Mechanikal Updates

Supplement ideas, house rules, homemade stat cards, homebrew weapon types, and other cool variations

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Rayhawk
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Mechanikal Updates

Post by Rayhawk » Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:54 pm

So as I was traveling from town to town this weekend, I had a new idea about Mechanix, based on a kind of extension of the ideas we were discussing over on Frappr (which, as always, I can't track down so I'll cross my fingers and hope that Almighty Benny, BrikWars Genius can figure out where they were).

To recap from memory, the new idea for the Mechanix is that they give you something to do on your opponents' turns (other than upload live photos to the forums, if you aren't Honorary THE MAN Olothontor).

When the Mechanik wants to start work, he declares during his turn that he's using his Action for Construction, and rolls 1d6 for range. Everything within that many inches of himself will be spare parts (unless it's an opponent's functional vehicle or something), but he has to wait until the turn is over. From that point forward, any time it's one of the opponent player's turns, the Mechanik can build with those parts however he wants, constructing new Creations or repairind or modifying existing ones, limited only by the usual Creation rules. He must stop whenever it's not an opponent's turn, and his new creations and modifications activate when it's his own turn again.

The old card in progress can be found here, still waiting for Evil Wayne's artwork:

http://www.brikwars.com/downloads/cards/mechanik.jpg

Pretty straightforward, right? It really brings the construction back into BrikWars, which I think is of critical importance. But I was thinking of how to handle his repair abilities specifically, and the 'patching' idea that somebody was talking about a year or two ago, and this is what I came up with last night.

First of all, I'd like to change the Creations rules so that Armor is limited by Size; that is to say, a structure that's 3" long (Size 3) would have a maximum Armor of 3d10 (Structure Level 3). As a bonus side effect, this would mean that large structures would get weaker as you did Size Damage to them - a Size 8" super tank with 3d10 armor would keep the same armor level for the first couple inches of damage, but when it's reduced to 2" its effective armor would become 2d10, at 1" the armor would be 1d10, and when it's destroyed at 0" the burning rubble that remains would have effective Structure Level 0 for armor of 1d6. I like this kind of vicious cycle, and it makes General Damage a little more attractive in comparison with Component Damage.

The reason I want this new wrinkle in the system is so that Mechanix can do Patch Repairs. Rolling a die and saying "this many points of general damage are repaired" has always seemed a little lame to me. So instead, Mechanix making repairs have to build a Patch onto the main body of the object that has a Size at least as large as the object's current Structure Level. The Mechanik can make as many patches during his construction phase as he likes, limited only by time, the spare parts available, and the amount of damage to repair.

So in the case of the super tank above, reduced to effective Size and Structure Level of 1, the Mechanik would have to build a Patch at least 1" long to repair the first point of damage, a separate 2" Patch to repair the second point, and 3" Patches for every point after that, since the tank's Armor doesn't go above 3d10.

I like this because it's building-intensive, which is good, and because you'll be able to see which vehicles have been battle scarred because of the (hopefully) ridiculous patchwork that covers them. I'm not sure yet how to handle pulling parts off of one side of the vehicle to build a patch on the other side, for instance. Also I want to put limits on the armor level of any new creation the mechanik builds from scratch, probably maxing out at 2d10.

So what do you guys think?

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Post by IVhorseman » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:44 pm

SHAZAM! Genius position revoked.

it's interesting. i kindof like it? the only dissapointment is that armor is limited by size: what will i do with my scorpions that have 5d10 armor?

what about this: if a unit has some kind of armor side skirts and whatnot built onto it (before or after play), it can have one extra structure level? going back to this super tank, slapping on rear and side skirt armor would bump up the armor to 4d10. i suppose that the armor has to cover the size of the entire vehicle: as in, laid out end-to-end it'd be 8" long for the example tank (and please, don't make it 1 stud wide. if you do it, you're a dick).

