Couple of characters and test fight

[trespassers]

I wanted to generate a couple of characters, one emphasizing ranged weapons and one strong on melee weapons, mainly to see if one or the other had an obvious advantage.

Here's Bo's character sheet

Bo
Human STR3 AGI3 END3 INT3 WILL3 CHA3 LUC3 PSI0
Running, sport, climbing
Add 1 to any attribute (AGI)
155 lb +/- weight 2d6 lb -9
5'9" +/- height 1d6" -2

High School Jock 15 Years
STR+1 AGI+1 END+1 INT-1 CHA+1
Sport
+2 to SPEED

Military Acadamy 3 Years
STR+1 END+1 WIL+1 Cr+1
Carrying, marksman, engineering
Navy Cadet Cruise 1 Year
AGI+1 WILL+1 CHA+1 REP+1 Cr+1
Piloting, computer operation, leadership
+1d6 die bonus on checks related to naval vessels/starships
Navy Tour 1d6 Years (5 years)
AGI+1 INT+1 CHA+1 Cr+1 REP+1
Piloting, computer operation, marksman
Ensign w/ high-quality sidearm (pistol)
Pilot 1d6 years (1 year)
AGI+1 WIL+1 LUC+1 Cr+1
Reactions, piloting, computer operation, navigation
You can exceed starship's max FTL speed by 1 factor

And here's "Grimace"'s. I'm not great with names (notice their rivals)...

Human STR3 AGI3 END3 INT3 WILL3 CHA3 LUC3 PSI0
Running, sport, climbing
Add 1 to any attribute (STR)
160 lb 5'10"

Navy Brat 2d6+6 Years
END+1 AGI+1 LUC+1 REP+1
piloting
+2 die bonus when driving/piloting a military vehicle

Military Acadamy 3 Years
STR+1 END+1 WIL+1 Cr+1
Carrying
Star Marines Cadet Assignment 2 Years
STR+1 END+1 Cr+1 REP+1
Unarmed fighting
Star Marines Tour of Duty 1d6 Years
STR+1 END+1 Cr+1
marksman
Start play as a Private with a basic battlesuit
Star Marines Tour of Duty 1d6 Years
STR+1 END+1 Cr+1
marksman
+2d6 bonus to initiative checks

In generating the characters, I liked how I got a sense of their progression, how they came to have their abilities as a function of what they were doing each step of the way, rather than bolting on gamey winbuttons. I was confused between when I was supposed to use an ATTRIBUTE and when I was supposed to use an ATTRIBUTE'S POOL. For me, it would make it simpler if I knew that every time I saw ATTRIBUTE without the pool, I would not use the POOL. I guessed with the Health Points you get back per day. Getting 8 Health Points back a day for a Health of 15 seems reasonable. But maybe it's 5d6, i don't know for certain. But clarity I think will get hammered out, the mechanic was fun and the characters both seemed reasonable.

I'll post the test fight tomorrow

Really enjoyed the process!!

 

[Morrus]

Awesome! I haven't seen many actually scanned filled-out character sheets, so that gave me a real buzz! I'm really glad you enjoyed the process!

What's the red text on the second one, out of curiosity?

 

[trespassers]

Awesome! I haven't seen many actually scanned filled-out character sheets, so that gave me a real buzz! I'm really glad you enjoyed the process!

What's the red text on the second one, out of curiosity?

Well, hearing you liked the character sheets was a buzz for me!

The red text on the second sheet is the new derived Speeds and Defenses. I had started that character sheet before the change.

On to the test fight!



Bo is standing guard outside the ship [1]. Grimace approaches from the south [2], his objective is to get on the ship.

