Search found 230 matches

by Emiricol
Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:10 pm
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design
Replies: 90
Views: 41585

Re: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design

They'd get one refit or variant per advancement, yes. Universal List ships don't need to be researched and are just available at whatever Era you're in. And while Refits are effectively 1/2 step behind new classes in terms of stats, Universal List ships are a *full* step behind. Using Unlock = X new...
by Emiricol
Mon Nov 14, 2016 8:12 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design
Replies: 90
Views: 41585

Re: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design

I kinda like the idea of letting players start with 4 or 6 "Era -1" units chosen from the Universal list, in addition to their 6 to 8 faction unique units starting at Era 0. That gives them a large number of classes to choose from, but some of them are going to be the inferior "unive...
by Emiricol
Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:38 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design
Replies: 90
Views: 41585

Re: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design

If unlocking only preset units is too limiting, you could allow players to design a new unit at their tech level when they get an unlock, but they still have to finish ALL the preset unlocks before they can move to the next level, thus making them pay a price for the flexibility of getting just the...
by Emiricol
Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:25 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

In the simplest implementation, it might be a base chance of 100 - Tension, +2% per turn, -1% per point of construction cost of enemy units destroyed, +1% per point of construction cost of friendly units destroyed. Leave conquest of systems out of the equation completely. This works well. Generally...
by Emiricol
Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:38 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Supply
Replies: 9
Views: 2621

Re: Supply

Notes as I go! OP: - 2 supply ships per jump is a lot less fiddly! Love it. How would it affect things if it was 1 per jump lane, but 2 per restricted? Restricted lanes then still are a headache for supply, but still simple. I often just forgot to keep track of supply unless a fleet was in an unclai...
by Emiricol
Sun Nov 13, 2016 8:23 pm
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

OTOH, since Tension is based off a single roll, you're as likely to get a 5 or 95 as you are a 50, so there will be extreme relationships even if extreme personalities are less common (and I like having the majority be basically normal, so the variability of AIX isn't so important to me). In fact, I...
by Emiricol
Sun Nov 13, 2016 10:20 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

Okay, I love the ideas in your last two posts, Tyrel. I think the concept played out very well in your example, and only makes me love Tension even more. Like Census being an abstract to reduce tedious recordkeeping, Tension simplifies things tremendously while *still allowing for AIX-like variabili...
by Emiricol
Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:52 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Diplomacy
Replies: 13
Views: 7131

Re: Diplomacy

aelius wrote:If you want to use Intel to manipulate Tension, use an Espionage Mission for it.
Make it a Diplomatic type that has a low blowback if caught. After all, everybody tries to influence everybody. That's what the Diplomacy game is...
Fantastic idea!
by Emiricol
Sat Nov 12, 2016 7:26 pm
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

The other problem I'm running into is that, logically, it makes more sense to have a Tension value that ticks down over time than to have a Relationship value that ticks up over time. Definitely. And a tick-down Tension rating makes Treaty Delay modifiers a possible rule or option once again. Aelius...
by Emiricol
Sat Nov 12, 2016 7:22 pm
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Diplomacy
Replies: 13
Views: 7131

Re: Diplomacy

I am a strong proponent of Tension+Traits with Treaty:Tension milestones, as discussed above. It is fast, easy, flexible, and doesn't require half as much tracking as AIX. I think AIX can be modeled easily enough with Traits anyway, So to me AIX adds very little practical difference at the cost of v...
by Emiricol
Thu Nov 03, 2016 2:52 pm
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

While I love the idea of Tension +/- Race Trait mod, if AIX is kept I like the idea of having it be a modifier to rolls rather than be the target number, just as you described, Tyrel. I love AIX in concept but I don't love dealing with it. Maybe roll d100 for each trait and get a resulting modifier ...
by Emiricol
Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:02 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design
Replies: 90
Views: 41585

Re: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design

And to clarify one thing - you can't unlock a refit until that class's prior refit is unlocked
by Emiricol
Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:24 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design
Replies: 90
Views: 41585

Re: Tech, Special Abilities, and Unit Design

I must say, I agree with everything gstano said here. Easier to customize advancement rate up or down, linear growth in vessel strength, and pick-and-choose to reflect new designs being rolled out instead of the "get everything at once" paradigm. I have an additional idea to add to that. H...
by Emiricol
Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:54 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires
Replies: 23
Views: 6330

Re: Non-Aligned Worlds and Non-Player Empires

I haven't tested it, but my gut reaction is this: having NAWs be simple and limited in activity with reduced number of traty options, is a *very good thing*. For NPEs, using the slow-reveal method based on some posts from a long time ago as the default would also greatly speed things up, yet preserv...
by Emiricol
Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:40 am
Forum: VBAM Galaxies
Topic: VBAM Galaxies
Replies: 41
Views: 19961

Re: VBAM Galaxies

The more I think on it, the more I am dearly loving the idea of making each turn phase a discrete unit, completed fully before moving on to the next phase. The single squadron combat is possibly my second favorite new development. Top 3 without a doubt. That said, the traditional CSCR setup could be...