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New Characters Playtest #3 (Brace3K)

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:08 pm
by somnos
Hi all - This is playtest #3 for the New Character set

Below is a detailed description of the new characters. For those who have played before here is a very brief description of the changes. You will notice that the standard characters have had their scoring adjusted to make them more competitive.

Old Characters
Emperor - No change but HWs have more industry to score with
Raider - more plunder points 100/80/60/40/20 and 5 points/fleet owned
Trader - only 6 points/metal dropped
Positronix - only 100 points per PBB dropped (plus kill points)
Missionary - 4 points/targets killed, 2 for martyrs (1 if a target declared) and 1 pt/5 converts
Art Collector - no changes

New Characters
Scavenger - no changes from Playtest 2
Skip Tracer - no major changes from Playtest 2 but can now survive a black hole encounter
Arms Dealer - boosts to 18 points/ship built
Warlord - scoring lessened - ships killed 10/20, fleets captured 20/40, worlds captured 100/200 for nontarget/target
Architect - no changes.

Premise of the Characters
I've been working with RSW to develop new characters that would work well within the RSW universe. At present 5
exciting new characters have been developed. Each has special powers, strengths and weaknesses and often unique
ways of scoring.

Obviously we wish to play test them to make sure they are fun and exciting and not too weak, too strong or have
unfair scoring abilities in relationship to other character types.

Below is a brief description of the new characters. Already the Game Setup allows for the use of these new
abilities in the game. Once we have tried the characters we may have to tweak their abilities and points awarded
to balance them out before we allow them to become standard characters that can be put into any game.
If you are interested you will see the third playtest offered (Brace3K) as a new game. We are looking for a game with
11-22 players - up to two of each character type.

The new charactes are:
Architect
Arms Dealer
Skip Tracer
Scavenger
Warlord

ARCHITECT
-------------
The race that created the Stargates that connect worlds are not extinct as was previously thought. Although the
era of their total domination of the web is over they still exist in parts of the universe and ply their special
power of building, moving or destroying Starbridges (connections) between worlds to allow them to find and
capture more worlds and art.

The Architects create, move or destroy Starbridges (connections) at worlds by cannabilizing the stardrives and
engines of ships in their fleets.

For the Architect to build/destroy a bridge he requires two fleets. A fleet will be at required at each end
where a connection will be made or destroyed. In the case of moving a connection 3 fleets will be required.
All Fleets forming, destroying or moving starbridges cannot fire or move that turn. Starbridges are created
after combat - so all the Architect fleets involved must survive combat. Any fleet involved in the Gate
remodelling process that is neutralized will cause the Starbridge to fail to form. The first fleet named in the
order involving the starbridge will be the Executor Fleet.The fleet at the other end of the created/destroyed
connection is called the Receiver Fleet. The Executor fleet is the one that supplies the required ships for the
Gate remodelling. If this fleet has an inadequate number of ships for the type of gate being worked on then the
starbridge will fail to form. This can happen due to combat or if the Architect didn't put enough ships aboard.
Once the Starbridge forms, seen on the next turn, it can be used but the wormhole connection is very unstable.
The Receiving fleet must fly down any newly made connection to the original location of the Executor fleet to
stabilize the starbridge and make it permanent. If this is not done (purposefully, accidently or by destruction
of the Receiving fleet) then the starbridge will collapse: this connection will not exist the following turn.
Architects are proud creatures and want their works to last forever. Any starbridge that fails to form will not
score points. Any Starbridge that collapses the turn following it's creation will create a penalty of points
equal to half of those awarded for the creation of the starbridge.

After any formation or destruction of a Starbridge a message will follow the fleets involved stating:
'Starbridge Formed'
'Starbridge destroyed'
'Starbridge Aborted' (if it fails to form)
'Starbridge moved'

The cost of creating, destroying or moving a starbridge will depend on the distance (hops) the worlds are apart
- before creation
- after destruction
- after the connection moves

COSTS Points awarded
two hops apart: 10 ships 100 pts
three hops apart: 20 ships 200 pts
four hops apart: 30 ships 300 pts
five hops apart: 50 ships 500 pts
six hops apart: 80 ships 800 pts
seven hops apart: 130 ships 1300 pts
> 8 hops apart: 210 ships 2100 pts

Obviously you will never be able to desrtoy a world's last connection to the web since the world would therefore
be an infinite number of hops away and require an infinite number of ships to destroy this connection.

Orders
FxxxCyyy - Creates a starbridge between worlds where Fxxx (Executor fleet) and Fyyy (Receiver fleet) reside.
FxxxDyyy - Destroys a starbridge between worlds where Fxxx (Executor fleet) and Fyyy (Receiver fleet) reside.
FxxxDzzzCyyy - Moves a connection. The Starbridge between the worlds where Fxxx(Executor fleet) and Fzzz resides
is destroyed while a new connection between worlds where Fxxx and Fyyy (Receiver fleet) resides is created. All
three fleets must survive the process and Fyyy still has to fly thru the new connection to stabilize this type
of new connection.

Defense against starbridge formation, destruction or movement.
Any of the fleets Fxxx, Fzzz or Fyyy can be destroyed on the turn they attempt to create the gate and the
Starbridge will not form, be destroyed or be moved. Those resisting the formation of the Stargate have one more
turn to get their fleets to wherever Fyyy resides and destroy it before it can fly down the new connection to
stabilize it.

The whole purpose of Starbridge technology is to find more worlds and art for the Architect empire.

