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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Updating the Game

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

One of the difficulties with a successful game is that it continues to grow and expand. New ideas get added that affect older systems. An example of this is the Monsters in the game.

Most of the monsters were created for simple "one off" scenarios involving the monster "doing its thing". Consider that when the "Creature That Ate Sheboygan III" was originally written, there were no such things as fighters. When it was later updated, there were no such things as Fast Patrol Ships. Later X-ships appeared, and the monster was not updated to deal with them. Then came things like Drogues and bombers and . . . well the monster is not as powerful as it once was.

And that is just a monster.

Anytime something new is added, there is a ripple effect through the game.

But there are other effects that have to be considered.

Internal consistency is to be greatly desired, but sometimes consistency has to give way to playability. In the Omega Sector there is currently a proposal for Omegan phaser-4 versions. Some players insist that for "consistency" these must be shorter ranged like many Omega phasers are. Others note that if they are that short ranged, it makes the bases sitting ducks and useless for influencing battles nearby. Alpha Octant bases are an example. Sure, the non-phaser heavy weapons of these bases are comparatively short-ranged, and the heavy phasers while they can reach out do not do that much damage. (Six phaser-4s at 100 hexes average a point of damage, and max out at six points, at 40 hexes range they average six points of damage, but might max out at 18 points.) But the fact that you while maneuvering against a defending ship you might have to turn a down or weak shield to that base might make you decide to turn the other way. (Sure, he has to get lucky . . . but if he narrow salvoes and rolls that one . . .)

The point here is that base has the ability to influence the battle. A base that is limited to 30 hexes range tops (because that is a reasonable extrapolation of the range of improvement for a heavy phaser) is nothing but a sitting duck for most other races. You cannot just look at Omega, you have to think about Omega units fighting Alpha units in a campaign. Why would anyone agree to have the base that the Feds will just dip into 30 hexes range every other turn, with reinforced shields facing the base, fire their photons, then slip back out to 31 hexes range and repeat the turn following the next turn? If the base's weapons can reach out, it has the option to fire on at least two, and maybe more, exposed shields. It can support other defending units by threatening those shields. There is a different dynamic in the game.

As far as why the weapons are able to fire apparently larger than they should compared to the non heavy phasers, just not that it is an effect of the combination of the heavy phaser and positional stabilizers, or that larger phasers are better able to use the focusing system, or that it is an advantage accruing to the scale of the system.

The ultimate point is to make all the races playable and enjoyable not just in a one-off scenario, but in a campaign as well. Each race deserves to have a following, and no race will have a following if it is just a loser, no matter how "historically accurate" its being a loser is.