So a certain somebody is working on AR on the Discord. Over the last few days, they got a lot of feedback regarding the perils of building a mechanically complicated sci-fi space/naval race..
For the benefit of posterity, here's a short compilation of advice that MoP put together:
HERE'S A COMPILED AND SORTED DOCUMENT CONTAINING ALL THE ADVICE YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN. HAVE FUN WITH IT.
On Legacy Fleets and Early Rolls:
have players design stuff that both sides then get. Downside is obviously that both sides start with identical tech, but then I assume the intent is to replace legacy gear ASAP
make them share the first set of rolls/Rerolling 1's & Failures/Sharing rolls between sides/Not telling the players what you're doing behind the scenes and cheesing your own rules to make sure they get something alright
On Setting:
if you’re a gm you also have the power to just tell the players if what they’re doing is on-brand for the setting
It’s nice to have an in universe reason for shit, but yes players will always try to subvert things. See: the entirety of embral. However, as a gm it’s totally within your rights to veto shit
(You:I'm fully prepared for then to give me some completely bullshit reason to get steel in aether and give me two pages of science backing it up to which I'll reply with "sure, that will take at least a year") Reply with no/If you give the slightest indication that it is possible, players will do it.
On Scale:
the scale of individual ship projects and production vs...50 different areas to fight over (is bad)
The game will crawl and with so much area to cover ships actually crossing one another and engaging will be uncommon at best
On Mechanical Balance/Maintaining GM Sanity:
concepts of range, fuel limitations, and interception end up trailing into a section of bookkeeping and detail that should be avoided at all costs
if you give a lore reason for a game mechanic, it becomes really hard to argue with the players when they make something that obviates that reason. If you DO end up in such a situation, crush the hovertank with excessive force.
If you don't want to track individual units, or allow players a strategy phase "push here" vote, you need lanes
If you can describe something as (x) with more steps, you can probably just settle for (x)
Madman's game points out some inherent flaws with the individual unit/fleet thing in general when they're linked to some sort of resource system, which is what happens when you retire ships to open up resources or capacity for others? You either wind up with PJ's mess of people cheesing immediate returns and mothballing their aircraft in whichever air one that was, or madman's where the game slows because you have to wait a turn to utilize the points that got free'd up
Is there any sort of cap on what can be fielded? Because if not then it's going to be a real pain in the ass to keep track of ships after a few turns
(Post-upkeep change) now you need to figure out what happens when people decide to clear up IC space for newer shit
What would you have you do/And what do you think you're capable of maintaining for an undefined amount of time/And what is going to keep you interested"
Author
Topic: Arms Race/Design Bureau Hub/General OOC (Got a Discord Channel now) (Read 111933 times)