Thus the Architect receives:
5 points per world owned
5 points per artifact owned

Example

W1
F100(Architect)=40
F2(enemy)=10

W199
F190(Architect)=20
F33(enemy)=20

W55
F88(Architect)=6

#1 Create Starbridge from W1 to W199. Worlds originally 2 hops apart. Enemy shoots.
F100C190
F100 is Executor. F190 is Receiver.

Next turn F100 loses 10 ships in cost and 5 to battle but survives. F190 also survives. Gate forms
W100(W199)
F100(Architect)=25 'Starbridge Formed'
F2(Enemy)=10

W199(W100)
F190(Architect)=10 'Starbridge Formed'
F33(Enemy)=10

F190 the Receiver Fleet must fly to W100 to stabilize the starbridge. In this Example it looks successful and
the Architect receives 150 points. If he fails to fly down the new connection the following turn he will then
lose the connection and 75 points.

Example #2 - Same as #1 but we try to create the gate from W199 using F190 as the Executor fleet

F190CF100

The cost of this gate was 10 ships for a two hop connection. The enemy destroys 10 ships and F190 is
neutralized. The Starbridge is neutralized.
W100
F100(Architect)=35 'Starbridge Aborted'
F2(Enemy)=10

W199
F190()=0 'Starbridge Aborted'
F33(Enemy)=10

The process is similar for Starbridge destruction and movement.

ARMS DEALER (AD)
------------------------
This race's sole interest is the selling of arms. To be specific - ships. Their special ability is to convert
metal stores into ships aboard their fleets which act as orbital industrial complexes. The ships are delivered
to the homefleets of their happy customers. The turn that the AD is building the ships they are unavailable for
ambush or firing but they can prevent capture of the world they are deposited on . In addition the AD fleet is
unable to fire their weapons while creating ships or move..The metal being converted must be on the fleet on the
turn it is being ordered processed into ships. The AD have the increased ability to deliver their product by
flying up to 4 worlds/turn. In cases where the AD is loading metal at a client world preference for loading is
given to the owner of the world then at random to any other Loaders present and ordering a load up.
While the AD enjoy commerce and building ships of destructions they are not very good warriors and so they have
a much reduced firepower on ships they own and they are very susceptible to damage in combat with an increased

Victim multiplier.
The best defenses against an AD could involve firing at homefleet to destroy the created ships before they can
be fired and/or firing on the AD fleet which cannot fire if it is creating ships.

Initial Parameters
Every ship created requires that the AD fleet contains 1 ship and 4 metal at the beginning of the turn.
Firepower - fleets fire 1/4 shot per ship
Victim Multiplier - Fleets take twice the damage when shot i.e 1 shot destroys 1 ship (or 2 loaded with metal).

Ambush is twice as large so that 1 Pshp can destroy 2 in ambush.
Scoring - The AD receives 18 points/ship created.

Orders for the AD
FxxxB#I or FxxxB#P
FxxxWnnnWmmmWoooWppp

Example
F123B10I --> F123 must have a minimum of 10 ships aboard and 40 metal and it will create 10 Ishps on the ground
that are available next turn for use. F123 cannot fire or move. 80 points are awarded for this transaction.

SKIP TRACER
-----------------
These creatures are master trackers and mappers in the universe. They
are powerful spies but not very strong militarily.

Special Power
The Skip Tracer gets a probe of every world connected to a world that
they own. Their fleets can fly up to 4 worlds per turn and are adept at
evading ambushes while mapping unallied territories. Unfortunately their
fleets pay for their increased maneuverability and only carry light
arms. Points are awarded for discovering new worlds and traveling to
all worlds. And Skip Tracers can survive the ravages of flying through
a Black Hole.

Parameters
Fleets only fire 1/2 shot per ship
Fleets only take 1/2 ambush from homefleet or fleets in the air E.g. a
10 ship ambush would only kill 5 Skip ships (or 10 loaded).

Scoring - each time he sees a world the first time, whether it is by probe, visit, or fly-through = 25 points.
Any world seen by fly thru, probe, landing second or subsequent time = 5pts


SCAVENGER
--------------
This race is quite adept at scrounging, salvaging and repairing damaged ships. They are not above outright theft
of neutral keys as well.

In combat their fleets can salvage 25% of the destroyed enemy ships whether during regular combat or by ambush.
In addition they quite enjoy taking neutral keys as their own despite the presence of other players with fleets
not at peace.

If the scavenging fleet is rendered neutral no ships will be salvaged (since the crews onboard are all dead).
Only surviving fleets can salvage and only for the damage they caused (not additional damage caused by allied
fleets).

Example
F101(Scavenger)=24 versus F50(Enemy)=24
Each ship fires and destoys 12 ships. But 25% of the 12 enemy ships are salvaged = 3 so next turn it looks like
this:
F101(Scavenger)=15 versus F50(Enemy)=12

In situations where there are neutral keys present, even those with ships aboard them, if the Scavenger's ships
outnumbers non-allies by more than 2:1 he automatically captures all of the neutral keys.

Scoring.
Every ship captured = 20 points
Every key owned = 15 points.

WARLORD
------------
This race thrills to the call to battle. Their special power is increased firepower. They have a 50% increase
(1.5) in shots fired in combat or by ambush.

In addition they are a race with a long memory and if slighted can and will selectively target another race.They
score primarily by destroying enemy ships, capturing fleets and worlds. They receive twice the tribute (points)
versus any race they have targeted.

In addition, in their quest to capture enemy worlds they have become quite adept at taking fully converted or
robotic worlds

Points Per Ship Destroyed = 10
Points Per Target Ship Destroyed = 20
Points Per Fleet Captured = 20
Points Per Target Fleet Captured = 40
Points Per World Captured = 100
Points Per Target World Captured = 200

I hope you enjoy this game!

Elliot
Somnos