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Operation: Eternity

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 2:54 am
by Tyrel Lohr
Here is the first installment in notes about a solo playtest game that I'm running to finish off the game rules and get everything in place. This is the opening year of expansion in the game. Nothing exciting happening yet, but it gives you an overview of how the tempo compares to First Edition.

I'll upload updates during the week as I complete additional turns.

Re: Operation: Eternity

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:44 am
by OneMadOgre
Thanks!

I'm curious how the lack of a BIO stat will turn out. So far, I think I like the simplicity.

Re: Operation: Eternity

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 2:22 pm
by Tyrel Lohr
OneMadOgre wrote:I'm curious how the lack of a BIO stat will turn out. So far, I think I like the simplicity.
I tried my hardest to keep the BIO stat around, as it was something I was really pushing for in 2E. Unfortunately, the harder I tried the more it became an issue trying to get it to fit in with the rest of the VBAM system.

The biggest problem I found with BIO is that some of what it was trying to simulate was already being handled by Carrying Capacity (i.e., the size of the population that the world can support). That left it largely rudderless. I used BIO as the construction capacity multiplier for awhile, too, before settling on Utilized Productivity as a better stat.

If and when BIO comes back, it will be a derived state based on Carrying Capacity, I think.

Just one of the many aspects of 2E that has floated back and forth over the years of development.

Re: Operation: Eternity

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:35 pm
by OneMadOgre
I liked it a lot too. I don't know that I imagined it might be gone.

Having said that, I think your game is stronger with it out. The randomness of the system generation made getting a "extraordinary" planet fairly rare with both in there. And I think you can more adequately simulate a garden type planet with a population growth chance increase I think.

I'm not sure I understand the population growth rules. I need to re-read a bit. I've mostly had time only to scan the rule set. Hoping to get the simulator up and running in the next two weeks.

Re: Operation: Eternity

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:13 pm
by Tyrel Lohr
One thing I was running into over and over again last fall was that the Biosphere value was essentially already about equal to half the Capacity (rounded down). That's why I think the food rules will live on as optional rules later on down the road, just using Carrying Capacity to figure Biosphere and assuming that the two are tied together explicitly rather than implicitly as they were in First Edition.

The reversion to a 1E style system generation model was a concession to the wild swings in the results that were possible under the other rules. I am going to be adapting the more detailed sysgen rules for a future supplement and creating a hybrid version that has a little of the old 2E sysgen mixed with the release era 2E sysgen.

I have another round of updates for the population growth rules that change the modifiers, but otherwise they should be the same. Instead of a fixed modifier by importance I'm shifting to a system where you carry over your previous die roll bonus if you fail. For example, If I have 4 Census and I roll a 10 (on D10), that gives me 14 which is less than 15 and no population growth. I then get a +10 modifier to my next roll.

If I had rolled a 5 this time and failed, then rolled a 3 and still didn't make it, I now have a +8 to my next roll. It's storing the cumulative die value until you finally get a population increase.