File: EVA_Rules2.jpg (3.79 MB, 1975x4467)

3.79 MB JPG

>>1608645
Welcome to the E.V.A Skirmish Beta
E.V.A is a tactical turn based collective game where each player takes the role of A reckless idiot sealed inside a tin can a power armoured contractor performing dangerous missions in the cold vacuum of SPHESS! (Well mostly depressurized station interiors and asteroids but work with me here.) Weapons have infinite range but generally become more effective the closer your targets are. Be mindful of your position and be careful you don’t run out of ammo!
Game rules in pic related.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CognisQM
Previous Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/1203319/

File: EVA_Equipment_List2.jpg (2.86 MB, 1933x4874)

2.86 MB JPG

>>1608651
Operator: "Alright ya mooks, Jupiter Mining Corp is hiring freelancers for some kind of asset retrieval gig. Judging by the hardware they're licensing us it looks pretty serious. Had to set back construction of their big pet project a few months to spring for it."

"Anyhow why don't you guys sign the necessary paperwork and get your load-outs sorted while I prepare the briefing."

>>1608645
I'm reading the rules.

>>1608697
Take your time. Experience has taught me this usually takes a while to get going.

>>1608695
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tOZHl5OGEk&index=3&list=PLC2JRJDXgYZAYI_gQFz0JZAfXz-Hh4jxa

Briefing:

Operator: “Alright, about a week ago our client lost contact with one of their comet chasers: The Folly of Midas. Yeah, yeah dumb name for a ship, I know. We only received a brief destress call before the transmission was cut off. What did get through was badly degraded. All we could get out of it was that the Folly ran into something hostile. I’ll be honest with you, we’ve got nothing. What happened doesn’t match any known patterns of piracy and if the ship had been taken out by any stellar phenomena long range scans would be detecting wreckage. All I can say about this one is to standby and await further details once we reach the mission area.”

>>1608651
Ah, gonna be nice to get back in the can.

>Glaz
Armour 15/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8
LA: Fission Cutter
RA: Hold Out Blaster
Inv [2]: Repair Kit, Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

>Defense seems to be listed only in the loadout sample sheet?

>>1608857
Approved

Ignore defence. That's a typo from the previous iteration that I missed.

>>1608748
I'll do a pass over the top before we go in.

We're trying to clear the ship, then? Sounds right, no way they'd send us in just to rescue the sodding crew. Heartless bastards, they're too tight for that.

Glaz
Armour: 15
HP: 10
Agility: 2
Mobility: 12
Power Generation: 8
LA: Ion Lance
RA: Ion Lance
Inventory: Repair Kit, Limpet Charge

>>1608898
Scratch that repair kit, any chance for medical supplies? I an't no surgeon, but I can do the nanite injecting like no other.

In case there are people alive in there, that is. I ain't like them at the Corp.

>>1608898
>>1608917

Operator:"We have some drones we can use to bring in med kits should it become necessary. Your suits also have an internal medical suite that can stabilize minor wounds."

((There are no med kit items. Hit points regenerate every turn. If your hit points get damaged there is a CHANCE you might die. If you don't want to face that risk you need to keep your suit's armour value up.))

>>1608948
Alright, that's fine. Drones. Here's the paperwork, just give me the standard model Glaz.

Sorry, been all this time and thinking 'bout it still makes my blood simmer. I'm going for a smoke, page me when we're ready to launch.

>>1609016
Approved.

Operator:"Sure thing bud. I'll pass this on to the techs. Nice to see we have some Glaz operators. They're very useful suits but many people turn their nose up at them. Something about them looking like glorified bathyspheres with dangling Modok Legs. They're not designed for use in a gravity well that's for sure."

>>1608651
Howdy! Name's Monkeybread, 'cause that's how I like my missions: Messy. Sticky even, but all well in hand. Heads down, manage your sightlines, and we'll get through just fine. Lessee... So we got sensors, a breacher, bit a' knock out-

>>1608898
A lotta knockout. Two sap-zappers? 'fraid I don't understand what you mean to do with two that you couldn't with one.
>Glaz generates 8 energy per turn, so you only have two Ion Lance shots per turn without Mason aid, and you can get those two shots with only one equipped anyway. You'll be better served if one of your weapons is less energy-hungry.


Mason MR
HP 10 | Agi 4 | Arm 15
Mob 7 | Pow 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x3 Foam x1 Magazines

>I'm planning on being a mobile bit of cover for everyone. Given time to prepare, MRs can block 30 damage in a turn, and foams are handy for buying time and closing sightlines. I'm carrying a magazine for anyone who picks up an Autocannon, Chaingun, Plasma, or maybe a Gauss or Sniper. Given the new armor rules, weapons with Buster will be essential to ending threats quickly. If nobody does this, I'll find a way to work it into my kit.

>>1609423
What are you talking about, it says right here on the brochure that 'each energy weapon comes equipped with an on-board capacitor. You even have to be careful not to charge the thing and fire in the same turn, else--'

> Scrawl compares the brochure that Monkeybread hands them with the one they had picked up in briefing

Sodding hell, /of course/ they removed those and hooked the rifles up to the reactor directly; anything to cut costs, after all! Nary a mention, either. Hell, now I've got to fill out another goddamn req form. Damnit, why were these old brochures lying about anyway?

New req form:
Glaz
Armour: 15
HP: 10
Agility: 2
Defence:
Mobility: 12
Power Generation: 8
LA: Plasma Gun
RA: Ion Lance
Inventory: Repair Kit, Limpet Charge
Special: Sensor Array, Overboost

( I was looking at the old ruleset, thank you for picking up on that )

>>1609545
Sure, sure. Hm.

Command, do weapons come loaded, or do we need to have a magazine for our first load too?

>>1609592
Yes all ammo using weapons come loaded.

>>1608695
I'm in, I've missed my big gun. Hope my suit certification is good though, they suspended the exercise after one of the other trainees went incommunicado and it turned out he'd started suffocating when the duct-tape fell off his Marinero. I don't know if any of us actually got qualified or not. I hear he survived though, so that was nice.

Marinero
Armour: 20/20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun
RA: Auto-Cannon
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade, Limpet Charge

>>1609813
Approved.

Operator:"As long as you can maneuver in zero-G without shooting your own ass off I don't really care if you got the certs."

>>1609900
I can shoot other people's asses off in zero-G. That count?
Flirting with an action point system eh? Interesting. We'll have to see how it shakes out in practice, but I reckon the more granular action economy might be a nice direction for the system.

Mason MR
HP 10
Agility 4
Armor 15
Mobility 7
Power 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x3 Foam x1 Magazines

>Posting in more approvable state. I'm going back to compressing my sheet afterward, though.

>>1609813
"Good to see you again, pard'."

How many individual attacks can one declare against a single target? Is it possible to maximize Buster output by making each Shot a separate Attack?

>>1610001
Likewise. See you've sprung for an upgrade on your suit, nice. Feels good to have some real armour between you and space, doesn't it?

I was tempted by the assault model myself, it looks pretty spiffy and going into combat covered in bombs is metal as fuck, but I guess I just like living too much to forgo the life support. I'm an inveterate coward like that.

Hold on, reading the rules...

>>1610001
Well the way the attack system works is that when you attack a target with a weapon, you decide how many "shots" you wish to fire at it by spending ammo and AP. This is then resolved as a single block of damage, on top of which buster damage is added.

>>1610105
There isn't a cap? The Mason-MR can pump 20 dice out of that blaster if they burn their capacitors?

Nice, I should've done that.

>>1610128
Well the blaster has shitty success thresholds for the most part so let's leave it as is for now. If it really is too imba I'll make a note of it and nerf it.

... I just realized I should probably give a worse dice to AP ratio for light weapons given the nature of the light attribute.

>>1610077
The limiter here is AP more than energy. Maximizing output requires 2BL, Stimm, and Aux Capacitors. That's 2 blasters times 14 shots for 28 energy used, and then twice that in dice. At Close range, about half of those will hit, and that rate can't be improved since Anchor only helps Medium and Long range. 28 damage though.

This thing doesn't overheat, people.

>>1610128
>>1610207
Proper linking.

>>1610077
Lemme take back that technical talk and give you this: SOM's a fine suit, but I'd have sprung for the old model's storage space if it weren't so imperative to set up our heavies.

>>1609813
>>1609900
Nyeeeh...on second thought to hell with the risks, maybe I will try out that new model after all. I hate to be a pain, but what good is new equipment if you don't beta test it, right?

Marinero-BAK
Armour: 16/16
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun
RA: Auto-Cannon
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade
Assault Charges: 10/10

>>1610207
>This thing doesn't overheat, people.

