VBAM 2E Playtest Files (Was: Any Updates?)

[MarkG88]

Glad to hear about the updates to 1E I am found of that material and look forward to seeing it streamlined and continued.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Glad to hear about the updates to 1E I am found of that material and look forward to seeing it streamlined and continued.

If there are any outstanding pieces of errata or things that you know need updated in 1E, be sure to make note of them and either email it to Jay and I or post it up here in a thread on the forums. I won't be getting to the 1E refresh until after the first three 2E books are finished, but when I do I want to make sure that everything is updated that needs updated.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Here's the latest draft copy, as promised:

http://www.vbamgames.com/VBAM2E_20110821.pdf

It is still a mess, but is moving closer and closer to a complete rule set. I am going to try and summarize the rule changes that I remember making the last two weeks, but I am sure something is going to slip through the web and not get mentioned. I also noticed several problems that still need fixed. Sigh.

• I rearranged the contents of the book again, and there may be some more reorganization later on. A new "Basic Concepts" chapter was added after the Introduction that now contains the basic information about maps, systems, colonies, empires, combat units, etc. that really need to be discussed first before delving into the nuts and bolts of the campaign system. I need a better name than Basic Concepts, though. Any ideas? "Getting Started" doesn't really do the trick, either.
• I added and then removed System Traits from the rules. I have been fighting a constant battle over whether or not to reintroduce those stat bonuses from the 1E CG back into 2E. They served a primary purpose of randomizing unit stats in 1E, but that is accomplished using the 2D6 & 2D6/2 rolls used for those stats in 2E. They may still live on as part of the comprehensive system specials that will go into the Companion.
• In the colonies chapter, I moved the population increase/decrease rules into the body of the Census section. I am finding that some of the rules I tried delineating in their own distinct sections was actually hurting the flow of the rules, so these things are being merged wherever possible. I'll just have to use an index at the back of the book to make looking up terms easier.
• The morale state rules were moved back to Morale. This is part of the process of moving basic concepts out of the sequence of play and back into a logical location in the "Basic Concepts" chapter. This ends up breaking rules apart, but I'm hoping it'll help to improve context within the other rules.
• The colony importance rules have been reintegrated, and I have these based on Census size. I have to finish writing out the rules in that section as they are still sketchy. When you enter a system you learn the colony's importance, but not its actual stats. An Espionage: Colony mission is required to get that information. Probably the biggest change here is that I added the Core World concept back into the rules, including the morale modifiers for gaining or losing control of one, and expanding the concept so that sector capitals can only be built at core worlds. This provides a natural restriction on the number of sector capitals an empire can build and also makes it so that players have to build up sizable colonies if they want one of them to take on an important administrative role.
• There's several scattered notes added to the end of the Colonies chapter. Some will be developed, others excised and abandoned. I'm still debating on their merits.
• The Empires chapter remains fragmentary at best. The biggest change here is that I added the Non-Aligned Empires (NAEs) back into the game. These are small empires that have limited economies (colony income <= 20 EP) and aren't very powerful. These powers act as special NPEs that automatically sign or declare if their chances are positive. This makes them easier to handle during a campaign. They usually either get absorbed into another empire or eventually become NPEs once their economies improve.
• Working out the possibility of putting diplomacy points back into the game so that players can purchase them and use them to carry out diplomatic missions that can increase or decrease relationships with other powers. Think of it like the diplomatic version of intel missions.
• I finished codifying the starship sizes based on command costs. This is combined with changes to the unit design rules that fix some economic issues. Players can use any naming scheme that they want in their own setting, but I've found that it is very helpful to have a common frame of reference in a system, especially for games where you don't have any other baseline concept for what size ships are supposed to be.
• Added some special abilities, modified some others. FTL & Atmospheric now cost 50% x Construction Capacity to go along with the halving of unit costs. Other abilities were added based on work on the CSCR.
• Unit design rules are still fragmentary and there are two different versions as I am still rewriting as I test the new variation. The current version starts at "Select Unit Type" on page 42.
• The maintenance state rules will likely be moved to the end of the Military section, after damage states. Still considering that.
• Intel & Diplomacy still need rewritten. Intel I have been testing in a playtest campaign I started yesterday. Current plan is you can put as much intel as you like on a mission, the completion time is equal to distance, and the chance of detection is total intel points divided by 10 x mission difficulty. Mission detection I am still wrestling with, but the base chance equal to the number of intel points spent seems to be a good starting point. I am still debating on whether the target's intel capacity or mission difficulty should modify this, or if some other value would fit better.
• On a related note, I hate defensive intel and probably will get rid of it completely. It is just too much of a nuisance to try and figure out how the presence of Intel infrastructure in a system affects mission success or detection. Certain methods work, but they are either needlessly complicated or severely penalize small colonies.
• Added the existing exploration rules back into the book, but they need some rewriting to make them actually match the rules that I am currently using in my campaigns. I have a bad tendency of testing several rules variants before committing them to paper or updating existing versions.
• Added a simplified version of Reprisals back into the book.
• Resolving a battle last night made me realize that the CSCR in this book is an older version, or at least doesn't match up with what I had remembered writing somewhere. Anyway, this section has been updated. One fairly substantive change from the previous draft is that I expanded the Command/Electronic Warfare resolution rules considerably. To speed scenario generation, you must now improve formation levels on a squadron-by-squadron basis unless you have a special ability that lets you raise/lower an individual unit's formation level. That fixed the problem while giving a definite usefulness to several of the electronic warfare technologies.
• I updated the combat morale rules and would appreciate feedback on whether these are really a good idea or something that should be made purely optional.
• Speaking of optional rules, I have a note in the construction rules that is based off an idea that Mike Riddle presented to me at Origins. It addresses the question of wartime economies and production. His idea was that a colony can only purchase 1 more of a unit class than it purchased on a previous campaign turn. This means that if I bought one star destroyer last turn, I could buy at most two star destroyers this turn. I really like the concept, but I wonder if it should be moved to the Companion rather than become a core rule. Weigh in and let me know what the consensus is.
• I rediscovered the descriptions for the 1E sample races that I prepared for the 1E Companion 6 years ago. I copied those back into the book and put them in the Scenarios chapter.

