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Post by napalmbackflip on Feb 16, 2011 7:52:48 GMT -5
How do you folks come up with solid and balanced special rules for your custom factions? And friend and I are having difficulty coming up with ideas that don't seem grossly overpowered.
Thematically the ideas come in droves, but getting those ideas down to something that's not overpowered in game terms is the difficult part.
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Post by fastgit on Feb 16, 2011 8:44:00 GMT -5
I look at it from a systems perspective... in other words, I look at the various factions as a group. Each faction bonus should give flavor (obviously) and offset the bonuses of the other factions. I see it as a "rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock" kind of thing. They may be more/less powerful than a faction from another universe... but that's cool so long as it balances the bonuses of its rivals.
In real terms, I start with a published faction bonus (NT, CoD, RotB, or either of the CB releases) and modify from there.
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Post by napalmbackflip on Feb 16, 2011 9:33:07 GMT -5
Hmm, good advice. Thank you.
The two factions involved are a fighter focused zealous theocracy and a race of spacefaring sharks loosely patterned after the Roman Empire.
My friend playing the theocracy wants to use his fighters in sort of a kamikaze role, and suggested that if his fighters deal damage to a ship he can sacrifice all the remaining fighters in that squadron to double the damage dealt. From a flavor standpoint, I like the rule, but it seems potentially overpowered. Maybe we could state that he would have to declare a kamikaze strike before attacks / point defense come into play? That would add a bit of risk to it...
As I'm playing the sharks, I'm trying to come up with something that has a feel of a feeding frenzy, or going after blood in the water. Perhaps some sort of bonus to ships that have taken hull damage? Or maybe a bonus to initiative roles after an enemy ship has taken some damage / been destroyed?
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Post by fastgit on Feb 16, 2011 19:47:37 GMT -5
My friend playing the theocracy wants to use his fighters in sort of a kamikaze role, and suggested that if his fighters deal damage to a ship he can sacrifice all the remaining fighters in that squadron to double the damage dealt. From a flavor standpoint, I like the rule, but it seems potentially overpowered. Maybe we could state that he would have to declare a kamikaze strike before attacks / point defense come into play? That would add a bit of risk to it... It does seem rather powerful... what about adapting the "Cyborg" boarding rules from CB:MvM? That way, his kamikaze actually crash into enemy vessels... and then can deal damage/sabotage/capture the vessel from within. Another idea could be fighters that are easier to kill, but pack a more significant punch. As I'm playing the sharks, I'm trying to come up with something that has a feel of a feeding frenzy, or going after blood in the water. Perhaps some sort of bonus to ships that have taken hull damage? Or maybe a bonus to initiative roles after an enemy ship has taken some damage / been destroyed? The "feeding frenzy" idea is a tough one... because sharks engaged in such behavior aren't overly discriminating. Sure, they are crazy-aggressive, but they've been know to attack/eat each other... and try to do the same to spinning propeller blades! How about adapting the idea of variable crew rating from NT... but make it situational? Or, the Sharks always need to choose the Aggressive Stance... Or they gain a bonus to attack when they close the range and a minus when they strike from long range... Or they get a bonus to attack and a minus to DC checks... Another idea would be to focus the faction-specific traits -- instead -- on the character of the Roman Legion. What do you think? |
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Post by toaster on Feb 16, 2011 21:01:34 GMT -5
I've been thinking of a faction special rule called impetuous that might work for your feeing frenzy; If they win the initiative roll with a difference of 3 or less they must choose aggressive.
Its somewhat of a negative but could be used to balance a slightly more powerful than standard other faction rule.
Robert
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Post by toastar on Feb 16, 2011 21:27:46 GMT -5
I find your lack of A's disturbing.
On a different note.
What I'd like is for the Ecclessia (My faction of Space Popes) to have some type of faction rule modeled and named Martyrdom. Some type of sacrifice to either frontload dmg, or to shield other ships.
But I like your ideas so far.
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Post by warchariot on Feb 16, 2011 23:57:26 GMT -5
Maybe "feeding frenzy" could be for small ships-DDs, screens. There special rule would be that they all fire together on a target in their arc. This would give a nice advantage with firing, but still place them down in the firing order.
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Post by napalmbackflip on Feb 18, 2011 9:29:47 GMT -5
Great ideas folks, I really appreciate them. I'm sort of leaning towards either a 'Blood in the Water' rule where shark ships gain a bonus of some sort to firing on an enemy that was already damaged by sharks that turn. If I can't muscle that into being balanced in some fashion I'll probably come down on the Roman side of things.
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Post by fastgit on Feb 18, 2011 11:47:10 GMT -5
What if the bonus only kicks in if a previous hit resulted in a critical?
You could even limit it so that the bonus only applied to vessels of another class. In other words, a capital ship (BB or BC) strikes an enemy, causing a crit. All non-capital vessels (CA, CL, DD) receive a bonus to strike that same ship. You could probably extend it to fighter-class ships as well. If an escort causes a crit, any fighter-class interceptor or strike craft receives the bonus.
What do you think?
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Post by napalmbackflip on Feb 18, 2011 12:53:36 GMT -5
What if the bonus only kicks in if a previous hit resulted in a critical? This is exactly what I'm thinking. I like it, and it makes sense. The hull is breached, atmosphere streaming out, the sharks metaphorically scent blood and strike! |
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Post by fastgit on Feb 18, 2011 14:24:04 GMT -5
Cool.
Glad we're thinking along the same lines. I'd seriously consider, however, the capital/escort/fighter limiting factor. It would still evoke the image of sharks moving in for the kill... but it wouldn't give your capital ships too much power.
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Post by napalmbackflip on Feb 21, 2011 12:24:03 GMT -5
Yeah after I thought about it a bit, I realized it would make capital ships inordinately powerful. Good call.
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Post by sieffre on Aug 15, 2011 9:53:12 GMT -5
We;re just converting from Full Thrust to Colinial Battlefleet and I'm attempting to convert my fleet of Kzinti ships to the new format. I'm thinking along the lines of 3/2/5/3/4/3 with two Faction Benefits: +1 to maximum Delta (Kzin ships can pull more Gs than humans) and +1 to maximum Fire Control (Kzin reflexes are better than Humans). To offset that, the Impetuous suggestion above looks good to me as it reflects the Kzin blood lust.
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Post by toaster on Aug 16, 2011 2:12:23 GMT -5
Max delta is about engine power if you want just manuverability you could give +1 turns instead as a slightly less powerful version.
Robert
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Post by sieffre on Aug 16, 2011 12:20:27 GMT -5
Thus speaks the voice of experience! +1 turns would make a simple, more elegant, solution. Thanks!
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Post by felixg91 on Mar 6, 2014 13:02:16 GMT -5
Anyone worked up faction builds for Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Gorn, Kzinti, Lyrans, Cardassians, Borg, Tholians, etc?
Instead of faction rules I was almost thinking each fleet had 2 mandatory roles on each ship. Feds would for example have defender and battle line, Klingons would have battle line and rapid deployment, Romulans have stealth and battle line, kzinti have carrier and screen, Lyrans have screen and defender, flagship is an additional possible role on any ship but makes that ship count as 2 ships or something.
Anyone worked up faction builds for the Rebel alliance and the Galactic imperials?
I just started increasing the number of trek verse ships and star peace ships, I always had some but never enough to really make much use of compared to human and cyborg and star blazers and our group hates/loves surprises, crossovers make great messy complication filled tactical problems!
Advice comments and concerns, please thanks.
Whadda ya hear?
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Post by toaster on Mar 6, 2014 16:51:34 GMT -5
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