How Complex are Rules ???

[Bluebear]

Harry,

How (on a 1 to 10 scale) would your rate the Colonial Battlefleet rules in terms of complexity?

How would they compare complexity-wise with "Full Thrust"?


-- Jeff

[TheDreadnought]

On a 1-10 scale, I'd rate the following:

Full Thrust: 4
Starmada: 4
Colonial Battlefleet:5
Squadron Strike:8
SITS: 9
Attack Vector Tactical:10

. . . so we're definitely towards the low-end in complexity. In some ways (like movement) CB is simpler than either Full Thrust or Starmada. There's a smidgen more complexity in damage resolution because we wanted to enable a lot more different options and flavors of weapon systems, but its still extremely easy.

"Easy to learn" is a key design feature of every game we make. If we do add some additional complexity, we do it in the form of optional rules that people can add or not add according to their individual preference.

I'd say that overall it's probably a little simpler than Naval Thunder: Battleship Row, if that helps at all.

[warchariot]

I wouldn't say they were more complex than Starmada or Full Thrust, they just have more to them. The damage resolution isn't difficult, you just roll some more dice, but it allows for more complex results, which again aren't hard, you just read off the table or apply from memory.

[adastragames]

I'd rate it as follows, myself - with two numbers. Number before the slash is "How easy is it to learn?" Number after the slash is "How complex is it to play?"

Colonial Battlefleet: 3/3
Full Thrust: 3/4
Starmada: 4/5
Squadron Strike: 6/5
SITS: 7/5
Fed Commander: 5/7
AV:T: 8/6
SFB: 9/10

[warchariot]

Jun 6, 2010 12:29:49 GMT -5 adastragames said:

I'd rate it as follows, myself - with two numbers. Number before the slash is "How easy is it to learn?" Number after the slash is "How complex is it to play?"

I guess I'm not sure what you mean. When you say how complex is it to play, do you mean how the rules interact, how real it feels, how much time it takes to resolve things, or something else?

[adastragames]

Warchariot:

Some games have complex procedures that have to be done every single turn. For example, an initiative system where you have to roll an individual initiative number for each ship, and everything moves on its initiative number within its size range. (Yes, I'm looking at you, B5Wars...)

Some games have baroque special rules for critical hits to specific systems. Some systems layer on lots of record keeping on top of record keeping, or mandatory die re-roll systems.

Think of it as "How much effort is it to learn?" and "How much effort is it to play once you've learned it?"

[warchariot]

"Think of it as "How much effort is it to learn?" and "How much effort is it to play once you've learned it?"

Thanks, that clears it up alot. I like your rating system. I agree with your 3/3 for CB as it is easy to learn and effortless to play. I had a game yesterday with me-read and messed with rules, Ed read rules, and Steve never heard of the game-although we are all long-time FT players. We all played with about the same effort after a quick recap of rules.