"SPACE FIGHT!" Starship combat boardgame

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think what wouldn't hurt with the new stat blocks is to still give some visuel cues indicating different system types, most importantly seperating attacks/weapon systems from others systems. The colors in the original stat block where probably too intrusive, but maybe there is something in them that you can reuse.

 

[Morrus]

I think what wouldn't hurt with the new stat blocks is to still give some visuel cues indicating different system types, most importantly seperating attacks/weapon systems from others systems. The colors in the original stat block where probably too intrusive, but maybe there is something in them that you can reuse.

You're the one who wanted me to get rid of all the colours, man!

 

[Alex319]

Let's look at some of the heroes:

Bold Captain (BC): This seems a little overpowered, and not necessarily in the theme of a "bold captain." Effectively it lets you duplicate the power of any friendly hero on the ship you are on - so you can BC an SA to get two sets of bonus action points, or BC a saboteur to get two chances to sabotage an enemy ship - the best strategy is often not to be a "captain" and just go on an enemy ship to help heroes out there. A good strategy for the Federation (since they're the only faction that gets BC as a favored class) is, let's say if they get 4 hero points, to get two BCs and an SA, put them all on the same ship, and get three activations of the SA ability per round (instead of two if he just got two SAs).

Seasoned Admiral (SA): This seems like a not very well designed ability. Not because it's overpowered or underpowered, but because it's basically "free" APs every round - you don't have to do anything special to use it. Most of the other heroes' abilities you have to get the guy on the ship you want to use it on, and that takes time and resources, and risks putting them in harm's way. The SA can use his ability from anywhere, so if I were the Colonials, say, I could put my SA on a CSV, send it way away from the battlefield to protect it, and he'll still be just as useful as before. Also, do the bonus APs stack (say if you BC him, or have two SAs, and use the two activations on the same ship?)

Legendary Engineer (LE): You still haven't made clear how many hit points the LE's free repair roll is worth. Also it might be a good idea to allow the free repair roll to be a free saving throw instead (that way the LE can try to repair a system that's been reduced to zero HP).

Indomitable Leader (IL): Can he destroy enemy boarding parties even if there's no friendly combat units on the ship, just him? If so a useful tactic might be to put him on an enemy ship, slowly whittle away their combat units (and the only way to kill him is with a Bounty Hunter) and then after they're all destroyed, bring a friendly combat unit in to capture the ship.

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Also, another potential problem I see is that the only heroes that can get rid of other Heroes are the Dark Lord and Bounty Hunter, and only two of the factions even have access to those Heroes. So if you're fighting another faction you can get as many Saboteurs, Spies, or ILs on board enemy ships as you want to do havoc, and there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[Morrus]

This is definitely a slowly-devoloping area; and I'm far from happy with it as it is.

Let's look at some of the heroes:

Bold Captain (BC): This seems a little overpowered, and not necessarily in the theme of a "bold captain." Effectively it lets you duplicate the power of any friendly hero on the ship you are on - so you can BC an SA to get two sets of bonus action points, or BC a saboteur to get two chances to sabotage an enemy ship - the best strategy is often not to be a "captain" and just go on an enemy ship to help heroes out there. A good strategy for the Federation (since they're the only faction that gets BC as a favored class) is, let's say if they get 4 hero points, to get two BCs and an SA, put them all on the same ship, and get three activations of the SA ability per round (instead of two if he just got two SAs).

I'm in agreement. My vision for the Bold Captain is as a support unit; on his own he's not that much use, but surrounded by other heroes he's indispensible. My inspiration is the 4E Warlord.

The problem is getting that to work well.

Seasoned Admiral (SA):

This seems like a not very well designed ability. Not because it's overpowered or underpowered, but because it's basically "free" APs every round - you don't have to do anything special to use it. Most of the other heroes' abilities you have to get the guy on the ship you want to use it on, and that takes time and resources, and risks putting them in harm's way. The SA can use his ability from anywhere, so if I were the Colonials, say, I could put my SA on a CSV, send it way away from the battlefield to protect it, and he'll still be just as useful as before. Also, do the bonus APs stack (say if you BC him, or have two SAs, and use the two activations on the same ship?)

An excellent point; I hadn't envisaged people moving him out of harm's way and still benefitting from hhis ability. That certainly needs fixing.

I wouldn't have the bonus APs stacking - you either have to listen to one's orders or the other.

Legendary Engineer (LE):

You still haven't made clear how many hit points the LE's free repair roll is worth.

I'm sure I have? I revised the verbiage after your last comment of a similar nature; I'm not sure that I can imagine a clearer way to say it. He gives the ship a free repair roll (as you know, the ship's repair roll is defined on its stat block.)

Also it might be a good idea to allow the free repair roll to be a free saving throw instead (that way the LE can try to repair a system that's been reduced to zero HP).

I thought of offering that as an additional option.

Indomitable Leader (IL):

Can he destroy enemy boarding parties even if there's no friendly combat units on the ship, just him? If so a useful tactic might be to put him on an enemy ship, slowly whittle away their combat units (and the only way to kill him is with a Bounty Hunter) and then after they're all destroyed, bring a friendly combat unit in to capture the ship.

I see him as a support unit much like the Bold Captain (he forces/inspires his troops to fight harder) - so, no, I don't want him fighting enemey combat units on his own. This needs some work.

Also, another potential problem I see is that the only heroes that can get rid of other Heroes are the Dark Lord and Bounty Hunter, and only two of the factions even have access to those Heroes. So if you're fighting another faction you can get as many Saboteurs, Spies, or ILs on board enemy ships as you want to do havoc, and there's nothing they can do about it.

Absolutely - you've hit on something I've been feeling uncomfortable about. I've been thinking of various ways to handle this - from combat units being able to disable them to all heroes being able to fight each other. I've not come up with anything great yet - totally open to ideas.

Perhaps a "fumble" on a roll of 1? If you roll 1 then your Spy or Saboteur makes a mistake and is discovered?

 

[Alex319]

And one more thing I can't believe I didn't notice before - on an attack roll, if the roll exactly equals the target's defense is it a hit or a miss? The description under the attack section says you have to roll HIGHER than the target's defense, but in the explanation of defense under "sizes" it says that the defense is the number you need to hit it (presumably implying exactly that number would hit it).

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, fixed. Equal to or greater.

Also last of the ship cards moved over. Still a couple more ships I haven't designed at all yet.

 

[Alex319]

One more important thing that's missing - a diagram of the firing arcs!

 

[Morrus]

One more important thing that's missing - a diagram of the firing arcs!

Yup. I keep putting it off because, while typing is easy, drawing diagrams on a computer is - to me - not.

Plus there's a complication when it comes to larger ships.

Gotta do some for movement examples, too, at some point. Dreading it though - it'll take me hours to get it to look even vaguely presentable. Not my skill set!

 

[Morrus]

Update - ship art in the vessel guide. Nice big clear images of the ships. Well, most of them.

 

[Morrus]

Firing arcs done. Not the best graphical work in the world, but it serves its purpose.

Also downsized the resolution of all the images in the PDF, reducing it to a 2MB file - it was starting to get pretty big!