Topic: Wardogs Wishlist

So...it's been a few months, and I'm assuming folks are playing a few battles. 

The question comes to mind though, what would y'all like to see in the way of follow-up?

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

1. A revised pdf rulebook
2. Playing pieces (even if they are like the original Btech 2D ones)
3. Anything that is easy to include in the spreadsheet

Paul

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

revised pdf rulebook? Different layout you mean or inclusive of the errata info?

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

go0gleplex wrote:

revised pdf rulebook? Different layout you mean or inclusive of the errata info?

I was thinking along the line of correcting the parts mentioned in the errata thread and checking the examples.
I think that during the thrashing out of the spreadsheets, the examples points may have differed.

To my mind the most important thing is that the product be as up to date as possible. (Good PR in respect of future buyers).

Paul

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Yep, I'd go for a corrected and updated PDF and probably a downloadable update for those who purchased the original.

Correcting the examples would be a nice thing as they may not adhere to rules any more after the errata.

Other than that Wardogs is a pretty complete product IMHO.

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

mahon wrote:

Yep, I'd go for a corrected and updated PDF and probably a downloadable update for those who purchased the original.

In the past RPG Now has let me know if any book I bought had been updated and allowed me to download the updated version. Might be updates within the allowed downloads for any product, but good of them.

Paul

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

wow, I didn't know about this feature...

What I'd really appreciate  would be a compilation of updated pages, so that I don't have to print the whole thing again.

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

I'm ALIVE I tell you..

Ok Counters thats something I can do, just moving house and christmas at the moment, so that have to wait.

I think a revised or second edition needs more art....

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

middenface wrote:

I'm ALIVE I tell you..

Ya has to speak up. Hard to hear you mutter if you're across the Atlantic....

middenface wrote:

Ok Counters thats something I can do, just moving house and christmas at the moment, so that have to wait.

I think a revised or second edition needs more art....

Moving AGAIN? boy, I ain't moved since '91..

Yeah, more Art would be good, but I'll need more feedback on it...

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

More art would be good...more action oriented.

Hope the move and all goes well dude.

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Let me know if you need artwork of anime-style mecha for top down counters.

I may be able to hook you up...

Art

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

artbraune wrote:

Let me know if you need artwork of anime-style mecha for top down counters.

I may be able to hook you up...

Art

I'm thinking there are several folks that would be appreciative of such an effort...   wink

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Email me offline and we can discuss this and any other example artwork you may need...

Thanks!
Art

go0gleplex wrote:
artbraune wrote:

Let me know if you need artwork of anime-style mecha for top down counters.

I may be able to hook you up...

Art

I'm thinking there are several folks that would be appreciative of such an effort...   wink

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Todd,

I dug the message you sent to me out of my AOL account. I tried to reply - but received a bounce back.

Art

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Okay...the errata included under the above errata thread has been included into the revised book. Top down counters are going to be included. Still needs to be proofed but progress on a revised edition is being made. smile

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Well I just bought it, but haven't tried it.   But since you want some feedback smile 

From perusing the rules some things I'd like to see:

- More than just 6 ranges, 3 to 20 as a range band just isn't very versatile enough.  Standard small arms these days go to 300m, while a tank cannon can go to 4000m, and many ATGM's to 6000m.  I know Wardogs is a bit more obscure and there is a point to it, but with higher movement speeds than even in battletech and half the range, the game I would think would be all about maneuver over firepower, when it should be a balance. 

- Thermal signatures as a way to detect a unit?  Sure, but what about standard radar signatures as well?  Modern tanks are starting to add micromillimeter wave radars to the turret to detect units, any not have a Thermal/Reflective signature.  This way you could have a unit that may be easy to detect with your thermals, but really hard to detect with radar (or vice versa).  Shields could only reflect thermal energy for example as well.

