Rules Discussion

[Dave Baughman]

Thanks - I just want to say that my action was an honest misunderstanding. I haven't been in the habit of reading all the clan RP, and I assumed that the Falcon character was a fall guy.

I totally understand; this has been a poorly-defined part of the rules for a long time, so if anything its the GM Team's fault for not making things more explicit before. Hopefully, these draft rules will work adequately for resolving these situations until I can write up something more polished.

[Fatebringer]

Individual Combat

All individual combat will be decided via best of seven D6 rolls; ties are rerolled.

In unarmed combat, the following modifiers apply


Clan Elementals recieve a +2 bonus to their roll
Clan Protomechwarriors recieve a -1 to their roll
Clan Naval/Areo pilots recieve a -2 to their rolls

Considering Protomech Warriors are Failed ASF Pilots, shouldn't they also be at a -2?

[tassa_kay]

Considering Protomech Warriors are Failed ASF Pilots, shouldn't they also be at a -2?

Well, most ProtoMech warriors are failed ASF pilots, but not all of 'em.  And perhaps this is a reflection of their modified training as well?

[Dave Baughman]

I personally always assumed it reflected them having additional hand to hand combat training, kind of like the way Clan-trained MechWarriors have better skills on average. That's one aspect of the rule that came down all the way from the earliest editions of the rules pretty much unmodified, so we can always re-examine it in the future if there's a consensus that its out of whack.

[Parmenion]

Re:

Exploration and Colonization Rules

If a faction wishes to conduct exploration for habitable worlds, the following rules apply.

RP Cost: 8 RPs per hex searched, multiple searches may be conducted in the same hex.

2D6 Target number for successfully discovering a world: 9+

Die roll modifiers
General location already known (previous or rediscovered records*): +3
Each habitable world (beyond one) already in hex: +1 (Maximum modifier of +3)
Totally uncharted territory: -1

* Factions are expected to provide sufficient Role Playing to explain such an event.

I'd like to see the Exploration Rules revisited at some point in the near future.  Specifically, I would like to do away with the requirement to RP the mission.  I don't recall anywhere else within the rules that calls for RP to be undertaken for a specific ruleset.  Whether it be upgrading a member world to a control world, building a shipyard or creating a new brigade (all three valuable endeavours), none of these require a mandatory roleplay piece. 

[Daemonknight]

if you look, its not mandatory for the mission. the asterisk indicates that solid RP can net you a large bonus on the roll: something that R&D or unit building don't make allowances for.

[Dave Baughman]

I think you will be happy with the new R&D rules then as they will include a total overhaul of Exploration. The short version is that it (and most R&D projects) will work just like intelligence missions as far as the game mechanics go, so you'll be able to tailor your spending level to match the bonus you want. The base price of the operation will go down, probably to 2.5 RP, so the cost would be 2.5 RP for a straight roll, 5 RP for a +1 bonus, 10 RP for a +2 bonus, and 20 RP for a +3 bonus. The modifier for # of planets in the hex will be going away, but there will be a +1 bonus for searching for a canon location (the -1 for exploring deep space will still apply). Base level of success will still be an 8+ on 2d6, but high rolls will result in better stuff - just like intel - while critical fails (2, 3, or 4) may result in bad stuff, like running into pirates or whatnot.

The goal is to make it simple, fair, and 'not boring.'

Note that everything I have written above is early draft material and may change in the final version.

Re:

Exploration and Colonization Rules

If a faction wishes to conduct exploration for habitable worlds, the following rules apply.

RP Cost: 8 RPs per hex searched, multiple searches may be conducted in the same hex.

2D6 Target number for successfully discovering a world: 9+

Die roll modifiers
General location already known (previous or rediscovered records*): +3
Each habitable world (beyond one) already in hex: +1 (Maximum modifier of +3)
Totally uncharted territory: -1

* Factions are expected to provide sufficient Role Playing to explain such an event.

I'd like to see the Exploration Rules revisited at some point in the near future.  Specifically, I would like to do away with the requirement to RP the mission.  I don't recall anywhere else within the rules that calls for RP to be undertaken for a specific ruleset.  Whether it be upgrading a member world to a control world, building a shipyard or creating a new brigade (all three valuable endeavours), none of these require a mandatory roleplay piece. 

[Marlin]

Question regarding Blockades: Just rereading tells me, no more Warships are needed to pull that one off?

If so, ok. If it was just a slip, I guess here is a headsup.

[Dave Baughman]

Question regarding Blockades: Just rereading tells me, no more Warships are needed to pull that one off?

If so, ok. If it was just a slip, I guess here is a headsup.

That's intentional. The requirement to use warships in a blockade was removed when we took away the "automatic instant kill" feature of the order.

[Marlin]

Oh. I see. Well, then AR would have seen a blockade, I guess. Not needed now anymore, but a rest of troops is still there of Tharkad origin.

[Fatebringer]

I was wondering about Capitol Worlds, is it possible to transfer the seats of power within a realm?

Example: The RasDom have several "Regional Capitols" but Rasalhague itself is not one of them although it used to be the National capitol. Trondheim is a Regional Capitol right next to Rasalhague, and I'd rather see Rasalhague be the actual capitol again for "Duh!" reasons.

[tassa_kay]

While I certainly understand the aesthetic reasons for wanting to move the regional capital from Trondheim to Rasalhague, I'd say that one should have to pay to move any sort of capital from one world to another... and I'd even go so far as to say that it should be full-price in RPs, to cover to mechanics of "setting things up", diverting JumpShip/HPG traffic and trade routes, moving the governmental personnel from one world to the next, building new administrative buildings, et cetera.  At the most generous, I'd still say to assess half the RP cost of actually creating a capital hex in order to move it, for the reasons stated above.

I also think that this is a good thing to look into, because simply being able to move one's capital from one world to another shouldn't be an easy process, and if it is, can really be abused if someone chooses to do so. 

[Fatebringer]

I agree. I wouldn't expect that kind of infrastructure move to be cheap. In this situation, I would liken the re-emergence of the Rasalhague capitol to be more like unmothballing. The buildings are still there, but they need to be updated and refitted etc.

[Mr. JibberJab]

I dont expect it to be cheap, but Diverting jumpship/hpg traffic? We arnt comstar so we dont have much of a problem with our hpgs and since its not a real big change in jumpship traffic (I mean this is Rasalhague after all, the mecha holyland of the RD) Moving government personal will be tricky at first but its not like were moving them from Alshain to rasalhague. But then again, for the Roleplaying it'l be worth whatever we have to pay. Can you imagen having to pass the Fochs Jorgennson statue every day before you enter the new governmental building!!

[Holt]

It costs a lot of money to ship fine china across the stars.