That's a fairly complete overview of the changes. I will upload another copy in about a week when I have made some more changes to the draft.

[BLHarrison]

I still haven't competed my initial skim of the newest draft, but something is compelling me to ask about the special abilities Armor and Missiles.

1st of all is Armor for both space and ground forces and (in general) how do they effect a unit that has the trait.

2nd question is does Missile effect both space and ground forces and does it add a straight +1 to combat rating when used. Does it have limited uses?

[Gareth_Perkins]

While on the face of it diplomacy points sound like a good idea, won't they cross too much with intel points, resulting in both of them being too narrow in their use?

Incidentally, with the CSCR, I was trying to figure out why you would ever choose to use squadrons (this is mostly based upon the previous iteration of the rules, so may now be irrelevant)? It seemed like it would make the most sense to fight in lots of small one-ship "squadrons" in order to maximise the "+1 formation bonus" for being a squadron flagship, possibly with one large formation for use with command points (easy to include a large group of ships)?

Maybe I am missing a trick with the last bit though?

[MarkNorfolk]

1st of all is Armor for both space and ground forces and (in general) how do they effect a unit that has the trait?

Adding to that, shouldn't Armour's Mass be related to Construction Cost? The bigger you are the more armour you need, after all...

Cheers
Mark

[Tyrel Lohr]

1st of all is Armor for both space and ground forces and (in general) how do they effect a unit that has the trait.

Armor and Bulkheads both act as half a Defense rating, with Armor applying before a unit is crippled and Bulkhead applying after a unit is crippled. The amount of damage required to cripple a ship with Armor is equal to its Defense + Armor, while the amount of damage required to destroy a ship with Bulkheads is equal to its Defense + Bulkhead. These two technologies offer situational advantages for empires that want a ship that can take a little more damage on one side or the other of the damage spectrum.

The costs for Armor and Bulkheads are representative that they are exactly half as effective as Defense.

2nd question is does Missile effect both space and ground forces and does it add a straight +1 to combat rating when used. Does it have limited uses?

Missile is one of those abilities that I am still wrestling with. The current incarnation is that you get one guaranteed hit during the Weapons Fire Phase per point of Missile rating you have, but your opponent can shoot down the missiles using 1 hit during the Point Defense Fire Phase.

While on the face of it diplomacy points sound like a good idea, won't they cross too much with intel points, resulting in both of them being too narrow in their use?