Perhaps it should... I'll probably give it the overheat quality, or make it's hit threshold even more dinky. This is supposed to be a last ditch weapon after all.

>>1610238
Operator:"Hoo boy you're using THAT suit? You do realise it's designed to charge straight into battle while covered in explosives right?"

"Alright we got 4 suits ready to go. Time is money so I'm sending you out into the mission area first. Any other contractors will be deployed as and when they are ready."

>standby for deployment...

Takes a fair bit of setup. In practice you'll lose dice to getting into position, others lose armor for all the help you're not giving them, so on. Hell of an ambush weapon though.

File: Beta2_Start.jpg (2.24 MB, 3002x4202)

2.24 MB JPG

>>1610302
Operator:"Our initial recon pass has shown the Folly of Midas has broken apart and crashed into the surface of the comet. Scans are not detecting any life signs... However we are detecting heat signatures emanating from a nearby shaft. It looks like this was the initial bore hole the survey team drilled. You should find their core drill at the bottom. Hopefully the heat signatures are indicative of survivors rather than just the drill itself. We'll be deploying brick drones to search the ship wreckage. You guys go down the hole and see what you can find."

1:Monkeybread
2:Crimson
3:Skinwalker
4:Scrawl

>post actions people. The turn will be processed sometime in the next 24 hours. I was hoping to process the first turn tonight but I've stayed up waaaay past my bedtime waiting for players to filter in so I need to crash now.

>One I process the first turn, the game will move at 1 turn every 24 hours. Hopefully this will give everyone ample time to post regardless of timezone.

>>1610422
For now I'll take up overwatch position at the mouth of the shaft.

>Move 3E, 1SE (4AP)
>Anchor (4AP)
>Overwatch down the shaft with auto-cannon, 1 shot (2AP)
>4 Assault charges reserved for defence


Marinero-BAK
Armour: 16/16
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun
RA: Auto-Cannon
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade
Assault Charges: 10/10

>>1610422
>Move 2Right, 6Down, 8AP
>-Dodge
Can the Overbooster be used during a dodge, assuming the energy is spent?
"In the hole we git, boyos. Nothing like a quiet night inside a rock in space, eh?"

No one saw me be an idiot, right?

>Glaz
Armour 15/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8
LA: Fission Cutter
RA: Hold Out Blaster
Inv [2]: Repair Kit, Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

>>1610422
"No foolish moves now, fellas. Any pecking to death's gotta start and end with me."

>Move ESSSS
>-TacShield up
>-Produce Aux Capacitor

Mason MR
HP 10 | Agi 4 | Arm 15
Mob 7 | Pow 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x3 Foam x1 Magazines

Rolled 9, 3, 8, 2 = 22 (4d10)

>>1610422
> Boost 4E, 4S (7E, 6AP)
> Overwatch South
If anything hostile-looking come charging into medium range, double tap it (1E, 4AP)
> Dodge x2 (1E, 0AP)

Glaz
Armour: 15
HP: 10
Agility: 2
Defence:
Mobility: 12
Power Generation: 8
LA: Plasma Gun
RA: Ion Lance
Inventory: Repair Kit, Limpet Charge
Special: Sensor Array, Overboost

>Deploy

Hah - "last gen". Yeah yeah yeah. That's what they said 20 years ago too and I don't see what's so damn fancy about strapping high explosives all over your suit. That ain't ergonomic, no siree.

Economic? Atomic? It. . . was one of those.

Well nevermind. Oxygen levels are good, integrity is green across the board, capacitators are loaded up and operating as expected, duct-tape is where its meant to be and the old QuickFIXX spray on the rents across the outer shielding are. . .

Hm is that light supposed to be flashing red?

Eh. I'm sure this rust bucket will manage just as well as it did last time. And the time before that. And the time before /that/.

Marinero-MAR
Armour: 20 / 20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Assault Rifle [20]
RA: Chain Gun [30]
>Inventory:
Fragment, Fragment, Fragment

>>1612394
Approved

Beginning turn processing...

>>1612600
'Course I'm approved! I've been in this business before. Ain't gonna find no rookie mistakes here, CogCommand.

Incidentally, how do I activate the short range thruster on this suit? I swear my certification wasn't bought for six credits and a poker game at Bilkwar Station and I know how to operate this chain gun. Mostly. I've seen a guide MePipe.

>>1612726
MePipe?! See, now, that there is wha's wrong with kids today. Learnin' the Trade offa some screen. Gotta go with the old-school, learn how to ride while tethered to your pop or granpap, like a real spacer.
Aint got no respect for the traditions.

>>1612726
Uuuuh-huh. Whyn'cha put that seed-spitter back 'fore you make a retrieval mission out of yourself?

>>1612848
It's fine, it's fiiine, the safety is on. The safety is this one? Yeah?
Yeah that's definitively on. I think. Perfectly reliable breaching skills here, promise.
>>1612773
Hey! The old thether chain parenting is all well and good if you're stuck in 2100, but these days its a quick ticket to a fusion-cutter caused depressurization ride. Tradition you can actually rely on is this fine only-mildly-scruffed exosuit. The Marinero did fantastic work in 2140 and it's top of the line here in 2185 still.

You know what isn't reliable any more? Granpap. Because he's gotten space dementia, and was probably blown out an airlock with his trainees tethered in tow.

>>1612904
It's not the safety you have to worry about man. You fire a gun like that without properly bracing it or engaging the recoil compensators and...well, I hope you got a way to clean vomit off the inside of a visor, you can share it with me.

By the way, are you...sure the seals on that suit are good? Cause you kinda seized up during training and I was worried the duck tape gave way and exposed you to the vacuum of space.

And that sucks. It's cold outside, and there's no kind of atmosphere.

File: Beta2_P1.jpg (1.71 MB, 3002x4202)

1.71 MB JPG

((Apologies for the delays. I'm trying out a new vector graphics program and while it has some cool features it's clunky as fuck))

>>1612726
Operator:"I know Marineros were built to last... but seriously. I'm reading dozens of minor faults on multiple subsystems, plus one of the comm tech says your radio keeps giving bursts of static that give him the inexplicable urge to make a blood sacrifice."

--------

Operator:"Skinwalker I'm seeing several sensor returns on your scope. There's something down the side shafts in front of you... are those the survey team?...wait..."

>standby for NPC phase...

File: Beta2_E1.jpg (1.74 MB, 3002x4202)

1.74 MB JPG

>>1612944
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkYyEnYOURE&index=53&list=PLpTiDdAF70fJoLo1VLil5W7YcETW45Zou

Operator:"Oh Shit! Grenade!"

[Skinwalker]:Disrupted, 0 energy next turn.
[Monkey Bread]:Disrupted, 0 energy next turn.
[Scrawl]:Disrupted, 0 energy next turn.

Operator:"Oh gawds, what the fuck is that!? It looks like an a exo-suit, but it's... wrong. All units, weapons free!"

>standby for aftermath

>>1612944
At this price, you gotta just accept the occassional telemetric signature demon. Won it off a guy who knows a guy who knows a girl who once bought it from a mercenary group that was really, really into camels. I was also offered a surprisingly large stockpile of faulty missiles, but the warheads were all clunky.

I like how it I can feel the sweat stains from the last fifty users - it's that little extra padding that really makes you feel safe. And... as if you're constantly expose to a long, somewhat tender hug.
>>1612943
Seals, seals... well I have them. But some of them are not where there are holes, and some of them are old. It's a like logic puzzle.

Some seals seal you for safety.
Some holes don't have seals.
All holes are bad.

Are you safe?

Oxygen depriviation kicks in the survival instinct better, so we'll make it up for it in noradrenaline compounds. Promise.

>>1613076
>>1612944
I'm reading multiple hostiles with non-standard equipment profiles and a mason with a... claw? Do we have any xenobiologist eggheads able to run on a profile on that?

They charge *how* much a conference call? OH SWEET PULSARS, forget that. We'll just write it off as a Unidentified Foreign Object.

Command, be advised - our BRICK scavenger support might be suceptible to whatever this is.

Team, this crossroad is a bad nexus to be in. Too many avenues of fire.

Monkeybread, can you foam lock it? Close off an avenue and we can compensate for their ambush.

File: Beta2_A1.jpg (1.73 MB, 3002x4202)

1.73 MB JPG

>>1613076
Operator: "Gizmo ease up on the thruster, you're coming in too hard!"

*crunch*

"Oh dear...guess I better task one of the bricks to scrape him off the... I don't believe it, not only is he still alive but his suit is still functioning."

Surplus Gizmo: 5

>Declare actions everybody, the next turn will get processed tomorrow at 6pm GMT.

Apologies if this has been a little slow and awkward. I'm doing more than just testing a new system behind the scenes.

