Star Wars: Andor

[Ryujin]

Yeah, I know what it's going for and to a certain extent I'm on board the project. But the more you dig into the math the more of a problem you realize it is, in that while you do want to have the PC's pull off the improbable escapes and victories, if they are actually by the math almost certainties then there is no drama either. The heroes need to experience a bit of struggle on their way to victory. You also want to avoid a situation where both sides are engaged in futility, because that's not very exciting either.

If that's happening then, as with any other game, the opponents scale to match. Run-of-the-mill bounty hunters not doing it anymore? Guess it's time that someone takes notice and puts the elite on their tail. Too many easy get-aways in their ship? I guess it's time that an elite flight of Tie Fighter pilots by dispatched. When the GM got tired of me defeating opponents largely just by defending myself, with my Lightsabre, he sent in opponents who actually knew what a Lightsabre was. On top of that there's always just sending numbers. Having to split your actions means less dice per action, which means more tension.

 

[Hussar]

Right now my only regret is Diego Luna refused to do all 5 of the originally planned seasons forcing the pacing to be this fast.

While I'm absolutely loving this show, further reducing its pace by 80% would make it unwatchable for me. It's not like this is a very fast paced show at all.

 

[Hussar]

A few thoughts now that I'm caught up.

1. ADORING THIS SHOW. Wow, this is probably one of the top three SF shows I've seen (My other two being The Expanse and Children of Earth - the Torchwood movie)

2. I do find it interesting though that when Star Wars goes "adult" it's lauded as being fantastic as a Star Wars story, but, when Star Trek tried to do the exact same thing with Discovery, they got absolutely dog piled for it not being "real" Star Trek. Now sure what that says about fandom.

 

[Ryujin]

A few thoughts now that I'm caught up.

1. ADORING THIS SHOW. Wow, this is probably one of the top three SF shows I've seen (My other two being The Expanse and Children of Earth - the Torchwood movie)

2. I do find it interesting though that when Star Wars goes "adult" it's lauded as being fantastic as a Star Wars story, but, when Star Trek tried to do the exact same thing with Discovery, they got absolutely dog piled for it not being "real" Star Trek. Now sure what that says about fandom.

Not sure what to say about the second point. I just didn't like "Discovery" and no, it didn't feel like Star Trek to me, so I just couldn't get into it. Like the Kelvin Universe movies it felt more like a generic ScFi, with a coat of Star Trek paint on.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm not familiar with WEG D6, but I recall from Saga Edition that there was a not-so-sweet spot for light transports in that system - large enough to be more easily targeted by capital ships, but small enough that starfighters are a significant threat. There was an option in that system to fit thrusters that would allow a transport ship to engage in dogfighting, which sounded cool but was very inadvisable in practice, as the ship's size and manoeuvrability worked against it in practically all the available dogfighting manoeuvers.

Likewise, in the X-Wing and TIE Fighter PC games, there was a size bracket at which craft would go from being targetable only from short range, like starfighters, to being easily targeted at medium range, and a lot of transports and shuttles ended up on the wrong side of it.

True enough, but it's a consequence of the genre to some extent. Even small squadrons of starfighters can be a major threat to capital ships, and hero ships tend to straddle the line between starfighter and gunship.

Well, they've got the Arquitens light cruiser and Gozanti transport. They're both a lot less intensive in personnel requirements, and we see them used routinely for patrol duties in Rebels.

Light transports in saga are big enough for capital ship weapons to hit. Combat thrusters iirc gets them down to starfighter size.

Best ships to dogfight in Saga are huge starfighters vs everything else. In all cases modifying your shops is great. Something like a tie interceptor with protons and shields will rip apart an x-wing in a dogfight.

Best freighter to use is the tie scout. It's gargantuan vs colossal with generous cargo hold. All transports you want to reduce cargo for more modification points. From memory a gargantuan ship reduces 2 tons while colossal is 5 tons. Shields are underpriced and easy to mod in.

Cheap capital ship is something like a bulk freighter modified into a light cruiser. Heavy shields, turbolasers, capital ship proton torpedos.

D6 it's all about maneuverability on your starfighters. On capitals ships having a fewer high damage weapons is better than lots of weaker ones. Eg 7D turbolasers vs 4D or 5D. This is because of how the hull+ shield system works.

In both systems cost plus crew requirements make strike cruisers and Victory ISDs best ships in game. 10 strike cruisers will eat an ISD for breakfast and require a fraction of the crew.

 

[MarkB]

Light transports in saga are big enough for capital ship weapons to hit. Combat thrusters iirc gets them down to starfighter size.

I no longer have the book to hand, but my recollection is that combat thrusters let you engage (or be engaged) in dogfights, but didn't reduce your effective size. You still had the same -10 size penalty as any larger vessel, and could still be targeted without penalty by capital ships. Worst of both worlds.

D6 it's all about maneuverability on your starfighters. On capitals ships having a fewer high damage weapons is better than lots of weaker ones. Eg 7D turbolasers vs 4D or 5D. This is because of how the hull+ shield system works.

Also true to some extent in Saga due to how shields and damage threshold works, except that they have the battery fire rules which allow a bank of smaller weapons to focus and synchronise fire so that they pack the punch of a single larger weapon.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

While I'm absolutely loving this show, further reducing its pace by 80% would make it unwatchable for me. It's not like this is a very fast paced show at all.

The problem is uneven pacing. You get a slow episode, or two, followed by a couple that are more tense and exciting, then another slow, and so on. For example, while some people thought the first two episodes were fine, that are a lot of viewers who are very glad that the first three episodes were released at one time, because the 3rd one saved the show. The first three episodes could have easily been condensed down into two and made for a much more interesting start.

 

[MarkB]

The problem is uneven pacing. You get a slow episode, or two, followed by a couple that are more tense and exciting, then another slow, and so on. For example, while some people thought the first two episodes were fine, that are a lot of viewers who are very glad that the first three episodes were released at one time, because the 3rd one saved the show. The first three episodes could have easily been condensed down into two and made for a much more interesting start.

At this point it feels entirely deliberate. An episode or two to lay out the groundwork of the new situation, then an episode or two of just dialling up the tension to the breaking point, then a climactic episode that goes big and pays off everything the last few episodes were setting up. I like it - haven't always been on the edge of my seat, but haven't been bored.

 

[Celebrim]

Also true to some extent in Saga due to how shields and damage threshold works, except that they have the battery fire rules which allow a bank of smaller weapons to focus and synchronise fire so that they pack the punch of a single larger weapon.

You can do that in D6 too. You just assign a battery of weapons a gunnery officer and have him make a Command roll to have all the guns in battery assist one gun on a damage roll.

Alternately, you could do the same to boost the weapons roll to increase the chances of hitting an agile target.

 

[Hussar]

The problem is uneven pacing. You get a slow episode, or two, followed by a couple that are more tense and exciting, then another slow, and so on. For example, while some people thought the first two episodes were fine, that are a lot of viewers who are very glad that the first three episodes were released at one time, because the 3rd one saved the show. The first three episodes could have easily been condensed down into two and made for a much more interesting start.

There is also the streaming effect to take into consideration. I deliberately don't watch two or three episodes and then binge them all at once. So, I watched like the first 4 in one sitting, then the next 3 then the next 3. So, if you watch like that, the pacing works really, really well. You keep getting the payoff for the slow build episodes. And, since the episodes are very short - like 30-40 minutes each, watching three episodes at once feels like a single episode with a couple of pee breaks thrown in.