• From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Topic: Damage track?

So, one of the (minor) complaints I've heard from players regarding Iron Stars is the rolling of d20s for damage location. It does seem to be the part of the game that slows down the most, although it's not that big a deal in practice.

However, I've been thinking about alternatives, and I was wondering if something like this might be an interesting option (Silent Death vets may find this rather familiar... smile):

First, determine the number of hits it "should" take to kill the ship -- this is done by dividing the hull size by the chance of scoring hull damage. As an example, let's take the Senjo, which has 12 hull points and a 9/20 chance of scoring hull damage -- 12 * 20/9 = 240/9 = 26.7, rounded off to 27. This is the number of boxes on the damage track.

Next, place an "X" in the last box of the track. When this box is crossed off, the ship has been destroyed.

Now, we need to place armour (A), thrust (T), primary (P), secondary (S), and light guns (L) on the track. For each category, add one to the number of that item and divide into the number of boxes on the track, rounding UP. For example, Senjo has armour 2, so divide 27 by 3, resulting in 9. Now, count this number of boxes in on the damage track and place the appropriate letter in that box and repeat. Thus, there should be an "A" in the 9th, 18th, and 27th boxes of the track. If there is already a letter in the box, move to the next available box -- therefore, since there's already an "X" in the 27th box, the third "A" is not placed.

Continue until all letters are placed; the Senjo's track would then look like this ("_" is an empty box):

_-_-L-T-_-P-S-T-A-L
_-T-P-S-L-T-_-A-P-T
S-L-_-T-P-L-X

When the ship takes damage, instead of rolling d20s for location, simply cross off the appropriate number of boxes. When a box with a letter is crossed off, you also cross off one of the appropriate systems. For example, if Senjo took 6 points of damage, she would lose one light gun, one point of thrust, and one primary weapon.

Whaddaya think?

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: Damage track?

Oops... I forgot that the Iron Stars damage ranges are designed so that you're only supposed to lose 1/2 your systems before getting destroyed. So, divide the number for each system by 2 in the above steps, and things will work out. Thus, the Senjo's damage track would look like this:

_-_-_-_-_-L-T-_-P-S
_-L-_-A-T-_-_-P-S-L
T-_-_-L-_-_-X

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2005-03-28
  • Posts: 379

Re: Damage track?

Haven't heard much complaining, and we play IS a good bit over here.  Is this a new approach you're considering for the next book?

Did you want to treat the next book as  a compendium of sorts (we're going to have new designs, and if you're revamping the damage track, it might be worthwhile to have all the mechanics in one book).

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: Damage track?

themattcurtis wrote:

Haven't heard much complaining, and we play IS a good bit over here.  Is this a new approach you're considering for the next book?

It's a bit early to say if this is the approach for the next book -- but regardless, this would just be an optional rule; I'm not advocating getting rid of the existing system. In fact, since the two systems give the same results (on average), one player could roll d20s while the other could use this system...

I haven't heard much complaining either, just some observations at cons and such.

Anyway, here's an example of what the ship display would look like (this one's for HMES Bantam).

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2022-11-16
  • Posts: 516

Re: Damage track?

cricket wrote:
themattcurtis wrote:

Haven't heard much complaining, and we play IS a good bit over here.  Is this a new approach you're considering for the next book?

It's a bit early to say if this is the approach for the next book -- but regardless, this would just be an optional rule; I'm not advocating getting rid of the existing system. In fact, since the two systems give the same results (on average), one player could roll d20s while the other could use this system...
I haven't heard much complaining either, just some observations at cons and such.
Anyway, here's an example of what the ship display would look like (this one's for HMES Bantam).

Well, count me as one who doesn't like rolling the d20.
:wink:
If the d20 is used solely for rolling damage, I think this is a good idea. Get it the hell out of there. If d20s are used in other capacity I don't think you gain much by going to an alternate damage track.
Keep in mind, however, that with the alternate damage track you will be losing the variable damage potential that you now have.
Kevin

  • Registered: 2022-11-15
  • Posts: 1,286

Re: Damage track?

I don't mind the d20.  I think having this as an optional rule however can't hurt things too much, though as Kevin pointed out, damage becomes more fixed.

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: Damage track?

And now, the top three reasons why this WON'T work:

1) Crew Casualties. These automatically cause a hull hit, which doesn't translate easily (or at all) to this new system.

2) Torpedoes. These roll D12s for damage location, increasing the chances of hull and armour hits, something that can't easily be done in this new system.

3) Hull Victory Points. Right now, you gain VPs for every hull hit inflicted; again, this doesn't translate.

Never mind.

smile

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2005-03-30
  • Posts: 272

Re: Damage track?

I like the d20 thing fine as is, but there are a couple of things I'd like to see tweaked.  Nothing should be "invisible" on the damage track, there should always be at least a 5% chance of scoring (say) engine damage no matter how few MPs and how many secondaries/light guns you've got.  Conversely, I'd like the game a lot better if engine hits knocked out a given porportion (maybe 25 or 50%) of your total MPs (minimum of one) rather than the current one-for-one ratio.  The current ability to soak damage with your destroyer engines bugs me no end.

The latter would require rather a lot of repointing, especially on smaller ships.  Which means it probably won't happen.  But I'd like IS even better if it did.  smile

1) Crew Casualties. These automatically cause a hull hit, which doesn't translate easily (or at all) to this new system.

2) Torpedoes. These roll D12s for damage location, increasing the chances of hull and armour hits, something that can't easily be done in this new system.

3) Hull Victory Points. Right now, you gain VPs for every hull hit inflicted; again, this doesn't translate.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, you could get around all three problems by just declaring your "blank" and "X" damage track boxes to be Hull, couldn't you?  Have Torps automatically score their first-third-fifth points only against Hull, and Crew losses always only against Hull...

Rich