See? Extra sweat layer padding. Works like a charm. An uncomfortable, vaguely autoerotic charm that means isolation hours after every op.

Ugh, some of it flaked off the internals and is floating around. Oh, no nevermind, that's just metal particles from a crunched servo. That's breathable with no long term health consequences, surely.

>>1613076
>>1613076
God-DAMNIT! This is why ballistic weapons will ALWAYS be best!

Well, if any of you want to stage a temporary retreat out the shaft it would draw those things into my sights. I'm anchored and I'm packing The Best Biggest Gun, so I can bloody them nice and good, or at least keep their heads down.

>>1613122
...or I could detach myself and get up there to give you a (bomb covered) hand with that spooky looking Glaz. I'd rather not have to disengage anchors though, I hate having to re-adjust after I got them set up juuust right.

After looking over the rule sheet I've realized that I've forgotten to update certain sections to reflect the new AP system. So I'll be posting the following clarifications:

On Grenades: Grenades cost 3 AP to throw, otherwise they work as stated in the rule set.

Cutting Corners: You cannot use your single diagonal move to cut through a corner. If you are sure if the square you wish to move through constitutes a corner check to see how much of the actual square is filled. If over half the square's area is filled with terrain then you can't cut through it.

>>1610567
>Can the Overbooster be used during a dodge
No. Dodging is always a one space move. which brings us to...

>Dodging Grenades
To dodge a grenade you must be able to move outside it's blast radius with your dodge move.

>Dodging backwards
If you can't dodge to the side, but can move into a range bracket that gives your attacker an inferior hit threshold you can do that instead. (But it is unlikely to help much.)

With my Aux Capacitor, I potentially have 5 power to grant someone. Definitely going to block off the intersection, may leave a sightline for Crimson.

>>1613213
Say, how do the extra damag dice from Assault Charges figure into things? I take it they use the same hit threshold, but do they also count for crits/intensity? Can they cause the weapon to jam (or overheat)?

>>1613213
Dodging twice doesn't give you double distance either? Good to know, thank you.

>>1613135
>Scrawl curses and clenches his fists in anger, accidentially engaging the reverse thruster at full throttle

> Unintentionally blast away, 10N

Glaz
Armour: 14/15
HP: 10
Agility: 2
Mobility: 12
Power Generation: 8
LA: Plasma Gun
RA: Ion Lance
Inventory: Repair Kit, Limpet Charge
Special: Sensor Array, Overboost

>>1613309
You might want to not even bother with the sightline, if they have to push through it to reach us they'll make themselves a nice cramped death corridor. Meanwhile the rest of you can gang up on the one outside.

>>1613317
>Say, how do the extra damag dice from Assault Charges figure into things? I take it they use the same hit threshold, but do they also count for crits/intensity? Can they cause the weapon to jam (or overheat)?

You use the same hit threshold, but the extra dice do not count towards crits, intensity, jamming or overheating.

File: foom.png (414 KB, 877x949)

414 KB PNG

>>1613327
Right. Keep your sights that-a-way, and I'll cover you when you're done.

>>1613135
"There it is, the usual can of worms. Pull on back, Skinwalker. LAYIN' FOAM."

>-take 1 armor damage
>Move 2E
>Once Skinwalker's clear, drop foam SW
>Move N, NW, face W, both shields ready thanks to AuxCap
>Overwatch Move W-E and facing to protect Crimson or let him take a shot, priority on the former
>Or if that's too much, Overwatch Move W to block enemy Marinero, waiting for Crimson's shot if applicable.


Mason MR
HP 10
Agility 4
Armor 14
Mobility 7
Power 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x2 Foam x1 Magazines

>>1613135
>Move 2N, 1E
>Dodge
>Overwatch Bash, facing S

>Glaz
Armour 14/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8 (Dis'd)
LA: Fission Cutter
RA: Hold Out Blaster
Inv [2]: Repair Kit, Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

>>1614503
I...dude, is there any chance you might rethink that move? Because at the moment you'll end up right in front of me blocking my line of sight, and I guarantee I can do a lot more damage with this autocannon than you can bashing, especially since it can pierce the armour on that Marinero's shield.

>>1615679
Well, I actually don't think it will matter much where I move. That Mari will probably not emerge from the foam without a target, and if it has a target, will come out with whoever it attacks blocking LoS from their allies. (That's me and you.)
Sure, I could hug the western wall, but then he'd just travel a bit further to come up under me. Or stay behind the foam.
Placing myself here actually raises your chance of getting a shot off, really, because Dodge should move me out of the way, and I am a tempting target. Speaking of which,
>>1613135
>>1614503
I'd prefer dodging NW

>>1615722
I was thinking it likely it would go straight through the foam, use its shield to protect it since it couldn't dodge, and shotgun somebody in the face (likely me, since I can't dodge and have no shield), and you might not make the dodge roll, but since you're resolved...

>Overwatch:
>-Fire 3 auto cannon shots at any one enemy that enters medium or long range (priority on the marinero, 6AP)
>-Fire 2 shotgun shots at any one enemy that enters short range (4AP)
>4 assault charges reserved for defence


Marinero-BAK
Armour: 16/16
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun (10/10)
RA: Auto-Cannon (10/10)
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade
Assault Charges: 10/10

>>1613387
Oh yeah, 'nother question. Does the damage from buster apply repeatedly to multiple layers of defence? So if, say, an auto cannon shot penetrated a tactical shield, would it do 4 bonus damage to the shield AND another 4 bonus damage to the suit holding it?

>>1615741
>Does the damage from buster apply repeatedly to multiple layers of defence?

I hadn't actually thought of that. My on the spot ruling is that buster damage applies to the first target that it would damage.

So resolving armour buster against a tactical shield/ armour layer would go something like this:

Say we have an attack that does 6 damage, with armour buster 4 and a penetration of 10. This attack hits a target with a tactical shield.

>Tac-shield counts as armour.
>Attack penetrates the shield so half base damage is done to the shield (-3) and half to the target's normal armour (-3).
>The shield is the FIRST armour source the attack hits so additional armour buster damage is applied to the shield, for a total of 7 damage on the tactical shield.

Hmm looks like some people haven't posted yet. DESU I was hoping everyone would have posted quickly last night since that seems to be when everyone is online. I'll extend the deadline to 10pm since I'll be stepping out for a while tonight.

Dangit Gizmo, get your head out of that crater and give us a hand! I'm pretty sure I'm about to have a horrible space monster metaphorically (and maybe literally?) up my ass, and I've seen way too many sci-fi movies to be cool with that, so some top cover would be appreciated.

Rolled 10, 8, 1, 8, 2, 4, 3, 1, 3 = 40 (9d10)

>>1616002
Yes sirreee. You worry too much. It's only brain eating monster squids from beyond the ken of man.

I'm not exactly in a prime spot to wreck your target hoss.

Still, if you're a nervous sorta fella, let old Gizmo get your back. Marking targets . . .

>>1613135
>Move 3E [3 AP]
>Anchor SE [4 AP]
>Unload with Chaingun at NE, E E E Spooky Glaz
>3 Ap, 9 Dice, 7 to Hit, Critical, 6 Penetration

Marinero-MAR
Armour: 20 / 20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Assault Rifle [20]
RA: Chain Gun [30]
>Inventory:
Fragment, Fragment, Fragment

Okay, beginning turn processing.

>>1616180
Overwatch probably would have done, but this will still do nicely.

Wew, look at those crits. I can only imagine what it's like if you really unload with that thing. You might not pierce armour, but you sure could chew it all away.

File: Beta2_P2.jpg (1.74 MB, 3002x4202)

1.74 MB JPG

I'm going to say that you can't anchor yourself on a corner. You must have a full surface along one of the edge of the space you occupy in order to anchor yourself.

I will let Gizmo anchor on a corner just this once since the rules did not make the above clear. And because I have a hilarious way to justify it.

Operator:"Gizmo! Stop that! That drone's frame isn't rated to absorb heavy weapons recoil!"

>standby for enemy phase...

File: On break.png (47 KB, 306x272)

47 KB PNG

>>1616526
If it didn't want to be stood on, maybe it shouldn't have been lounging about on the edge of that shaft like a slacker while we were doing all the work.

*mutter mutter smegging robot unions...*

>>1616505
The two of us alone can't mark out that silicoid for certain, but I figure we could do a bit of a dent together--

>>1616526
Whup, hey, whups -- hey--- easy now there Mr. BRICK, I need you to remain steady as my gun platform when you--- easy easy buckaroo!Hah!

>>1616556
Well, if that's a standard Glaz that burst ought to have softened it up enough that my auto cannon could punch right through.

