How are you Progressing?

Locked
BLHarrison
Lieutanant Commander
Lieutanant Commander
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:02 pm

How are you Progressing?

Post by BLHarrison »

As there has not been much activity on the board recently, I've just got to ask: "How far along are you?" in VBAM2? Have you got X out of Y chapters completed to your satifaction? Have you had a repeat of the "Month from Hell" that created delays in Feburary? Are you so close you can taste it? Am I, the poster, going to feel embarased by a big announcement the next time I check?

I've got a couple of Ideas, including a crossover with my RPG world that I'm putting on hold until VBAM2 comes out, so I'm curious to know what type of delay I'm looking at.

Well however long it takes I eagerly look forward to the release and thank you for your time.
User avatar
Tyrel Lohr
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1466
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 am
Location: Lusk, WY
Contact:

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Sorry for the horribly long delay in checking the forums and replying. I am afraid that April was a replay of the "Month from Hell" in January -- on emergency project, and another that really needed to get finished and is still languishing a couple of yards from the finish line.

The upshot is that my schedule is actually clearing back up, which means that I will have more time to spend on finalizing the rules and getting everything into a form that someone can actually play instead of try to figure out what in the world I was thinking between successive rewrites.

The current status of VBAM 2E is as follows: I am officially in "slash and burn" mode right now. I came to the realization two weeks ago that the reason why VBAM 2E has been languishing in development like it has is because the "everything and the kitchen sink" mindset that I was approaching the game's design with is simply the wrong approach for these rules. I was unnecessarily complicating things that didn't need to be complicated, and I was injecting situational rules that address issues that 90%+ of the players are never going to run into or need assistance resolving when they do encounter them.

What this means is this: I am taking a scalpel to the rules and excising the rules that do not add to the core game play experience while completely integrating those that are easier to remove than they are to patch back in via optional rules. This should allow me to pair the core rules back to a length and complexity similar to that of 1E. It does mean there will be some rule components that were originally slated for this book that will have to be bumped to another release, but I think the core campaign guide will be stronger for it.

Off the top of my head, here is a laundry list of the changes that have either already been made or will be made to the rules:

1) Star system, planet, and mapping rules will be simplified. The core book will provide rules for Galaxy and Sector maps and possibly Universe maps, but the rules for System maps will be moved to another book (probably featured alongside Planet maps when the time comes). This is intended to simplify the mapping rules. An interplanetary movement system similar to what we had in the 1E Companion will be used in the core book for systems that contain multiple planets.

2) The rank-based system generation options are going away. They will be replaced by discrete advanced system generation options that the players or CM can layer on as needed. It is debatable how many of these advanced system generation rules will be included in the 2E Campaign Guide. Most may be ported to the Companion or the long-promised Star Charts book.

3) The planet type rules are now wholly-integrated into the game. This means that you will have eight types of planets (Hospitable, Adaptable, Barren, Dead, Gas Giant, Ice Giant, Hot Giant, and Asteroid Belt) that you can encounter. This is a level of planet detail in line with what you saw in Master of Orion. Each planet is assigned a habitability modifier that affects the cost to colonize or purchase infrastructure there.

4) The planetary climate rules are being moved to be wholly optional and not even discussed in the body of the main 2E sysgen rules. Planetary climate values will work as before, but now their effects are added to a planet's existing habitability modifier.

5) Maintenance is seeing a major overhaul. The maximum Maintenance Cost of units an empire can support at no cost to itself is now equal to the total supply output (Supply x Productivity) of its colonies. An empire can increase its supply limit with economic points, which will allow larger or wealthier empires to still field large militaries even if their supply point totals are poorer.

This change will give empires more economic points to spend, since they won't have to spend half or more of their per-turn income maintaining their forces. This extra income will more than be eaten up on more expensive military units, more infrastructure purchases, etc.

6) All colony statistics will now follow the trend of having a STAT x STAT colony output. Tech output is equal to Tech x Census, intel output is equal to Intel x Census, and supply output is Supply x Productivity. The end result is that Census and Productivity are the key stats at any colony.

