[Rules/OT] Shockforce?

Hi all,

I just got hold of a copy of DBI's Shockforce rulebook. Interesting little
system if a bit lightweight and over-simplified (but probably popular
with some players for precisely that reason), but my real reason for this post
concerns the design/points system. I know from previous posts that a
number of list members play this, and given that the points system in SF is in
some ways like some of the ideas that list members have suggested for
possible SG/FMA design systems, I wondered if anyone had any long-term
experiences with this?
Specifically, has anyone done any kind of number-crunching excercise of
the
SF design values to see if it hangs together under player-induced stress
or
munchkinism, ie: have the values for the equipment/figure capabilities,
advantages and disadvantages actually been worked out numerically or are
they just rule-of-thumb numbers?
Please note I'm not asking this in order to knock another game system, but out
of genuine curiosity while we're developing FMA and other stuff.....

> I just got hold of a copy of DBI's Shockforce rulebook. Interesting

Guilty!

> but my real reason for this post

Oddly enough, one of the Demonblade people just asked this today on the Shock
Force listserve. He wanted to hear if anyone had uncovered any major loopholes
in the point system.

I personally cannot make any kind of judgement as to its mathematical
underpinnings, but I will say that in play, where it matters, the point system
holds up pretty well. We have not, in several months of play, found any holes
in it yet. Then again, it has usually been one person designing all sides of
the conflict. I did learn, in my first game, that a bunch of badly armed
Rabble have no real chance against a small force of elites. I put it together
literally at the last second, though, and did not bother calculating the point
values of each side. I think now that I just needed a larger group of rabble.
And the elites using their prisoners as human shields didn't help, really.

The Morale system, on the other hand, needs work. Lots of it.