Suppression - receiving fire lowers the target's morale and performance. But if you're not dead, returning fire will also have the same effect on your shooter. Spraying the enemy constantly keeps them from getting a good hit on you.
Flanking - is only possible if the map diagram allows it. So you're fairly safe in corridor looking flowchart sections. God help you in a labyrinth style kill house.
Weapon Failure - low but distinct possibility. (not 1 in 6, don't worry.) Your average M16 type weapon has a reliability rate of about 600 rounds, or a 1 in 600 chance of jamming. (Kalashnikovs are known to achieve failure rates of more than 1500)
Morale - Besides direct psychic attack, wounds, teammates dying, being surprised, suppressed and other stuff can result in player-characters making mind rolls to go into shock. Team-mates can make charisma rolls to help other teammates. Also, panic is contagious.

When in doubt, empty the magazine.
Ammo is cheap. But brain preservation tech is non-existent in this era. If you take a serious wound, you could be perma-dead.
The noisiest weapons always look the most powerful.

[syvarris]

Okay, first, this seems interesting, but is this subforum really the place for it?  Under the rules that it was originally created with, it wasn't supposed to be for any game aside from ER.  The other stuff like DMR only slides through on account of being in the same universe as ER.  I'd think it would be better to do this in the Roll To Dodge subforum, and just post a notice in ER OOC.

Secondly, will this game be at least somewhat conducive to a sniper?

Thirdly, how realistic will it be, as far as combat?  On one hand, you have muzzle energy listed, but on the other, melee combat is a skill.  Will there be some reason melee combat is useful?

Lastly, just a suggestion, but add a difficulty 0 psychic power of "message" or "empathy" or something, which lets people communicate with nearby people who they're familiar with.  That way, we can actually talk to each other and coordinate, and there will be much less worry of OOC abuse.  I'm thinking of this primarily because it's useful to a sniper who's going to be hundreds of meters away from his team most of the time.

[Aigre Excalibur]

At the start of the game, I want to try to simulate 21st century combat, which would mean a somewhat gun dominated battlefield at first unless alien inflence changes the nature of fighting and forces more melee weapons to redevelop.

Fights could still degenerate to melee with the enemy on top of the players. Particularly if we introduce melee oriented enemies or some kind of honor cult caste.

Snipers should still work, maybe the players could develop gear to make them more adaptable to close range sharpshooting on top of long range camping.

I expect players to take the meta to the max. Communications would affect stuff like calling home base for backup or a rescue.

I'll think about moving that ic thread. Meanwhile I'm happy to bounce ideas around in here.

[AoshimaMichio]

Don't wanna sound like an annoying police, but what part of the game is related to ER? ERverse doesn't even have psychic powers (as far as I know, hence amps).

[Egan_BW]

Can we have shotguns?

[Radio Controlled]

Don't wanna sound like an annoying police, but what part of the game is related to ER? ERverse doesn't even have psychic powers (as far as I know, hence amps).

I have to agree. It sounds fun enough, but what is the link with ER? Perhaps,it should be moved to regular rtd board (toady can move threads around I think).

[Aigre Excalibur]

It's related to ER only cos I copied most of the game engine. It's en experiment to take the combat side of Piecewise's system to the max. I'll see to moving or starting a proper thread in the rtd board then.

As for shotguns, I plan to make it something that players will request for specifically. You can acquire any 21st century small arms by asking for the specific model. Tooling for armory mass production will be a different issue. And players are also encourage to modify existing gear or research new ones.

[AoshimaMichio]

The game engine ER uses is piecewise's brain. Can't copy that. 

[Nikitian]

Hmmm. Considering joining (depends on whether I have the time), got a couple of questions:

What is the (implied, even if minimalistic) backstory for our military unit? Are we private military contractors, or are we governmental program? Is the unit specifically USA-originating (based on the weapons selection), or is it international, in the glorious X-Com tradition?
In addition: do the assorted grenade launchers use Con or Exp to shoot? ER logic suggests Con, but then ER's explosives are Uncon and projectile-explosives are listed among Con weapons, so I'm not sure here.

