Monday, November 30, 2020

Proposal: The Purples of their Eyes

Reached quorum 7 votes to 3, including 2 DEFs. Enacted by Kevan.

Adminned at 01 Dec 2020 11:03:34 UTC

Replace “An individual DEVA has statistics” with:-

An individual DEVA is known as a Bogey, and has statistics

Replace “generate a new DEVA” with “generate a new Bogey”.

Add a new rule, “The Battlefield”:-

A Jockeying Pilot may fire on a Bogey by making a blog post that specifies a Bogey as its target, and an integer number from 1 to 100 as the attack’s Fire Vector. This is known as a Fire Post.

As an atomic action, the Poindexter may resolve the oldest Fire Post that they have not already resolved, as follows (where its poster is the Aggressor):
* If the Fire Vector is exactly equal to the Bogey’s Defence, and is no greater than the Aggressor’s Attack, then the Bogey is removed from play and the Poindexter adds a comment to say this.
* If the Fire Vector is above the Bogey’s Defence, the Poindexter adds a comment to say that the Bogey has evaded the shot.
* If the Fire Vector is below the Bogey’s Defence, the Poindexter adds a comment to say that the Bogey has deflected the shot.

A stub mechanic for making combat a guessing game, and adding a clear keyword for “individual instance of DEVA”.

Comments

Josh: Observer he/they

30-11-2020 12:22:13 UTC

Yep for

I had thought that DEVA Energy would be a hit points analogue but am happy something less literal

Kevan: he/him

30-11-2020 12:25:48 UTC

That works too, maybe all hits and near misses could do some Energy damage - I was just keeping this incredibly simple for now, to see what people thought and if it made any sense.

Coderblaze:

30-11-2020 12:30:06 UTC

Would it make sense to pick a name other than “The Battlefield”? We might want to use something to simulate an actual battlefield at some point.

Josh: Observer he/they

30-11-2020 12:30:32 UTC

No, I like this. I don’t know that literal “do damage, loose HP” is a fun model, something a bit more creative is better I think.

I do think that initially DEVAs should be very hard to kill and “pick a number within this 45 point range” is a good expression of tough odds. As you say: it’s a stub, we can work on making it more compelling

Josh: Observer he/they

30-11-2020 12:31:50 UTC

@Coderblaze I’m interested in a terrain-based mechanic

Kevan: he/him

30-11-2020 12:35:31 UTC

[Coderblaze] You could well be right, but we can rename anything we like later on.

This proposal has a vote on it now, which means I can’t change the wording, so feel free to cast a vote based on how it reads now. (There’s a two-hour window in which proposals can be edited if voting hasn’t started yet - during which minor feedback can be taken on board - but once voting starts, the wording is locked in so that we know exactly what people have voted for.)

Coderblaze:

30-11-2020 12:37:14 UTC

for I’m fine with reworking this later. We would also need to revise the base attack value mentioned earlier to stand a chance against the RAKSHASHA. Attack of 5 would only let us guess 1-5 if I read this correctly. We probably want to mention the other case,  when the number guess is too large for the attack value.

Raven1207: he/they

30-11-2020 12:42:28 UTC

for

Kevan: he/him

30-11-2020 12:51:35 UTC

[Coderblaze] Guessing too high is covered, I think? You’re told “Bogey has evaded the shot” and can calibrate down. You can always choose a lower number, however high your Attack score.

But you’re right, we need to do something to make an attack actually viable, when Mark I Shells can’t go above 5. The simplest solution would be to raise the Mark I Attack score, but we could try other stuff too - maybe we can choose to attach different weapons or systems onto our Shells, maybe pilots can train to increase their Attack score in any Shell, etc. Throw something out if you have an idea.

Coderblaze:

30-11-2020 12:54:21 UTC

[Kevan] I mean in the case where the Fire Vector is exactly equal to the Bogey’s Defence, and is greater than the Aggressor’s Attack. An out of range condition. If you fire a Mark I shell and guess 7 what happens?

Kevan: he/him

30-11-2020 13:06:47 UTC

Ah! Good point, nothing does, and the Poindexter isn’t even required to tell us that nothing has happened. We should definitely fix that at some point.

pokes:

30-11-2020 13:38:56 UTC

for

robotabc773: he/him

30-11-2020 16:01:10 UTC

for

Clucky: he/him

30-11-2020 16:56:13 UTC

against

can’t Pilots just spam the entire blog with endless fire posts? and if we limit when fire posts can be made, I feel like that results in similar problems as last dynasty where pilots won’t want to fire for risk of setting up other players for better moves.

Bucky:

30-11-2020 18:15:57 UTC

imperial

Maris: they/them

30-11-2020 18:38:04 UTC

against

robotabc773: he/him

30-11-2020 19:08:47 UTC

against CoV because Clucky makes a good point, this mechanic seems cool but right now could easily cause a lot of spam.

Darknight: he/him

30-11-2020 19:21:38 UTC

imperial

Kevan: he/him

30-11-2020 19:41:51 UTC

Yes, Pilots can spam the blog with a lot of posts that don’t do anything? Bogey’s can’t be created yet, and even if they could, there’s no benefit in destroying one yet. When we add those things, we can also add a limit on firing.

I agree that limiting player actions in an interesting way is going to be tricky, it always is - but “so maybe players shouldn’t be able to take actions” isn’t an answer.

Bucky:

30-11-2020 21:38:12 UTC

Firing costs Power?

robotabc773: he/him

30-11-2020 22:02:11 UTC

I was thinking maybe a system where the Bogey’s attack is compared to the Aggressor’s defense, but I’m not sure how to do that in a way that feels good but also doesn’t immediately reveal the Bogey’s attack.

Josh: Observer he/they

30-11-2020 22:17:04 UTC

@Bucky Yes, I think Power management is a part of this dynasty I’d like to explore - the idea that if you’re in a situation where you’re left with no energy then you’re dead stick, so loading your shell up with juicy hardware leaves you more vulnerable and less able to free-fire