Posting in the middle of the week because my ISP has been making it an ordeal to get anything done. This is a touchup to 1.8 with only two rules changes, to Modules and Cryptids. There is also a number of editorial fixups that provoked this hurried update in the first place: To summarize, a few things (mostly 1.8 changes) are better explained and the example NPCs are completely up to date.
Because it has been less than a month since 1.8 I'll list the changes from there once again in addition to the new stuff in red.
Character Creation
-Limited the number of Enhancements Characters can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Masterwork Tools may now be used as Proxies if applicable.
-Clarified when precisely might Backup Bodies be used.
-Clarified there can't be two instances of Come at me Bro on the same side
-Clarified that Hidden Power can't give you more of something you cannot possibly get more of.
-Buffed Got Your Back and Retroactively Prepared.
Mecha Construction
-Limited the number of Enhancements Mecha can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Increased the limit of Archetypes to 3.
-Rewrote Modules into Speed and Power Modules. You can only have one Module at a time unless they are part of an Alternate Form.
-Sub Units beyond the first take up Archetype slots. That means you can have 3 of one type and 1 of the other or 2 and 2. This counts your starting Archetype.
-Sub Units can no longer be combined into one godly Sub Unit.
-Assistant no longer grants Genre Powers.
-Sidekicks cost 5 more UP but can now be repaired at the beginning of your Turn.
-Tweaked Stealth Field a little.
-You can attack while docked to a Base Unit.
-Small buffs to Incinerator, Divine Wind, and to Weapons with the Defective quality.
-Tweaked Micro Missiles and Nega-G Rounds to make them more attractive.
-Nerfed Disruptor Cannon
-Implemented a limit of one Custom Weapon with a cost less than 5 at a time. You can get around this limit during the initial construction of your Mecha and take multiple cheap Custom Weapons as long as they all have different Costs and no drawbacks whatsoever.
-You can now Enhance Custom Weapons that cost 1-4 until they cost 5.
Playing the Game
-Clarified that any abilities that automatically roll 10 ignore Advantages and Disadvantages entirely.
-Expanded the Time Management sidebar with rules for taking longer in exchange for Advantages.
-Assist cannot be used with area of effect Weapons any longer.
-You can now move after taking a Suppress Action but you take the other half of the Damage it would have dealt.
-Clarified that you cannot escape a Duel through Engaging a different target.
Running the Show
-Toned down Nanoskin Shell and Telekinetic Strike.
-Buffed Hypersonic Striker with the ability to hit and run.
-Changed 3G-Bomb to be a superweapon with high base stats and huge radius.
-Streamlined Payback to use the Damage taken as a workhorse.
-Cryptid now forces you to make a Test to avoid losing Layers upon being Damaged, but you are not defeated until you lose all of them.
In the end I went ahead and rewrote Modules. They give two +2 boosts for 10 UP, and you can only get one. If they're part of an Alternate Form not only can you get both of them (as long as they are in separate modes) but they go into the Core, so they don't run the risk of getting Maimed. They could have been made more expensive to solve the power issue (or made part of the enhancement progression scheme) without being rewritten entirely but it was important for transformers to be able to make forms with different stats. This seemed to be the best way to facilitate that while toning them down.
Cryptid has also been rewritten for the umpteenth time with this instance being less unfair yet more intense: Now you have to fail multiple separate Tests to be defeated this way. This also makes it more interesting to roleplay its effects on Pilots.
From now on I'd like to focus on variant mechanics and rules a little too out there to be made part of the core system. Further changes to the existing rules would likely require a major overhaul of more or less everything so if they do happen it will not be this year. What I can do this year is make posts about adapting the game to suit things other than traditional Mecha or to different playstyles while keeping its distinctive feel.
Should be fun.
July 2, 2013
June 23, 2013
Moderating Modules
There are a few editorial mistakes that I need to fix, mostly concerning example characters, and I could do that right now and leave it at that, but I could also just as well ask what do people think about the game in general and see if I should change anything else while I'm at that.
The one thing I am more or less sure I want to touch up a little are Modules.
After limiting Enhancements, Modules are the last thing up there in the list of 'things too good to not always get'. Now, they can be Maimed, which has always been their one balancing factor to compensate for their reduced cost, but much like with Sub Units they are always good to have around for basically every character... And since they're just stat-ups that's both powerful and boring. Not a good combo.
With that said, Modules are the only way to represent Alternate Forms with different statlines, they make crafting Grunts a lot easier, and of course sometimes you just want to make the guy who really really is the fastest or toughest and they let you do that. They need to exist, and also to be affordable.
Possible workarounds include making them only applicable to Alternate Forms, making it so you can only grab 10 UP of them, and making them join Sub Units in costing up Archetype slots. Those are the quick and easy solutions, and they need not necessarily be exclusive to each other.
A slightly more involved one is to merge the four existing modules into two, a Speed Module for Evasion and Accuracy and a Power Module for Armor and Penetration. It could cost 10 and grant +2 to both Attributes. Either option keeps them affordable while reducing their power level (slightly) and making the Evasion and Penetration ones less exploitable due to the increased cost.
Or I could leave things as they are if it really is not as much of a problem as I imagine it is. Feedback would be appreciated.
The one thing I am more or less sure I want to touch up a little are Modules.
After limiting Enhancements, Modules are the last thing up there in the list of 'things too good to not always get'. Now, they can be Maimed, which has always been their one balancing factor to compensate for their reduced cost, but much like with Sub Units they are always good to have around for basically every character... And since they're just stat-ups that's both powerful and boring. Not a good combo.
With that said, Modules are the only way to represent Alternate Forms with different statlines, they make crafting Grunts a lot easier, and of course sometimes you just want to make the guy who really really is the fastest or toughest and they let you do that. They need to exist, and also to be affordable.
Possible workarounds include making them only applicable to Alternate Forms, making it so you can only grab 10 UP of them, and making them join Sub Units in costing up Archetype slots. Those are the quick and easy solutions, and they need not necessarily be exclusive to each other.
A slightly more involved one is to merge the four existing modules into two, a Speed Module for Evasion and Accuracy and a Power Module for Armor and Penetration. It could cost 10 and grant +2 to both Attributes. Either option keeps them affordable while reducing their power level (slightly) and making the Evasion and Penetration ones less exploitable due to the increased cost.
Or I could leave things as they are if it really is not as much of a problem as I imagine it is. Feedback would be appreciated.
June 11, 2013
Another Update for Good Measure
No big rewrites this time, though there's a good number of tweaks toning down the mechanics more prone to being exploitable and tons of clarifications for rules that weren't too clear. Also with this one update we have a number of additional goodies, including:
-A Grayscale version of the game for ease of printing.
-Editable Pilot and Mecha Sheets in PDF form.
-A printable PDF of Ability Cards to reference the rules text of Powers and Weapons and whatnot without checking the book.
-A Mapmaker PSD file to aid in creating your own maps.
All are in the Downloads and Links section.
The Grayscale version is something I have been owing people since basically forever, and it comes with the Ability Cards PDF. Those are functional and not particularly good looking - I chose to skip out on making the cards fancy and colorful or giving them their own art because, well, they need to be printed out.
The new Editable Sheets are much like the other ones but page-sized so you can download and edit them then print them out or just upload your own edited copy for online use.
Lastly there's the Mapmaker PSD (PSD stands for PhotoShop Document, which requires Adobe Photoshop) which is a simple file with Hex and Square grids overlayed on top of example maps made to fit a Letter-sized page if you choose to print it. It is also bundled with two transparent grids (Hex and Square) in PNG format if you would like to take them to another image editor program of choice.
And now, for the Changelog.
General Changes
-Typo fixing, etc. The Enhancements section for Mecha had costs in PP. Seriously. I had to laugh when I found out about that one.
Character Creation
-Limited the number of Enhancements Characters can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Masterwork Tools may now be used as Proxies if applicable.
