[RELEASE] ELITE: Station Run

[Commander McLane]

Necro!(I've heard that thread necromancy is a form of art in this part of the Multiverse, so I thought I'd do my part!)

Re-posting after three months and a week? I'd say that's not even considered necromancy in this part of the Multiverse. Try resurrecting a thread after more than three years in order to become a true student of the art.

[Smivs]

Don't encourage them!

[Thermonuklear]

Oh no! After all that! Did you leave them outside while you built the game?

Maybe I should have, the damned disease might just have frozen to death! Finland is having a flu season at the moment, feels like half the population has fallen ill at the same time.

7 hours! Eek! When you say you printed double, does that mean you printed two copies of everything? A brave man indeed...

Yep, everything done double. I prefer the term "unemployed" over "brave", though. I have to buy more cardboard tomorrow.

The game is completely open ended. I made it with the aim to emulate Elite in that way you get a ship and flying to stations is important - other than that the galaxy is yours. If you want to make up your own extended campaign rules then feel free.

Enjoy, and thanks for downloading. Can you let me know your opinion on how it plays and so on please?

I'll keep you posted. For now I could suggest making the counters to be printed in a different way. How about making one page with just the "unit" side, and one page with the radar/icon side? These two pages would be aligned so that they'd only need to be glued(Or double-sidedly printed) back-to-back, no scoring or folding needed. I destroyed many Thargoid Battleships while fumbling with glued paper... This kind of destruction seriously lacks in glory.
To get a more sturdy feel to the end product I recommend using at least 280-300gsm cardboard(Carton? Paperboard? Or just board? What am I supposed call it!?). Heavier boards are normally very stiff, but once they get bent, the sturcture breaks, leaving a permanent scar on the surface. And anything over 350gsm is a bugger to cut.

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Re-posting after three months and a week? I'd say that's not even considered necromancy in this part of the Multiverse. Try resurrecting a thread after more than three years in order to become a true student of the art.

I'm not yet strong enough to make such mighty invocations! Haven't you heard what happened to Charles Dexter Ward?

[Selezen]

I'll keep you posted. For now I could suggest making the counters to be printed in a different way. How about making one page with just the "unit" side, and one page with the radar/icon side? These two pages would be aligned so that they'd only need to be glued(Or double-sidedly printed) back-to-back, no scoring or folding needed. I destroyed many Thargoid Battleships while fumbling with glued paper... This kind of destruction seriously lacks in glory.
To get a more sturdy feel to the end product I recommend using at least 280-300gsm cardboard(Carton? Paperboard? Or just board? What am I supposed call it!?). Heavier boards are normally very stiff, but once they get bent, the structure breaks, leaving a permanent scar on the surface. And anything over 350gsm is a bugger to cut.

I did think about doing the counters as you suggest but couldn't guarantee that printers would get the position exactly right.

It might be worth doing that as another option though. I shall consider it!

Thanks

You're right about the ticket card but that would be difficult if the counter was double thickness, I think.

[Thermonuklear]

I did think about doing the counters as you suggest but couldn't guarantee that printers would get the position exactly right.

In retrospect, I realised it's possible to do this with the existing templates. Just print two pages and cut around the outermost counters, following the hex shape. Then turn the other page upside down and ta-dah! If you cut the edges well enough, you have perfectly aligned counters ready to be glued together.

You're right about the ticket card but that would be difficult if the counter was double thickness, I think.

I did things a lot harder: I glued the counters around an A6's(only cardboard I had) long edge, about five counters at a time. When I was about halfway through the second set of counters I realised the alignment thingie I explained above... Then I could glue 18 counters together at once. Sped up the process.

Using 210gsm, then folding makes technically a flexible 420gsm piece... That's ingenious! I wish I had stopped to rethink my way of work at some point and paid a visit to a cardboard supplier

[Thermonuklear]

Couple of test games behind I've got to say,
FUN!
I especially like the dogfighting and random encounters. They just feel right somehow, I can't explain it any further...