- Integration with starmada/VBAM, conversion of ground unit types to "wardog equilivents".  Add support for those orbital assets (space fighters, orbital bombardment, etc).  This includes the planet types.

- Shouldn't armor be affected by tech level differences somehow?

- Add some more balanced and "same feel" type forces.  Have an all anti-grav tank army, an all mecha army, an all energy army, etc, create full forces (HMMWV, 2.5 ton truck, 5 ton truck, 10 ton truck, IFV, MBT, MLRS, Artillery, etc, per faction).

- Transforming Units smile

- Artillery, uhhh, its king of the battlefield (infantry is queen, and as an ex-infantryman its degrading!), yet I didn't see any (indirect firing range 18 weapons is NOT artillery, but a rocket or mortar).

- The number of shots per weapon seemed *really* low, especially for machine gun type weapons.

- You could add


Some things I wanted to say about wardogs, which could be wrong as I haven't read the rules that well:
- I didn't care for the dice damage system.  Dirtside/Stargrunt games did this, and though I thought their games were *excellent*, I loathed the dice system.  D12 damage can do the same damage as a D4 system on a crappy roll?  In fact, a D12 system is basicaly a D4 system 33% of the time!  I just didn't like it, at all, and it kept me from ever playing those games, even though I thought they had massive potential.  I know this would dramatically alter the way the game played though sad
- I'd like to see a more detailed damage system, or maybe just a box of "hit points", instead of a generic table for all units.  You could just use that table for criticals I guess, but a mecha and a VTOL should have dramatically different damage models.
- The scale seemed to "topped out", and didn't leave any room for something like a monsterous super battle tank (which is a LOT larger than a yacht/trawler).
- I think I may have been expecting starmada on the ground, and it seemed like a system that wouldn't require a whole lot to convert, it has a lot in common but strayed in the places I thought were nifty in starmada (damage system mostly, as the weapons are very similar)


Anyway, just some feedback, hopefully it creates some ideas for ya smile

Bad Syntax

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

The idea was to provide a unified construction system similar to Starmada for obvious reasons...yet to also model how units and weapons function more in line with real world effect as much as possible while preserving the playability and need for maneuver by most units. Granted, this results in a broad stroke type rules set...which has both strengths and weaknesses...

The ranges are set up based on 200m per hex...so a range 6 ballistic is about 3800 meters long range...however, should one wish to have longer ranges and as long as one's opponents are all in agreement on the change, nothing is there to stop this from happening.  Same on sizes, though the larger the unit becomes the more it trades off in speed and target signature.

Thermal was used simply due to the fact that most everything gives off some heat. Radar can be fooled as can visual, but so far to the best of my knowledge tech has only managed to reduce a thermal signature, not eliminate one. smile

The tech level on armor is more about material and the strengths of that material. Just because someone has a tech level 6 vs a tech level 3 doesn't mean the metal they are using automatically becomes something special...at least not without augmenting the armor to superior alloy or crystal reinforced or what.

The die types are not so much for damage as they are for the potential to inflict damage. So a d4 DMG weapon (small arms or such) has no real chance to penetrate Armor 5 which is 100mm thick. But a d10 DMG weapon is very likely to punch a hole through it and do some interior damage. Of course the more holes in the armor, the less effective it becomes...

There really isn't much in the way of difference between units other than functional characteristics as altered by equipment and enhancements. A mecha is every bit as complex as a fighter and vice versa. The major difference is in how much space, armor, and speed each has. Now...should a CAS unit get hit and knocked out of the sky for some reason (which is not as hard as one might think) it is very unlikely to survive the resulting crash without the personal interference of Lady Luck.  :twisted:

The forces included were there to allow for quicker play. To me, it's much more fun to design my own army if/when needed. So if you want to do an all AV type force vs some other unified type force...nothing says ya can't. smile

As to the interface between starmada and wardogs....  working on that already.  wink

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

To follow up...I've managed to spring some time and inspiration lately...and I'm one step closer to getting caught up with one of the several projects on the burners.  If my college homework doesn't get too out of hand, I may actually be able to get even more done. smile

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Okay...time for a little thread-nomancy.

