451

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

okay, it's looking like 27 frames to model *everything* in the planestorm UNE army list once I recalculate the number of frames occupied by combi-weapons (the Carl-G now occupies a maximum of 1 slot rather than 4 and the single-fire GL/RAM combo occupies 1 slot rather than two; the GL and all the missile types ONLY exist in combination with the RAM and the Carl-G itself respectively).

Frame count is down from at least 31 when I misunderstood the frame requirements of combi-weapons, and that down from roughly 40 when I was still counting vehicles and grenades  :oops:

452

(79 replies, posted in Defiance)

Ah I think I see: after the cost of the most expensive weapon has been paid, subsequent weapons may be added for 1/4 their cost (tandem) or 1/2 their cost (parallel). The PDF implies (largely by not mentioning anything beyond it) that the limit to a combination weapon is cost of expensive weapon + 1/4 (or 1/2 respectively) cost of a single additional weapon. OK, that makes things easier!

453

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

The forcewall would create a very small wall, and IIRC (this might be a Starslayer rule?) standing right next to a wall lets you claim a cover bonus without a penalty to your own fire? Transportable hard cover. Gotta like that.* It'd be interesting if you would stat it up in order to run scenarios where UNE Commandos with completely standard kit got dropped in the wrong spot ( Suvla Bay? ) and had to fight their way to the tunnels as best they could, whilst suffering heavy casualties to the infamous "Ottoman" class Overlord....



As for more than 35 frames, let me just check this with my new, improved knowledge of the USS Army Builder....

*Though not nearly as much as in the tunnels, where Recce commandos once prompted the following cryptic transmission from a Papa-class Overlord: "OMFG! Nade spam! F0rc3w4llz r teh h4xx! UNE HAXX!!!!!"

454

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

A quick clarification: the covering computer adds 1/3 to the final cost of the sidearm?

455

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

Well, in terms of 2-kill man-sized figures, a face-value reading of the Space marine bio-engineering fluff (not recommended for anyone with any medical general-knowledge let alone training) implies that a SM can survive with a lobe of his brain, one of his hearts, and any combination of limbs shot clean off. Ignoring completely the fact that in the actual stat-line this makes him no tougher (T4) (and that with a lower wound capacity (W) ) than an unaugmented but quite heroic human, it is implied that he can survive SEVERAL well placed and even brutally effective shots; moreover most if not all of his Power Armour systems are replicated by one or more biotech systems, so a normally "damaging" shot in terms of mere mortal PI systems is completely useless, as the SM just drops back to his "innate" passive sensor suite/ atmosphere filtering/ ballistic armour.

And to REALLY kill an ork you have to cut his head off and sew his mouth shut and wait for starvation to finish him off..........

456

(8 replies, posted in Defiance)

My small voice:

Points systems:

I like a balanced points system because it allows casual gamers like myself to quickly guage "a fair fight" and thence to easilly create an outnumbered, outgunned scenario with little or no previous experience in the system. I also think the scenarios in the Defiance VG book provide an excellent set of variant play tied in with the strategic picture: you are outnumbered BECAUSE etc.

I tend to think that a game with no, or unbalanced points strongly favours experienced players as there is no "rule of thumb" for estimating a miniature collection's battle effectiveness other than repeated testing. Particularly with the USS Army Builder it is possible to create an army with a specific style of play instead of just finding out what the style is over several battles- especially since in my case, a half-dozen battles might constitute my entire experience with any given system.

Finally, it is easy to ignore the system of points costs and army organisations in Defiance, but somewhat harder to "make up" a consistent and effective set for a game without one.

Bell Curves etc:

However, if you like both bell curves and a clear sense of its own subjectivity, I recommend trying out the Fudge RPG; my brother in law is working on making a tactical game based on it, and others have before. Fudge is built basically around the two ideals you espouse, wherein objective measurements are pretty much ignored, and the bell curve is always there.

457

(79 replies, posted in Defiance)

So if I create two weapons and they are only available as a single combo weapon, that only counts once against my frames limit?

