I'm still working on the Machine People, at speeds favorably comparable to
Grand Prix Continental Drift. This is a first draft rough sketch outline
of a half-baked idea:
I'm stealing a page from the Phalons, the SV, and Motie brownies: the Machine
People can reconfigure their ships. They'll start out with their mass alocated
to systems as usual, but during the course of the game they'll be able to use
DPCs to tear down and rebuild systems. Thus if they start
with four Beam-1's on turn 1 and decide they need a Beam-3 instead, on
turn
1 damage control phase the Beam-1's will be taken apart (no roll
required)
and on turn 2's DamCon phase they'll get a DCP roll to build a Beam-3
with the parts. There will be Mass Pools which limit how much you can rebuild:
Sensors (include FCS and ADFC), Energy Weapons (Beams, Needles, PDS), Physical
Ordnance (SMR, fighters, pod-equivalents), and Drives. Ships will not
necessarily start out will all the pools, eg their allotment to Physical
Ordnance may be zero. I'm not sure: a) which category to put PTorps into b)
whether to give a Defensive Field category (screens, a mechanical equivalent
of vapor shrouds); c) whether there should be a Hull & Armor pool d) if there
a possibility of moving mass between different pools at extra
cost and/or a penalty to the roll if you decide, for example, that you
need
a Beam-1 (energy weapon) more than an ADFC (sensors).
e) whether a Machine Shop system on the SSD should improve their chance to
reconfigure, or if it should be a requirement for any reconfiguring.
I had a similar idea for, yet another, organic species last year. Each ship
has 3 forms. That is for each ship, you have 3 SSDs of equal mass. For points,
you pay for the most expensive SSD. Any turn during the game, during the
orders phase, a ship may choose to cocoon itself. It generates
the equivilent of a Level-2 screen but may do nothing else for the turn.
On the following turn it functions as one of the other 2 SSDs. Hull damage
remains, and if it had systems damage, it rolls randomly to place the same
number of damaged systems on the new SSD. DCPs can function on the turn it is
in the cocoon, however.
How about this (which should keep things simple):
All MP ships cost 4 x mass, regardless of design (this includes variable cost
items, such as fighters & FCs) All Machine People ships have a fixed hull
value but have 1 DCP per 10 mass. All other systems can be torn down and
rebuilt during the game as follows: 1. Every system requires a DCP roll to
break down, if successful, the system's mass is shifted to a cargo which can
be drawn upon later. 2. New systems can only be built from available cargo,
using DCP rolls. Mass which was broken down this turn is not available until
next turn. 3. If the drives are being modified (broken down or upgraded) no
thrust is available.
4. Expendable munitions (fighters/missiles etc) can be created if
there is an appropriate bay available (3 mass fighter bay or SML(SMR)
launcher). This mass is lost unless recovered later (eg: fighter recovery.) 1
roll
creates an entire squadron/salvo.
5. Armour can be constructed/removed during the repair phase, but
each point requires a separate DCP attempt. 6. Systems damaged by threshold
checks cannot be repaired but must be broken down & rebuilt.
Standard configuration at the start of the battle is: 30% hull 10% ftl drive
20% main drives (MD4) 5% armour
5% screen (Screen-1)
20% firecons & energy weapons (beams & pds) - players choice of type
10% other systems (missiles/fighters/specials) - players choice
The standard config is to avoid maxed out designs before engagement (ie:
pure carriers/beam ships). Minor variations are possible (eg more hull,
better drives, no screen etc), but should not be readily visible to your
opponent as a maxed out design. After all, a general design can at least
survive whatever is thrown at it until it can counter the threat.
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[Pirates] Dame Captain Washalot
[NPJB] Absorbent Sponge Sheesh'Ka'Baab
> -----Original Message-----
the
> Machine People can reconfigure their ships. They'll start out with
> All MP ships cost 4 x mass, regardless of design (this includes
OK, sounds about right
> 1. Every system requires a DCP roll to break down, if
I'd say breaking it down requires a DCP but not a roll.
