What do you think about expanded pilot and formation bonuses?

[bobthecoward]

With campaign operations and combat manuals, I feel the idea of pilot special abilities and formation abilities are at their best. But I'm still personally reluctant to use them. Without arguing if good or bad, I wanted to see what other people think about using them.

For example, what best represents Natasha Kerensky and the black widow company?

-is she a 1/1 pilot because she isn't described as a pure great shot and her ability is best representes about which hex she moves to?

-is she 0/0 because that best represents how she shoots in the chaos if combat?

-or is it that plus bonuses or extra effects on opponents?

-does her leadership mean the black widow company moves to the best hexes or is that best represented by additional bonuses?


Does it add new fun to the game? Does it represent a "game-ification" that takes away from battletech"realism"?

[Weirdo]

My group took one look at the lance formation bonuses, started using them, and never looked back. O0 We love the fact that it's a system that rewards you for building actual in-universe-style formations, instead of just dropping a mob on the table that happens to fit the BV.

[bobthecoward]

My group took one look at the lance formation bonuses, started using them, and never looked back. O0 We love the fact that it's a system that rewards you for building actual in-universe-style formations, instead of just dropping a mob on the table that happens to fit the BV.

So, it is rewarding as an element of "game studies". Do you feel it also delivers on battletech verisimilitude?

[Weirdo]

To respond to both of your sentences in order:

1: Wha? ???

2: Wha? ???

[bobthecoward]

To respond to both of your sentences in order:

1: Wha? ???

2: Wha? ???

Game studies was meant to refer to the action-reward and other aspects of games. Monopoly is regarded poorly as a "game" because players are eliminated early often giving one person a large advantage, while other games are better at maintaining player agency to the end. It seems you think these rules make battletech a better game.

But the verisimilitude refers to that sense that we are replicating the reality of the setting. Sometimes that can be in conflict with game studies.

[Weirdo]

It's fun, and that's good enough for me.

[JadedFalcon]

I don't have a copy of Campaign Operations, nor has anyone in my group, so I cannot comment as to these special rules using the Total Warfare boardgame rules.

In regards to Alpha Strike, my group has embraced SPAs, command abilities, and formations. These, particularly when combined with Forced Withdrawal rules, can create more enriching gameplay. For example, formations lose their special abilities when half of the formation is destroyed or crippled, meaning that gaining an advantage is no longer simply about destroying or crippling units. The same with Special Command Abilities, which are tied to designated commanders, making those units high value targets for reducing your opponent's abilities and options. So the possibility of losing these advantages also factors into the risk/reward choices a player makes during the game.

You may want to give some of the rules a test run outside of a campaign. There, you can gauge if the extra rules add to the gameplay, or stifle it with additional bookkeeping and reading.

[bobthecoward]

I don't have a copy of Campaign Operations, nor has anyone in my group, so I cannot comment as to these special rules using the Total Warfare boardgame rules.

In regards to Alpha Strike, my group has embraced SPAs, command abilities, and formations. These, particularly when combined with Forced Withdrawal rules, can create more enriching gameplay. For example, formations lose their special abilities when half of the formation is destroyed or crippled, meaning that gaining an advantage is no longer simply about destroying or crippling units. The same with Special Command Abilities, which are tied to designated commanders, making those units high value targets for reducing your opponent's abilities and options. So the possibility of losing these advantages also factors into the risk/reward choices a player makes during the game.

You may want to give some of the rules a test run outside of a campaign. There, you can gauge if the extra rules add to the gameplay, or stifle it with additional bookkeeping and reading.

If you meant me in the second paragraph, this thread isnt about any need or question. I just want to facilitate discussion on something that fascinated me.

Does it affect your sense of verisimilitude?

[nckestrel]

IThe same with Special Command Abilities, which are tied to designated commanders, making those units high value targets for reducing your opponent's abilities and options.

I wonder how many players don't notice that part of the rules, and among those that do, how much it affects their gameplay.

[bobthecoward]

I wonder how many players don't notice that part of the rules, and among those that do, how much it affects their gameplay.

Hey, I was going to invite you to this thread because it was inspired by your cm davion post. Having worked with them lately, what is your opinion of the suite of rules?

[JadedFalcon]

If you meant me in the second paragraph, this thread isnt about any need or question. I just want to facilitate discussion on something that fascinated me.

Does it affect your sense of verisimilitude?

The perception of "realism" in the various types of Battletech games can vary as widely as the options selected for particular games or campaigns. The rules create representations, and SPAs are an excellent way to show pilots who are exceptional in particular ways, merely beyond the ability to shoot and not fall down. One example in the recent CM:Mercs version of Natasha Kerensky shows an ability to resist negative psychological effects. Perhaps this leans more towards the heroic fictional aspects of the franchise, illustrating character and uniqueness, rather than dime-a-dozen realism. Since the fiction is (to many) an integral part of the franchise, I find that adding uniqueness to a particular pilot beyond a pair of numbers creates more appeal and is closer to my expectations of the game.

An issue of "game-ification" that does conflict with my own expectations of realism are hexmaps. Fortunately, there are optional rules for those who don't like so much of the unnecessary zigzagging and tiresome hex-counting.

[StoneRhino]

To respond to both of your sentences in order:

1: Wha? ???

2: Wha? ???

hahaha....I'm logging from the forum for the day. Nothing is going to beat that today, so why should I bother looking for such? ;D ;D ;D