>>1616556
What is this chatter? What spectacle are you making of yourself behind my back?

>>1616615
Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm not riding a robot while shooting a possible alien contamination with a multibarrel chaingun.

I'm competent. Qualified. Professional.

We'd never do anything that recklessly reckless.

File: Beta2_E2.jpg (1.88 MB, 3002x4202)

1.88 MB JPG

>>1616526
Operator:"Watch out, they're stacking up where they think you can't see them."

[Surplus Gizmo]: Disrupted, energy at 0 for the next turn.

>standby for aftermath...

File: Beta2_A2.jpg (1.86 MB, 3002x4202)

1.86 MB JPG

>>1616647
Operator:"Oh for...! See that's why bricks can't use heavy weapons. Now I'll have to task it's siblings with picking up the pieces for scrap. This is gonna come out of your payment Gizmo."

>Declare actions everyone. Let's put the processing time at 9pm GMT tomorrow night.

>>1616647
Oh, that was beautiful. Good call on the positioning Skinny.

>>1616666
The icon's still holding one, but can I take from the damage reading that the marinero now has no shield (since it took 10 armour damage and that's all shields have)?

>>1616675
Whoops, forgot to put in that little detail. Yeah The shield is gone.

>>1616666
I've stopped spinning out, give me a minute and I won't be painting the inside of the Glaz green. Gizmo, need help with that... thing? God, they're not the crew are they?

Command, how we doing armour busters if we shoot on the run?

> Shoot Plasma at A
> Move
> Shoot Plasma at A

Rolled 10, 9, 3, 1, 9, 5, 3, 9 = 49 (8d10)

>>1616666
Whup!
So from a certain SPACE-perspective, I just found more scrap for the lot of us!

>>1616666
Well, they're all stacked up. I think we know how to clear out this deadlock.

LIGHTNING UP THE HALLWAY.

That mason out west has an unidentified weapon and is coming closer, so turn it into scrap.

>-take 5 armor damage
>3 AP - Fragment Grenade Marinero 5S
>3 AP - Fragment Grenade Marinero 5S
>1 Ap - Move 1E
>3 AP - Fire Assault Rifle at Spooky Glanz NE, 2E
>>3 AP, 6 Dice, 7 to Hit, 4 Penetration.

Marinero-MAR
Armour: 15 / 20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Assault Rifle [20]
RA: Chain Gun [27]
>Inventory:
Fragment, Fragment, Fragment

Rolled 1, 7, 2, 10, 4, 8, 7, 7, 1, 3, 9, 9, 5, 3, 7, 4 = 87 (16d10)

>>1616682
Awesomesauce.

Marineros are hella tough, so you guys leave finishing this one to me and focus on the rest.

*ominous gun cocking noises*

He's already dead, he just doesn't know it.

>Fire 4 auto cannon shots at marinero 4S of me (8AP, 16 dice)
>Overwatch: 1 auto cannon OR shotgun shot at the first enemy that enters medium or short range respectively (2AP)
>4 assault charges reserved for defence

Marinero-BAK
Armour: 16/16
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun (10/10)
RA: Auto-Cannon (7/10)
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade
Assault Charges: 10/10

oh hey it bounced off of the spinning brick scrap

My bad.

>>1616702
Oh dear. I wish I hadn't dithered so much double checking my orders.

Ah well, at least one of us killed it. And the grenade might not even land on me (who am I kidding).

>>1616701
> Shoot Plasma at A
> Move
> Shoot Plasma at A

Why would you need to do this? Move to where you get the best hit threshold then shoot. There's no point in opening fire at long range, then moving in to shoot the same target.

I'm going to rule that buster damage is only applied once per target per turn.

>>1616709
No no, it's sticky foam. It'll get stuck on the foam, and it'll take care of everything. THen the autocannon will wipe out the UFOmarinero and the other two targets will be flash-vulnerable, yeah.

Yeah it's... part of the plan?

>>1616714
All I'll say is we're both lucky I'm wearing all these bombs. The explosions will cancel each other out.

That's how reactive armour works, right?

>>1616666
>Light:[...]Pay AP for only the most expensive action.
Just to be clear, that is a thing for both the move+shoot and dualwield options for Light, correct?

>>1616729
>Just to be clear, that is a thing for both the move+shoot and dual wield options for Light, correct?

Yeah but you have to pick one. You can't move+shoot AND dual wield at the same time. Your basically buying two different actions with the same AP point. I'll admit the wording on that one is a bit vague. Was still thinking like it was a two action system rather than an AP system.

Plus in case you ask in the future: When moving and shooting with light weapons the hit threshold for your attack is the highest you can get at any point in your movement.

Rolled 9, 6, 1 = 16 (3d10)

>>1616712
You got it, Command. I must've missed that one in weapons training.

>>1616666
These are the crew? This is... sick. Don't let them get close, in case this stuff infects.

>Boost 5SW (5AP, 7E)
>Torch the infected Glaz (3AP, 5E)
>Overwatch S with Ion Lance (2AP, 3E)
If any hostiles show, shoot to disable
>Dodge

Glaz
Armour: 13/15
HP: 10
Agility: 2
Mobility: 12
Power Generation: 8
LA: Plasma Gun 11/12
RA: Ion Lance
Inventory: Repair Kit, Limpet Charge
Special: Sensor Array, Overboost

Will probably drop another foam W, though I'm loath to do it so early in the mission.

>>1616729
Seems to be, though the move-shoot case is no longer dictated by the ammo tracking of last thread.

>>1616759
What, so you could strafe past a target and get the close range threshold? Interesting.

>>1616729
Well, whatever you do, be careful. There's a bad case of grenades going about.

>>1616765
>These are the crew?
I figured they ate the crew and are wearing their suits like some kind of freaky alien hermit crab.

>>1616759
Aaaand this clears up my confusion here >>1616769. Still a bit disoriented.

>>1616666
>Produce AuxCap
>Drop Foam W, to go off when allies are clear.
>Move N, NE
>Overwatch Move 3S after Crimson's Overwatch

Mason MR
HP 10
Agility 4
Armor 14
Mobility 7
Power 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x1 Foam x1 Magazines
14 EN in AuxCap

Rolled 1, 2, 6, 7, 4, 7, 8, 3, 8, 5, 10, 3, 2, 5 = 71 (14d10)

>>1616666
>-Overboost
>Move NW W, W ^ E, NE, N W. 1pow, 0ap (4<7)
>^Fire BL at the Mason 3W. 14D, 5Acc, 7ap (7>4), 7pow
>Dodge

Let me know if you love/hate the formatting.

>Glaz
Armour 14/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8
LA: Fission Cutter - M.Acc5, 8d/s, 5a/s, 6drn, 8p, Door&wWallBreaker
RA: Hold Out Blaster - Acc 5/4/1, 2d/s, 1a/s, 1drn, 0p, Light
Inv [2]: Repair Kit, Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

Beginning turn processing...

>>1618724
This is a highlight of my day, thank you for running the game. Slow, but a lot of fun to be a part of.

You other guys are alright, too.

>>1618757
You been in any of Command's games before?

>>1618757
We do our best.

File: Beta2_P3.jpg (1.85 MB, 3002x4202)

1.85 MB JPG

Operator:"Gawds damn it Gizmo! Watch where you're throwing those things! You almost fragged your own teammates."

[Crimson]: -4 Assault charges. All damage successfully negated.

>standby for enemy phase...

File: Beta2_E3.jpg (1.84 MB, 3002x4202)

1.84 MB JPG

>>1618789
[Crimson]: Warning armour breached, minor injuries sustained, administering repair enzymes... vitals stabilizing.

>standby for aftermath...

File: Beta2_A3.jpg (1.82 MB, 3002x4202)

1.82 MB JPG

>>1618846

((Forgot something))
[Scrawl]:Disrupted, 0 energy next turn.

Operator:"Crimson Get out of there! You've got 3 suits concentrating fire. You can't afford another hit!"

>Declare actions, turn processing will happen at 9pm GMT tomorrow.

>>1618757
Glad you're entertained. Player praise is important to us skirmish QMs, especially once processing fatigue sets in.

>>1618864
(ahah, I meant to say south east to then torch with the plasma gun at optimal range, my mistake)
> Scrawl got his license forged off of the internet and still doesn't know which booster is the right one.

I'll get actions up when I'm done laughing at myself.

Rolled 3, 4, 3, 8, 4, 7, 5, 1, 9, 4, 6 = 54 (11d10)

>>1618864
Gawd that fucking hurts! Command, if I die I want it in my will that Gizmo pays for the funeral! A really extravagant one too!

