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In lugnet.fun.gaming, Frank Filz writes:
> One thing Steve has been trying to come up with is a way to eliminate
> plotting moves since this slows down the game the most.
It seemed to me that getting the hang of plotting took a few turns for most
people and then they could mostly do it in their sleep. When I've played, I
typically had my next turn plotted long before the previous turn was resolved.
Do the experiences of others here differ?
> [but it can get boring without some compleity] To this
> extent, the role playing aspects of the campaign game I think make for a
> better game.
Agreed.
> Eliminating plotting will also get rid of accidental collisions, and
> probably eliminate situations where your shot is blocked by another ship
> in your fleet.
I consider this truth a fault with the idea, not a benefit. Those things and
the possibility of them make for more interesting and careful plotting. At
close range, if you close quickly without care, then bad things happen. So be
careful.
> One thing which helped the diversity of the Saturday game at BricksWest
> was that each hit on the opponents base scored 25 points. This allowed
> an alternative target and meant that ships didn't just all wind up in a
> mosh pit in the center of the ocean.
I would generally like to see alternative point scoreing goals. Maybe, in
fact, each player could have a secret point-scoring mechanism that they would
have the option to pursue in addition to the normal stuff. Actually, I'm not
even sure how points work.
> One thought of a way to reduce the time to plot moves is to allow goal
> oriented plots for certain things. A goal oriented plot would not be
> allowed for attempting to get a crossing the T shot, but would be fine
> for landing on an island, or closing with an enemy base, etc. Even just
> closing with the enemy when the distances are great would be an OK goal
> oriented plot.
I don't know what's everyone else did, but if it wasn't affecting anyone, I
just pseudo-plotted and then moved the way I meant. When I was engaging, I was
careful to be precise. I imagine that we could just trust everyone to do that
and it would be fine.
> One way to handle such plots would be to ask everyone to plot. Then ask
> goal oriented plots to be announced. If no one raises any objections, a
> GM or player then sets out markers to indicate a decent plot (basically
> lay out a die at each turn point for those goals requiring multiple
> turns). If an objection is raised, the player must re-write his orders
> with a real plot.
This sounds like a hassle and probably more slow than just plotting moves. But
maybe I'm not really envisioning it. I'm game to try stuff like this in any
case.
> I also wonder at the idea of giving all men a cutlass and a musket. The
> games only had one or two boardings since musket fire basically swept
> the decks of all opposition. I'd be more inclined to assume everyone has
> a cutlass and pistol, and skip muskets for simple games. My general
> feeling about the genre is that muskets didn't see too much use on a
> ship, except perhaps by marines on a regular navy ship. Of course this
> will make for some boring turns as cannonless cutters attempt to close,
> but perhaps that just means cannon should be a little harder to take
> out.
My preference would be to have so many points of some kind to spend on creating
and outfitting your ship(s) and crew. Of course there has to be a point
balancing effort then, but I think variety and diversity in the startups would
be a good thing. If I want a leaky tub staffed by crack musketeers, then why
not? Or why not allow someone to trade their starting cannon for an extra 2"
(or whatever) of movement?
> - Plotting ship to ship small arms fire by measuring the closest
> distance between the two ships certainly simplifies things. Ranges
> should still have some effect when fighting breaks out aboard a ship,
> but perhaps there is a way to simplify this. Things are a little tricky
> when ships get real close. Perhaps in a non-role playing scenario,
> boarding could be simplified with a simple chart to roll on which takes
> into account the relative numbers of people on each ship (such a chart
> should have some "surrender" options on it, since very rarely would a
> crew really fight to the death).
On first thought, I don't like the range being between closest points rather
than between firer and target. It was easy enough to get in with a six-"inch"
rangestick and do the calculations "right" that I'm not sure why we'd want to
do it that way. But if you wanted to simplify with a table, you could have a
volley by volley roll and the commander would have to decide when to surrender.
of course, I guess there'd have to be a good reason (like a point break or
something) to actually surrender, and of course a mutinous surrender could be a
table result.
my thoughts,
Chris
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Pirate Game Rules Thoughts
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| (...) My reading is pretty much in line with Chris here. But then again, I'm a metricating fool. The big problem with plotting, as I see it, is that when ships close in, independent plotting loses its connection to reality. If anything, I'd suggest (...) (23 years ago, 2-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming, lugnet.pirates)
| | | Re: Pirate Game Rules Thoughts
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| (...) I had a hard time figuring out how plotting worked from the sheet. But once plotting was explained to me it was dead simple. But then I've done Star Fleet Battles(tm) plotting which is quite complex compared to this. I think plotting adds a (...) (23 years ago, 4-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming, lugnet.pirates)
| | | Re: Pirate Game Rules Thoughts
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| (...) That works well for some players, but if you recall, there is always one player who hasn't even started plotting when you ask if all plotting is complete. (...) In the role playing game, winning has generally be determined by wealth. In the (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming, lugnet.pirates)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Pirate Game Rules Thoughts
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| At BricksWest, Steve and I had some discussions about the game rules. One thing Steve has been trying to come up with is a way to eliminate plotting moves since this slows down the game the most. The problem I would have with eliminating this is the (...) (23 years ago, 24-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming, lugnet.pirates)
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