Ambush check: Grimace CHA (2d -> 3) vs Bo INT (2d -> 5) -- no ambush

Round 1:
Initiative: Bo 3d (12), Grimace 4d (8) Bo wins
Bo: From station in front of vessel entrance [1], overwatch (2 actions)

side note: I'm assuming since he was on guard and already in overwatch mode, that this is not an illegal move. Essentially, he's still using the two actions for overwatch, and Grimace did not ambush him, and he's not in cover, so it would trigger the overwatch immediately.

resulting in one ranged attack vs Grimace, 10sq 'south'

sidearm pistol: (8d) -2d for Deadly Strike
18 vs DEFENSE 12 -HIT- for 10 (SOAK 10, no health damage)​

* Hasn't moved *​

Grimace: From starting position [2], move 6sq to NE behind barrel for cover [3], (1 action) then move 6sq to NE behind barrels for cover [4] (1 action)

Round 2:
Bo: "Crap!" Holsters sidearm (free), chucks 2 grenades (2 actions)

grenade 1: (5d) -1d for range increment, -2d for cover
7 vs DEFENSE 5 -HIT- target
5d? for grenade's attack vs Grimace's DEFENSE? 14 vs DEFENSE 12 for 10 (SOAK 10, no health damage)​

grenade 2: (5d) -1d for range increment, -2d for cover
7 vs DEFENSE 5 -HIT- target
5d? for grenade's attack vs Grimace's DEFENSE?
20+6+2 vs DEFENSE 12 for 7 (SOAK 7, no health damage)
* Hasn't moved *​

Grimace: Still unarmed but carrying his shield, moves 5 squares to melee with Bo [5] (1 action)

unarmed attack: (6d) -2d for knockdown (1 action)
15 vs 16 DEFENSE -MISS-​

Round 3:
Bo: Unholsters sidearm (free), fires 2 shots, point blank, attempting disarm (shield)

sidenote: maybe this is a judgement call, but it seems like disarming someone of their shield would be rules-legal. The shield is in their hands, and they can drop it, and they can even attack with it.)

sidearm pistol: (8d) -2d for Deadly Strike, +1d for Point Blank, -2d for Disarm (shield)
* 9 VS 12 DEFENSE -MISS- (1 action)​

sidearm pistol: (8d) -2d for Deadly Strike, +1d for Point Blank, -2d for Disarm (shield)
* 21 VS 12 DEFENSE -HIT- for 4d (2d weapon, 2d luck pool, expending all luck):9+3 or 12 (SOAK 10, 2 health damage =13 HP=)​

Target drops held item (shield), Grimace's DEFENSE goes to 8
*Hasn't moved*

Grimace: Draws stun baton and attacks (2 actions)

Stun Baton: (3d) +3d LUCK, expending LUCK pool
25 vs DEFENSE 16 -HIT- for 6 Electricity (SOAK 5, 1 health damage =13 HP=) and​

Bo must make Difficult [16] END check or be stunned for 2 rounds: (3d) 8, Bo did not get 16
Bo is stunned for two rounds

sidenote: presumably now prone?

*Now Grimace hasn't moved*

Round 4:
Bo: Stunned, no actions
Grimace: Attacks with stun baton, attempting to disarm Bo (1 action)

AUTOHIT (helpless target I assume?) for 4 electricity damage (SOAK 4, no health damage)​

sidenote: I'm guessing no stun check either, but it's possible there is one. Is the stunning too powerful if you only need to hit? I guess that's the reason for the END check.

Stun baton, using Deadly Strike (1 action)
AUTOHIT for 13+3 electricity (SOAK 5, 11 health damage =2 HP=) and Bo must make Difficult [16] END check or be stunned for 2 rounds:​

(3d)12 which is not 16, so Bo is STUNNED for 2 rounds

Bo: Stunned, no actions
Grimace: Deadly Strike, (might as well use DS if your target is helpless, right?) (1 action)
AUTOHIT for 8 electricity (SOAK 5, 3 health damage =0 HP= ), Bo is unconscious,

But he rolled a 3 on the permanent injury check so no permanent injuries, records "3" for healing, but this test combat is over.