>Throw frag grenade at point between the three masons (2SW) (3AP)
>Un-anchor (4AP)
>Flee 3N
>All remaining assault charges reserved for defence

Marinero-BAK
Armour: 4/16
HP: 12/12?
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun (10/10)
RA: Auto-Cannon (2/10)
Inventory: Spare Magazine, Fragmentation Grenade
Assault Charges: 6/10

>>1618883
W/E confusion claims another victim.

Rolled 5, 4, 6, 1, 2, 10, 3, 9, 4, 9, 3, 3, 9, 9, 2, 10, 10, 6 = 105 (18d10)

>>1618884
You ain't dying in this debris field, spacer. You and I and all the rest are gonna crawl right on out over here over the smashed scrap bits of these wibbley wobbley spooky wooky creepy crawlies.

Hang in there, marine.

Monkeybread! Can you plug that gap with your shields?

Skinwalker, can you slap an emergency patch on Crimson before his organs are sucked out through one of those trillion tiny holes in his suit?

Scrawl, that other Glanz is breathing space with the composition of swiss-cheese, light it up and it has to collapse.

As for these two jokers, Crimson's grenade has softened them adaquately that I think I can just about manage.

Firing this gun for 2.3 seconds costs more than I made in this mission so far! And even more so if I have to sculpt a floating masoluem out of this icy rock. 'Cause I don't have a cutter in this gear, I'd have to shape it out with spent shell casings.

>>1618864

>-Take 3 Armor damage
>Anchor S (4AP)
>Chaingun 2SW Mason
>--4 AP, 12 Dice, 6 Acc, Critical, 6 Penetration
>Chaingun 2SW, 2S Mason
>--2AP, 6 Dice, 7 to hit, Critical, 6 Penetration

Marinero-MAR
Armour: 12 / 20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Assault Rifle [17]
RA: Chain Gun [27]
>Inventory:
Fragment

>>1618884
>>1618918
Gizmo? I want that immortalised alongside your efforts as a "What to do and what not to do" instructional image on the subject of fragmentation grenades and the throwing thereof. It might just go on to save lives.

It might. It might not.

>I just realized I've been tallying damage wrong because I misread the initial description of how it works.
>Well, teaches me.

>>1618957
Well hey, if this all pans out you're forgiven, we'll call it even and we can tell it as a humorous anecdote over a cold one later. If it doesn't I guess I have to haunt you forever. S'just the way it goes.

>>1608695
Is it too late to join in? I think I finally understand how the new rules work. somewhat.
Dave, reporting. I appear to be late, my apologies. I hope I wasn't too late...

Mason-MR
HP: 10/10
Agility: 4
Armor: 15/15
Mobility: 7
Power Generation: 10
Inventory: Repair Kit(2), Spare Magazine, Limpet Charge
LA: Energy Shield
RA: Plasma Gun [12/12]
Special: Aux. Capacitors[0/2], Energy Transmitter

Rolled 3, 10, 2, 8, 2, 8 = 33 (6d10)

>>1618864
>-Overboost
>Move NE E, E E ^, N N. 3ap (3=3), 1pow
>^Fire BL at GLZ 3E. 6d, 5acc, 0ap (3=3), 3pow
>Repair Kit on [2][MAK-AC-SG] Crimson. 5ap, +5Armour
>Dodge
>>1618918
"Get a load of Gizmo, spoutin orders like he's some sorta field commander. What kinda loonies would we need to be to put him in charge, eh?"

>Glaz
Armour 14/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8
LA: Fission Cutter - M.Acc5, 8d/s, 5a/s, 6drn, 8p, Door&wWallBreaker
RA: Hold Out Blaster - Acc 5/4/1, 2d/s, 1a/s, 1drn, 0p, Light
Inv [2]: (Repair Kit -Used), Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

>>1618864
"C'mon, creeps! TRY me!"

>Move N, charge 2S
>Bash SW, roll 6+1 to hit 4

Mason MR
HP 10
Agility 4
Armor 14
Mobility 7
Power 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x1 Foam x1 Magazines
10 POW, 14 EN in AuxCap

>>1620044
Not too late, but the battle may be over in a few turns. Stick around and we'll see what happens.

You'll be deployed at the end of the next turn.

>>1620546
Oh. Okay then.

Processing has been delayed while the QM scrambles to feed himself. Please standby...

>>1621034
Food acquired, beginning turn processing.

File: Beta2_P4.jpg (1.84 MB, 3002x4202)

1.84 MB JPG

>>1621117
Operator:"Good thinking team, rotate damaged suits out of the front line and have fresh ones fight the ones you've already softened up."

>standby for enemy phase...

>>1621296
...Yeah, we'll go with that, that was definitely what I was doing. Not fleeing for my life, I wouldn't do a cowardly thing like that, no sir.

Question in case it becomes relevant, can you allocate more than one assault charge to a point blank attack?

File: Beta2_E4.jpg (1.84 MB, 3002x4202)

1.84 MB JPG

>>1621345
Oh yeah, blow your entire load if you like. Just remember if you do that you're left with an under armoured Marinero with nothing else going for it.

((I'm going to nerf assault charges now that I've realized the kind of bullshit you could pull with a tactic like that.))

>>1621296
Operator:"Hang in there guys. I'm sending in some reinforcements."

6:Dave

>standby for aftermath...

File: Beta2_A4.jpg (1.82 MB, 3002x4202)

1.82 MB JPG

>>1621370
Operator:"Guys the drones have begun recovery of the Folly's black box and databanks. The initial findings aren't good. Something about the survey team discovering an anomalous organic mass while drilling the bore. The data is still being extracted and analyzed but I've seen enough horror movies to guess at what's happened. There are multiple biohazard alarms in the security log."

"I think this shit is waaaay above our pay grade. I'm send a message to the Solar Hegemony. You guys mop up the remaining enemies then fall back to the top of the shaft. "

>Declare actions everybody. The next turn will be processed tomorrow at 9pm GMT.

>>1621345
BTW I forgot:
[Crimson]: All assault charges expended.

Rolled 10, 9, 9, 4, 1, 10, 4, 3, 7, 9 = 66 (10d10)

>>1621395
"Oy! I just fixed that! Anomalous organic scrap-heap!"
>-Overboost
>Move SE^, If it dodges the BL, follow it. 1ap (1=1) 1pow
>^Fire BL at GLZ 1E. 2d, 5acc, 0ap (1=1) 1pow
>FC the GLZ. 8d, 5acc, 6pow, 5ap
>Dodge
>Dodge

>Glaz
Armour 14/15
HP 10/10
Agi 2
Mob 12
PowGen 8
LA: Fission Cutter - M.Acc5, 8d/s, 5a/s, 6drn, 8p, Door&wWallBreaker
RA: Hold Out Blaster - Acc 5/4/1, 2d/s, 1a/s, 1drn, 0p, Light
Inv [2]: (Repair Kit -Used), Battery Pack
Spec: Sensor Array, Overboost

Rolled 4, 4, 10, 8, 2, 4 = 32 (6d10)

Okay, I'm feeling pretty naked up here. My reactive armour is all gone, and my regular armour isn't looking so hot either (my flesh *is* pretty hot, but only cause of the plasma burns). On any other day I'd take my auto cannon and sniper duel that smug punk wedged at the bottom of the shaft, but I just can't take the damage now. On the other hand, those Masons are on their last legs, as is the Glaz. I don't think Skinwalker actually killed it there (I think it only took a couple points of HP damage), and I don't fancy risking the tunnels to finish the Masons, and I wouldn't grudge Gizmo the shooting gallery they just gave him, so...

>Move 1SE, 2E (3AP)
>Fire 2 shotgun shots at Spooky Glaz (4AP)
>Dodge (3AP)

Marinero-BAK
Armour: 9/16
HP: 12/12?
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Shotgun (10/10)
RA: Auto-Cannon (2/10)
Inventory: Spare Magazine
Assault Charges: 0/10

>>1620330
Monkey, I think this situation calls for a nice foam down the shaft. By the time he clears it (if he even bothers) we'll have finished up his mates and be ready for him.

>>1621370
Noooooooo don't nerf pls. I didn't even get to try a lancer build yet.

>>1621502
Just capping it at one is probably enough to do the job.

I quite like the assault charge mechanic, and I'm glad I ultimately plumped for the BAK model. Less regular armour and none of the life saving stuff, but you can potentially mitigate that with charges, or enhance your melee damage, or save it and use it instead of that breaching charge you no-longer have the inventory for. I love me some tactical flexibility, so it's a really fun mechanic.

Am I reading this right, Command? 14 dmg here, assuming those numbers are both flipped >>1621296.

Rolled 1, 7, 4, 1, 8, 7 = 28 (6d10)

>>1621395
hostiles immediately sighted on the drop zone. this can't be good...