I've been going through the want and issues lists of the threads and making some notes on how I might address the ones I can. So far I have,

1) Orbital interface items (notes completed)

2) Ground to Orbit Unit weaponry. (part of above, notes completed)

3) Visual Targeting (simply use the melee combat rules for this one folks)

4) Transformable Units (notes completed)

5) a more artillery-like artillery trait, including off-board firing (notes completed)

6) Kaiju- aka "The Godzilla Rules" (working on this)

Anything else that I've missed that may need attention, should add in, or that I've simply missed?

Now's your chance... speak up.  :mrgreen:

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

http://privateerpress.com/company/-voltron-game-contents-announced

would Voltron be covered under the transformables rules? sorry couldn't resist.

PS:- is this a supplement/ sourcebook or a 2nd edition of the rules?

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

1 and 2 are part of something else at the moment.

4, 5, and 6 (when I get this one done) I'll put under the errata since they won't be of any use to anyone who doesn't already have the game. When and if there is a second edition, they will be included into that edition. Sorry to say, the transformation rule won't cover Voltron or Devastator type units. It's as close to a Robotech / Gear Kreig type as I can reasonably get.

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

How about some top-down counters for various tanks and other vehicles?

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

I'm going to revive this. I have done some work on a second edition...right up to the point my life sort of went to hell in a hand basket. Mike and Ian have a good idea of things over the last several years.  Short version:

Work environment turned toxic due to a boss with more power than ability setting me up to get rid of me.
It worked and I ended up having a full blown PTSD breakdown bad enough to be recommended for disability (which I refused) and was on medical leave for 3 months.
Ended up being let go by the city after the boss started the same crap a week after I returned to work.
Went back to school to brush up on new tech and stuff and eventually took a barely subsistence level job after the UE ran out...followed by a second job a couple years later.
Stress and overwork pretty much killed my creativity. And then I found out the wife had a couple boyfriends behind my back. Cue divorce and custody battle.
Finally at the end of this mess and getting my creativity back despite the single dad thing and still working two jobs.

So if you have things you would like me to look at closer or particular wants or what-not. Speak up. wink

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Drones would be cool, as would funnels a la "Gundam"
Deployable defenses, too.
Something like charging weapons or plasma guns that risk overheating as a tradeoff for extra power
Also, good on you for getting the cretive juices back! Any tips as to how do it?  wink

Re: Wardogs Wishlist

Funnels/ Drones could be handled as part of the weapon design system after a bit of thinking and being creative with things.

Basically design a unit with the A.I. Modifier and treat it like a re-usable ballistic weapon system.  Might need a bit more finesse than that, but it points you in the right general direction. wink

Heat doesn't quite work that way in Wardogs. Pretty much all weapons and most systems produce heat which makes the unit easier to lock-on to. Now...rather than heat;

Weapon Enhancement (Melee/Energy/Kinetic)
Overcharger: The weapon has been modified with extra capacitors and/or barrel modifications to increase its damage by x2. This system requires the weapon to have not fired for two previous turns in order to charge up. Once charged, the weapon will inflict double its normal damage (double the normal dice rolled, not twice the actual damage points) when striking its target. Upon completion of the attack, a d6 is rolled to see if the Overcharger burns the weapon out rendering it useless until repaired. The chance of burn-out increases with each use of the Overcharger during battle; first use burn-out occurs on a d10 roll result of 1 and increasing by +1 per use. (ie: A PPC fires in Overcharge mode for the 3rd time and will burn-out on a d10 roll of 3>. A Railgun fires in Overcharge mode for the 7th time and will burn-out on a d10 roll of 7>.)
Hardpoint Multiplier: x1.3
Thermal Rating Modifier: +1 (when charged)