Unclear on groups

[Robotech_Master]

I'm having a little trouble understanding the groups trait.

On page 33, in the mini-scene example, it mentions the creation of a "team of Slytheran" and that it's "1 Coin for creating the team of Slytheran as a component, plus two more to represent their numbers as a Group Trait." How does that cost 2 coins?

In the example on page 64, a Lance is defined as "more than one Doom Cannon" and "x3" represents that it consists of several members, and costs 3 coins.  Why x3? Is it because this is one of those "important" components where the multiplier can represent the number of units in it? Does the "Lance" cost a coin too, or is that considered part of the three coins paid for x3?

[Valamir]

A Group Trait is any word or phrase that denotes there is more than one individual represented by the Component.  So "Team", "Lance", "Company", "Horde", "Squad", "A whole dang bunch"...whatever.  How many additional individuals is represented by that Trait is entirely undefined by the rules of the game, but may absolutely be defined by the play group.  The Trait can then be Drawn on any time that having additional numbers would be an advantage.  It could also be Drawn on by an opponent any time having additional numbers would be a disadvantage.

There is then an entirely seperate rule about buying the same Trait multiple times.  Pretty much any Trait could be bought multiple times if it makes sense to the group and doesn't get challenged.  For instance if it were important to your game to have Hercules great strength be mechanically enforced "Great Strength x3" could be purchased allowing players to Draw on 3 dice when they call that Trait in a Complication.  A sports car might have the Trait "Fast", A super tricked up ballzed out Street Racer might have the Trait "Fast x3". 

Combining those two rules then, one can see that you can buy the Group Trait multiple times just as you can any other.  However, just as "Great Strength x3" doesn't translate into the exact amount of weight Hercules can lift, "Squad x3" doesn't translate into the exact number of individuals in the squad either.  Thus, "Lance x3" is simply "Lance" bought 3 times for 1 Coin each...(i.e. ALL Traits without a multiplier are simply x1).

How many individuals are represented is entirely up to the group in question.  It could be literal:  5 team mates = 5 Coins; it could be abstracted: "that other group we gave a x3 to and this group is way bigger that that one, so I'll make it x5"; it could be locked down with a Gimmick: "from now on Fire Teams of up to 3 soldiers will be x1, Squads of up to 8 will be x2, Platoons of up to 30 will be x3, and Companies of up to 100 will be x4".  In the case of the Doom Cannon example, I think I went with a literal 1:1 group Trait largely because each Doom Cannon is proportionally the size of an armored Triceretops and therefor each individual one is a big deal.  A bunch of marauding ants with the "Swarm x3" Trait by comparison would have probably represented dozens.

[Mike Holmes]

The important thing is that, due to having numbers, you're saying that you can activate the component for dice in a complication multiple times based on it's size. How important size is in this regard is up to you.

Note importantly, to be clear, size doesn't create additional components. It's just adding a trait to a single group component. Very different thing than, say, buying an instance of a Master Component.

Mike

[Robotech_Master]

So the team of Slytheran cost two coins for the group trait because it was actually a "Team x2"?

[Mike Holmes]

More or less, yes. Use whatever terms make sense to you. I often put something like "Dozens x3" or "Platoon x2" or whatever seems descriptive.

The point is that it's not at all an attempt to define some actual in-game number of individuals that are involved. Simply that the Component in question has a trait like any other which can be used like any other.

Mike