-Clarified when precisely might Backup Bodies be used.
-Clarified there can't be two instances of Come at me Bro on the same side
-Clarified that Hidden Power can't give you more of something you cannot possibly get more of.
-Buffed Got Your Back and Retroactively Prepared.
Mecha Construction
-Limited the number of Enhancements Mecha can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Increased the limit of Archetypes to 3. However, now Sub Units beyond the first take up Archetype slots. That means you can have 3 of one type and 1 of the other or 2 and 2. This counts your starting Archetype.
-Sub Units can no longer be combined into one godly Sub Unit.
-Assistant no longer grants Genre Powers.
-Sidekicks cost 5 more UP but can now be repaired at the beginning of your Turn.
-Tweaked Stealth Field a little.
-You can attack while docked to a Base Unit.
-Small buffs to Incinerator, Divine Wind, and to Weapons with the Defective quality -Tweaked Micro Missiles and Nega-G Rounds to make them more attractive.
-Nerfed Disruptor Cannon
-Implemented a limit of one Custom Weapon with a cost less than 5 at a time. You can get around this limit during the initial construction of your Mecha and take multiple cheap Custom Weapons as long as they all have different Costs and no drawbacks whatsoever.
-You can now Enhance Custom Weapons that cost 1-4 until they cost 5.
Playing the Game
-Clarified that any abilities that automatically roll 10 ignore Advantages and Disadvantages entirely.
-Expanded the Time Management sidebar with rules for taking longer in exchange for Advantages.
-Assist cannot be used with area of effect Weapons any longer.
-You can now move after taking a Suppress Action but you take the other half of the Damage it would have dealt.
-Clarified that you cannot escape a Duel through Engaging a different target.
Running the Show
-Toned down Nanoskin Shell and Telekinetic Strike.
-Buffed Hypersonic Striker with the ability to hit and run.
-Changed 3G-Bomb to be a superweapon with high base stats and huge radius.
-Streamlined Payback to use the Damage taken as a workhorse.
And here I was all happy and content thinking 1.7 would be the last one, what with nothing being inherently broken. And then some really embarrassing editorial mistakes happened and I figured you know what might as well touch things up some more. Will there be more changes? If there are, they won't be for several months down the line, because I have a lot less time these days and anything that needs a change would require a large rewriting.
So about the changes proper, for the most part anything that isn't a clarification or a buff is a limitation to just how much you can stack up some of the best options in the game. Sub Units, Enhancements, and Cost 1 Weapons all fit this criteria.
I discussed previously limiting Enhancements to 5 per Arc previously, which was okay... In that it did not really change much. By making it a limit of three per Arc though now they have a considerable opportunity cost, and you have to weigh up whether you want the cheap ones or the good ones more carefully. Mathermatically speaking, a top of the line character will (assuming the guidelines for power level are being followed) not go over fifteen Enhancement total.
That is a big change from not having a limit to Enhancements (other than UP) at all. Fifteen Enhancements is, roughly, a 50% increase in power and is enough to top off three Attributes - or to get +2s to half your Attributes and a +3 to the other half. Either way it is a lot less exploitable and encourages grabbing more toys both as Pilots and Mecha rather than just going for the boring but reliable high numbers.
Custom Weapons under 5 UP are limited to only one of at a time normally, but there's a way around it in a new sidebar (More Weapons for Less, Page 80) that lets you take up to four Weapons for 10 UP total while making a character. Weapons made through this alternative rule may not have drawbacks, making them useful but far from abusive.
Sidekicks can now be repaired mid-battle in exchange for Energy and an Action! That makes them more expensive too, but they're less a waste of points the moment someone looks at them funny. They're still powerful, giving you the equivalent of an extra Turn in a way, but now they cost upwards of 10 UP at a time. Repairing them more than once gets progressively more costly and there is a limit to how many Sub Units you can get now too so it works out.
On Stealth Field, it basically had no drawback if you chose to keep it active while having 0 Energy remaining and that was Not Okay. Now if you can't pay for the Energy cost, you take extra Damage. That it allows energy-draining then comboing an overconfident enemy to death is cool, though I frankly do not expect the extra Damage to come up often - The change is only there so it isn't just free Disadvantages once you're out of juice.
Everything else has already been discussed more or less at length in the previous posts, I think. Well, the Time Management thing didn't but I just forgot to write anything about it and there really isn't much to say anyway. If you have the time for it, you can trade speed for Advantages when it comes to Extended Tests. Pretty obvious stuff.
That's it for now.
-A Grayscale version of the game for ease of printing.
-Editable Pilot and Mecha Sheets in PDF form.
-A printable PDF of Ability Cards to reference the rules text of Powers and Weapons and whatnot without checking the book.
-A Mapmaker PSD file to aid in creating your own maps.
All are in the Downloads and Links section.
The Grayscale version is something I have been owing people since basically forever, and it comes with the Ability Cards PDF. Those are functional and not particularly good looking - I chose to skip out on making the cards fancy and colorful or giving them their own art because, well, they need to be printed out.
The new Editable Sheets are much like the other ones but page-sized so you can download and edit them then print them out or just upload your own edited copy for online use.
Lastly there's the Mapmaker PSD (PSD stands for PhotoShop Document, which requires Adobe Photoshop) which is a simple file with Hex and Square grids overlayed on top of example maps made to fit a Letter-sized page if you choose to print it. It is also bundled with two transparent grids (Hex and Square) in PNG format if you would like to take them to another image editor program of choice.
And now, for the Changelog.
General Changes
-Typo fixing, etc. The Enhancements section for Mecha had costs in PP. Seriously. I had to laugh when I found out about that one.
Character Creation
-Limited the number of Enhancements Characters can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Masterwork Tools may now be used as Proxies if applicable.
-Clarified when precisely might Backup Bodies be used.
-Clarified there can't be two instances of Come at me Bro on the same side
-Clarified that Hidden Power can't give you more of something you cannot possibly get more of.
-Buffed Got Your Back and Retroactively Prepared.
Mecha Construction
-Limited the number of Enhancements Mecha can get to three per Episode Arc.
-Increased the limit of Archetypes to 3. However, now Sub Units beyond the first take up Archetype slots. That means you can have 3 of one type and 1 of the other or 2 and 2. This counts your starting Archetype.
-Sub Units can no longer be combined into one godly Sub Unit.
-Assistant no longer grants Genre Powers.
-Sidekicks cost 5 more UP but can now be repaired at the beginning of your Turn.
-Tweaked Stealth Field a little.
-You can attack while docked to a Base Unit.
-Small buffs to Incinerator, Divine Wind, and to Weapons with the Defective quality -Tweaked Micro Missiles and Nega-G Rounds to make them more attractive.
-Nerfed Disruptor Cannon
-Implemented a limit of one Custom Weapon with a cost less than 5 at a time. You can get around this limit during the initial construction of your Mecha and take multiple cheap Custom Weapons as long as they all have different Costs and no drawbacks whatsoever.
-You can now Enhance Custom Weapons that cost 1-4 until they cost 5.
Playing the Game
-Clarified that any abilities that automatically roll 10 ignore Advantages and Disadvantages entirely.
-Expanded the Time Management sidebar with rules for taking longer in exchange for Advantages.
-Assist cannot be used with area of effect Weapons any longer.
-You can now move after taking a Suppress Action but you take the other half of the Damage it would have dealt.
-Clarified that you cannot escape a Duel through Engaging a different target.
Running the Show
-Toned down Nanoskin Shell and Telekinetic Strike.
-Buffed Hypersonic Striker with the ability to hit and run.
-Changed 3G-Bomb to be a superweapon with high base stats and huge radius.
-Streamlined Payback to use the Damage taken as a workhorse.
And here I was all happy and content thinking 1.7 would be the last one, what with nothing being inherently broken. And then some really embarrassing editorial mistakes happened and I figured you know what might as well touch things up some more. Will there be more changes? If there are, they won't be for several months down the line, because I have a lot less time these days and anything that needs a change would require a large rewriting.