>>1621459
hold on crimson, I have spare repair kits for situations like this. just wait for a moment. although monkeybread could use the other one as well.

>move 3 tiles east
>fire a Plasma Gun shot at spooky mason with claws
>fire a Plasma Gun shot at spooky mason with energy shield
>move 3 tiles east

Mason-MR
HP: 10/10
Agility: 4
Armor: 15/15
Mobility: 7
Power Generation: 10
Inventory: Repair Kit(2), Spare Magazine, Limpet Charge
LA: Energy Shield
RA: Plasma Gun [12/12]
Special: Aux. Capacitors[0/2], Energy Transmitter

>>1622004
Nice work with that plasma gun Dave, between that and everything else their armour ought to be toast.

>>1618918
Oh Gizmo?

Do the thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhV0-1YRSCU [Embed]

Or you could just throw a grenade I guess, just felt I shouldn't encourage that.

>>1621749
-You should have taken 9 damage to your energy shield from overwatch fire during the player phase.
-1 damage on the energy shield, draining your generator for the turn. (You did not declare you were expending your aux capacitors so your energy shield ends there.)
-Then you take an additional 10 damage on your tactical shield, destroying it and 1 point on your actual armour.

>>1621502
>>1621515
It's more like people could abuse the mechanic by using the assault charges with a very high damage threshold weapon. I'm thinking of either reducing the extra dice or giving them a flat damage threshold instead.

by the way, that thing at the bottom of the main shaft is the drill right? not some kind of hatch to a secret forgotten bioweapon facility or something?

>>1622091
I was planning on slapping a repair kit on you and maybe even monkeybread next turn, if you guys agree to it and come next to me. both of you guys are kinda busted up bad and might need it.

Rolled 8, 5, 10, 2, 6, 9, 10, 1, 4, 2, 9, 2, 8, 9, 10, 1, 6, 10, 7, 9, 6, 10, 1, 7 = 152 (24d10)

DOING THE THING

>>1621395
>4 AP to fire on Mason 2SW, 2W
>-12 Dice, 7 to hit, Critical, 6 Pen
>4 Ap to ire on Mason 2SW, 2S
>12 Dice, 7 to hit, Critical, 6 Pen
>Overwatch 2 AP on anything still alive (Final Marinero?)
>-6 Dice, 6crit / 7crit / 5, 6 Pen

Marinero-MAR
Armour: 12 / 20
HP: 12/12
Agility: 3
Mobility: 8
Power Generation: 6
LA: Assault Rifle [17]
RA: Chain Gun [27]
>Inventory:
Fragment

Rolled 5, 5, 8, 9, 9, 4 = 40 (6d10)

Oh Space, sometimes so you're so good to me.
>>1622844
>That's 12 Dmg, 6 Pen
>That's 10 Dmg, 6 Pen + Jam

>>1622208
Yeah It's the drill. The Map is a little too big.

>>1622138
Both would work, though I'm inclined to say the dice are the big thing. 4 dice for one charge is maybe a bit much, 2 or 3 might be more balanced. I mean, imagine the havoc of rolling a 40+ dice attack. It's a silly move to pull since it leaves you naked, but it probably shouldn't be on the table to start with.

>>1621395
"'preciate the thought, Dave, but it ain't major. Just familiarizing myself with new hardware."

"Ain't bruteforcing the situation if I can help it. We can survey the tunnels and make that Marinero mighty antsy all in one."

>All power to shield
>Move SW, W W
>E-ward Shunt +1 Charge if applicable.
>Max movement W
>Charge fresh AuxCap

Mason MR
HP 10
Agility 4
Armor 14
Mobility 7
Power 10
LA: Tactical Shield
RA: Energy Shield

x1 Foam x1 Magazines
20 EN in AuxCap

Beginning turn processing...

File: Beta2_P5.jpg (1.83 MB, 3002x4202)

1.83 MB JPG

Operator:"The Masons are down, looks like the shaft is almost ours..."

[Gizmo]:Chaingun jammed!
(It also looks like you haven't been keeping track of your ammo expenditure.)

>Standby for enemy phase...

File: Beta2_E5.jpg (2.4 MB, 2997x4370)

2.4 MB JPG

>>1624639
Operator:"The last Marinero has fled deeper into the comet's cave system. Everybody is to fall back and hold position at the top of the shaft until reinforcements from the Solar Hegemony arrive."

MISSION COMPLETE

>Standby for Epilogue scene.

>>1624672
Uh..woops. Did I cause some hassle with the icons by swapping suits at the last minute? Sorry about that.

File: Beta2_A5.jpg (1.74 MB, 3002x4202)

1.74 MB JPG

>>1624680
Hegemony Officer:"This is the Hegemony Armed Forces, we have arrived and will proceed to contain the biohazard. All private contractors are ordered to stand down and submit to quarantine procedures."

-----------

And that concludes this session. Let me know what you think of the new system.

Just some of my personal thoughts:

>The previous iteration was very lethal so toned down the hit thresholds a bit. However the damage halving effect of armour tones down the lethality a lot (at least as long as armour remains high.) so I'll probably raise the hit thresholds again.

>Weapons with the buster attribute need tweaking. In light of the damage halving effect of armour, armour buster becomes a very powerful attribute.

>Various weapons will be nerfed and buffed to fit in with my vision of how effective they should be for their size, and how lethal the game should be overall.

>Calculating damage through multiple layers of shielding and armour is a major headache. Streamline the system in some way?

>The way the light attribute works is a bit clunky in an action point system.

>Not related to the game itself but I was using a different vector graphics program during processing. It allowed me to make things slightly prettier and get better image files sizes but was very clunky. Need to experiment more on the backend...

>>1624731
Forgot to mention:

I made the map a bit too big. I had this whole scenario planned where you would fight your way to the bottom of the map past the drill, but if we played that out we'd be here all month and I need to travel home next week.

I've realized that map design matters a lot in this game, more so than my previous skirmishes. I really need to restrict the space available some more, then make a smaller map or run a longer game.

Also need to nerf magazine sizes for some weapons a bit. Nobody had to reload at all. And if running out of ammo isn't a consideration then people have absolutely no reason to pick energy weapons over solid ammo at all. (Unless you want a plasma gun, another thing that needs to be re-balanced.)

>>1624731
Well, for starters I dig the action point system, it allows for a lot more freedom in player action and movement, and allows for slightly more complexity of actions than "full action" or "free action" (particularly in regards to shooting extra shots).

I agree with you on the potency of armour, though some hit thresholds are already pretty high, so I think lowering the total armour of the suits (and reducing buster/penetration accordingly) would balance out that issue, since the trouble isn't hitting things, it's putting out enough damage dice (you basically have to deal 40-odd points of damage to a marinero to remove its armour, which is a tall order to achieve even under the best conditions. It does create a nice balance between solid armour (which halves damage but is diminished) and energy shields (which negate it at a 1:1 rate)...and assault charges (which are expendable, but take no bonus damage and can do other things). The high survivability might also be in part due to the need to penetrate armour in order to do significant damage (most normal weapons have quite low penetration).

You did a nice job fixing dodging, now that incurs a cost you can't rely on it, but it can still be pretty potent when you do use it.

I liked the new suits (or at least the ones debuted Poor Glaz neglected once again.... As mentioned the assault charge mechanic was cool (and I'm glad I decided to try them out), and spare capacitors certainly came in handy (I also really dug the look of the BAK, regular units with supplemental tacticool gubbins strapped on are my fetish). I was also pleased to get to use the auto-cannon this time round, and that it was everything I'd dreamed of and more.

>>1624772
Smaller map would probably be the better approach, longer ones would induce too much fatigue.

I think the reason people weren't needing to reload was partly a function of the new AP system. In the last version there was little reason not to just shoot at your max ROF, but here you usually need to be doing stuff like anchoring or dodging or moving, which leads to less rounds being fired. If you were reduce magazine sizes I think reload costs might need to go down a bit as well to accommodate that AP crunch.

Anyway, all told I think the rules revisions are a solid step in a good direction and once again I enjoyed playing it very much and appreciate the effort you put in.

And don't think those Red Dwarf references went unnoticed you sly dog you.

>>1624731
Also, I'm wincing at mentioning this, since it's just asking to get my favourite weapon nerfed, but I'd like to pick your brain a bit regarding the design concept for the auto-cannon. Because it seems like it might be a smidge too good.

I get that it and the minigun are meant to be complementary long/close range heavy weapons, so the minigun gets tons of dice at middling accuracy up close, but the cannon has better reach, penetration and bonus damage (which was the case in the previous beta as well).

