I thought I would occasionally post my ideas and updates regarding the card game I've just started creating.
For this first update, I'll very simply give the rundown of how the game would theoretically go.
This is a two-player card game with simple dice combat. Both players will create a fleet of Vehicles, and equip those vehicles with various crew and technology. The goal of the game is to either destroy the opponents entire fleet, or destroy their base.
Combat would involve the attacker rolling dice to determine if they lock on to the target, and the defending player rolling dice to determine if they evade the attack. If an attack is successful, a determined amount of damage is dealt to the vehicle's shielding. Once fully depleted, the vehicle is destroyed.
I fear that in its current form it may be too simplistic, but I have not playtested it all. I also need to work out the specifics of how combat would work, but I do like the targeting/evading roll mechanic.
Are there any games that feel similar to this that I should check out?
Any thoughts, questions, or criticisms? Any and all are welcome!
Cheers,
Craig
Comments
What do the cards do?
What do the cards do?
I think the simpler the
I think the simpler the better for core systems. Combat that can be explained in one sentence is good combat.
You can add complexity with the vehicles / tech.
Essentially, each vehicle
Essentially, each vehicle card will have four stats: shields, targeting, evasion, and damage.
Shields - determines how many points of damage a vehicle can take before it's destroyed.
Targeting - the bonus added to a targeting roll. (This determines if an attack is successful).
Evasion - the bonus added to the defending player's evasion roll. (A successful evasion means the attack does no damage).
Damage - In the result of a successful attack, this is how much damage the vehicle does to the defending vehicle.
Crew and tech cards would grant bonuses to the various stats or other special abilities (rerolling a missed attack, etc).
Didn't have too much time this weekend to work on it, but hopefully I'll get an update going in a couple days.
I agree that the core
I agree that the core mechanics should be very simple, and I want to keep it that way. I just worry the gameplay would end up being too redundant without some other aspect to add depth to the game.
Simple but not simplistic. As
Simple but not simplistic.
As a general piece of advice, make sure that players can make interesting choices, both in creating the vehicles and in using them. Simple rules often make that easier to spot. If you had 10 different stats, it would be a lot harder for players to think about what a good choice is.
In my opinion, it's better to
In my opinion, it's better to have things be weighted a bit in favor of offense over defense. The reason is simple - in essence, offense is dynamic and defense is stagnant. That's not to say that there shouldn't be effective defensive measures players can take, or strategies centered on it. Just that balance should give the base mechanical edge to offense.
In relation to your game, at least from how it reads initially I see a potential problem in that you basically have 2 failure points per attack, which are both independent of real influence on each other. So unless Targeting is REALLY easy and/or Evading is REALLY hard, it would seem likely that there's going to be a whole lot of whiffs in combat. This typically becomes...well, boring.
That said, as a basic idea you have a good start.
Thank you for your comment. I
Thank you for your comment. I was excited about the mechanics of targeting vs evasion, but I agree that making the two more or less equal would result in boring gameplay. How the two interact is actually one of the bigger problems I'm looking to solve as I move forward.
Heroclix has an evasion ability, but only certain characters can use it, and it is difficult to succeed with. Perhaps that could be my launching point for this mechanic. Thanks again, all.