So about the changes proper, for the most part anything that isn't a clarification or a buff is a limitation to just how much you can stack up some of the best options in the game. Sub Units, Enhancements, and Cost 1 Weapons all fit this criteria.
I discussed previously limiting Enhancements to 5 per Arc previously, which was okay... In that it did not really change much. By making it a limit of three per Arc though now they have a considerable opportunity cost, and you have to weigh up whether you want the cheap ones or the good ones more carefully. Mathermatically speaking, a top of the line character will (assuming the guidelines for power level are being followed) not go over fifteen Enhancement total.
That is a big change from not having a limit to Enhancements (other than UP) at all. Fifteen Enhancements is, roughly, a 50% increase in power and is enough to top off three Attributes - or to get +2s to half your Attributes and a +3 to the other half. Either way it is a lot less exploitable and encourages grabbing more toys both as Pilots and Mecha rather than just going for the boring but reliable high numbers.
Custom Weapons under 5 UP are limited to only one of at a time normally, but there's a way around it in a new sidebar (More Weapons for Less, Page 80) that lets you take up to four Weapons for 10 UP total while making a character. Weapons made through this alternative rule may not have drawbacks, making them useful but far from abusive.
Sidekicks can now be repaired mid-battle in exchange for Energy and an Action! That makes them more expensive too, but they're less a waste of points the moment someone looks at them funny. They're still powerful, giving you the equivalent of an extra Turn in a way, but now they cost upwards of 10 UP at a time. Repairing them more than once gets progressively more costly and there is a limit to how many Sub Units you can get now too so it works out.
On Stealth Field, it basically had no drawback if you chose to keep it active while having 0 Energy remaining and that was Not Okay. Now if you can't pay for the Energy cost, you take extra Damage. That it allows energy-draining then comboing an overconfident enemy to death is cool, though I frankly do not expect the extra Damage to come up often - The change is only there so it isn't just free Disadvantages once you're out of juice.
Everything else has already been discussed more or less at length in the previous posts, I think. Well, the Time Management thing didn't but I just forgot to write anything about it and there really isn't much to say anyway. If you have the time for it, you can trade speed for Advantages when it comes to Extended Tests. Pretty obvious stuff.
That's it for now.
June 5, 2013
This is not a Rules Update post.
I got delayed with a few exploitable rules issues that needed handling, plus life getting in the way of explaining all of it in a proper blog post. On the plus side, I've gone over everything so many times by now that if there are any editorial mistakes left I will be surprised.
(I actually won't be surprised, I will just shake my head a little and sigh)
Now though I've got the chance and energy so I might as well discuss what exactly are the rules concerns that delayed the update. Issue one is that there needs to be a limit on how many cheap Custom Weapons you can have. Issue two is that Enhancements need a limitation on how many you can purchase early on. Issue three is yet another adjustment/clarification to how stacked Advantages and Disadvantages work.
Let's get to it.
Limiting Custom Weapons
Custom Weapons are alright as is, assuming you're not actively trying to abuse them. They are the bread and butter to the premade ones' silver bullets and build-arounds. Plus, they can be used to fill up space if you've got spare UP left thanks to their optionally lower cost. This is good.
The bad part is that there is nothing in the rules stopping you from packing only 1 UP Weapons and just leaving them there, spending the UP on Enhancements to buff up your offense that way instead. Suffice to say this is not their intended use, so adjustments need to be made.
Obviously there cannot just be a limit of one Custom Weapon of each type because not only would that not really solve the issue (you can still cover pretty much every angle with just one of each type, after all) it would also make it impossible to represent anything that has a rocket punch and a sword
The simplest way around it is to make it so you can only have one Custom Weapon that costs less than 5. You can still use them to fill space and represent non-gimmicky weapons, you just will have to pay full price for all but the last of them that you get.
There is another way though, and a more complicated one at that: You cannot have more than one Custom Weapon if the one you have costs 1 UP, should you want to have two they have to cost at least 2, and if you desire three then they need to be 3 UP each. And so on and so forth. This one does not solve the issue itself, but mitigates it considerably and allows more freedom in weapon loadouts.
Odds are the former will be the official one, but the option is there to use the latter.
Limiting Enhancements
Attributes are the core of any character and mecha, so it is no surprise that Enhancements are powerful stuff. They are also cheap, because Upgrades and Weapons are expensive and you need to spend your UP on something. Because of that they can be used to mitigate the weaknesses of your starting Chassis or ramp up their existing strengths.
With the cheaper Enhancements out there, it is possible to do both at once from the start. It is not much of a big deal on its own right now, but coupled with the Custom Weapons exploit it is borderline ridiculous. Even with that one solved, I figure I can apply a relatively benevolent limitation just in case. You should be able to do one or the other, but not both.
You can purchase up to any 5 Enhancements with a new character, and may get up to 5 more per each Episode Arc. This works well with the last change in that it frees up more UP to spend in Weapons early on and should not negatively affect anyone who wasn't ignoring Upgrades altogether. There is not much to say other than that, really.
What about Advantages and Disadvantages now?
There are a few abilities that eschew dice rolls entirely, mostly Weapons that automatically get a 10. These exist to provide a way around enemies that have ludicrously high Evasion and stack Disadvantages to hit them. Some Bosses, for instance, can be downright untouchable through normal means that way, so having a few of these Weapons around (plus One Shot, One Kill) is good.
And they do work pretty well at countering the former! The latter, though? Not so much. Mostly because stacked Disadvantages can be converted to extra difficulty, making an automatic roll of 10 inadequate. I will be adding a clarification to the Advantages and Disadvantages section stating that anything that eschews dice rolls to get a specific result ignores both Advantages and Disadvantages entirely.
Micro Missiles are getting a small touchup as a consequence of this. They will automatically roll a 10 from now on, no longer benefitting from Advantages in the form of a static bonus, but neither will they be penalized from Disadvantages.
That is pretty much it. Hopefully this will be going up on Sunday, but it might have to be during the week.
(I actually won't be surprised, I will just shake my head a little and sigh)
Now though I've got the chance and energy so I might as well discuss what exactly are the rules concerns that delayed the update. Issue one is that there needs to be a limit on how many cheap Custom Weapons you can have. Issue two is that Enhancements need a limitation on how many you can purchase early on. Issue three is yet another adjustment/clarification to how stacked Advantages and Disadvantages work.
Let's get to it.
Limiting Custom Weapons
Custom Weapons are alright as is, assuming you're not actively trying to abuse them. They are the bread and butter to the premade ones' silver bullets and build-arounds. Plus, they can be used to fill up space if you've got spare UP left thanks to their optionally lower cost. This is good.
The bad part is that there is nothing in the rules stopping you from packing only 1 UP Weapons and just leaving them there, spending the UP on Enhancements to buff up your offense that way instead. Suffice to say this is not their intended use, so adjustments need to be made.
Obviously there cannot just be a limit of one Custom Weapon of each type because not only would that not really solve the issue (you can still cover pretty much every angle with just one of each type, after all) it would also make it impossible to represent anything that has a rocket punch and a sword
The simplest way around it is to make it so you can only have one Custom Weapon that costs less than 5. You can still use them to fill space and represent non-gimmicky weapons, you just will have to pay full price for all but the last of them that you get.
There is another way though, and a more complicated one at that: You cannot have more than one Custom Weapon if the one you have costs 1 UP, should you want to have two they have to cost at least 2, and if you desire three then they need to be 3 UP each. And so on and so forth. This one does not solve the issue itself, but mitigates it considerably and allows more freedom in weapon loadouts.
Odds are the former will be the official one, but the option is there to use the latter.
Limiting Enhancements
Attributes are the core of any character and mecha, so it is no surprise that Enhancements are powerful stuff. They are also cheap, because Upgrades and Weapons are expensive and you need to spend your UP on something. Because of that they can be used to mitigate the weaknesses of your starting Chassis or ramp up their existing strengths.