And, it is possible to combine three weapons in a single combo-weapon, is it?

458

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

Thought I'd compile a list of things that have been requested, or that would make my conversion work easier. Any suggestions are welcome, including "ignore it, it's hell to balance".

Covering Computer: would it be possible to have a cheaper version of this that could only cover with a sidearm, for example? I ask with reference to the short range extra weapons and firing systems on UNE behemoth infantry.

Fire Twice: how about an augmentation to let a figure fire twice? I'm thinking Demian might consider Weapon Link and Torrential Fire to cover this adequately...

Reinforced Armour (Infantry): being able to augment infantry frames to have a better AR than the rest of their squad would stop the situation where every single Infranite standard unit is exclusive...

Jump Once (units that get literally thrown into the fray, or have single-use or long cool-time jetpacks, or which can overdrive their ground effect or antigrav engines).

Fly Once (gliders that cruise in, Ewok style, but then have to fight it out on foot once they've hit the ground).

459

(79 replies, posted in Defiance)

My first question: if I choose the "extra grenades" option, do those extra grenades, or grenades in general, count as "frames"? I suspect the answer is "no", but I'd like confirmation smile

If I have an infantry rifle, and I want to model it such that it has two ammo types in seperate magazines, PLUS the option of an underslung grenade launcher, is that possible? Or would I have to model it something more like: standard ammo (one frame) ; special ammo (one frame) ; GL (one frame) ; standard ammo+ special ammo combo weapon (one frame) ; standard ammo plus GL (one frame) ; special ammo plus GL (one frame).

460

(9 replies, posted in Defiance)

Considering that Defiance is kind of distantly related to Legions of Steel, I'm finding some trouble working throught the Planetstorm Orders of Battle. Anyone else who's thought about these, feel free to chime in.

UNE: These guys have a HUGE variety of weapons. Two standard PI rifles, two carbines, three pistols, three rapid fire PI weapons, three grenade launchers, an IF missile, a single-shot AV missile, a single shot AI missile, a missile launcher with 2 different AOE rounds, a stun AOE round, and an AV round; a vehicle mounted laser; a heavy infantry/vehicle "point defence weapon" (not really a PDS as in USS augmentation, since it doesn't shoot down AOE rounds at all); 4 grenade types (dealt with in the augmentations stage?) and 5 types of infantry, 2 types of vehicle. And a cone weapon that stuns.

Conclusion: some of these must go. I'm thinking of erasing the carbines, the stun missile AOE and the CARP missile AOE, the stun grenade, and the stun cone weapon, making the short range rapid fire "plasma projector" into a cone weapon, possibly removing all the pistols (or maybe leaving just one) and the PDS (to be replaced with a real PDS??).

My reasoning is thus: multiple stun weapons are really the Meraxillan thing and not so useful for an army not bent on HTH combat. The rifles are cheap and simple enough that either the carbines OR the pistols are totally unnecessary and already the rifles fill the long, medium and short range brackets in terms of tactics. Besides the carbines are not obviously different on the models, unlike the two rapid fire weapons. The CARP overlaps the KPulse Missile in terms of useage and is harder to adapt to USS.

And even then there's problems with exceeding the maximum number of frames, especialy when it comes to the combo weapons; although reducing the Carl-G to two ammo types improves that.

I have it noted into my copy of Planetstorm that the UNE maximum unit size is 10, so I'm running with that.

461

(8 replies, posted in Defiance)

Is it wrong for me to enjoy reading conversations like this?

462

(44 replies, posted in Defiance)

WOOHOO! A cookie! Back to reading......

PS I have no idea, but Dan was talking like they'd need to be hosted elswhere and then linked from here.

463

(13 replies, posted in Defiance)

Brigade Models just brought out a big bunch of 15mm vehicles (including giant pill-bug tanks).

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/SF15/index.html

464

(8 replies, posted in Defiance)

Roll several dice and average them?

Gotta say, I like the dice mechanics from a purely game-oriented point of view. No messing about.

