Erfgame 3 (CLOSED) - Rules and Discussion

[0beron]

Kaed, where art thou?

NONE of us are advancing Colonel. Kaed is managing FIVE sides with no help, in addition to what I gather is a rather time-consuming day-job. Sometimes he gets busy and disappears, just wait patiently (and quietly) for him to return. Asking where he is won't magically make him appear.

[The Colonel]

I know, I know.

[Kaed]

I'm back guys. Wow that's a lot of questions. I'll to my best to answer a few of them.

Hey folks - I just read through your rules, and I note the absence of a section that explains how combat works.

Is that somewhere else in the doc?

Just interested.

Cheers

The combat system is pretty complex and I like to generally keep it to myself, but I'll give you all a runover of the basic idea.

Here are two units purely made up for example.

Twoll
HP - 12
Attack - 6
Defense - 3
Move - 5

Gump
HP - 16
Attack - 8
Defense - 6
Move - 4

The twoll and the gump engage in combat. The Twoll is marginally faster than the gump, and the gump is not a lead by a warlord, so he attacks first in combat. When he attacks, he does not deal 6 damage. He deals 1d6 damage. *rolls* He has rolled a 4. This is reduced by the gumps defense to -2. Attacks that are not reduced to less than -5 always deal a minimum of 1 damage (to keep infantry battle from not ever progressing anywhere). The gump therefore takes 1 damage from the Twoll.

The gump retaliates with his leafy arm. *rolls* He has rolled an 8, which is within the top 10% of his damage range. Therefore, I roll for a critical. He succeeds, doubling his damage for 16. Even with the defense taking damage off, the twoll is croaked.

If the latter is the case then I'm thinking Kaed may have forgotten that or outright ignored it, because I've also spotted a scout. I know who I'm near based on that but I'm saying nothing here just to annoy everyone.

In this case it was outright ignored, even though I had forgotten it. I specifically gave the sided player the turn first to facilitate a first meeting. I'm going to get to work in that right now.

[Kaed]

Also, XP awards are calculated based on who croaked an opponent and who was engaged in that battle. The croaking blow gives the victor most of the spoils, but the stack will also get a bit of the XP too, and more to anyone who attacked that unit.

Casters participating in the battle also recieve a share of the XP depending on their behavior which in general depends on their dicipline.

As for levelling, it's a slow process after the first 2-3 levels.

A rough idea of XP requirements for level 2 and beyond -

2 - 14
3 - 56
4 - 224
5 - 896
6 - 2584
7 - ???
8 - ???
9 - ???
10 - ???
11 - ????
12+ - Ain't nobody getting close to this >_>

[Lord of Monies]

12+ - Ain't nobody getting close to this >_>

Ooooh, that sounds like a challenge. Warrior King mode, ACTIVATE!

[Lord of Monies]

Further question on combat, which actually seems pretty simple in its core, but when you get to things like leadership bonuses how do they work? How do they increase the combat of the units? For example, say the Twoll had a warlord with him offering a +2 bonus. Would that make the twoll's combat 8 meaning he rolls a 1d8, or would it stay 6 but be a solid +2 meaning 1d6+2? I'd assume similar effectes from things like dance fighting and artifact bonuses (not that we'll ever see the latter). Also, do the same buffs increase defense, or only combat?

[Kaed]

Further question on combat, which actually seems pretty simple in its core, but when you get to things like leadership bonuses how do they work? How do they increase the combat of the units? For example, say the Twoll had a warlord with him offering a +2 bonus. Would that make the twoll's combat 8 meaning he rolls a 1d8, or would it stay 6 but be a solid +2 meaning 1d6+2? I'd assume similar effectes from things like dance fighting and artifact bonuses (not that we'll ever see the latter). Also, do the same buffs increase defense, or only combat?

Combat multipliers increase a units attack, therefore increasing the range. Certain effects, like dittomancy, can either actually double the damage you deal for a sort of free critical if they hit, or double the number of attacks a group makes in a round (as with the quadruple arrows in the jetstone field battle)

[Koliup]

What does speed do other than make you go first? And tear butt across the countryside. A bonus to disengaging?
Like, what bonuses would a 5/4/1/10 stabber get from his speed? Aside from the previously mentioned bonuses.