I made a scenario today... I had three Cobra IIIs escorting a broken-down Anaconda(HIT reduced to 1, Torus drive broken) to the station in a pirate-infested system*. I also implemented critical hits** to spice things up a little. Things went crazy! Enemy numbers were around three-to-one, but somehow the pirates perished one by one... Finally the caravan, having lost two Cobras and the last one barely alive, was only three hexes away from the station. I noticed a radar blip two hexes away, turned it and... a Thargoid warship emerges, destroying the last Cobra in the next turn. Poor Annie got torn to sherds shortly after. I've never played a board game that would be this exciting in singleplayer mode

* Random encounter rolls changed to 1-5:pirate 6:trader
** Very basic: After a succesful hit, roll 1d20. Roll 1 for double damage for "NPCs"/random stat reduction(-1) for your ship. The stat reduction is determined by rolling 1d3, where 1=HIT, 2=MOV, 3=TRN.

[Selezen]

Well, that's fantastic to hear - glad you're enjoying it.

Admittedly it's a relief to hear that the system works for someone other than myself!!

[Fatleaf]

Just catching up with things. This looks quite interesting Selezen. Hope it goes to plan.

[Selezen]

Download it and have a go, Leafy!

[Fatleaf]

Necro!(I've heard that thread necromancy is a form of art in this part of the Multiverse, so I thought I'd do my part!)

Re-posting after three months and a week? I'd say that's not even considered necromancy in this part of the Multiverse. Try resurrecting a thread after more than three years in order to become a true student of the art.

Then I must be the Professor

I used to play a lot of board games when I was younger. This one (Scroll to the bottom of the page) was our favourite. Also Battle Cars, and Talisman 1983 edition. Now to find a printer....!

And talking of Board games. Here is a quick fun one

[Thermonuklear]

First drunken two-player playtesting complete. Naturally I was tipsy enough to forget the game and our notes about the gameplay at my friend's house

Some pics:


We tried the basic ruleset first. Lots of fun, though bad luck at rolling the die made most randomly encountered ships to be pirates! Lots of calculation to do. I also noticed I hadn't read the instrutions for the combat phase carefully enough; All the time I've played with moving and firing units instead just placing the counters on top of each other. I have to say I liked my way more, even though it's harder to keep track of events...

We also tried a different 2x2 setup for the game board, mostly for mobile dogfights:

We played so first we moved our ships, then fired our lasers/launched missiles. Missiles were further tweaked to self-destruct after four turns. Also, missiles always travel 5 hexes. We started using these rules on the basic board as well.
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My test subject doesn't like open-endedness or sandboxes(what a dullard!), so I had to try my hand at making scenarios.

Trade run:

Two traders race for the station to get the highest possible prize for Wumpus hides. The spacelane is slowly getting crowded when the news spread. First to reach the station wins.

Special rules:
After the default 2d6 roll for random encounters, there's a 50% chance of a random encounter every turn, roll 1d4, 1=nothing happens, 2-3=add one counter, 4=add two counters on the board. The counter placement is defined by rolling 1d4, telling what quarter of the board the counter will be placed. Hopefully this picture explains better what I mean:

When turning a ship counter, roll 1d6. 1-2=pirate 3=bounty hunter 4-6=trader.
Bounty hunters attack pirates on sight.

This "almost default" scenario went well... The tweaks made to encounter ratios made the game feel like an exciting race, trying to plot our course through the system

Mining:

Time to mine! The war with the Thargoids is getting more and more intense and ores are in high demand. All available Jamesons are called to take part in the mining operation on a nearby asteroid field.

Preparation: Take all asteroid counters(Two sets of counters recommended) and place them evenly on the leftmost quarter of the board. Players start from the default station location.

When an asteroid is mined, take the counter off the board and add it in your "cargo hold".

Player with most mined asteroids wins.

The outcome was pretty pathetic. I left the station first, my adversary right behind me, firing a missile at my tail. Game over. "There was no rule stating that's forbidden", said the killer. I also didn't make a rule to forbid throwing your opponent with bananas. Still no flying bananas were seen...

Station defence:

The Thargoids are attacking! A massive fleet of Thargoid warships is emerging from hyperspace. Defend the station at all costs!

Preparation: Take all the Thargoid warship counters and place them around the hyperspace marker.
Standard Thargon spawning rules apply.
No random encounters.