[Aigre Excalibur]

Todo:
Move/start proper i/c thread.

Rethink encumberance. I want over-encumbered armored soldiers running around, but not at the expense of fun or too much worrying over the minmaxing.

I also need to flesh out a research system and a way to acquire non-standard issue gear.

As for backstory, I think it'll be fun playing as pmc or vigilantes who have difficulties in getting paid and have to resort to looting and/or outright plunder of the surrounding civilian areas on top of gathering alien artifacts.

All explosives should be explosive stat. But for grey areas like grenade launchers or combo weapons, we could let the player choose to roll on projectiles. Any failures of the explosives should be rolled on the explosive stat. Mishandling explosives wi result in !fun!.

It will be glorious xcom international style.. I'll flesh out a public relations stat. I may also simulate jealous intelligence agencies who try to fight you for loots. Also, massive civilian casualties or hostage situations, especially in abduction missions could be a thing.

Transport aircraft will be as abundant as the plot requires. Focus should still be mostly on infantry. Unless we get enough vehicle drivers.

[Moopli]

The max unencumbered carry weight for the standard-issue human is ~40lbs. 15-25 of those pounds could be carried in hands around waist height, but the rest would have to be supported by hips and shoulders, hips preferably. The average American soldier carries at least ~90lbs of kit, so if you consider them to have, say, +1 Str and +1 End, then maybe you could assume that a point of Str/End gives about 25lbs carry weight, because it's either less of a load for you, or a heavy load that you're tough enough to handle. Then again, American soldiers are usually considered to be overencumbered, and they generally won't carry so much into combat, so maybe you can assume that a point of Str adds, say, 30lbs to your unencumbered carry weight but a point of End helps you deal with overencumbrance better.

[Aigre Excalibur]

Maybe.. 10 kilos at -2 strength. And a 10kg increment per level after -2.

It should also help with hitting things, controlling heavier weapons, and going toe to toe with the enemy in close-up room to room fighting while encumbered.

[syvarris]

I'd really recommend you keep encumbrance scores more abstract.  IIRC, PW has actually listed this as one of his worst game design mistakes; He highly regretted adding encumbrance and carry capacity to... the one game where you explore a quiet world, I think.  My own experience with encumbrance systems says that generally they're just either annoying or ignored.

Perhaps you could say something like "At W strength, you can carry X heavy objects (Machine guns, higher caliber snipers), Y medium objects (assault rifles, shotguns, larger SMGs), and Z small objects (Pistols, magazines, grenades).  Armor would just fall into one of those categories based on weight; Full interceptor would be heavy, dragonskin suit would be medium, helmet would be small.  This is way easier to keep track of, and will avoid players constantly asking "How many kilos does this alien doo-dad weigh?  How about this one?  I'm only .4 kilos overweight, so I shouldn't get full encumbrance penalty, right?"

Actually, no, that wouldn't work well.  Inevitably somebody would try to use an M240 and full interceptor, but only a couple grenades and no medium stuff.  It would probably be best to just round to the kilogram, and give generic guidelines for volume to weight.  Hrm.

[Moopli]

Here are some ideas on encumbrance -- syvarris is right, you don't want to force people to recalculate backpack weights all the time, so:

Handheld weight: Each strength level increases the set of things you can comfortably wield. Wield something a level above, and you're encumbered. Nobody can wield stuff two levels above. Level 0 would be things like assault rifles, crowbars, shotguns, a shortsword, etc. Level 1 would be, for example, the M60, or a bazooka, or a sledgehammer. Level 2 might be a minigun, for example.

Carry weight: Maybe 30, say, random pieces of small-ish crap, depending on how much time you spend organizing your pockets/bag/utility belt you could carry more small items. Add room for a couple large items on top, with more stuff the stronger you are. This would probably be best played by ear, I can't think of a useful rule yet (apart from, maybe, you can carry less big stuff if you're wielding a big thing).

[Aigre Excalibur]

A simple map for a hostage/abduction situation at a kindergarten. That'll probably be mission 1:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also a prototype wiki: http://rtdufodefense.wikia.com/wiki/RTDUFODefense_Wikia