Author Topic: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er  (Read 151278 times)

Sartris

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1440 on: 29 May 2020, 16:08:33 »
And the extra-subtle dig with the fact that all hovers...

...have skirts.


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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Wolf72

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1441 on: 29 May 2020, 16:28:57 »
Yup.

Missed it.

I'm hurting inside.

Maybe I'll order some more lego sets for the 'kids'? ... one for each of them, then one cool one for me!
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Maingunnery

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1442 on: 29 May 2020, 16:29:17 »

The Black Knight is a zombie Mech, you can cut of its arms and "Tis but a scratch".
Herb: "Well, now I guess we'll HAVE to print it. Sounds almost like the apocalypse I've been working for...."

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Sartris

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1443 on: 29 May 2020, 16:35:42 »
The Black Knight is a zombie Mech, you can cut of its arms and "Tis but a scratch".


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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

NeonKnight

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1444 on: 29 May 2020, 16:38:26 »
Maybe I'll order some more lego sets for the 'kids'? ... one for each of them, then one cool one for me!

Funny you say that after I just put this collage together....and that's from a year ago, I have more sets added to it and another shelf.
AGENT #575, Vancouver Canada

Daryk

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1445 on: 29 May 2020, 16:42:03 »
Its been an option since tech manual.
Previously, up to 3/6/9 without a movement penalty.  Now... looks like 6/12/18...  ^-^

All that remains is to solve what does more damage: 2 Sniper Rifles and a bunch of Auto-Rifles, or a bunch of Sniper Rifles and a single Support Weapon.  This is why I was thinking game balance would lead you to designate them Support Weapons.  I'll do the math over the weekend down in the design forums.

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1446 on: 29 May 2020, 17:00:08 »
It's possible game balance will lead to them getting radically different TW-scale stats.
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Daryk

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1447 on: 29 May 2020, 17:20:46 »
They're not burst weapons, so it probably won't be too bad.  Hence the need for math to determine which one works better.

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1448 on: 29 May 2020, 17:51:44 »
Nah, we would just retcon the shrapnel stats.
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Wolf72

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1449 on: 29 May 2020, 18:07:14 »
them's nice looking lego sets!
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Liam's Ghost

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1450 on: 29 May 2020, 19:21:12 »
Previously, up to 3/6/9 without a movement penalty.  Now... looks like 6/12/18...  ^-^

All that remains is to solve what does more damage: 2 Sniper Rifles and a bunch of Auto-Rifles, or a bunch of Sniper Rifles and a single Support Weapon.  This is why I was thinking game balance would lead you to designate them Support Weapons.  I'll do the math over the weekend down in the design forums.

7/14/21 in the case of the Fed anti-material rifle and the Capellan rifle.

I'm not sure treating them as support weapons would necessarily work for balance, either. Without burst firing capability their raw damage isn't going to be quite as impressive as existing options (such as the mausers, or even the autorifle I think). What you get from them is the huge range, so all that damage you're getting from your mausers or autorifles is reaching out to large laser or LRM range.

I wouldn't call them balanced, but I do think they aren't any more unbalanced than all the unbalanced things the system already has baked into it.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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Greatclub

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1451 on: 29 May 2020, 20:46:45 »
Nah, we would just retcon the shrapnel stats.

Have them personal on a ATOW scale and support on a TW scale is another option.

Considering that it's tilting the balance in the favor of infantry (Which a lot of pure mech forces already struggle with,) I can't see the current mech-centric design philosophy you were talking about in the 'core rulebook' thread letting an infantry buff stand.

D&D has "gank the wizard first". Battletech getting to "shoot the firestarter first (So our game-winning infantry are safe)" isn't something I want to see, anyway.
« Last Edit: 29 May 2020, 20:53:19 by Greatclub »

Tyler Jorgensson

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1452 on: 29 May 2020, 20:48:29 »
I missed alot *looks at a nearly empty wallet* Dang.... whelp guess I know what Im buying the next three weeks.

Regarding names of units: Theirs a lot more....

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1453 on: 29 May 2020, 21:02:38 »
Have them personal on a ATOW scale and support on a TW scale is another option.

That makes things worse, not better. Moving them to Support means you get their range while you can boost the damage potential of the platoon with the primary weapon. Making them standard at least pushes the damage potential down and restrains you to a single Support weapon.


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Considering that it's tilting the balance in the favor of infantry

Not massively.

