Hi, Cameron Harsh Here This thread is to discuss the March 5th website update of Union Tides of Steel. If you don't know about our game check out our other thread before looking at the website.

The website is at www.uniontos.cjb.net

This weeks topic the main story and Close Combat.

Sorry for any grammatical errors from cut down the original texts.

Enjoy,
CYA

Well, having a weakness for "crunchy bits" that have a well-entrenched reason to be there, I like the background story. Psionics are cool!

I'm not sure that, on an individual-to-individual level, the mistake with the machines would sour relationships between the races, considering what each learned fro the other, but perhaps I'm naive in that regard.

OK, I've got several questions regarding the section on combat.

What happens if two or more players tie for initiative? Is there a reroll? Everyone, or just the people who tied? Which relates to the question of direction of rotation, what if the player to the right and left of the player winning initiative tie? Is there some general rule in the text we've not seen that covers ties? Why isn't initiative linked to character skill at all?

Then again if the defender’s die score beats the attacker’s die score the attack is blocked/dodged. When the dice tie the attack is considered blocked.

If one combatant has more die from their combo die than another player those die need only to beat the defender’s initiative rating.

SPOOKY:

Well, the species-tension isn't like blacks and whites in the sixties. It's more like today's racial waters(for most people it's real subtle but there). Here's why; during the Golden days of the UNION, humans and sprites regarded eachother as gods, we had utter reverence for eachother, the universe was our oyster. Afterwards however, the reverence was gone, this is an age of tolerance, but not one of respect.

The real reason we chose this social climate is because it's easier to have a fantasy setting with elements that mirror our own lives. Since most people have encountered racism, or at least racial tension in the world around them, the species-tolerance is much like today's racial-tolerance.

MIKE:

1. there's a reroll for ties between the ones that tied only.

2. initiative is calculated by Wits - 10
(By the way we have six attributes, Dexterity, Wits, Strength, Intellegence, Perception, Social, Appearance. Average human level for an attribute is 10, max is 20. if you a 5 or below, you're handicapped)

3. No, there's no difference between a block when the defender wins or ties. However, if the defender crits, he gets a counter attack and the attacker takes damage. *Sorry cam edited this at like 2:00 am, and he wrote some unnecessary things*

4. Weird "dice" wording... ok, if your combo roll is higher than your opponents' total combo die maximum. THe exess dice beyond that are scored against your opponents initiative rating(wits-10).

5. truthfully, we've never actually used the color-coding in our test-plays... what we've done is just line them up blindly and trust people not to cheat by putting their best against their opponents worst(you could do it if you lagged behind a little). But some instinct within us says you can't "Just trust people" and make it as flimsy as "Line up your dice blindly" in the book. if you've got an alternate idea, send it to us, cause we're open. BUT we will be hopefully selling color coded dice sets for use with the game. Both methods are just as fast(line em' up color to color, or just push em into a line) but the colors one makes sure you can't try and cheat the system.

6. Multiple opponents... hmm, heh actually... we really haven't play-tested that... so the topic never came up. Most of our combat thus far has been in a round, but it's an awesome point. Multiple target fighting is real important cause it adds alot to the feel of the fight... OH, we do have one for ranged quarters. You just split up your sots between your opponents.
we'll get into ranged quarters later.

7. Memory is not based on intellegence, it's technically an attribute unto itself. This is because if your a dumbass, you may still be able to remember how to do lots of stuff. You can have a dumb football player who knows all his plays on the field by heart. You can have brainy types who forget stuff all the time(absent minded professor).

8. Mecha! Mecha started during the gene war as tanks with legs(ala mech-warrior). However people do like aesthetics for intimidation and style and so some of these walking tanks look a little more humanoid(atlas). Toward the end of the war, they had planes with legs, these had uber mobility. After the war was over, but before the sprites came, mechs were dumbed down in size and arsenal for peace-keeping reasons(stuff sorta like patlabor) The aesthetics in these new mechs made them look more suit-like, and therefore more traditional mech-like. Even more dumbed down were almost literal mechanized armors, barely bigger than the user. These aren't really mechs but people call them that. In space aerodynamic designs, and non-clumbsy designs are worthless cause your in space. This resulted in even more flamboyant looking mechs in space. and bigger ones too(gundam scale). After the sprites came... well they got weirder, cause the sprites broght their own brand of technology. Sprite mechs run off of ethereal energies. They're powered by funky glowing oozy, touchy-feely stuff. You feel your mecha to do what you want it to(mechanics is a weird concept to sprites). Think escaflowne or evangaleon if they glowed at the seams. Fusion technology made uper powerful mechs, prettier mechs, bigger mechs, more multipurpose mechs, stranger mechs, and eventually smart mechs.
The original smart mechs look like mechs. they have cockpits, or at least places where cockpits should be, they are humanoid shaped. However machines built by machines slowly got more alien looking. By this point the newest ones look completely practical(non-humanoid, many appendages, or no appendages, streamlined design, etc.) That should whet the appitite for more mech stuff in the future.

