Question: Should this message even be in the Starmada folder? I hadn't realized there were other forums that would perhaps be more appropriate.
Now, on to the grit:
I have to say, both Wardogs and Assault Corps probably put *much* more time into this idea than I would be able to, and both look very good.
However, I do think a "straight" Starmada conversion has some virtues, especially for playing larger games with more abstracted weapons and damage values. As everyone knows, CBT's main "flaw" was the glacial pace of damage, designed around an attritional model that slowly wore off chunks of armor and then slowly degraded various systems through criticals. Now, this was only a "flaw" when attempting to play larger games than the default of one lance (4 mechs per side), but all of the fluff associated with the game really made you want to see larger actions and the interaction of various mech types. The Starmada system is flexible enough to design various weapon and non-weapon systems to match the CBT feel, but is designed around a critical-based combat system, which would vastly increase the pace of the game.
At any rate, for those interested, here is a short summary of my "conversion" process.
Weapons
1. All weapon designs are based on the likelihood that a single hit would be able to punch through armor and cause a critical.
2. The basic "damage divisor" to give multiple dice was 5, i.e. a Medium Laser causes 5 CBT damage and is rated at 1 die, a PPC caused 10 damage and so is rated at 2 dice, etc.
3. Energy weapons and autocannons get these multiple dice in their PEN value, because their larger single damage effects are more likely to punch through armor and cause a critical.
4. Missile packs get these multiple dice in their ROF, because they have a wide range of actual hits on target. On the other hand, those hits are then divided into packets that have less impact, so they have to Re-Roll PEN Dice.
5. Some weapons are just too small to effect the game at this scale, like the Small Laser, Machine Gun, SRM2, and Flamer. The inclusion of these weapons in the "battery" system also caused problems, as many designs then had more than three batteries. I removed them from the battery system and made them "Anti-Personnel Weapons" listed in the equipment section, but based their build value on their actual weapons value. If you want to shoot at "smushies" then simple rules can be made up for these weapons - for instance treating each squad in a platoon as 1 fighter/hit etc.
6. Ammo is also listed under equipment. Each round is based on the value of its weapon system, if rated Expendable. Now, ammo crits in CBT caused an automatic BOOM, but then again crits were much longer in coming. You can keep this system for a very fast and bloody game, or simply have each hit destroy 1 (or 1d6) ammo rounds, which in itself is a large game effect.
After all that (which already set for you in the Shipyard file), the rest is easy:
Hull: equal to the tonnage of the mech divided by 10, rounded up.
Engines: equal to the running speed of the mech.
Shields: equal to the total armor of the mech, divided by 50, rounded up.
Jump Jets: these are listed under equipment, and you get 1 per JJ movement point - they increase your defensive rating a bit.
Overheating Factor: you may or may not want to play with this, but some CBT designs are "heat hogs" and would be over-rated without taking it into account somehow. This can easily and quickly be modeled by the following:
OF = Weapon Heat (not incl. APW's) +2 (Running) -4 (Heat Level of 4 no penalties) / 3
If all batteries are fired, roll over OF or suffer overheating: half movement, +1 to hit. Do not fire main (A) battery for one turn to remove overheating effects.
That's it! I suppose, if anything, it does show that the basic Starmada engine is flexible enough to handle some unusual situations.
Cheers,
Christopher