But sure, *any* advantage for them is undesirable to me. Good thing I'm not the Line Dev? ;)

The solution is just ignore Paul.

Greatclub

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1454 on: 29 May 2020, 21:06:45 »
That makes things worse, not better. Moving them to Support means you get their range while you can boost the damage potential of the platoon with the primary weapon. Making them standard at least pushes the damage potential down and restrains you to a single Support weapon.

Can you tell I've never really studied infantry design? Fortunately, neither has the infantryista at our table.

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1455 on: 29 May 2020, 21:09:00 »
Can you tell I've never really studied infantry design? Fortunately, neither has the infantryista at our table.

You could throw him a bone and show him some of the infy in 3085.
The solution is just ignore Paul.

Greatclub

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1456 on: 29 May 2020, 21:17:08 »
I've printed him fieldguns, and deeply regret it.

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1457 on: 29 May 2020, 21:33:36 »
I've printed him fieldguns, and deeply regret it.

 ;D

You should contemplate flechette and frag ammo, and what they can do for AC10s and LRMs.
The solution is just ignore Paul.

Liam's Ghost

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1458 on: 29 May 2020, 21:38:54 »
Really any problem with the rifles at total warfare scale is inherent in the total warfare/tech manual rules rather than the guns themselves. You'd actually have to go back and rework how infantry works in the first place to really "balance" things, and get away from the whole "one attack at one range with damage solely based on how many people in the platoon are still standing" motif that we've had since the eighties.

That sounds critical, and in a sense it is, but I want to be clear that I also understand how we got to this place, and why the powers that be wouldn't feel any immediate pressing need to fix it. I'm actually quite fond of how the current regime seems to be focusing on the core of the game rather than pulling itself in several different directions trying to cover each aspect of what is kinda a sprawling mess of a system.

Though I do hope that once the core game has a nice firm foundation, maybe another look can be taken at some of these things.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

(indirect accessory to the) Slayer of Monitors!

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1459 on: 29 May 2020, 22:10:33 »
and why the powers that be wouldn't feel any immediate pressing need to fix it.

That doesn't really characterize the discussions of the time well at all.
We looked at giving infantry 2 damage values. We looked at not including MW3 weapon stats in TM, which then effectively married us to those stats for what turned out to be 15 years*.
But those decisions came after lengthy debate, not casual indifference.

* And I assure you, that is a lot longer than you may think, since BT was about 15 years *old* when those discussions began!
The solution is just ignore Paul.

Liam's Ghost

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1460 on: 29 May 2020, 22:19:37 »
I didn't mean to suggest casual indifference.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

(indirect accessory to the) Slayer of Monitors!

Paul

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1461 on: 29 May 2020, 22:39:40 »
I didn't mean to suggest casual indifference.

Ah, I misunderstood.

I suppose it's a pet peeve. Knowing what we know now, it's clear that the decisions back then were rather bad. Bad with a B. But that's hindsight for you.
The solution is just ignore Paul.

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1462 on: 30 May 2020, 00:06:43 »
Are the POD books supposed to be available more generally? I am trying to find them through Amazon.ca or the web store and the ones I want are not showing up besides as digital.

I know we had a hiccup with these, but maybe I am just looking in the wrong place?
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Sartris

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

VhenRa

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1464 on: 30 May 2020, 02:40:56 »
That makes things worse, not better. Moving them to Support means you get their range while you can boost the damage potential of the platoon with the primary weapon. Making them standard at least pushes the damage potential down and restrains you to a single Support weapon.

You can do that already. The rules cover using standard weapons as the 1-2 per squad secondary weapon already.

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1465 on: 30 May 2020, 02:56:31 »
Precisely... off to the design forum and Excel...

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1466 on: 30 May 2020, 04:46:34 »
Thread is up: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=69615.0

Paul is 100% correct about the range and damage not being any more unbalancing than existing Support Weapons (lack of a mobility restriction isn't that big of a deal).  Some of them have to hit bonuses though, and if those translate to TW play... yikes!

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1467 on: 30 May 2020, 05:06:04 »
Ah, I misunderstood.

I suppose it's a pet peeve. Knowing what we know now, it's clear that the decisions back then were rather bad. Bad with a B. But that's hindsight for you.

No problem. Hindsight sucks.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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Colt Ward

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Re: Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er
« Reply #1469 on: 30 May 2020, 09:12:48 »
I saw it on DriveThruRPG but I thought it had come out earlier.
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