With the cheaper Enhancements out there, it is possible to do both at once from the start. It is not much of a big deal on its own right now, but coupled with the Custom Weapons exploit it is borderline ridiculous. Even with that one solved, I figure I can apply a relatively benevolent limitation just in case. You should be able to do one or the other, but not both.
You can purchase up to any 5 Enhancements with a new character, and may get up to 5 more per each Episode Arc. This works well with the last change in that it frees up more UP to spend in Weapons early on and should not negatively affect anyone who wasn't ignoring Upgrades altogether. There is not much to say other than that, really.
What about Advantages and Disadvantages now?
There are a few abilities that eschew dice rolls entirely, mostly Weapons that automatically get a 10. These exist to provide a way around enemies that have ludicrously high Evasion and stack Disadvantages to hit them. Some Bosses, for instance, can be downright untouchable through normal means that way, so having a few of these Weapons around (plus One Shot, One Kill) is good.
And they do work pretty well at countering the former! The latter, though? Not so much. Mostly because stacked Disadvantages can be converted to extra difficulty, making an automatic roll of 10 inadequate. I will be adding a clarification to the Advantages and Disadvantages section stating that anything that eschews dice rolls to get a specific result ignores both Advantages and Disadvantages entirely.
Micro Missiles are getting a small touchup as a consequence of this. They will automatically roll a 10 from now on, no longer benefitting from Advantages in the form of a static bonus, but neither will they be penalized from Disadvantages.
That is pretty much it. Hopefully this will be going up on Sunday, but it might have to be during the week.
May 26, 2013
Mechanical Make-Up VII
Ah, Chapter 5. It has a lot less mechanics when compared to pretty 2, 3 and 4. Enough to go over them all right now. A part of me wants to expand NPC rules immediately, with more Boss goodies, wacky Features for weird enemies, and more Tiers for NPCs - Like the old Elite that was in between Grunts and Rivals. But it will have to wait. First we do maintenance on the house, then we see about building a second story on top.
Non-Combatants
All of these these get a single lone section to themselves because... Well, that is what their relevance deserves. Basically, non-combatant npc "rules" are for those times you just need to whip up a quick statblock and just eyeballing two or three stats isn't enough. Grunts are fast and easy. Rivals and Bosses are a different matter, though frankly between this and the suggestions in the "The Big Bads" sidebar you should have a good idea of how to stat these in a matter of seconds. Natures really help in making this process easier, too, another reason I favor them so much.
Grunts and Rivals
Grab two Weapons, maybe one or two Upgrades, and a Chassis. Enhance if appropriate. Grunts take very little effort to write up. And while they are weak individually, they can give PCs fits. In other games Grunts are plentiful and outnumber the PCs about four to one... Not so in GGG. Partly because managing up to a dozen of NPCs is a chore, partly because each one is supposed to be an actual threat that needs to be overcome, and is not just there for show.
Two Grunts are said to be a match for a PC, but it is more like three really if you want the PC to be genuinely against the ropes. With that said, the sheer variety in loadouts available to them means that you can throw Grunts at PCs just to warm them up without offering much of a challenge or give them devious combinations of abilities, abusing the likes of Support Fire and Divine Wind. This way they can represent generic goons or elite troops with the same set of rules.
Rivals are almost the same as PCs if not for the fact that they usually pack less Genre Points, and depending on how much of a difference there is a GM might have to toss in an extra Grunt to make for a real challenge. With that said, PCs are fine having a slight mechanical advantage over their Rivals because you (as GM) want them to win anyway. Even then, the fact that Rivals can retool themselves around the opposition and show up with a new giant robot if the plot demands gives them an advantage over the PCs that might be worth a lot more than just one or two Genre Points.
The big issue is that they take the most time to stat. A part of me wants to throw away these rules and come up with something like what Grunts and Bosses have but more on equal with the PCs. But I recognize that as they are, they function as a clear mirror to the PCs, and that is what they are supposed to be. You know, Rivals.
Bosses
Bosses have been the toughest ones to design, but now overall they're challenging and easy to create or customize, without being impossible to beat. Yes, some of their abilities are extremely powerful, but the worst ones don't even trigger before getting considerably beat up. Overall they're one of the things I'm the most proud of in the game as a whole.
Boss Powers are much like Boss Archetypes in that they represent individual abilities which make the user much harder to deal with, their main difference is that they don't either need getting beat up to be activated, nor do they grow stronger over time. A few stand out from the rest, for a few reasons. One is I Believe this is Yours, which can be taken multiple times to cover all Weapon Types, if you so wish. Another is Die for Me!, which is by far the most brutal ability in the game then a Boss has a lot of Genre Points. Lastly there is Behold my True Power, which can be combined with Overfreeze and Wormhole Assault from the Boss repertoire for an obvious combo, or lets you get crafty with other ideas like Bombardment and Resonance Cannon for sheer brutality.
Honestly since they are active abilities that can be used from Turn 1 onwards, they can get a bit repetitive at times. But considering that they're supposed to be a piece of the puzzle that PCs need to solve in order to beat a Boss, I would say that being repetitive is the point. Other Powers are a ton less crafty and sometimes kind of boring (like Show me your Resolve and Resistance is Futile) but they get the job done. Also, while Genre Powers in general have great names, Boss Powers have the best names. Ever.
Archetypes are a bit more interesting, and two of them need some changes. Nanoskin Shell is by far the strongest to the point of it being preposterous - 60 extra HP granted by a single ability is insane and the damage buffer needs to be halved at least. Hypersonic Striker is also not as good as it could be, because extra movement stops being useful once you are in range, so it will be given the unique ability to do hit and run tactics with any kind of Weapon - it will only trigger after losing a Level of Threshold so it won't create any unbeatable Enemies.
Then there's Weapons. G-Leeches are are probably the weakest right now, though the latter would get much more interesting with the changes to Hypersonic Striker. Graviton Wave is similar in that it is not very good at killing its targets, but by golly is it amazing at softening them up. The most exploitable one right now is Telekinetic Strike, not only almost always dealing unblockable damage but also controlling the positions of its enemies. The least I can do is make the bowling ball effect require passing the Evasion of secondary targets. The other one maybe worth retooling is 3G-Bomb, which went from being overwhelmingly powerful to being a tad too slow to be really threatening to anyone with a Threshold of 10 or higher. Perhaps making it deal damage not directly dependent on Tension is for the best, after all.
Features
Biological, Fortress, and Squadron are pretty straightforward. They are used to represent things that are neither the average giant robot, nor are they usually under PC control. More interesting is Cryptid, which is not only all upside for most enemies, and a dangerously powerful upside at that to boot, but is a gigantic middle finger to one of the most effective strategies in the game otherwise - tanking via healing.
It is the closest the game ever gets to having an unfairly powerful ability for enemies, but it is only genuinely devastating against anyone who relies on restoring Threshold entirely instead of even trying to prevent Damage. It is also acknowledged as being powerful to the point that even Grunts should be considered to be an even match against PCs, so it works out.
Operation Actions
Well, That was kind of short, so I might as well also touch up some general mechanics while I'm at it, Chapter 4 here we go.
Most of the Operation rules are fine, with all Actions being viable alternatives to just Attacking now. Micromanage is still a tad powerful, but I'd rather keep it useful than nerf it to being a sub-par option. Suppress though, currently lets you stop anyone from moving at all ever again. And movement is more important now than it used to be, so we're reworking that a little. I don't want to complicate things too much, so we'll make it a simple choice: The victim of a Suppress Action can still move after being suppressed, but doing so means they take the other half of the Damage the attack would have dealt normally.
This is a lot more representative of using suppressive fire to pin someone down, and also gives them a way to escape your grappling attempts. It also weakens Suppress a bit, but because the enemy still suffers a Disadvantage to their own Offensive Actions it is worth using even then. Fortunately, it is still a lot less complicated than every other attempt to represent grappling rules since D&D became infamous for having some really bad ones.