465

(44 replies, posted in Defiance)

Full version PDF, page 39, phase weapon example implies that phase weapons are also armour-piercing with regards to infantry due to their field-peircing ability; this is incorrect is it not? Phase weapons are armour-piercing with regards to infantry because they are automatically considered (V) Vehicle piercing, correct? This could be fixed by just removing the words "(field-piercing)" from the explanation that Phase weapons ignore infantry armour, or rewording to "(and is field piercing)".

Is this a new one, is it, huh? Do I get a cookie?

http://www6.mailordercentral.com/thewarstore/prodinfo.asp?number=IMEX6000&variation=&aitem=1&mitem=11

Have a look at this. Sure it's toy stuff, but 48 infantry and 8 light vehicles/ mecha for $40 USD sure sounds like cheap fun to me. Is anyone planning to grab one of these and stat them up? It promises to be very entertaining in its own right!

467

(2 replies, posted in Defiance)

http://www6.mailordercentral.com/thewarstore/products.asp?dept=1222

Groovy. USS would need Shaken / Broken / Stunned / Jam / Haywire / O.O.C., then maybe another die representing Sidearm / Support Cover, and finally one for primary cover / suppression / aiming.

I like this idea. Anyone got thoughts as to the grouping? I've got them in groups of six. Hmmm...... maybe I need some blank dice.....

468

(26 replies, posted in Starmada)

As has been stated, I think re-rolls for a miss should not get the "repeating" attribute applied to them. Pictured thus:

*roll* HIT! *repeating roll* HIT! *repeating roll* MISS (repeating attribute ceases to have any effect) *reroll miss*.

469

(26 replies, posted in Starmada)

Perhaps there's a more elegant solution?  Possibilities include (a) forbidding more than two special features per weapon

No! No! Please no!

Aw man. There go the finances.

http://www.amazonminiatures.com/catalogue/legions_of_steel.asp [EDIT: this page likes IE and not Firefox]

Oh, if and when I ever complete it, I'm kind of putting together a force of "Elves.... In.... Spaaaaaace!" built around the Falcon Grav Tank, Jetbikes, and a hodgepodge of infantry yet to be finalised, depending largely on what I can get for cheap (already have the vehicles). Oh, and somewhere in there I'm going to find a way of fitting in Reaper's "Warbride of Khardullis" just because it's freakin' awesome and embodies everything that howling banshees were MEANT to be.


Of course, as such things always seem to go, I also find Josh Deck's art made metal by Metal Mammoth's own art to be a highly desirable thing, so I'll be watching that range acquisitively too.

I'll be doing a
(Legions of Steel) UNE humans, heavilly modified
(Legions of Steel) Infranites, somewhat modified
(Legions of Steel) Machines, the LoS themselves, somewhat modified

All of these lists are going to be either a little or very much different from the  originals, particularly in terms of squad makeup or morale, but also in terms of variety, to hopefully field a working force at tech3 with the miniatures I own. Also I'm scared of small squads.

The UNE in particular, with a "Superfortress" mech and a CAV 28mm "Despot" tank ( the latter from http://www.hellionproductions.com ) are going to be fairly vehicle-heavy, and all are going to be overstocked with size 3 infantry and understocked with scouts, since that's what I could get hold of during the brief moment between me discovering this excellent range and it going out of production. Hmm, maybe my UNE recce commandos should become elite hero snipers.....

472

(1 replies, posted in Miniatures)

On the Cold Navy Forum I thought I remembered reading that they weren't going to try to compete with Reaper's CAV line, but nothing about skirmish. I'll have another look.

473

(3 replies, posted in Discussion)

Well I DO know that, no matter what, the new posts since last visit function doesnt bring up any new posts for me.

474

(5 replies, posted in Defiance)

Like I said, opening several instances of Defiance in Firefox tabs and then overwriting page numbers makes it better. Overall I really like the layout and knew there'd be reasoning behind it, but it is going to be bad for folks who buy the PDF and dont have access to a laser printer.

475

(4 replies, posted in Defiance)

I had a pretty much fantasy concept that did that. It has a little in common with the VOR background, by coincidence.