I've come up with a couple new ideas for pod amunition for the Sa'Vasku and
I'd like you're feedback on them.
Boarding Pods:
-1 biomass 3 energy
-Drills into the hull and starts killing crew
-At the end phase one crew box is marked off
-During repair phase you can try and kill it off with repair crews as
you would attempt a repair
-When all the crew boxes are marked off the ship is adrift
Bjorg Assimilation Pods
-1 biomass 3 energy
-Drills into the hull and starts assimilating crew
-At the end phase one crew box is marked off and there are now 2
assimilation g roups on the ship
-During repair phase you can try and kill it off with repair crews as
you would attempt a repair
-When all the crew boxes are marked off the ship is under the control of
the Sa 'vas player
Alternately you can have the assimilation group roll a D6 and on a 4+ it
asslim ilates a crew
box. Either each group gets to roll or each extra group gets a +1 to
it's roll.
(Yes this pod is designed to fit into a "Borg" type race which I'm working on
b ackground for. Should have it done fairly soon for prelim review)
> Bjorg Assimilation Pods
Now that sounds cool - so the assimulation gets harder and harder to
fight the more time that goes on. I think it should still have to test to
assimulate or die. In all good SF the crew does attempt to put up a fight.
Hmmm, I wonder if American Movie Classics has already run "The Blob" this
week, probably some good ideas there...
---- Begin Original Message ----
From: "Peter Mancini" <peter_mancini@msn.com>
Sent: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 16:43:33 EST
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Re: New Pod armaments
Now that sounds cool - so the assimulation gets harder and harder to
fight the more time that goes on. I think it should still have to test to
assimulate or die. In all good SF the crew does attempt to put up a fight.
Hmmm, I wonder if American Movie Classics has already run "The Blob" this
week, probably some good ideas there...
---- End Original Message ----
Well instead of it having to test, the crew gets to test by trying to fight
it. The two concepts for it: The Blob or Borg Assimilation can give two
different ways to fight it; 1) i t's gets strong each time it assimilates; 2)
there are now more of them moving around.
The first way you only have to kill one and each time it assimilates it's gets
stronger (the +1
to roll) or there is now more of them so they're harder to fight (each group
no w having to be attack individually)
The Crew killing type I sugested fills the blob roll. This latter type I
recome nd is more of a boarding action in attempt to take over the ship.
> On Mon, Oct 30, 2000 at 02:20:23PM -0800, Jaime wrote:
this
> week, probably some good ideas there...
How about using the standard beam roll? Roll a die for each assimilation
factor on the ship; on a 4 or 5, a crew unit dies. On a 6,
the crew unit is assimilated -- the ship loses a crew unit and another
assimilation factor is on the ship.
So why don't they always attempt to take over the ship? There is no cost
difference and in the end it is better to have full control of a ship (even a
shot up one) than to just set it adrift. Is't it more difficult to attempt to
assimulate than to kill the crew?
---- Begin Original Message ----
From: Robert Crawford <crawford@kloognome.com>
Sent: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 17:30:00 -0500
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Re: Re: New Pod armaments
> On Mon, Oct 30, 2000 at 02:20:23PM -0800, Jaime wrote:
How about using the standard beam roll? Roll a die for each assimilation
factor on the ship; on a 4 or 5, a crew unit dies. On a 6,
the crew unit is assimilated -- the ship loses a crew unit and another
assimilation factor is on the ship.
---- End Original Message ----
hmmm... that sounds like a good idea.
The reason I was splitting the two types of pods up was so I could use the
assi milation pods could be genre specific.
Could go: Crew killer pod:
4-5 kill 1 crew
6 kill 2 (or kill 1 and a reroll)
Assimilation pod:
4-5 Assimilate 1
6 assimilate 2 (or assimilate 1 and reroll)
Conbo: As stated in original msg
> Boarding Pods:
An automatic crew kill is too powerful, particularly if it's a once per turn
thing. Small ships won't have the resources to fight it, and having less crew
to begin with, will very quickly be adrift.
Another way to look at it is as a boarding action. This way, even
small ships can fight - destruction isn't automatic for ships of 1
crew. This would also force the attacker to coordinate the assault of many
pods to have a decent chance.
> Bjorg Assimilation Pods
Same comments here, essentially. Treating it as a boarding action seems a
better method.