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Post by Olothontor » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:16 am

I'm not sure whether to feel insulted or flattered...

But that's actually an excellent idea. Embellish the rules a bit more, as opposed to making rough estimates. Which is what we do anyway, but at least having the rule available for people to use is always good.
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Post by piltogg » Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:22 am

i mostly like the part about on the other persons turn because half my games are partialy roleplaying I.E. getting the peasents to rebel so turns take a realy long time and people get bored and just quit.

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Post by Rayhawk » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:42 am

Huh, I thought there was a lot more discussion actually in the frappr thread but, now that I think about it, it may have all been in chat (back when frappr chat was still working).

Going through that thread made me realize why I keep thinking Pirys whenever I read one of your posts over here, which is very disorienting! You have almost the same icon now that he was using then.

The armor skirting is a good solution, and there's precedent to build off of since minifigs can buy shields and armor separately. It's easy enough to play balance - that armor only protects what it covers, and if attackers want to shoot an unarmored part of the vehicle they can feel free to (at reduced size bonuses, most likely).

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Post by Almighty Benny » Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:30 pm

IVhorseman wrote: Genius position revoked.
That might be true, but you have only succeeded in reminding everyone that I suggested a Tim "the Toolman" Taylor minifig.
Re-revoked!
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Post by Captainhusky » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:26 pm

What is to keep the mechanic from building a wall infront of himself on the enemys turn and rebuilding it evreytime they destroy it ?.
I say that after each shot that pases with in his build radious he has to make a moral check to see if he huddles in fear .

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Post by Almighty Benny » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:40 pm

Captainhusky wrote:What is to keep the mechanic from building a wall infront of himself on the enemys turn and rebuilding it evreytime they destroy it ?
Absolutely nothing, field more bulldozers!
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Post by IVhorseman » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:07 pm

Rayhawk wrote:Huh, I thought there was a lot more discussion actually in the frappr thread but, now that I think about it, it may have all been in chat (back when frappr chat was still working).
it definitely was. which is why we need some viable chat system going on sometime soon. i'm in favor of just going with like AIM or something, but whatever floats your boat

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Post by Olothontor » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:35 pm

phpBB has a working chat function (I've tested it on my other forums; it works fine, I haven't known it to break). Now all Mike has to do is add the chat via the admin board. Well, Mike? It seems the world calls on you yet again to do some heroic act or another. Go, and face the terror of the admin board, and come back triumphantly with an Ajax chat in hand!
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Post by Muskotti » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:33 am

Mechanix, I've been thinking about something like that with Houndis, but I wanted to give him the name "Sapper" or "Pioneer", because "our" unit would have the ability burry objects (totally destroyed vehicle(s), dead enemies, sleeping enemies, etc..). Like real sappers.

Also, he could build cover for (own) units, but I think that it wouldn't be a very useful skill - Brikwars is about attacking and defending, not about camping.

Building bridges and opening closed blastdoors with a blowtorch could be some useful skills for a pioneer. Pioneer could be a unit of his own or binded with tha Mechanix.
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Post by IVhorseman » Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:04 pm

shameless necro-bump to see this revived.

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Post by Blitzen » Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:17 pm

Eww, necrophiliac. I guess Piltogg wants you to run 5 miles now.
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Post by Tuefish » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:36 am

Never heard that building with the loose bits on other player's turns was legal, and I demand to know why.
Anyway, that's what I Always do when I get bored, then I proclaim the new creation part of my army on my next turn, it's an incentive to keep turns short, the less time you take, the fewer new units I'll have next turn. :wink:
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Post by *CRAZYHORSE* » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:57 am

I really like this rule but Isn't it harder to repare a vehicle if it has more damage? In your rules right now it's the other way around: The more damaged the vehicle is the less you need to repare, and that doesn't make sence to me.
( really cool Idea to putt patches on the vehicles, i can imagine a tank partly made out of a bench and tracks partly made out of a fence.)
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