That's been my concern, too. The one advantage I can see to tracking diplomacy points separately from intel points is that it would allow for diplomatic empires/species to gain bonuses when those optional rules are introduced later on. Otherwise, the empire that is good at spying would also be better at diplomacy simply because they can buy intel points at a reasonable cost. I need to weigh the pros and cons before I commit to one direction or another. What you should expect to see there, though, is that players conduct diplomatic missions like intel missions and can try to improve their relationship with the other player via those means.

Incidentally, with the CSCR, I was trying to figure out why you would ever choose to use squadrons (this is mostly based upon the previous iteration of the rules, so may now be irrelevant)? It seemed like it would make the most sense to fight in lots of small one-ship "squadrons" in order to maximise the "+1 formation bonus" for being a squadron flagship, possibly with one large formation for use with command points (easy to include a large group of ships)?

The trick comes in the Encounter Phase during scenario generation where you have to use command points to include squadrons in a battle. You can fly around with a bunch of one-ship squadrons, but each will take 1 command point to include in a battle. This is a nuisance for your enemy, as you can easily avoid bringing many units into the battle, but that just means he'll have to use his own command points to include as many of your squadrons as possible.

The other rub is that you had better have a command unit in the subsequent task force that can command that many squadrons, otherwise those beyond its command limit will be Out of Command and have their combat factors halved. At that point your opponent will grin like a Cheshire cat as his own forces brutally massacre your fleet or ground forces.

Now, if you did have a suitable command ship available to command any and all little squadrons that get pulled into the fight, then your opponent really will just want to kill that command ship to force you Out of Command and get the same effect. It'll take more work, but it'll be worth it.

[Tyrel Lohr]

http://www.vbamgames.com/VBAM2E_20110911.pdf

Still slogging through the edit filling in gaps and reorganizing the rules based on recent feedback. Here's a brief overview of what I know has changed since the last draft, and what is still waiting for updates.

• Based on darby's comments, I ended up reorganizing the book back to how it was two revisions ago, with most content appearing in its own chapter rather than in the 1E-style sequence of play format. I have temporarily combined some content to reduce the overall number of chapters, especially in cases where a chapter would have been only a few pages long. Let me know if you prefer this format.
• Blockades were moved from Supply to Colonies. Morale checks, martial law, and reprisals are likely to find their way moved back into this chapter. They were there originally before being moved (that is a reoccurring theme at this point).
• I moved the special technologies back to the Technology chapter and moved the Tech chapter to after Empires but before Military. Based on Emiricol's recent question I am also adding the information about Pre-Industrial, Industrial, Information, Interplanetary, Interstellar, Ascendant, and Ancient civilizations back into the CG, with those entries appearing in the Tech Levels section.
• The Military chapter now appears immediately after Tech, moving it quite a bit forward in the rules. This is likely a good move as it introduces the concept of space and ground combat units earlier in the book, instead of waiting until the end to tell players about them.
• The unit class design rules are now consolidated and should be usable without contradictions or problems (knock on wood).
• Movement and Supply have both been tentatively folded into the Military chapter, as they only really affect combat units.
• Economics is a mess post-move, but will become a catch-all for the income, expenses, commerce, piracy, and agriculture rules. This section is still pending a rewrite.
• Fairly significant changes have been partially applied to the Diplomacy rules. Full implementation pends a bit of quick testing and final adjustments. The biggest change is that diplomatic relationship values are no measured on a +-100 scale with a neutral balancing point of +-0. The formulas for offering, signing, breaking, and declaring have been updated to reflect this, though not all of those changes are currently reflected in the draft. I hope to have those streamlined in tonight.
  
  I am also working on removing the new declarations that I added to 2E and adding them as special diplomacy rules instead. That reverts declarations to being solely conflict declarations instead of a mix of standard and conflict. This should make the declarations more straightforward again. Some of the advanced declaration concepts like embargoes and guarantees of independence may end up removed from the CG and pushed back to the CC.
• Intel still needs a rewrite to reflect the current rules in play. I've been meaning to do this for a month now and just haven't found the time or voice to do it right. I really, really hate intel after having it hang around my neck like an albatross for the last two years, so it's mainly a creative block on this end that is keeping me from getting it done. I'll try hacking it apart this afternoon.
  
