Print

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

[thatroleplayerGal]

Main Thread

Home. That's all you want. A long time ago, the invading species took that from you. And again. And again. You've been on the run throughout countless galaxies and you keep watching as they fall. Well, no more. This time, it's yours. Your species did not evolve for billions of years just to be taken down by some kind of dangerous alien life-form that can't even invent technology.

You are the Terrans, the human empire.

Map:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Expansionists

Spoiler: Terrans (click to show/hide)

Name: Terrans
Description: Terrans are a race of primate-descended humanoids. They possess two arms, two legs, lack fur everywhere asides from a few isolated places, and have bodies designed for long-term survival in moderate conditions. Despite their role as mesophiles, their remarkable intellect has enabled them to travel out from their home planet of Terra and explore the galaxy.
Special Trait: Terrans have always been the scrappy underdogs that thrive in moderation, and because of that, they've learned ways to defend themselves with their natural evolutionary street-smarts. You gain a +2 to defense on all defense rolls.

Starting Unit:

Colonial Marine

Infantry Class

The main Terran military force. Equipped with standard-issue assault rifles and ballistic armor, their equipment is surprisingly lackluster compared to the technology of the future.

1 Attack.
2 Health.

No modifiers.

100 CRED.

[helmacon]

Beep Boop

+1 for Terrans

[frostgiant]

Not very many players in this faction? Guess i'll join expansionists.

+1 for the greys,

Humans are boring.

[thatroleplayerGal]

New Expansionist species added.

[HotDiggityDog]

the terrans have real good defense that would be beneficial but the greys could be so fucking cool because we could research units with genetic engineering and make badass alien species

+1 to the mothertruckinfuckin greys yo

[UristMcRiley]

+1 for the humans
 

[thatroleplayerGal]

Once a consensus or at least a majority (even if it's by one vote) I'll update both threads tomorrow afternoon.

[Madman198237]

Humans: (3) Helmacon, UristMcRiley, Madman
Greys: (2) frostgiant, HotDiggityDog

I like the idea of the science boost so I won't really complain if that one wins, but a +2 defense boost ALL THE TIME??? We'll be nigh-unconquerable. That's a 25% bonus to the maximum possible health.

However, while I'm definitely interested (and presently too busy to post in the core thread), I'd like to know what you mean, GM, by a "backfire".

[thatroleplayerGal]

Humans: (3) Helmacon, UristMcRiley, Madman
Greys: (2) thatroleplayerGal, HotDiggityDog

I like the idea of the science boost so I won't really complain if that one wins, but a +2 defense boost ALL THE TIME??? We'll be nigh-unconquerable. That's a 25% bonus to the maximum possible health.

However, while I'm definitely interested (and presently too busy to post in the core thread), I'd like to know what you mean, GM, by a "backfire".

If a Research Project is completed and its result gets an unfavorable roll beyond an outright failure (basically anything less than a 3, so a 1 or 2), the research project will backfire and impair the faction. Backfired units can be remedied by simply not purchasing the broken unit, though depending on the roll, I may spawn some backfired units by default if the research fails. If a structure backfires, at least one structure will always be created, and it will provide a negative bonus rather than a positive. Backfired passive bonuses, well, those are insanely dangerous, since you can't get rid of them without another research project designed to fix the passive bonus.

Grays, of course, cannot get a full backfire. A backfired unit that goes berserk and damages structures might instead backfire as a suicide bomber, harming both enemy and allies alike, rather than just ally structures.

[Madman198237]

...

What's balancing that system?

[thatroleplayerGal]

...

What's balancing that system?

Ironically enough, structure/unit/bonus modifiers. Which... are from research projects.

I'm thinking of implementing a money-modifier system, though, that increases success chance based on how much credits/evolution points you put in beyond the required minimum amount for the project.

[Madman198237]

Yep, as expected.

You are taking the punishment for a bad roll (No gain) and making it more than twice as bad (active negative effect), which means that a streak of bad luck can permanently cripple one side, making this a crappy and short game that leaves very few people happy.

We have another Arms Race, Spire Race, in which there are diminishing returns (i.e., doing the same thing twice is not usually worthwhile) for revisions. It's hard enough to keep on par when you can't just use a second revision to make the first one's product usable, what happens when the first action is actively harming your war effort, and the second one makes it worse?

[thatroleplayerGal]

Yep, as expected.

You are taking the punishment for a bad roll (No gain) and making it more than twice as bad (active negative effect), which means that a streak of bad luck can permanently cripple one side, making this a crappy and short game that leaves very few people happy.

We have another Arms Race, Spire Race, in which there are diminishing returns (i.e., doing the same thing twice is not usually worthwhile) for revisions. It's hard enough to keep on par when you can't just use a second revision to make the first one's product usable, what happens when the first action is actively harming your war effort, and the second one makes it worse?

What would you suggest instead? This system is designed so that players weigh the potential consequences of fixing backfires as opposed to simply dealing with the disadvantage outright. They have to decide whether the disadvantage is bad enough to risk it or not, or whether or not they can circumvent the disadvantage by changing their focus on future research projects and thus altering their playstyle.

[Madman198237]

Just get rid of the backfire system entirely so that you don't risk some pretty extreme snowball effects?

Because you're going to see, almost certainly, a backfire, then a fix backfires, and suddenly the team is two actions (Or more!) behind their enemies and they're just utterly screwed, because meanwhile they're losing units and territory, which means they won't be able to build as many units as the enemy, meaning the enemy is going to take more territory, meaning the first team can build even fewer units, and so on and so on.

[thatroleplayerGal]

Just get rid of the backfire system entirely so that you don't risk some pretty extreme snowball effects?

Because you're going to see, almost certainly, a backfire, then a fix backfires, and suddenly the team is two actions (Or more!) behind their enemies and they're just utterly screwed, because meanwhile they're losing units and territory, which means they won't be able to build as many units as the enemy, meaning the enemy is going to take more territory, meaning the first team can build even fewer units, and so on and so on.

But then the Grays need a new special trait, which requires an entirely new revamping. And so do the Chitar.