Next week, the update in question, with a few bonuses.
Non-Combatants
All of these these get a single lone section to themselves because... Well, that is what their relevance deserves. Basically, non-combatant npc "rules" are for those times you just need to whip up a quick statblock and just eyeballing two or three stats isn't enough. Grunts are fast and easy. Rivals and Bosses are a different matter, though frankly between this and the suggestions in the "The Big Bads" sidebar you should have a good idea of how to stat these in a matter of seconds. Natures really help in making this process easier, too, another reason I favor them so much.
Grunts and Rivals
Grab two Weapons, maybe one or two Upgrades, and a Chassis. Enhance if appropriate. Grunts take very little effort to write up. And while they are weak individually, they can give PCs fits. In other games Grunts are plentiful and outnumber the PCs about four to one... Not so in GGG. Partly because managing up to a dozen of NPCs is a chore, partly because each one is supposed to be an actual threat that needs to be overcome, and is not just there for show.
Two Grunts are said to be a match for a PC, but it is more like three really if you want the PC to be genuinely against the ropes. With that said, the sheer variety in loadouts available to them means that you can throw Grunts at PCs just to warm them up without offering much of a challenge or give them devious combinations of abilities, abusing the likes of Support Fire and Divine Wind. This way they can represent generic goons or elite troops with the same set of rules.
Rivals are almost the same as PCs if not for the fact that they usually pack less Genre Points, and depending on how much of a difference there is a GM might have to toss in an extra Grunt to make for a real challenge. With that said, PCs are fine having a slight mechanical advantage over their Rivals because you (as GM) want them to win anyway. Even then, the fact that Rivals can retool themselves around the opposition and show up with a new giant robot if the plot demands gives them an advantage over the PCs that might be worth a lot more than just one or two Genre Points.
The big issue is that they take the most time to stat. A part of me wants to throw away these rules and come up with something like what Grunts and Bosses have but more on equal with the PCs. But I recognize that as they are, they function as a clear mirror to the PCs, and that is what they are supposed to be. You know, Rivals.
Bosses
Bosses have been the toughest ones to design, but now overall they're challenging and easy to create or customize, without being impossible to beat. Yes, some of their abilities are extremely powerful, but the worst ones don't even trigger before getting considerably beat up. Overall they're one of the things I'm the most proud of in the game as a whole.
Boss Powers are much like Boss Archetypes in that they represent individual abilities which make the user much harder to deal with, their main difference is that they don't either need getting beat up to be activated, nor do they grow stronger over time. A few stand out from the rest, for a few reasons. One is I Believe this is Yours, which can be taken multiple times to cover all Weapon Types, if you so wish. Another is Die for Me!, which is by far the most brutal ability in the game then a Boss has a lot of Genre Points. Lastly there is Behold my True Power, which can be combined with Overfreeze and Wormhole Assault from the Boss repertoire for an obvious combo, or lets you get crafty with other ideas like Bombardment and Resonance Cannon for sheer brutality.
Honestly since they are active abilities that can be used from Turn 1 onwards, they can get a bit repetitive at times. But considering that they're supposed to be a piece of the puzzle that PCs need to solve in order to beat a Boss, I would say that being repetitive is the point. Other Powers are a ton less crafty and sometimes kind of boring (like Show me your Resolve and Resistance is Futile) but they get the job done. Also, while Genre Powers in general have great names, Boss Powers have the best names. Ever.
Archetypes are a bit more interesting, and two of them need some changes. Nanoskin Shell is by far the strongest to the point of it being preposterous - 60 extra HP granted by a single ability is insane and the damage buffer needs to be halved at least. Hypersonic Striker is also not as good as it could be, because extra movement stops being useful once you are in range, so it will be given the unique ability to do hit and run tactics with any kind of Weapon - it will only trigger after losing a Level of Threshold so it won't create any unbeatable Enemies.
Then there's Weapons. G-Leeches are are probably the weakest right now, though the latter would get much more interesting with the changes to Hypersonic Striker. Graviton Wave is similar in that it is not very good at killing its targets, but by golly is it amazing at softening them up. The most exploitable one right now is Telekinetic Strike, not only almost always dealing unblockable damage but also controlling the positions of its enemies. The least I can do is make the bowling ball effect require passing the Evasion of secondary targets. The other one maybe worth retooling is 3G-Bomb, which went from being overwhelmingly powerful to being a tad too slow to be really threatening to anyone with a Threshold of 10 or higher. Perhaps making it deal damage not directly dependent on Tension is for the best, after all.
Features
Biological, Fortress, and Squadron are pretty straightforward. They are used to represent things that are neither the average giant robot, nor are they usually under PC control. More interesting is Cryptid, which is not only all upside for most enemies, and a dangerously powerful upside at that to boot, but is a gigantic middle finger to one of the most effective strategies in the game otherwise - tanking via healing.
It is the closest the game ever gets to having an unfairly powerful ability for enemies, but it is only genuinely devastating against anyone who relies on restoring Threshold entirely instead of even trying to prevent Damage. It is also acknowledged as being powerful to the point that even Grunts should be considered to be an even match against PCs, so it works out.
Operation Actions
Well, That was kind of short, so I might as well also touch up some general mechanics while I'm at it, Chapter 4 here we go.
Most of the Operation rules are fine, with all Actions being viable alternatives to just Attacking now. Micromanage is still a tad powerful, but I'd rather keep it useful than nerf it to being a sub-par option. Suppress though, currently lets you stop anyone from moving at all ever again. And movement is more important now than it used to be, so we're reworking that a little. I don't want to complicate things too much, so we'll make it a simple choice: The victim of a Suppress Action can still move after being suppressed, but doing so means they take the other half of the Damage the attack would have dealt normally.
This is a lot more representative of using suppressive fire to pin someone down, and also gives them a way to escape your grappling attempts. It also weakens Suppress a bit, but because the enemy still suffers a Disadvantage to their own Offensive Actions it is worth using even then. Fortunately, it is still a lot less complicated than every other attempt to represent grappling rules since D&D became infamous for having some really bad ones.
Next week, the update in question, with a few bonuses.
May 19, 2013
Mechanical Make-Up VI
I went over a lot of the math behind the mechanics for Pilot rules in my Tribute to Player Agency during January and February, so I'll be commenting on the utility of the specific options today and comparing them balance-wise. But before that, a question for those who would want to print out their own copies of the finalized book: Would you prefer a grayscale version with everything exactly as it is right now, or grayscale but with images removed and formatting looking kind of awkward as a consequence? Leave a comment!
And now, to finalize an analysis of character creation:
Natures
There is not much to say about these other than Professional kind of gets a bad rap for not being the best at anything. In a game that encourages generalism, though, that is kind of undue. As is, they are the only characters who will never roll under a 5 for anything, saving them from worst case scenarios unless there's some serious Disadvantages stacked against them.
The secondary Attributes (Awareness, Willpower, Resources) do a pretty decent job of balancing the other three with each other, though of course that depends on just how many rules you're using. Resources gets better if you're allowed to have your own battle tank, and high Willpower is oh so much more desirable when you can use it to fuel superpowers.
Skills - Mundane
Some Skills are more generally useful than others. Investigation and Medicine will usually be more useful than Presence and Survival, the latter of which will need a concept that focuses on them to bring them up to par with the likes of the former. The neat thing about Skills is that they are cheap enough you can get some of the worse ones for 3 or 5 PP without really hurting your character in the process, and there simplified skill system gives any Adept or Master skills a lot of value.
A few Skills might merit being split apart into different categories, and strong cases have been made for Craftsmanship to be divided into say, Arts and Industry. On one hand, defusing a bomb and composing a sonnet are very different things. On the other hand, the line between crafting something for practical or aesthetic purposes is an easily blurred line, such as when customizing a motorcycle, which is both of them.