> 3. If the drives are being modified (broken down or upgraded) no
Right
> 4. Expendable munitions (fighters/missiles etc) can be created
launcher).
> This mass is lost unless recovered later (eg: fighter recovery.)
1 roll
> creates an entire squadron/salvo.
Missiles aren't normally used by decent, right-thinking Machine
People. There are some clans that sacrifice sentience this way, but we don't
speak about them. ("Missiles are people too!")
> 5. Armour can be constructed/removed during the repair phase,
I'd say they should be able to repair thresholded systems as normal.
> Standard configuration at the start of the battle is:
This is reasonable. The Machine People have what I'll call tribes. Each tribe
will have different defaults, and clans within the tribes may have different
variants.
> The standard config is to avoid maxed out designs before
The Machine People concept came out of a story by, I think, Poul Anderson, in
which all the biological life on a planet had died and the machines had
evolved.
I didn't want to give them any automatic successes (Murphy applies even to
machines).
How about instead that the machine people can apply a full 6 DCP parties to
automatically succeed. This should give the player more to think about (do
I built that class-10 beam at 1+ or those 8 class-2 beams at 6+?)
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[Pirates] Dame Captain Washalot
[NPJB] Absorbent Sponge Sheesh'Ka'Baab
> -----Original Message-----
> I'd say breaking it down requires a DCP but not a roll.
> I'd say they should be able to repair thresholded systems as
> on 7/27/00 22:11, Laserlight at laserlight@quixnet.net wrote:
--->8---
> Standard configuration at the start of the battle is:
Instead of tribes they could have system numbers, version numbers or
development stages. ;-)
--->8--- (snip)
> The Machine People concept came out of a story by, I think, Poul
> This is reasonable. The Machine People have what I'll call
> This is reasonable. The Machine People have what I'll call
The concept of tribes and clans doesn't sit well in my mind; it just
doesn't seem machine-ish.
Factory states was a concept suggested in OGRE. That might work.
> I didn't want to give them any automatic successes (Murphy applies even
I'd say "leave the DCP system as is," even for the machine people. Damage is,
by its nature, a very chaotic thing that takes time to repair. Even a machine
might take more than one turn to repair something, as it finds unexpected
surprises in the twisted wreckage.
> >> Standard configuration at the start of the battle is:
tribes = models clans = versions
but of course they don't think of it that way.
> on 7/28/00 10:48, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker at s_schoon@pacbell.net wrote:
> I didn't want to give them any automatic successes (Murphy applies
Damage
> is, by its nature, a very chaotic thing that takes time to repair.
Even a
> machine might take more than one turn to repair something, as it finds
I'm in agreement with Sean. For the sake of simplicity I saw leave the DCP
rules the same in that a max of 3 DCP parties on one item with the same
probability to fix. If a difference is still desired then allowing a Machine
Race to convert crew over to DCP for a cost is probably the way I'd go. This
could really help smaller ships in some situations.
AE Brain speculated
> I was thinking that they'd be perfect for the Borg too...
They're not necessarily all that creative, just adaptive. That is, if this
clan only knows Beam and Ptorp, they won't be able to invent Pulser, but
they'll switch to the best combination of Beam and PTorp for their threat
environment.
In message 398122c0.1ae5.0@dynamite.com.au
> aebrain@dynamite.com.au wrote:
[snip]
> >
Not forgetting Xinu, Os-eb, and, of course, os-csir :-)
> [quoted text omitted]
> The Machine People can reconfigure their ships. They'll start out
Idle thoughts: Can Machine people DCPs produce or repair a lost DCP
> --- Chris DeBoe <LASERLIGHT@QUIXNET.NET> wrote:
I have been following the discussion, and the only suggestion I have is:
The creation of a 'spare parts' pool.
The spare parts pool would provide a 'points sink' to pay for the versitility
of the concept. The spare parts pool could
also be used to limit the number of changes that could be made during the
battle.
Just a thought.
Bye for now.
> The creation of a 'spare parts' pool.
I'd say that the DCP mechanic limits things enough, and the point cost can be
better settled by initial costing of the hull.