Players define their available ships by rolling a 2d6. The result is the amount of ships in the station hangar(You will die a lot).

We didn't test this scenario yet, we need a third player to control the Thargoids. With lots of paper to keep track of hitpoints/missiles/etc. Probably sober.

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About making the counters:

print two pages and cut around the outermost counters, following the hex shape. Then turn the other page upside down and ta-dah! If you cut the edges well enough, you have perfectly aligned counters ready to be glued together.

I tried this method and it works great. The counters look much better than the first two sets I made...
So now I've got four sets of ship counters, I have to make giftboxes for friends or something

[Selezen]

Wow, an absolutely brilliant review and mission report! Thanks.

Sounded like you had a lot of fun playing and making up scenarios. Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping could be done. Shame your mining experience was as bad. Maybe some special rule for bananas...

I'll link the review from the game's page on the website, and I'll take note of your method for making the counters. It sounds ingenious!

[Thermonuklear]

Cool! Feel free to correct any grammatical/spelling mistakes on the way...

[spara]

Brilliant, just had a blast with my two kids . We played the game so that I played as a GM and moved & fired the NPCs while they tried to get to the station. The rules are like Oolite, they leave a lot of room to oxps . I have a couple questions/ponderings though:

1. In the combat phase, can you fire at any direction? (We played so that you can)
2. You have to move two hexes towards the enemy when you fire. Do you move in the combat phase or in the movement phase? Does it mean that there is no normal movement?
3. We assumed that the NPCs act first, as the defensive action takes away the possibility to attack.
4. Can only one attack be evaded in turn?

[Thermonuklear]

1. In the combat phase, can you fire at any direction? (We played so that you can)

We've used a system where you can shoot on the direction of the three forward hexes. Gives a nice dogfighty vibe to the combat.

2. You have to move two hexes towards the enemy when you fire. Do you move in the combat phase or in the movement phase? Does it mean that there is no normal movement?

If ships in combat move at a different time from others, it can get confusing. Or not. Depends on who's playing

3. We assumed that the NPCs act first, as the defensive action takes away the possibility to attack.

I think you're right. Unless you just discard the rule and roll for evasion every turn, for everyone. Makes it more complicated, of course, but more realistic. I shoot and dodge lasers simultaneously when I'm playing E- or Oolite.

4. Can only one attack be evaded in turn?

If you go by the written rules, it's probably the the best approach. If there are six offenders shooting at you, you can't really concentrate on evading everyone(unless you're a Jedi). Or as I stated above, rolling evasion for everyone, someone is bound to hit you unless you're really lucky.

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I think I found a typo in the rolls summary:
Combat roll/1D6/Under opponent’s TRN + hexes between combatants

Say a Viper Interceptor has a TRN of 3 and it's 4 hexes away. Roll under... 7 to hit?
Or have I just misunderstood something? It says above in the longer description though.

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Some more playtesting yesterday. Another test subject this time, a former D&D/LARP enthusiast. Target audience, so to speak. Though he's never heard about Elite
We played the mining scenario I mentioned earlier.

We rolled random encounters normally, then shuffled them together with two sets of asteroid counters and placed them on the "hyperspace" side of the board(I like to use the term "1st quarter"). Our ships start at the station, opposite side of the board. We made a no-PvP agreement, so no flying bananas were needed. Cargo space rule wasn't in use, so we just mined and went back. The random encounters were mostly pirates, so things got exciting pretty fast. Well, we would have had a tie, so we decided the victor by no-missile dogfighting. After five rounds I finally scored a hit! Too bad my opponent did the same thing. And my Cobra was already wounded. Game Over!
Afterwards we noticed we didn't remember to roll for Rock Hermits, shame on us!

We also noticed the missiles are overpowered. Most ships have 2 HP, so one-shotting is too easy unless there's rules restricting the missile movement. Lose tracking/selfdestruct after 1-4 turns works well, combined with always moving 5 hexes. I think I already blabbered about this my earlier post...

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Been thinking of doing some rudimentary character sheets for a longer campaign. Equipment, cargo space and credits will be implemented as well(in the next ten years or so). My D&D friend promised to help me out with balancing and such.