In rules terms, splitting them up would also likely make Craftsmanship Tests considerably easier to anyone who can argue that whatever they're doing takes both Skills, assuming they have purchased both that is. Then again, maybe rewarding people who really, really want to be the best at crafts & arts is an alright thing.
Skills - Miracles
Balancing these is tough, not to mention that there's so many neat ideas for superpowers that avoiding a glut of them was its own problem. To avoid the issue of spell lists taking up hundreds of pages, I've tried to make each Miracle do the most things it could reasonably get away with conceptually. You can have Pyrokinesis and Cryonesis or Life and Death as one package, because he who giveth can also taketh away.
Some of them get away with a lot though. For instance Somatics and Sight provide tremendous value at Adept level alone. The trick is that the rest do things that are impossible to replicate through mundane means, such as shooting lightning out of your hands or making people see ghosts, thus making themselves worth it just for being unique.
Traits - General
Generally Traits worth between 3 and 5 PP tend to be rather conditional or depend on the GM more than usual, while the high-end ones are a lot more powerful and straightforward, but of limited use. Some of them are Traits because they're simply not worth being Skills (like Animal Person or Gamer) though they can be rather fearsome when combined with existing Skills to grant them extra Advantages (Such as with Intimidating and Weapon Expertise) but they pale in comparison to the sheer ridiculousness you can get away with when you build around Traits such as Leadership, Psychic Power and Spirit of Steel.
Traits - Deathblows
The most powerful of these by raw damage output is Multitargeting, multiplying your Damage by the number of enemies you've got. Though of course it does nothing 1v1. Tearing follows up, which, assuming you deal at least 1 point of damage on your own, can take out a baseline Coordinator with an average roll of 5... But needs 5 turns to do so. Precise is about the only one worth combining with other Deathblows if you want a crazy powerful finisher, as the Disadvantage more or less cancels out after a couple turns' worth of Tension.
Stunning and Defensive are alright on their own, but if you add Multitargeting to them, a single action can turn around an entire combat scene.
Traits - Assets
These are all mechanically the same so there is not that much to say that hasn't already been covered. Maybe the standardized debt mechanic could be taken out and all of them could be given unique mechanics, but I'm not sure about that.
I also like having hard(ish) rules for relying on your network of contacts and money a bit too much, and don't think coming up with specific mechanics to represent being indebted or putting your career at stake would be much of an improvement over what we've currently got.
Perhaps the one thing that I do regret a little that you can grab all four of them and use each in turn to pull yourself out of a jam, without ever repaying the debt back. Then again, someone who slowly gives up on everything they've got as a story progresses could be interesting in its own right.
Traits - Anomalies
Cyborg, Reanimating and Wild are the most interesting, with the last one even potentially letting you communicate with the giant monsters you're fighting if the setting allows for it. Flight and Nightmare can also serve as 'rules to represent pilot-scale monsters'. Technobane can range from extremely useful to absolutely terrible depending on the game
An Anomaly that was considered but ultimately discarded was 'Ghostly'. And it did not come to pass simply because the ability to pass through objects either has no downside because you can control it at will or the downside is absolutely crippling and kills you dead the moment something goes wrong. Maybe one day I will come up with a better way to go about it.
Traits - Equipment
These are the least effects-based of the bunch, with most having abilities highly tuned to represent being specific objects... Which is kind of the point, anyway. The cheapest ones (Ether Drive, First-Aid Nanomachines and Omni-Counter) are all very useful and a fantastic bang for your buck, though they don't really have as big an effect as some of the others.
An Invisibility Device is much more efficient than the Phantasm Miracle at adopting Plan B, though it is more limited in use. A Digital Aide is not just useful, it can spice up scenes as a helpful NPC that is always in your pocket. The Masterwork Tool and Personal Facility are both very useful for their cost, though thinking about it, the former should be able to act as a Proxy. That also makes the Resources-based opportunity cost worth it when compared to just grabbing a Skill.
The Energy Shield, Icarus-Class Powered Armor, and Armored Land Vehicle all can spice up ground-level encounters, either in the hands of PCs or NPCs. The Miniature Chemical Weapon is also a good replacement for Extreme Terrain-esque rules for walking into a supervillain's lair full of traps.
Last but not least isThe Cloneforge Backup Bodies. Which is just plain awesome, but could use the rules text being a bit more clear on its use. It makes a lot more sense if it is used between scenes... but not between any kind of Scene. At some point I forgot to add this clarification and now it is kind of wonky by the rules as written even if, ironically, the rules text is extremely simple.
So that's character options. Next time I examine the mechanics in chapters 4 and 5. And after that, the (hopefully) final revision with some extra goodies.
And now, to finalize an analysis of character creation:
Natures
There is not much to say about these other than Professional kind of gets a bad rap for not being the best at anything. In a game that encourages generalism, though, that is kind of undue. As is, they are the only characters who will never roll under a 5 for anything, saving them from worst case scenarios unless there's some serious Disadvantages stacked against them.
The secondary Attributes (Awareness, Willpower, Resources) do a pretty decent job of balancing the other three with each other, though of course that depends on just how many rules you're using. Resources gets better if you're allowed to have your own battle tank, and high Willpower is oh so much more desirable when you can use it to fuel superpowers.
Skills - Mundane
Some Skills are more generally useful than others. Investigation and Medicine will usually be more useful than Presence and Survival, the latter of which will need a concept that focuses on them to bring them up to par with the likes of the former. The neat thing about Skills is that they are cheap enough you can get some of the worse ones for 3 or 5 PP without really hurting your character in the process, and there simplified skill system gives any Adept or Master skills a lot of value.
A few Skills might merit being split apart into different categories, and strong cases have been made for Craftsmanship to be divided into say, Arts and Industry. On one hand, defusing a bomb and composing a sonnet are very different things. On the other hand, the line between crafting something for practical or aesthetic purposes is an easily blurred line, such as when customizing a motorcycle, which is both of them.
In rules terms, splitting them up would also likely make Craftsmanship Tests considerably easier to anyone who can argue that whatever they're doing takes both Skills, assuming they have purchased both that is. Then again, maybe rewarding people who really, really want to be the best at crafts & arts is an alright thing.
Skills - Miracles
Balancing these is tough, not to mention that there's so many neat ideas for superpowers that avoiding a glut of them was its own problem. To avoid the issue of spell lists taking up hundreds of pages, I've tried to make each Miracle do the most things it could reasonably get away with conceptually. You can have Pyrokinesis and Cryonesis or Life and Death as one package, because he who giveth can also taketh away.
Some of them get away with a lot though. For instance Somatics and Sight provide tremendous value at Adept level alone. The trick is that the rest do things that are impossible to replicate through mundane means, such as shooting lightning out of your hands or making people see ghosts, thus making themselves worth it just for being unique.
Traits - General
Generally Traits worth between 3 and 5 PP tend to be rather conditional or depend on the GM more than usual, while the high-end ones are a lot more powerful and straightforward, but of limited use. Some of them are Traits because they're simply not worth being Skills (like Animal Person or Gamer) though they can be rather fearsome when combined with existing Skills to grant them extra Advantages (Such as with Intimidating and Weapon Expertise) but they pale in comparison to the sheer ridiculousness you can get away with when you build around Traits such as Leadership, Psychic Power and Spirit of Steel.
Traits - Deathblows
The most powerful of these by raw damage output is Multitargeting, multiplying your Damage by the number of enemies you've got. Though of course it does nothing 1v1. Tearing follows up, which, assuming you deal at least 1 point of damage on your own, can take out a baseline Coordinator with an average roll of 5... But needs 5 turns to do so. Precise is about the only one worth combining with other Deathblows if you want a crazy powerful finisher, as the Disadvantage more or less cancels out after a couple turns' worth of Tension.
Stunning and Defensive are alright on their own, but if you add Multitargeting to them, a single action can turn around an entire combat scene.