7) I think we have finally arrived at a solution on the tech front that balances out the various issues that we have had to this point. First up, we are going to end up with a number of tech fields. The six currently on paper now are Construction (was Structural), Propulsion, Weapons, Electronics, Basing, and Support. An empire will have a tech level in each of these fields, and each tech level above zero provides a cumulative 5% miniaturization bonus (MU Cost x 0.95^TL).

8) Empire tech levels, which measure the advancement of the civilization as a whole, will remain in play; however, they will not affect an empire's maximum or minimum tech levels. Instead, an empire's current empire tech level will apply a modifier to its tech costs, equipment miniaturization, colony outputs, and population growth costs. For example, an Interplanetary power receives a 150% modifier to its equipment costs, so a point of Anti-Ship rating (50 MU) would cost an Interplanetary power with Weapons TL 4 a total of 50 x 1.5 x 0.95^4 = 62 MU. The same AS rating would cost a TL 4 Interstellar empire 50 x 1 x 0.95^4 = 41 MU. This manner of handling tech makes it so that you can play with or without the empire tech level rules without having to worry about adjusting for their effects.

In addition to advancing these tech levels, empires will be able to purchase individual technologies that they can use in the game. Most of these technologies take the form of equipment that can be used to design new units, but some will serve as enhancement or munitions that a player can purchase and use. Enhancements provide permanent effects and require refit time to install, while munitions are one-use weapons that are used once and then lost (WMDs are the best example of munitions).

This does bring up a point I do want to get feedback on: do the majority of the players even want to deal with empire tech levels in their campaigns? I am sorely tempted to remove the empire, colony, and unit tech level rules from the core rules and revert them to optional rules, but I am on the fence. Removing them will make the rules flow better, but I know as a player I would definitely want them accessible.

9) The unit design rules remain largely the same, but with a few modifications to incorporate other changes.

The Construction Cost of a unit is still equal to its MU / 100 (round up).

Maintenance Costs now, however, will not be fractional or decimal values but rather whole numbers. While this is subject to change, expect all units to have a Maintenance Cost equal to their Construction Cost - Command Cost (minimum Maintenance Cost of 1 -- this may be adjusted down to 1/2 for 0 or less results). Therefore, a Heavy Cruiser that costs 10 EP to build will have a Maintenance Cost of 10 - 3 = 7. This formula gives players an incentive to build a unit on a larger hull at the expense of being more difficult to command.

A maximum limit of 10 Command Cost is likely to be instituted to keep a player from building massive units that cost little or nothing to command (they will still be expensive to build).

Completion Times will be equal to the average of a unit's Construction Cost and Command Cost (round up). So that 10 EP Heavy Cruiser (3 CC) will take (10 + 3) / 2 = 6.5 = 7 Turns to build. Meanwhile, a 2 EP Destroyer (1 CC) will take 2 Turns to build.

The maximum MU of equipment that can be added to a unit is based on its Command Cost. Current cost formulas are 400 x CC for Starships/Troops, 200 x CC for Flights/Aircraft, and 600 x CC for Starbases/Installations. These numbers give nice round numbers, even for the smallest 1/2 CC units.


The goal here is to simplify the rules back to a level that players can quickly identify what is going on and start playing the game. As written in its previous draft iteration, the rules were becoming incredibly daunting. I knew we had a problem when I even found myself confused with what rules were where and how they were interacting with one another. That set off some pretty serious alarm bells in my head and set me to figuring out the best way to address the problem.

I hope to be more active here on the forums from here on out. I had hoped to have finished the rules months ago, and I have no idea when these rules will be done (the cover art still isn't done, either -- we have art for all the other core books, incidentally, just not the most important!). I want to make sure that we get these rules done right, so expect for the full rules to be posted here for additional testing before they are actually released. It will help us to iron out the remaining bugs before we hand it off for printing.

-Tyrel
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
Locked