Hostile Encounters

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Tyrel Lohr
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Hostile Encounters

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

I was watching a lets play for a Sins of a Solar Empire mod where the players were running into hostile ships in uninhabited systems as they explored. It added an extra road bump for early exploration and adding a bit of combat to the early game.

I think we accomplish the same thing with raiders in VBAM, especially now that re-reading the 1E rules I found that we're really supposed to be rolling for systems that don't contain any military units, so there really should be a lot more piracy in the universe than what I'm used to.

But would it be more interesting if we had more neutral powers or hostile fleets that players had to deal with while they explore? Is the 1/36 chance of finding a non-aligned world too low, and should that be increased?
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aelius
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by aelius »

I like the 1/36 roll for NPE's using that WAP varient being discussed in the Galaxies doc. But extra things popping up to mostly just be there to interact with would be good.
It could be an Exploration Event table. Or maybe a line nearer the middle of the Special Traits table.
Things like Pirate Base (you know), Trade Nexus (place to put a trade convoy), etc...
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Tyrel Lohr
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

For exploration events, what should the chance be? Or should there always be an exploration reward of some sort to reward aggression exploration? I had an exploration bonus table that was originally for Star Charts that is still kicking around.

It was basically a combination of pirate caches (economic points), alien databank (tech investment), lost fleet (free ships), ragtag fleet (convoy), relics (morale). But we could take that a step further and expand it to have some good and bad results.

I like the idea of finding trading posts or pirate bases out in the empty expanses. The trading posts would give a bonus the trade value of the system (letting you trade there even if it isn't inhabited, too) while a pirate base might spawn some pirates in the system to act as a hostile encounter, but with a EP reward for taking out the base.
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aelius
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by aelius »

To quote Marc Antony "Our thoughts are as one on this".
As to the chance, I think you could slot it onto the table at 5 or 9 and that should make it pop enough.
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Tyrel Lohr
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

aelius wrote:To quote Marc Antony "Our thoughts are as one on this".
As to the chance, I think you could slot it onto the table at 5 or 9 and that should make it pop enough.
I worry about putting it on the special traits table itself, if only because that returns us to a situation where some systems won't have a special trait. Which might not be a huge problem, but might not be wholly desirable. Not that we couldn't do the same thing as with the Anomalies result where they roll again, but I think having it be a separate roll might be better. Maybe another 2d6, with 6-8 being no result and then 2-5 being negative and 9-12 being positive?

Then again, that runs into the question of whether Exploration Events should always be beneficial or at least have some reward for dealing with them. There is a stronger player reaction to bonuses than to penalties, which is why in modern game design you see a lot fewer outright penalties and instead the games rely on more nuanced or layered bonuses. You're effectively building the penalties into the underlying rules and then letting the bonuses erase those penalties -- but since they are communicated as bonuses to the player they see them as a straight bonus.
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aelius
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by aelius »

I was thinking something like this

System Exploration Tables

Special Traits Table (2d6)
Roll Special Trait
2 Roll Twice
3 Ultra Rich (+2 RAW, +1 Productivity)
4 Mild Climate (+1 RAW, +1 Census, +1 Morale)
5 Fair Government (+1 Capacity, +1 Morale)
6 Robust Economy (+1 Capacity, +1 Productivity)
7 Rare Metals (+1 RAW, +1 Productivity)
8 Heavy Industry (+1 RAW, +2 Productivity)
9 Expanded Population (+1 Capacity, +1 Census, +1 Morale)
-Encounter- Roll on the Encounter Table
10 Fair Biosphere (+2 Capacity, +1 Census)
11 Anomaly (Roll Again)
12 Homeworld (Roll Twice)


Encounter Table (2d6)
Roll Special Trait
2 Roll Twice
3
4 Pirate Base
5
6 Raider Squadron in System
7 No Encounter
8 Trade Hub (1d3+1 Trade Value)
9
10
11 Anomaly
12 Homeworld (Roll Twice)

If an Encounter is rolled for a Homeworld roll 1d6
Odd = Outsiders raiding, exploiting or whatever to the locals
Even = Locals control the encounter.
For instance on odd there is a pirate base hidden in the system raiding the locals, boy will they be glad for help.
On an even however the locals are running the pirate base. Might get sticky if you decide to take it out.

Fill in the remaining slots with whatever you want. I only included the Trade Hub and Pirate Base because we mentioned them earlier.
Also, you might consider having the Census and Morale bonus apply if there in an appropriate encounter. One census isn't much, but it is a good support for a trade station or even a pirate base.
I also thought the second small shot at a Homeworld was worth leaving in.
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Re: Hostile Encounters

Post by BroAdso »

As a longtime player of Sins, I'm not sure that the same system fits into VBAM well. Your primary opponent and the other player is the main focus in both, but because of the differing flow of boardgames and computer games, introducing neutral parties as a matter of course could bog things down. With the new "4x by default," though this could provide players with early introduction to combat, it would also make early expansion a real slog and create a lot of work for the moderator if many systems included enemies and battles.

I wouldn't be in favor of neutral encounters besides the occassional neutral world with its own industrial base and ship construction, etc for that reason. In a single player exploration campaign, more common neutral forces could provide much more value while waiting to contact a "real" empire - something that I guess would be better covered outside the Galaxy edition of the core rules.
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