Traits - Assets
These are all mechanically the same so there is not that much to say that hasn't already been covered. Maybe the standardized debt mechanic could be taken out and all of them could be given unique mechanics, but I'm not sure about that.
I also like having hard(ish) rules for relying on your network of contacts and money a bit too much, and don't think coming up with specific mechanics to represent being indebted or putting your career at stake would be much of an improvement over what we've currently got.
Perhaps the one thing that I do regret a little that you can grab all four of them and use each in turn to pull yourself out of a jam, without ever repaying the debt back. Then again, someone who slowly gives up on everything they've got as a story progresses could be interesting in its own right.
Traits - Anomalies
Cyborg, Reanimating and Wild are the most interesting, with the last one even potentially letting you communicate with the giant monsters you're fighting if the setting allows for it. Flight and Nightmare can also serve as 'rules to represent pilot-scale monsters'. Technobane can range from extremely useful to absolutely terrible depending on the game
An Anomaly that was considered but ultimately discarded was 'Ghostly'. And it did not come to pass simply because the ability to pass through objects either has no downside because you can control it at will or the downside is absolutely crippling and kills you dead the moment something goes wrong. Maybe one day I will come up with a better way to go about it.
Traits - Equipment
These are the least effects-based of the bunch, with most having abilities highly tuned to represent being specific objects... Which is kind of the point, anyway. The cheapest ones (Ether Drive, First-Aid Nanomachines and Omni-Counter) are all very useful and a fantastic bang for your buck, though they don't really have as big an effect as some of the others.
An Invisibility Device is much more efficient than the Phantasm Miracle at adopting Plan B, though it is more limited in use. A Digital Aide is not just useful, it can spice up scenes as a helpful NPC that is always in your pocket. The Masterwork Tool and Personal Facility are both very useful for their cost, though thinking about it, the former should be able to act as a Proxy. That also makes the Resources-based opportunity cost worth it when compared to just grabbing a Skill.
The Energy Shield, Icarus-Class Powered Armor, and Armored Land Vehicle all can spice up ground-level encounters, either in the hands of PCs or NPCs. The Miniature Chemical Weapon is also a good replacement for Extreme Terrain-esque rules for walking into a supervillain's lair full of traps.
Last but not least is
So that's character options. Next time I examine the mechanics in chapters 4 and 5. And after that, the (hopefully) final revision with some extra goodies.
May 11, 2013
Mechanical Make-Up V
Moving over to examining the Pilots themselves, and what better way to bridge them than using the rules bridge between Pilots and their Mecha? Today is about Genre Powers. So how are they faring on a general sense? Pretty good I'd say.
While having a varied suite of Powers with multiple costs of which only one could be used per Round made things more strategic, it wasn't as fun as the current version is. The standardization of Powers limits what can be done with them somewhat, with the grand majority of Powers being straight offensive or defensive. There's less room for utility or off-the-wall Powers around. Having all of them cost 1 also really hurts most defensive buffs, which have slightly weaker effects and last one Round. Specially since you can always change your strategy slightly to ignore the guy with super defenses for another Round.
Characters start with 3 Powers, plus the Default six, and can have up to 8 -or beyond if the game goes for a really long time and the power scale is entirely off the hook. Most will take 2-3 Powers necessary to their build and team role (such as Believe in Myself, Take one for the Team, Strength in Union and Exhaustion) plus 1-2 offensive ones (of which there's so much variety just in the Common pool alone that you're bound to find some you really want to have) then pick the more conditional Powers that support their 'core' ones (Examples include Keeping Up, Impetuous Style, Gotta go Fast and Retroactively Prepared)
This means that nearly every character will have enough Powers to pull an alpha strike when pressed against the ropes, more so taking into account the extra three Genre granted from taking Damage. And since there's so many offensive options, strategies tend to revolve around managing how often and when to do your special moves. This would get repetitive fast if there wasn't so much variety in the power and weapon selection, also if it wasn't badass as heck.
On to the Powers themselves!
Default Powers
These six are pretty self explanatory, they work well and aren't in much need of an evaluation since everyone gets them for free anyway. The only ones that sometimes irk me a little are Synchro Attack (though I'm sure I'm done finding ways to break it by now) and Data Scanner which could stand to be shorter but simply spending a Genre to learn everything about one or more Enemies is such a gimme there's no reason not to do it, and that just takes out the fun of discovering stuff for yourself.
Common Powers
Of the ten Common Powers, a whooping seven are purely offensive, with Counterattack being an arguable number eight. This really cements the idea that everyone wants to have a couple of genre-based ways to put some oomph into their moves. Ready for Another Go and Counter Intelligence are the most universally useful of the Common pool otherwise, and if they weren't so good at what they do, they'd be Default Powers. Keeping them as Powers that everyone can grab (but don't automatically get) helps keep things like Energy abuse in check and stops Bosses from having their abilities shut down constantly.
Champion Powers
Really good for a Shield type Chassis. They're actually pretty useful in general, but Shield Mecha just make them amazing to the point it feels like a waste to use them without being a Shield yourself. Perhaps ironically, Get a Hold of Yourself is kind of unsustainable if your build is a regenerative, long term type and not a damage prevention one.
Trickster Powers
Hidden Power is amazing. Variable Range is useful, and a solid 'tier 2' utility Power to grab once you have all the important stuff. Keeping Up is fantastic if you can actually make use of it, and two characters doing it in concert together with what the other lacks is pretty scary, the Setup speed hurts its defensive uses but it was kind of overpowered when you consider just how huge the swings could be and how few offensive Powers can be used at reaction speed.
Assassin Powers
Three really good powers. Target Lock and Pierce are fantastic, while Impetuous Style ranges from being alright to being very very good depending on the Weapons used. This might be the best Package overall, all things considered, which is frankly kind of understandable in a game about blowing up giant robots.
Scout Powers
Do you have high Evasion? Then odds are your Threshold isn't that good, and you really don't want to be caught in area effects like those of Finger Net or Incinerator. Good thing this package not only makes evading blows easier, it also gets you to move faster! Where'd he Go? makes a pretty amusing combo with Come at Me Bro, if you want to be the group's tank. Overall these lack the direct impact of the top tier Powers, and are suited for specialized characters, but they fit their niche really well.
Supportive Powers
So-so. Got Your Back is a small buff short in duration. Guiding Hand is a bit weak by itself, but the moment more Advantages come into play it can help turn them into additional d10's, which is nothing short of devastating. In that sense, it works as intended since you want to save it for when it will be of decissive help. Retroactively Prepared is the best Power of the three, and that is mostly because you can use it to support yourself through Regenerative... which kind of goes against the point.
Protective Powers
I never noticed before that Come at me Bro is absolutely bananas if there's two users on the team. I'll errata in immediately that a second instance overwrites the first. Take one for the Team is like a weaker Sacrifice on demand, and obviously a fantastic combo with Champion Powers. But the real gamewinner here is Martyr, which if not for the once-per-Enemy limitation would pretty much guarantee victory on targets with lower health totals than yours. Now I could take that limitation away and make it deal, say, half the Damage taken (or a fixed amount like 1d10)... But I think this feels a lot more awesome to use, and at the end of the day the game is about awesome characters in awesome robots doing awesome things.
Director Powers
Strength in Union does exactly what you would expect it to and gives everyone a push to stay in the fight. Or heals 1 Threshold and the character utterly fails at friendship speeches this time. Luck is fickle! With that said, you're looking at a 15 points-ish swing in health for the group on average, and that would be ridiculous if you could repeat it. Last Ditch Effort rewards the group having a plan and sticking to it. On the Double is situational but can prove a life saver when it does become necessary, and since it is the only one that can be used more than once per Operation it will make its presence deeply felt then.