[Lord of Monies]

Don't think you'd NEED any more bonuses from it really. It's hex move, and determines initiative, basically. Having it do any more than that would make it too complex for its own good.

[Kaed]

What does speed do other than make you go first? And tear butt across the countryside. A bonus to disengaging?
Like, what bonuses would a 5/4/1/10 stabber get from his speed? Aside from the previously mentioned bonuses.

Their move only factors into their initiative up to a certain point, and then there is a diminishing return - initiative 1 for 1 caps at 10, after which point it only goes up by 1 every 5 additional move, until 30 move, where it raises to 10 for 1... and so on.

Warlords add their leadership bonus to the initiative of all units receiving it, including global chief warlord bonuses.

Turnamancers also possess the ability to boost initiative.

There is no fleeing boost.. All you do is escape to the next hex and you're safe.

[0beron]

So, I've seen Kaed be online more frequently this past week or so, are the rest of you "on the move" again?

[The Colonel]

I'm still negotiating. It's slow going what with having to wait for two people.

[0beron]

Ah so we know who Monies found :p And that's fine though, was just curious if some kind of movement was occurring, that's all I can ask for

[The Colonel]

BUAHAHAHAHA!

[0beron]

Haha oh I wouldn't rush into evil laughter yet :p I can only assume you're still negotiating cus you're having trouble paying for him :p *goes back to counting my mountains of schmuckers*

[The Colonel]

You can believe whatever makes you feel better.

[Metheglin]

Game's closed, I know, but if you ever need a Barbarian, be sure to let me know.

That having been said, how reliant are people on Thinkagrams to make sure their units get orders? Can you give unled stacks if/then orders? How are y'all doing for Warlords? Can non-Warlord stacks with Leadership accept complicated orders? I'd assume so, but I don't know.

And how often does loyalty come into play, or, how often do you expect it to come into play? And about Chief Warlord - If you only have one, is he Chief by default, or do you actually need to spend Schmuckers making it so?

I've been playing around with a system similar to what you're using, and it seems to degenerate into two sides having a production war. Any idea how to avoid this, or, do you want to avoid this?

Oh, and clever idea with the crits. I like it.

[0beron]

Most of this hasn't really come up, but I'll answer your questions as my experience allows. Keep in mind I am the farthest side ahead, and I'm only finished with turn 6.

Thinkagrams ....Can you give unled stacks if/then orders? How are y'all doing for Warlords? Can non-Warlord stacks with Leadership accept complicated orders?

Nobody has any warlords or casters yet. However Leadership is the same for all units who have it, so if one of your Special units has leadership, they would handle complex orders just fine. I have given my troops simple orders, such as "go here, do this, and return next turn". But remember that unled stacks auto-engage, so this limits their order potential.

Loyalty? Chief Warlord?

No Loyalty as of yet, however our Barbarian side is trying to get hired by Colonel, so it may come into play then. Kaed may weigh in on this to you via PM, since I assume it's a mechanic he intends to keep secret, assuming it even has set "rules" and isn't just based on his case-by-case decision.

I've been playing around with a system similar to what you're using....

We actually rather badly need a co-Titan for Kaed, as managing essentially 5 sides at once alone is pretty taxing on him and makes for slow going. So if you're interested, I think it'd be great to have you join in that capacity.

[Metheglin]

I wouldn't be opposed to being a co-Titan, but I don't know how long it would take me to get up to speed on the mechanics. If Kaed doesn't mind taking a gamble on me, I wouldn't being Titanic - and it'd mean I might get to make some answers instead of some questions.

Unfortunately, a lot of the ideas I'm having involve specific tricks that I'm sure you would steal from me. Kaed, mind if I PM you and add to your undoubtedly gloriously-overflowing inbox?

[0beron]

From what I gather the mechanics aren't terribly complex, Kaed's main problem is just having the time to reply to all of us. Especially in this early period of them game, the actual mechanics burden is on the Players since finances and build orders and such is all decided by the player. Titans are only required to conduct combat, and to throw in flavor like Kaed has been doing with my "really dumb puppy" of a Courtier.
I would suggest you get familiar with the General Rules as well as the Magic Rules. The Magic rules are something I complied, and are as I understand it, more of a guideline to what various schools can do.
You also probably want to review the Side's Index, which shows all the Side's Stats.