I'm doing small homepage with adaptations for tyranids to use them in SGII.
It's _almost_ done, so I won't post it yet, but I was thinking:
Using Tyranids in any battle involves alot of small changes and extras just to
make the work. So I thought I'd run 'em by you lot.
Hormgaunt leap? triple combat move? 3*D?
The Hive node priciple? i.e. Hive Tyrant and Tyranidwarriors and the
"Immune to psy."-rule. According to the system (FMA) all can run away,
all can get scared. If a tyranid creature is within 12" from a Warrior, then
do they pass all test? All reaction tests or what?
There's probably alot more, but I can't remeber any q. we had when we
discussed this. Will playtest our rules this weekend, and after that I'll post
'em.
Con't comment on all of the specifics - never had much opportunity to
use tyranids back when I did 40k, nor have I played SGII (I do own the
rulebook and have read it.) However, I think it is a bad idea to recreate the
40k
Tin-God syndrome in which psychological factors completely fail to
affect your units. It may be appropriate to allow the 'line troops' to reduce
Threat Levels when they are within a certain range of the controlling
elements. And give them a more alien feel by perhaps modifying what the
units do at different confidence levels - perhaps a broken genestealer
will break the control of the hive mind and automatically assault the nearest
enemies - You lose control of them.
Which sets me thinking (dangerous, I know):
Epic Tyranids had a natural tendency for each of the units - sit back &
fire - Charge - etc. assign 'natural tendencies' or 'Instincts' to your
tyranid unit types.
Give your controlling units a 'control' value (Hive Mind is 1, Other big
&
nasty control dudes 2, Tyranid warrriors 3). Under normal circumstances a
control unit can override natural tendencies and direct their underlings.
However, when a unit's confidence is reduced, you must dice to see if you can
make them follow orders ('coersion'). Roll a die appropriate for the unit's
current confidence (I would not give Routed units a roll, starting broken at
d4) and they must roll above the control number of the commanding unit to
perform your requested action. Possibly make is an opposed roll
vs. the commanders rating (hive mind gets d12, lvl-2 get d10, lvl-3 gets
d8). In this case the commander's roll must ber greater that the unit's roll.
(this will give less consistent control.) For additional fun, when the
controlling units themselves lose confidence levels, reduce their command
ability. For example, when a Tyranid warrior drops to shaken, it loses it's
control ability. I would say start dropping levels at Shaken, and keep
dropping 1 each level. So a Broken Hive mind, while it may limitations on
actions it can perform, can still 'coerce' troops as if it were an unwounded
Warrior.
For more options, (at the cost of more complexity) do not give fixed control
ranges, per se. Instead reduce effective control rating one level per 12"
range band. So your tyranid warrior again could not control units outside this
12" radius, but the hive mind could at least try to coerce a
broken unit into action from 36" away - but at that range it would have
the same chance as the warrior within 12".
Perhaps the Control rating could also determine the number of units that can
be 'coerced' in a given turn by that controller.
just some random thoughts...
Jared Noble
Magnus Alexandersson <m96maal@mtek.chalmers.se> on 10/06/98 07:32:33 AM
Please respond to FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
To: Full Thrust <FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk>
cc: (bcc: Jared E Noble/AAI/ARCO)
Subject: [SG II] Tyranid conversion
I'm doing small homepage with adaptations for tyranids to use them in SGII.
It's _almost_ done, so I won't post it yet, but I was thinking:
Using Tyranids in any battle involves alot of small changes and extras just to
make the work. So I thought I'd run 'em by you lot.
Hormgaunt leap? triple combat move? 3*D?
The Hive node priciple? i.e. Hive Tyrant and Tyranidwarriors and the
"Immune to psy."-rule. According to the system (FMA) all can run away,
all can get scared. If a tyranid creature is within 12" from a Warrior, then
do they pass all test? All reaction tests or what?
There's probably alot more, but I can't remeber any q. we had when we
discussed this. Will playtest our rules this weekend, and after that I'll post
'em.
///magnus
*********************************************
| Magnus Alexandersson |
A long time ago (year?) I posted a set of rules dealing with AI troops in SGII
where Machine units get 1 Action all the time but must dice for a second
action with die shifts modified by if they are under fire, etc..(AIs are not
as flexible thinkers as organics.) If there was a higher CPU command unit, it
could give them positive shifts..
Michael Wikan Game Design Slave Zero Accolade, Inc.
http://www.slavezero.com
> -----Original Message-----
> I'm doing small homepage with adaptations for tyranids to use them in
I'm using my Tyranid figs for something completely different....