How about adding: 1 Pod dies (attempted to kill or assimulate high voltage
equipment)
> Could go:
---- Begin Original Message ----
From: Sean Bayan Schoonmaker <s_schoon@pacbell.net>
Sent: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 16:08:04 -0800
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Re: New Pod armaments
An automatic crew kill is too powerful, particularly if it's a once per turn
thing. Small ships won't have the resources to fight it, and having less crew
to begin with, will very quickly be adrift.
Another way to look at it is as a boarding action. This way, even
small ships can fight - destruction isn't automatic for ships of 1
crew. This would also force the attacker to coordinate the assault of many
pods to have a decent chance.
---- End Original Message ----
Having looked at the boarding party rules they're far too prohibative. I
prefer the die roll based on beam rolls to see if the pod kills crew.
4-5 Kill one
6 Kille one + reroll
> ===================
How about on a 1-3 the pod is killed by the crew?
> Having looked at the boarding party rules they're far too
Cheers,
> Having looked at the boarding party rules they're far too
The problem is one of balance. If a relatively cheap weapon is assured to
dispose of a ship of up to 40 MASS or so, then there's a problem with the cost
of the weapon.
Even a ship with 2 crew has only a 1 in 6 chance of killing the bugger before
it's cast adrift. And potentially worse from a campaign standpoint, that ship
is then "spoils of war."
> The problem is one of balance. If a relatively cheap weapon is
How about if you have a chance to evade the pod? Smaller, faster ships would
have a better chance to avoid being hit. A boarding pod couldn't sweep (like a
beam), explode or maneuver as radically as an unmanned missile, so evasive
action seems reasonable.
> How about if you have a chance to evade the pod? Smaller, faster ships
Hmmm, there's an idea. You'd have to make up a mechanic that would make it
relatively easy for a Thrust 6 or 8 ship to evade, while making it more
difficult for a Thrust 2 or 4.
I'm not sure if that would entirely solve the balance problem, but it's a good
idea.
> Hmmm, there's an idea. You'd have to make up a mechanic that would
I don't recall the mechanism for pod attacks but "-1/2 Target's
MainDrive" on the To Hit roll suggests itself.
***
Hmmm, there's an idea. You'd have to make up a mechanic that would make it
relatively easy for a Thrust 6 or 8 ship to evade, while making it more
difficult for a Thrust 2 or 4.
I'm not sure if that would entirely solve the balance problem, but it's a good
idea.
***
Especially as my ESU fleet would expect my FSE allies to take the lead in such
battles. *heh heh*
The_Beast
-Douglas J. Evans, curmudgeon
One World, one Web, one Program - Microsoft promotional ad
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer - Adolf Hitler
Ok the major concerns seems to be the cheapnessa nd the effectiveness of the
po ds. How about this:
Crew gets chance to attack pod (same as repair roll)
Then Pod attacks
1 - gets hit by onboard defenses
2-3 - nothing
4+ - kills one crew
1 - gets hit by onboard defenses
2-3 nothing
4+ - assimilates one crew (now two pods onboard)
In message <00b601c042f0$d20e2320$68f348a6@pavilion>
> "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net> wrote:
> > Hmmm, there's an idea. You'd have to make up a mechanic that would
Hmm.. Lance and Leech pods (and several unofficial varients I and others
proposed on the list a few months back) determine whether or not they
hit in the same way as 'old' (pre-Fleet Book 1) Pulse Torpedoes.
I was considering a 'boarding pod' concept myself, but I never developed it
much, something like:
Roll to hit as a Lance Pod, if it hits, 1 boarding party is injected into the
target ship. Then use whatever boarding party rules you like.
If you want to make it nastier, increase the number of boarding parties
injected per pod.
> I don't recall the mechanism for pod attacks but "-1/2 Target's
If they were to be worked like Sa'Vasku pods, then the mechanic is:
roll one die, hitting on 3+ (0-6"), 4+ (6-12"), 5+ (12-18", 6
(18-24").
1/2 drive might be a little too much, making even drive 4 ships
untouchable at ranges over 12"
> >I don't recall the mechanism for pod attacks but "-1/2 Target's
This is a problem?
> This is a problem?
Not necessarily. It depends on what the end-concept for the weapon was.
The slight difficulty with that, is that Thrust 8 ships are untouchable at any
range. (Again, not necessarily a problem...)
> > Hmmm, there's an idea. You'd have to make up a mechanic that would
How about roll less than or equal to 1/2 drive rating ....
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