Still though, when used anchored as intended its accuracy is really high; it's near impossible to miss with at optimum range, and even at long it's still rocking a threshold of 8, making it a much better sniper weapon than the actual sniper rifle. Even unanchored, it's still got thresholds around about an SMGs, so taking potshots with it is honestly not even a bad idea. It also has far more penetration than almost anything else, enough to pierce a fresh shield (though this is probably fine, something ought to be able to given the armour mechanic) or even a regular Mason (which you could easily one-shot with it).

I don't know, maybe the anchor cost and inconvenience balances it out, I don't think I've been using it long enough to be able to tell, but I found myself thinking it might be benefit from something like lowering its hit thresholds by a point but also decreasing the recoil penalty (this would make it possible to fire unanchored in a pinch, but still reduce its potency).

Anyway, what were your thoughts on it?

>>1624966
I'm probably going to lower the thresholds a bit and nerf the buster damage.

The basic idea behind the auto-cannon vs chain gun was this:

The chain gun was meant to be a short to medium range weapon that had high damage range, more risk vs reward.

The auto-cannon was for mid to long range. It was meant to have lower potential damage than the chain gun but be more consistent.

Basically I tried to balance the chain gun and auto-cannon in such a way as they fit into the above molds.

>The high survivability might also be in part due to the need to penetrate armour in order to do significant damage

Hmm yeah, I'll probably do an overall buff on penetration values.

>>1624992
>The auto-cannon was for mid to long range. It was meant to have lower potential damage than the chain gun but be more consistent.
I follow. The chain-gun can get up to 30 dice a round because of the low AP cost and can get more still from crits, but also is at high risk of jamming when used like that, and pretty much has to sandpaper targets down with raw damage, whereas the cannon is more accurate and will always do a respectable chunk of damage if it hits at all (due to the Buster trait in this version and the Devastator trait in the previous one).

In this case the balance issue with buster applies solely to armour buster because of how hard it is for anything else to inflict damage on armour due to it being halved. The weapons do the same damage they used to, but effective health has basically doubled, so mitigating that is huge. Lowered armour values, lowered armour buster damage and raised penetration would indeed probably go a ways toward rectifying this though, you're right.

>>1624731
"Quarantine my foot. They just want to make sure this story gets out with their spin on it. Typical."

>Lethality
Unless you really are after mass-deaths, rather than higher risk of death, I think if you are going to increase the rate that armour gets lost, you also should provide a bit more flexibility for repairing damage. Perhaps make Repair Kits work for multiple uses, or add in a welding torch to convert power to armour at 2:1 or 3:1, or somesuch.
>Weapon tweaks
FC needs buffs. 3a/s, 10d/s, acc9, 2drain sounds fair. (But really, melee seems oddly low accuracy for how situatiinal it is. 4 on Bash, 5 on FC, 7 on the single-use Shank. Compare to the guns: most have an acc of 6+ in at least one bracket, and can be used at any range. Struck me as strange.)
>Light
Once I understood how it worked, it seemed simple enough to me. Given the lower acc and d/s of light weapons, it also didn't seem overpowered. Was it clunky on your end?
>>1624772
>Map size
I actually like the larger, open(ish) map. Partialy because my build operates pretty well in it, but also because, well, space is big. Spaaaaace.
>Mags
With a big map comes a linger game, which in turn means more shooting. Reload issues solved.

>General Feedback
As always, thanks for running. You do a good job of keeping things simple while still giving a good range of options. AP systems please me in general, so that's another plus. And hey, SPAAAAAACE. I like Space.

Thanks for running! I may have some comments later, but this was as always enjoyable.

Oh crud. I barely did anything due to being late. I'll try to be on time when the next chance comes.

>>1626080
>Unless you really are after mass-deaths, rather than higher risk of death
The general idea was that I wanted the game to have more uncertainty in it.

Which is why you get death saves instead of simply dying when your HP reaches 0 (though that happens too.) Having a high amount of armour provides a measure of safety but you never know when you'll get hit with a high penetration weapon. It's also why damage is calculated through dice pools.

>But really, melee seems oddly low accuracy for how situational it is.
I know melee must seem a bit anemic right now, but that's because I wanted to emphasize the fission cutter as a tool rather than a weapon. I will re-balance it to reflect the fact that it's still pretty dangerous if you can hit someone with it, but if I introduce "proper" melee weapons then they'll have better stats.

>Once I understood how it worked, it seemed simple enough to me.
It's not so much the concept but the processing. I got my head around your syntax in the end but reading your double actions was initially confusing. I guess this will improve with time.

>I actually like the larger, open(ish) map.
Of course you would...
Thing is you guys just camped the shaft and let the enemies come to you. My limited experience in this quest so far shows that people seem to be unwilling to pursue enemies into smaller areas of the map, which is smart but makes for a boring game that will take forever. I have some ideas about how to switch things up...

>With a big map comes a linger game, which in turn means more shooting. Reload issues solved.
I don't like running games that last longer than a week in real time. Processing fatigue sets in pretty bad after turn 5.
Although maybe if I spent more time running the damn game instead of posing NPCs for the luz this issue would be lessened.

A possible solution is to have 2 day breaks every 5-6 turns but I don't know if people will lose interest.

How did Monday do it? I heard any one of his Floors last 30-40 turns.

>As always, thanks for running.
Thanks for playing :)

>>1626283
>people seem to be unwilling to pursue enemies into smaller areas of the map, which is smart but makes for a boring game that will take forever
I mean, you've probably already thought of this, but the easiest solution to that is an XCOM 2 style time crunch on the objective that forces players to push ahead in spite of risks.

>>1626283
At some point you just go numb from processing. There's not much specific trick to it.

>>1624731
I am sorry for dropping off towards the end, there. Getting disrupted, screwing up my action sequence and then getting disrupted again really turned me off and I didn't want any frustration on my end spoiling things for the rest of you. Thank you for running, CognisCommand. I enjoyed watching the battle progress from the sidelines, anyway.

>>1626302
Just asking, but you do know how the playerbase reacted to these timer implementation right?
Although I know that this is a skirmish game set with high lethality in mind...

>>1626583
The playerbase whined because they preferred to spend 40 turns skulking around the edge of the map one tile at a time, which was sensible but boring. As long as the intent is to provide a tense, high risk scenario that nevertheless has a real chance of success I think it would work fine.

Besides, CognisCommand's games usually tend to last about 4 or 5 turns anyway.

Hell, you could do some more vague time pressure, like having to rescue a friendly unit in trouble or something like that, that way there's a sense of urgency without a hard crunch.

>>1626724
Or you could do a kind of soft time limit like the Meld canisters that are good to do but not absolutely necessary.

>>1626724
>>1626756
Those might be useful ideas if I run a full campaign with a meta game. I do have plans, but I don't know if I'll be able to run a full blown campaign anytime soon like I did with mecha mercs.

>>1626724
The whining happened because they robbed the ability to do those boring but safe moves. Again, boring, yes. But it was a safe and reliable way for people who are inexperienced to these types of games. Meanwhile experienced or skilled players had the option to push themselves and gain an advantage (meld) and gain significant advantage at a risk. A risk that they think they can deal with, and push it forward to snowball faster.

The way xcom 2 handled timers robbed away the first option. Rather than rewarding better players they just punished cautious/inexperienced players for not being able to catch up that wasn't as skilled as the better players? WTF?

Shit I got sidetracked. And yeah I get what you mean, skirmish games should not run for extended times, that's what it is meant to be, but I just had this bad feeling creeping up on me.

>>1628255
You might not even need to. Do you remember the first Breacher Skirmish mission (you were in it for a time after all)? There was no guarantee of that being any more than one game at the time, but the players still made an effort to fulfil secondary objectives and stick to the ROE even though it wasn't strictly necessary, simply because they were asked to.

>>1626283
We'd never lose interest. So have a break, if procesing fatigue build up.

--------

System comments:

The AP / Dice split feels natural. I want to say appropriately clunky, almost, in that you want to spend enough AP to bring weapons to bear effectively but also do other stuff and that means you naturally end up focusing with good amount of AP pool vs one target.

The system feels useful and relatively smooth with that decision.

It is a bit curious to me though that damage is unrelated to penetration - 20 dice that hits for 20 damage is not all that important if its with a low penetration weapon. This creates a curious disconnect between spening more AP to get more dice and the actual effect of your action, because even if you hit very well with a fully focused burst it is very likely that it won't be significant.

You could fire of 20 shots with a hold out blaster, do 20 damage, and with its pen of 0 that really doesn't matter much. You could have 2 and do 40 and the result is the same.

It creates a bit of an odd incentive for weapon structures and gameplay. Incidentally it also means fragmentation grenades, with 0 penetration, are much less deadly than they appear. They'll ablate off some protection, but are reliably much less prone to kill anyone.