I haven't come up with a new name for them yet, but: They are one of the
leading races of the Hegemony, a loose alliance of aliens united by their
common belief that the use of inorganic technology is not merely inefficient,
but blasphemous and disgusting.
The Genestealers are immature (but fertile) males; strong, but stupid.
Generally used as laborers, but rather effective combatants when the need
arises. They are not intelligent enough to use a gun, but they are devastating
in close combat.
The Termagants (the ORIGINAL Tyranids, thank you very much...I still have a
dozen or so of the old lead ones) are immature (and infertile) females. A
little smarter, and physically weaker, than the males. About as intelligent as
a really bright chimp. Capable of using firearms, if not very well. If allowed
enough time, some (about one out of every 150) females reach full maturity.
Tyranid Warriors are mature females. The stinger is used to implant eggs
into the bodies of the males--the males fertilize the eggs, and the
young eat their way out when the time comes. Mothers (as Terran xenobiologists
call them) are VERY intelligent. More so, it is suspected, than humans.
Immature Tyranids imprint upon the first Mother that they see, and
instinctively mimic their "parent". As far as the game goes, this means that
if a Mother fires at something, her "children" will automatically follow suit.
Mothers can override this instinct with simple commands (little more than
"sit", or "stay", really), if the need arises. Broods are strictly segregated
by sex; otherwise, the "children" tend to quarrel.
Males, if allowed to do so, eventually develop into "Emperors"--the GW
Carnifex figures--still stupid, but REALLY big. The original purpose of
the Emperor was to protect his "family", but there is no longer any need for
this. Emperors are occasionally used by warrior clans, but it is rare that any
males reach this stage of development.
Socially, Tyranids are grouped into clans, with each clan having a rigidly
defined role. Farmers farm, builders build, crafters...craft, and warriors
fight.
In game terms, only Mothers have to worry about morale (and they don't scare
easily). Their broods will do whatever they see their parent doing, without
hesitation. If their Mother is killed, the brood will move as quickly as
possible towards the nearest surviving Mother. If anyone gets directly in
their way, the brood will attack; otherwise they will ignore all impediments.
Mothers are definitely Terror weapons, and may be treated as small vehicles if
I decide that's the way to go. Beyond that, we'll see.
Whew, to do Tyranids any justice in SG2, you'd need a whole new morale system,
based on instinctual behaviors and proximity to
telepathic/hive-mind 'Leader' units. I don't think that a few
alterations of the Human morale system would do it, but, let us know how it
went. ICBW.
Noah
[quoted original message omitted]
> At 11:06 PM 10/6/98 -0400, John Crimmins wrote:
> I'm using my Tyranid figs for something completely different....
[Snip very, very creative and interesting background]
Hey. That is very cool indeed. I like that background. Do you have rules for
them yet? Could you post them if you do or when they are done please? I find
the background extremely interesting and clever. Have you thought about
introducing Queens into the equation using the GW Hive Tyrant minis?
Again, very creative and very, very good. Well done. I may just have to get
some Tyranid minis to use in SGII now......
> On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Noah Doyle wrote:
> Whew, to do Tyranids any justice in SG2, you'd need a whole new morale
> system, based on instinctual behaviors and proximity to
Well, actually, we discussed this yesterday, and we (in our group) need
to determine which role the `nids have in the SGII-universe.
Since the game-mechanics differ so from WH40k, you need ALOT of CC `nids
to make up for the lack of proper firesupport.
In E40k, there is the Synapse-variant when you assemble your army.
i.e. you can controll a number of units with the collected hive nodes in
the battle.
What Jared wrote sounds quite interesting. Will have to test that too.
BTW: Any1 played Starcraft? I know I`m slow, but I`ve been without a PC a long
time. Well, it`s closer to 40k than 40k.
> Whew, to do Tyranids any justice in SG2, you'd need a whole new morale
One option would be to borrow the Kryomek rules from um, Kryomek.
Good for drone type bio-aliens as they are immune to psychological
effects. Not so good for sentient aliens.
> Noah Doyle wrote:
> Whew, to do Tyranids any justice in SG2, you'd need a whole new morale
One of the things i liked about teh net epic (or epic 40K) version of Tyrannid
rules was that if teh synapse creature is killed, then the individual
creatures fall into a default mode such as Hunting, or stand and defend within
a ceratina rea, or Beserk, etc etc.)