Thoughts:
Obviously this is not indicative of all combat, or even typical combat. There were only two participants, and they were well matched combat-wise, and there were no terrain features to deal with or hazards. For the purposes of this combat, they were essentially in a gym which removed any distractions.

This was a short battle, and there was no crossfire or pinning down which are two of the main combat mechanics, so it will be more interesting to run this again with multiples of combatants.

However, even with this stripped down version, it was an interesting fight! I wanted to see if a melee fighter had any chance in a ranged fight, and winning sure seems like a "chance". The battlesuit at character creation definitely helped. I think if both combatants were wearing the same armor, there might have been a different outcome. I will have to run that. It's also likely that immediately using all the LUCK POOL had an effect that shortened combat. It also made sense in the situation to.

Tactically, I can see this being chess-like if that's how the players want to run it, or fast and loose if that's how they swing. Combat felt complex without feeling complicated.

Gotta say, I'm hooked!

 

[trespassers]

Also, it appears that only the Infiltrator gets melee weapon fighting ("armed fighting") during character creation, is that right?

 

[Morrus]

There aren't many careers with much melee stuff, true -the current list is more range-focused. I expect to add more later.

So you were using the new DEFENSE values? Interesting. You didn't find them to be too low?

I see you were using a lot of comba tricks, which is awesome. The next update will have an entire page full of them rather than the five or so currently there.

 

[trespassers]

There aren't many careers with much melee stuff, true -the current list is more range-focused. I expect to add more later.

So you were using the new DEFENSE values? Interesting. You didn't find them to be too low?

I see you were using a lot of comba tricks, which is awesome. The next update will have an entire page full of them rather than the five or so currently there.

I didn't find the DEFENSE values too low. It's what made me feel like the combat tricks -- which I really enjoyed throwing into the mix -- had a chance of succeeding, and the MISS rate felt right to me. I don't want to hit every time, but I don't want to miss every time either. I kept in mind that these were two 1st level characters who were close to maxed out in DEFENSE (one in AGILITY and one in ARMOR), so they weren't going to be superhuman marksmen/women, but they were going to be a bit more survivable than an untrained navigator or street thug.

I also discovered that the SOAK values vs weapon damage makes it feel mandatory to use Deadly Strike -- if one wants to do damage. With the lower defense, it felt like the characters were hitting enough of the time to get a smidge of damage through (and I nudged it up dramatically once with the LUCK POOL).

I can see why there would be a limit to how many dice you can exchange for damage, though. With the lower defense, it would unbalance the amount of damage being done, I think.

I really liked the combat tricks and felt like they made sense for the situation. In fact, the combat tricks were my favorite part of the test run. That and the surprise ending! (I really wasn't expecting the melee guy to be effective without some sort of "melee weapon fighting" skill.)

 

[Morrus]

I really liked the combat tricks and felt like they made sense for the situation. In fact, the combat tricks were my favorite part of the test run. That and the surprise ending! (I really wasn't expecting the melee guy to be effective without some sort of "melee weapon fighting" skill.)

That's a perception issue I think I need to address. Folks are used to "you can do this if you have the skill". This game, though, is "You can do this. If you have the skill, you're a bit better at it." In other words, everybody can land a spaceship or administer first-aid or fix a power coupling, just like in Star Trek! Just some folks are a bit better at it.

 

[trespassers]

This game, though, is "You can do this. If you have the skill, you're a bit better at it." In other words, everybody can land a spaceship or administer first-aid or fix a power coupling, just like in Star Trek! Just some folks are a bit better at it.

QFT. Once I realized that the "melee character" could do melee attacks (and also anything else), and so could the "ranged character" for that matter, it opened the game up. I think that's why I got confused during character creation, because my goal for the one character was "he's going to be a melee fighter and pilot" and then I didn't see any skills available for melee fighting (other than unarmed fighting, which I was happy to choose!) in the career paths -- but understanding the underlying principle helps. (as it would, wouldn't it?)