This isn't really an artefact of high armor levels. Some way to incorporate total damage into the penetration vs armor vs hp model would help, because it leads to deciding that spending 10 ap to focus fire actually can be useful.

There is a certain natural charm to this of course, in that low pen weapons simply won't kill you if you have armor so they're naturally much less dangerous. That makes sense, but that steps into this oddly realistic perspective that the dicepool system fights against a little.

>>1629085
>they robbed the ability to do those boring but safe moves.
So? The game was built to accommodate the alternative, with all sorts of tools you could use in a jam, and I and everyone else that played 2 were ever bumbling through tight situations by the skin of our teeth, which was exactly the experience that was intended.

>it was a safe and reliable way for people who are inexperienced to these types of games.
It wasn't them complaining about it though, was it? People inexperienced with these types of games weren't going to be in the fanbase for obvious reasons. What seems more likely to me is that hardcore players (of anything) are sticklers that like to feel as if they've figured out an 'optimum' way to play and resent having their metagame taken away and changed, even if it makes for an experience closer to the designers' intent. It's unpredictable, suboptimal and therefore it sucks.

>they just punished cautious/inexperienced players
Inexperienced players weren't cautious though, quite the opposite. I beat the first game on normal no problem, but realised on classic just how many bad tactical habits I had developed without realising it. On normal, neither game is really all that tough.

>they just punished cautious/inexperienced players for not being able to catch up that wasn't as skilled as the better players?
I would contend the opposite. Experienced players would play cautiously and do better, and the change forced them to take the same sorts of risks as inexperienced players, which they resented because it meant sometimes taking losses. But part of XCOM is that you DO take losses sometimes, it's not a failure state that punishes you, it's just something that happens sometimes that you have to deal with. You have to work with what you've got and cope with what you don't. Why shouldn't time be one of those luxuries? Granted some of the conceits for this were dumb (the device set to self destruct before you even arrived comes to mind), but that's a narrative issue.

>>1629243
>We'd never lose interest. So have a break, if processing fatigue build up.
Seconding this. I have no trouble whatsoever waiting warmly.

>On AP and damage
I was feeling something similar to this but couldn't really find the words for it, but yeah, he's exactly right, it DOES feel a bit strange to be rolling tons of dice but still doing minimal damage, and it DOES feel like incorporating damage into AP would serve that better.

>>1629246
I always like this distinction. So I'm just going to spread my hot opinion all over.

I dislike a lot about the new xcoms. A lot of it is exactly the things you write are interesting mechanics. For instance:

>So? The game was built to accommodate the alternative, with all sorts of tools you could use in a jam

Which meant that the usual gameplan for missions went for me went:

[timer]
[rush because can't be careful]
[encounter pods]
[use bullshit cooldown ability to fix problem]
[rush]
[pod]
[2nd bullshit cooldown ability]

It turned the game into a series of "which weird soldier ability do I need to get out of this mess that meta-game choices have forced me to be in?". I wasnt playing a game of tactics, I was playing a constant game of "Did I prepare the right soldier for this mission, given the layout and timers". It felt like half the game was in the prep phase, setting up those knock out abilities I needed to get out of jams I wouldn't have had to get out of if I had slightlly more tactical flexibility.

>But part of XCOM is that you DO take losses sometimes

Not.. . really? Part of XCOM is that if you don't have the One Cool Trick (fanfire, suppression, your one single use rocket) then the enemy rolls dice at you, and if they roll dice luckily you are punished by losing a soldier. HIgh level soldiers are very hard to replace, and if you suddenly don't have that Special Gimmick you need to get out of some bad pod activiation a detonation timer forces you into, then hey, you can lose some more soldiers and restart the campaign. To add a bit of insult to injurty, your 4-6 man squad can also be relied upon to panick if 1 dies, reducing your effective soldier grouping from 4-6 to 2-3.

Contrast 1991 xcom - losing soldiers, panick, berserk and such are fine because you have 16 other guys on the map. If you need a special tool, you can bring extra in their pockets. If you lose the mission because you didn't have a rocket launcher, you can retreat and bring 12 next time.

I've lost XCOM 1-2 missions because I didn't have that 1 grenade / 1 rocket / 1 special thing at the time where the game threw dice in such a way that I needed it. And then there wasn't anything I could feasibly do about that other than to decide, well, I guess... start the campaign over.

There would be problems carrying that approach to a skirmish format. It makes for exciting single player games and fun times. But I think skirmishes should present a toolkit, and not somewhat arbitarily inflict punishment if the dice comes up badly.

but I mean they're still fine games. There were just aspects of the gameplay that felt forced to me.

It's the difference between everyone having the ability to pick weapons as they like for their exo and supplement with inventory items and a Hypothethical E.V.A. from another dimension where the marinero gets 1 grenade, the mason gets 1 power battery and the glanz gets ignored.

>>1629253
This is fair and all (even if I can't say I had the same experience), but it also has to do more with the mechanics of those games in general rather than with the specific difference between 1 and 2, which is what kicked this off to begin with.

I bring up nuCOM because Mecha Mercs seemed to draw a lot of inspiration from it mechanically (the two actions a turn, the classes and their skill progression, at least some degree of loadout limit that inclines certain mechs toward certain rolls, overwatch etc). And I loved Mecha Mercs! I liked it more than XCOM, in fact (it featured far more giant robots and the customization thereof, which is like my crack, and the world was pretty cool and fascinating).

Thinking about it I reckon a strong point in MM's favour over XCOM was fatality. XCOM soldiers usually die when they are killed, but even though people were ever having their mechs shot out from under them, actual pilot death was fairly rare by comparison and occurred only due to very bad positioning or exceptionally terrible luck. So losing units was business as usual and you could always fix them up again, which people didn't mind so much. There was always a very real risk of death that created a palpable tension which added a lot to the game, but at the same time it was a fairly slim risk most of the time.

I agree completely.

Let's all stop for a second here to praise Cognis for Mecha Mercs, because damn was it some beautiful stuff.

>>1629284
Oh yeah, I'll remember it fondly for years.

Mecha Mercs was actually the first quest/skirmish I ever participated in. I'd come across it in the archive during the hiatus and upon actually reading it I got completely hooked, so when it returned I knew I'd regret it forever if I didn't get in on it and I'm so glad that I took the plunge and decided to do so, because it was tremendously enjoyable. For months my idle thoughts would often drift towards mech builds you could mess around with using the simple but remarkably variable system, and I grew pretty fond of the world's most colourful mercenary unit and the camaraderie they shared. Some real great moments came out of that game.

>>1629255
>Glaz gets ignored.
The vanilla Glaz seems to have a cult following. Now that I think about it; Overbooster and Sensor array just seem like they have more general utility compared to Active Scan and Minovsky Generator. Never the less, (and this could be my pride as a designer talking) I belive the Glaz-E is an important niche tool. Even if nobody ever uses it

>>1629243
>About armour and penetration...

The thing is I've been striving to find a middle ground between armour as another pool of hitpoints and armour as a barrier your attack either bounces off entirely or tears through like wet tissue paper. (Which is closer to how it works in IRL IMO)

Thinking about the proposal to have penetration related to damage has given me an idea. How about this:

>The total damage an attack does is now also the penetration value. If your damage exceeds a target's remaining armour it gets split between the armour and HP. Otherwise it is halved and applied to the armour as normal.

>The old penetration stat is now a modifier that changes the damage value for the purposes of calculating penetration. 0 would be the baseline while weapon with bad penetration would actually have a negative modifier.

I think that change would increase lethality to the level I want as well as make people consider how to spend their AP more carefully.
And maybe risk using stimms.

>>1629247
>I have no trouble whatsoever waiting warmly
>>1629243
>We'd never lose interest.

Oh you might not my ever loyal and supportive fanbase but most of 4chan is fickle and capricious with it's attentions. It's rather telling that the Starter's Questing Guide include this little list:

A QM may lose three things
Sleep
Social contacts
Peace of mind
A QM may never lose three things
Their fanbase
Their notes
Their cool

>>1629281
I actually have death mechanics planned for E.V.A hopefully they apply an appropriate set back without ruining the experience.

>>1629284
Those were heady days. Running missions every week, spending hours planning new missions and content. The camaraderie,
the RPing... but I can't do it again... not like I did before... It was too much and I have a life to live.

>>1629298
That damage mechanic would be interesting, while also increasing the lethality just enough that it should be more up to the imaginary ideal.

>>1629298
live your life! Liiiveeeee! Escpe this internet purgatory to be free!

>>1629284
Cheers! May Mecha Mercs be remembered forever!