Oolite Bulletins

Thermonuklear wrote:

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.

Took that in. A good idea.

Thermonuklear wrote:

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

We changed this so that in the move phase, everyone must move at least one hex forward. Keeps everything nicely moving.

Thermonuklear wrote:

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.

I find it nice that you have to chooce either to evade and lose your attack or take the shot in and attack.

Thermonuklear wrote:

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...

We tamed them down like this. You launch the missile in your combat phase and it is positioned on top of your ship. You get to move the missile in the end of the move step. If it reaches the target it is positioned on top of it. In the combat step the target get's a change to shoot it down. In the end of the combat step, if the missile is still on top of the target, the damage is dealt.

Thermonuklear wrote:

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.

Sounds a bit like HeroQuest . Looking forward to his. Hope it won't take 10 years though.

spara wrote:

In the move phase, everyone must move at least one hex forward. Keeps everything nicely moving.

Smart! No camping allowed

spara wrote:

I find it nice that you have to chooce either to evade and lose your attack or take the shot in and attack.

You're right. I did some lone playtesting today and it does work better that way. Keeps the thing more exciting. Still doesn't answer to your original question about how many dodges per turn though... Maybe there could be a choice between evasive and aggressive style every turn? Either you dodge or you shoot!

spara wrote:

You launch the missile in your combat phase and it is positioned on top of your ship. You get to move the missile in the end of the move step. If it reaches the target it is positioned on top of it. In the combat step the target get's a change to shoot it down. In the end of the combat step, if the missile is still on top of the target, the damage is dealt.

Installing OXP... I have to playtest this, but I have a hunch that when this rule gets mixed in with my earlier brew, the missiles might finally reach a balance.

spara wrote:

Sounds a bit like HeroQuest . Looking forward to his. Hope it won't take 10 years though.

Don't hold your breath, I have a black belt in procrastination!

I hastily slapped together a prototype stat sheet. Lots of empty space in the middle section, could be used for cargo manifest I suppose.

Nice! Maybe the artistic ones can draw a picture of their ship in the space.

Slowly fleshing out the equipment/cargo/credits system... I merged the trade goods in four categories; Basics(1Cr per ton), Tech(2Cr), Luxuries(3Cr) and Contraband(5Cr). made contraband hauling a dangerous business. Every time a random encounter is a bounty hunter, there's a 1/3 chance is that the contraband carrier gets targeted.
E:SR-scaled Equipment prices/effects and cargo space are yet to be tested.

Hopefully I get to playtest this stuff in the next two weeks...

If you want to write this all up into an "expanded rules" document, then I can include it in the download.

Fully credited of course!

This sounds like an amazing idea!