9. ahh, the tragedy that is man kind. During the gene war, we hade Contained Area Nuclear Explosives(CANES) small coffin sized bombs that were the ultimate tactical weapon of minimal mass destruction(heh). Nobody used the big mothers. And most of those materials were used in the small stuff. so by the end of the war, we really had no big nukes left. and we outlawed the CANES. Not to mention at the end of the gene war a peace movement went into destroying the remaining materials, either by burying them, or throwing them at the sun. Radioactive and nuclear materials were bought like crazy by the black market for power sources and illeagal weaponry. During the machine war CANES were remanufactured for shooting at large groups of mechs. We didn't use the big ones cause, well, they don't work for anything; and in todays world they only exist for political reasons. So public oppinion was against using the big mothers due to collateral damage. CANES only blow up like 300 to 500 cubic yards. When the machines got to our factories around jupiter and took them over, we didn't want to use the big mothers then either. Cause if we blew up a moon of jupiter, it might fragment and crash into the surface of jupiter, and that could have very undesirable effects... Our CANES were useless too, cause we couldn't launch them that far. We were limited to the confines of the asteroid belt and no further. If we launched anything, they'd shoot it down before it ever got anywhere near them. SOOOO, all our defense force is positioned on the asteroid belt, always watching the enemies, and when the machines get too close, they are sure to combat the enemy. These are the tales of the Frontline Security Force(FSF) but we'll talk about that later.

Harsh Attack wrote: Since most people have encountered racism, or at least racial tension in the world around them, the species-tolerance is much like today's racial-tolerance.

1. there's a reroll for ties between the ones that tied only.

2. initiative is calculated by Wits - 10

(By the way we have six attributes, Dexterity, Wits, Strength, Intellegence, Perception, Social, Appearance. Average human level for an attribute is 10, max is 20. if you a 5 or below, you're handicapped)

3. No, there's no difference between a block when the defender wins or ties. However, if the defender crits, he gets a counter attack and the attacker takes damage.

4. Weird "dice" wording... ok, if your combo roll is higher than your opponents' total combo die maximum. THe exess dice beyond that are scored against your opponents initiative rating(wits-10).

5. truthfully, we've never actually used the color-coding in our test-plays... what we've done is just line them up blindly and trust people not to cheat by putting their best against their opponents worst(you could do it if you lagged behind a little). But some instinct within us says you can't "Just trust people" and make it as flimsy as "Line up your dice blindly" in the book.

BUT we will be hopefully selling color coded dice sets for use with the game. Both methods are just as fast(line em' up color to color, or just push em into a line) but the colors one makes sure you can't try and cheat the system.

6. Multiple opponents... hmm, heh actually... we really haven't play-tested that... so the topic never came up. Most of our combat thus far has been in a round, but it's an awesome point. Multiple target fighting is real important cause it adds alot to the feel of the fight... OH, we do have one for ranged quarters. You just split up your sots between your opponents.

7. Memory is not based on intellegence, it's technically an attribute unto itself.

8. Mecha!

9. ahh, the tragedy that is man kind. During the gene war, we hade Contained Area Nuclear Explosives(CANES) small coffin sized bombs that were the ultimate tactical weapon of minimal mass destruction(heh).

Nobody used the big mothers. And most of those materials were used in the small stuff. so by the end of the war, we really had no big nukes left.

we outlawed the CANES. Not to mention at the end of the gene war a peace movement went into destroying the remaining materials, either by burying them, or throwing them at the sun. Radioactive and nuclear materials were bought like crazy by the black market for power sources and illeagal weaponry. During the machine war CANES were remanufactured for shooting at large groups of mechs. We didn't use the big ones cause, well, they don't work for anything; and in todays world they only exist for political reasons.

So public oppinion was against using the big mothers due to collateral damage. CANES only blow up like 300 to 500 cubic yards.

the machines got to our factories around jupiter and took them over, we didn't want to use the big mothers then either. Cause if we blew up a moon of jupiter, it might fragment and crash into the surface of jupiter, and that could have very undesirable effects...

Our CANES were useless too, cause we couldn't launch them that far. We were limited to the confines of the asteroid belt and no further. If we launched anything, they'd shoot it down before it ever got anywhere near them.

SOOOO, all our defense force is positioned on the asteroid belt, always watching the enemies, and when the machines get too close, they are sure to combat the enemy. These are the tales of the Frontline Security Force(FSF) but we'll talk about that later.

Mike Holmes wrote:

Harsh Attack wrote: So public oppinion was against using the big mothers due to collateral damage. CANES only blow up like 300 to 500 cubic yards.

Um, if you want a blast only that big, why use nukes? Check this weapon system out (pay special attention to the ATACMS which can take out a cubic Kilometer)? Or, a current fave for taking out terrorists in caves, the "Daisycutter" (these are admittedly large, but then, they take out more area than you describe; at least 600 Yards).
You just don't need nukes with the dirty problems they cause even at today's tech level. Much less a future tech level.

Hey, I don't mind the use of TacNukes. :-)

I'm just saying that with current technology these already exist (and have since the seventies or so, I think) and are much more destructive than they describe in their text. If you want less destruction than a Nuke, we already have those weapons as well without using nukes, and one would ask, why add radiation to a blast if one didn't need to? Scorched Earth? More like nuclear winter guys. At some point the radiation will come home to roost whether it be via the enemy or via the atmosphere.

Now, if it were Earth vs. Mars. But then the first striker wins, and wins decisively. If MAD is possible then nobody uses nukes.

Nukes are a technology that sci-fi designers don't always consider well. We already have horrifically powerful weapons. We won't even need anything more powerful unless defenses become available. And that's hardd to imagine. Yes, you can stop delivery systems. But once a nuke goes off, it's hard to imagine a system that allows you to survive at point blank.

So, in Traveller, you have the "nuclear damper" which makes nukes inert, or greatly reduces the blast. In StarFire, you have drive fields which make nukes detonate so far from the actual ship that it takes a tiny fraction of the blast. Etc.

But point defense is all or nothing. You either stop the delivery, or poof.

These BS explanations work for me. Gotta have your BS in line.

Mike

"Captain, we're running low on Bullshittium Crystals, we can't keep the Ludicous Engine running without more Doesntmatter!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.