Controller Powers
Confusion in the Ranks is either completely devastating or a worse Not so Fast depending on whether you're facing an army of Grunts or a single Boss. Of course, in practice it only gets used in the former scenario, so the 'once per Operation' limitation is reasonable. It is almost necessary for someone in the group to have Exhaustion, as it can make battling Rivals and Bosses who rely on that resource a lot more manageable. Finally, the Weakest Link also might not seem like it does much, but when everyone is focusing fire on a single enemy, it counts for a lot. Depending on the build, the target will suffer between three and seven more damage per strike. That adds up. Fast. This is another solid Package.
Assassin and Trickster might be the best overall Packages, the latter simply because of Hidden Power's sheer utility. Director, Controller and Protector would be the second most useful, of which it is recommended that every group has one person with that selection of Powers. Champion and Scout are good at the specific, singular role they are dedicated to as party tanks... And then there's Supportive.
All Packages are worth taking as is, except for Supportive. Got Your Back can be bumped to Reaction Speed, making it slightly better than Not so Fast. Retroactively Prepared would make a lot more sense if you could choose the type of Support on the spot, too. I'm not sure I like the idea of a Power that can reliably be used to evade enemy hits, and I am a bit worried about the exponential increase to Retroactively Prepared's utility, but the Package in general could use the push. Arguably it would still be at its best when used to buff yourself (Though there's honestly better Packages for that), but at least it makes supporting your Allies much more useful than the current version.
Next up, Pilot abilities proper.
While having a varied suite of Powers with multiple costs of which only one could be used per Round made things more strategic, it wasn't as fun as the current version is. The standardization of Powers limits what can be done with them somewhat, with the grand majority of Powers being straight offensive or defensive. There's less room for utility or off-the-wall Powers around. Having all of them cost 1 also really hurts most defensive buffs, which have slightly weaker effects and last one Round. Specially since you can always change your strategy slightly to ignore the guy with super defenses for another Round.
Characters start with 3 Powers, plus the Default six, and can have up to 8 -or beyond if the game goes for a really long time and the power scale is entirely off the hook. Most will take 2-3 Powers necessary to their build and team role (such as Believe in Myself, Take one for the Team, Strength in Union and Exhaustion) plus 1-2 offensive ones (of which there's so much variety just in the Common pool alone that you're bound to find some you really want to have) then pick the more conditional Powers that support their 'core' ones (Examples include Keeping Up, Impetuous Style, Gotta go Fast and Retroactively Prepared)
This means that nearly every character will have enough Powers to pull an alpha strike when pressed against the ropes, more so taking into account the extra three Genre granted from taking Damage. And since there's so many offensive options, strategies tend to revolve around managing how often and when to do your special moves. This would get repetitive fast if there wasn't so much variety in the power and weapon selection, also if it wasn't badass as heck.
On to the Powers themselves!
Default Powers
These six are pretty self explanatory, they work well and aren't in much need of an evaluation since everyone gets them for free anyway. The only ones that sometimes irk me a little are Synchro Attack (though I'm sure I'm done finding ways to break it by now) and Data Scanner which could stand to be shorter but simply spending a Genre to learn everything about one or more Enemies is such a gimme there's no reason not to do it, and that just takes out the fun of discovering stuff for yourself.
Common Powers
Of the ten Common Powers, a whooping seven are purely offensive, with Counterattack being an arguable number eight. This really cements the idea that everyone wants to have a couple of genre-based ways to put some oomph into their moves. Ready for Another Go and Counter Intelligence are the most universally useful of the Common pool otherwise, and if they weren't so good at what they do, they'd be Default Powers. Keeping them as Powers that everyone can grab (but don't automatically get) helps keep things like Energy abuse in check and stops Bosses from having their abilities shut down constantly.
Champion Powers
Really good for a Shield type Chassis. They're actually pretty useful in general, but Shield Mecha just make them amazing to the point it feels like a waste to use them without being a Shield yourself. Perhaps ironically, Get a Hold of Yourself is kind of unsustainable if your build is a regenerative, long term type and not a damage prevention one.
Trickster Powers
Hidden Power is amazing. Variable Range is useful, and a solid 'tier 2' utility Power to grab once you have all the important stuff. Keeping Up is fantastic if you can actually make use of it, and two characters doing it in concert together with what the other lacks is pretty scary, the Setup speed hurts its defensive uses but it was kind of overpowered when you consider just how huge the swings could be and how few offensive Powers can be used at reaction speed.
Assassin Powers
Three really good powers. Target Lock and Pierce are fantastic, while Impetuous Style ranges from being alright to being very very good depending on the Weapons used. This might be the best Package overall, all things considered, which is frankly kind of understandable in a game about blowing up giant robots.
Scout Powers
Do you have high Evasion? Then odds are your Threshold isn't that good, and you really don't want to be caught in area effects like those of Finger Net or Incinerator. Good thing this package not only makes evading blows easier, it also gets you to move faster! Where'd he Go? makes a pretty amusing combo with Come at Me Bro, if you want to be the group's tank. Overall these lack the direct impact of the top tier Powers, and are suited for specialized characters, but they fit their niche really well.
Supportive Powers
So-so. Got Your Back is a small buff short in duration. Guiding Hand is a bit weak by itself, but the moment more Advantages come into play it can help turn them into additional d10's, which is nothing short of devastating. In that sense, it works as intended since you want to save it for when it will be of decissive help. Retroactively Prepared is the best Power of the three, and that is mostly because you can use it to support yourself through Regenerative... which kind of goes against the point.
Protective Powers
I never noticed before that Come at me Bro is absolutely bananas if there's two users on the team. I'll errata in immediately that a second instance overwrites the first. Take one for the Team is like a weaker Sacrifice on demand, and obviously a fantastic combo with Champion Powers. But the real gamewinner here is Martyr, which if not for the once-per-Enemy limitation would pretty much guarantee victory on targets with lower health totals than yours. Now I could take that limitation away and make it deal, say, half the Damage taken (or a fixed amount like 1d10)... But I think this feels a lot more awesome to use, and at the end of the day the game is about awesome characters in awesome robots doing awesome things.
Director Powers
Strength in Union does exactly what you would expect it to and gives everyone a push to stay in the fight. Or heals 1 Threshold and the character utterly fails at friendship speeches this time. Luck is fickle! With that said, you're looking at a 15 points-ish swing in health for the group on average, and that would be ridiculous if you could repeat it. Last Ditch Effort rewards the group having a plan and sticking to it. On the Double is situational but can prove a life saver when it does become necessary, and since it is the only one that can be used more than once per Operation it will make its presence deeply felt then.
Controller Powers
Confusion in the Ranks is either completely devastating or a worse Not so Fast depending on whether you're facing an army of Grunts or a single Boss. Of course, in practice it only gets used in the former scenario, so the 'once per Operation' limitation is reasonable. It is almost necessary for someone in the group to have Exhaustion, as it can make battling Rivals and Bosses who rely on that resource a lot more manageable. Finally, the Weakest Link also might not seem like it does much, but when everyone is focusing fire on a single enemy, it counts for a lot. Depending on the build, the target will suffer between three and seven more damage per strike. That adds up. Fast. This is another solid Package.
Assassin and Trickster might be the best overall Packages, the latter simply because of Hidden Power's sheer utility. Director, Controller and Protector would be the second most useful, of which it is recommended that every group has one person with that selection of Powers. Champion and Scout are good at the specific, singular role they are dedicated to as party tanks... And then there's Supportive.
All Packages are worth taking as is, except for Supportive. Got Your Back can be bumped to Reaction Speed, making it slightly better than Not so Fast. Retroactively Prepared would make a lot more sense if you could choose the type of Support on the spot, too. I'm not sure I like the idea of a Power that can reliably be used to evade enemy hits, and I am a bit worried about the exponential increase to Retroactively Prepared's utility, but the Package in general could use the push. Arguably it would still be at its best when used to buff yourself (Though there's honestly better Packages for that), but at least it makes supporting your Allies much more useful than the current version.
Next up, Pilot abilities proper.
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