  The one change here is that I bowed to popular opinion and moved the Diplomacy missions back as aspects of intel rather than having a separate diplomacy points and diplomacy pool in the game.
• I am playing around with placing all of the encounters rules et. al. into a single Warfare chapter. I am also starting to wonder if it wouldn't be better to go back to a 1E-style model where bombardment and ground combat don't occur until after all encounters have been generated and resolved. I have to review the system and the comments thus far in the other thread, but this is a likely change.
• I've moved the random generation rules for maps, systems, colonies, and empires into a new appendices based on virtuis' excellent advice. They do appear to be a more natural fit there. I have several partial versions of each generation option written between drafts, and so I'll merge those and get those completed in the next week.

Speaking of merging old drafts, that is still what I am spending most of my time doing. What this entails is going through each of the old drafts and design stubs and checking to see if there is any usable text, rules, or other content in the older version that didn't make it into the current draft. There have been enough versions of the 2E rules up to this point that there are quite a few gems or already-completed rules sections that are just waiting to be copied over and repurposed in the current draft. It is a slow and tedious process, but I almost have it done (finally). At that point I'll know what content I already have finished and what I need to complete to get the book done.

[Vandervecken]

Thanks for continuing the hard tast of putting it all together, keep pressing on. No pressure now , but the fate of EMPIRES are in your hands.


I'll leave you with a quote from 'The Princess Bride' to get you ready for the next week: Good night, Tyrel. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.

[Tyrel Lohr]

I may already be dead!

Here's another update from the VBAM mines:

http://www.vbamgames.com/VBAM2E_20110912.pdf

The changes are pretty slight here:

• Went through my old tech files and tried pulling forward every tech that I had extent rules and/or text for. Some techs are still fragmentary or undefined, but this moves us quite a bit closer to filling out the special technologies list. Any technology with a section symbol after its names is definitely being moved to the Engineering Manual or Companion.

I'll see about getting some more done tonight and then post another update in a day or two.

[Emiricol]

Stop sharpening pencils and write! J/K. I know this is a labor of love and the end result is already a marked improvement over 1E; when done, it'll positively shine. Hopefully soon

[Tyrel Lohr]

Stop sharpening pencils and write! J/K. I know this is a labor of love and the end result is already a marked improvement over 1E; when done, it'll positively shine. Hopefully soon

I'm getting there, honest! I just have to find the time to sit down and write, which has been the problem the last few weeks. But I'm slowly working through the backlog, integrating errata, and rewriting the outstanding sections. I am woefully behind on forum posts, but I'm hoping my work schedule continues as it has the last two days so that I have a chance to get caught back up.

[Tyrel Lohr]

A much belated update to the playtest rules: http://www.vbamgames.com/20111202_VBAM_CG.pdf

• The infrastructure rule changes from the previous forum thread have been integrated. The maximum infrastructure at a colony is now equal to Carrying Capacity + Census
• The CSCR has been reworked in a way that is more in line with the Federation Admiralty combat system, and tweaked to be a bit more controllable
• The tech advancement rules have been somewhat simplified so that interstellar powers have a tech advancement cost of 10 x Census.
• The mechanics of the Diplomacy rules are being modified slightly from the previous draft, and I hope to have them dropped in early next week and a new draft available with those.
• After some internal playtest, a different commerce system has been adopted that more closely mirrors the existing supply rules. Domestic trade at your empire's own colonies is no longer allowed.
• Also stemming from extra playtest, the morale rules have been shifted back so that morale checks are similar to piracy checks, and each colony makes a separate roll every turn. The sector-wide morale rolls will return as an optional rule in the Companion.
• Squadrons no longer exist. Instead, a new task force is created in each scenario, with a single unit chosen to serve as the task force flagship and then an additional command cost of units added to the task force based on the scenario's command limit and the flagship's own command rating.

I think that covers the high points, and unless something horrible happens this weekend the diplomacy rules should be fully integrated by sometime next week. I just have to finish reconciling changes from the recent internal playtest.

UPDATE: Also, here's an Excel sheet that I've been using to create units for the game: http://www.vbamgames.com/20111202_VBAM_Construction.xls

[mavikfelna]

I get a bad page message when clicking on the link

[Tyrel Lohr]

Doh, wrong domain. It should be fixed now.