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[WIP] Chaos Stone, the Nexis Ops-Inspired Board Game

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Calixtus
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As has been suggested by certain good fellows at another forum, in which I asked bold questions on the lucrativeness of selling and earning from board games, I have decided to post a large part of what I have conceived and written on the rules for a game that takes its basis and inspiration from an evolution of the hit board game, Nexus Ops.

I can give the proper summary, concise, on the appeal and uniqueness of the game, its core gist and what it offers, a background on the theme or how and what the game achieves, that separates it from others. Or at least I believe people want to know a description of what the game is about, and how it is like. So I will start with this first.

The game is based on the framework of mechanics already established in Nexus Ops, which was a solid foundation that I saw capable of prompting and generating the further expansion of ideas. So, working within the dynamics of that framework, I diverge from the formula of Nexus Ops in the most obvious way, the one real error in the game, from a design perspective at least, in how there is no differentiation between the Factions. And this by itself is a source of inspiration, given then, how the idea of creating four different but balanced Factions, naturally arises. And so, this is the basic progress that entered me, when I saw the strong potential of bringing out the best of the solid system already established in Nexus Ops, and taking that rather simple game to a whole, more advanced level of complexity.

The basics of the game is simple, it is about managing an economy, with the different Factions proceeding in different ways to achieve that, so as to produce units that engage in all-out constant warfare across the larger board of the game, compared to Nexus Ops. And, even though the victory of the game is secured by the earning of 30 Victory Points, which might sound a lot by most standards, I admit (that it might need to be lowered to maybe 20 or 25), but I can't say so with sufficient grounds at this point, the game, something of the nature of a combat-focussed board game on the par of comparison with Nexus Ops and StarCraft, that there are Faction-specific mechanics that provide the function of something like a secondary side-game or mission, of which driving purpose is to improve the combat efficiency of your units, through the accomplishing and use of active goals on the side, almost a game within a game. In a sense, it is so upgraded in feel and level of complexity from the basic framework of Nexus Ops, even as much as it has depended on it for its formula, it is in fact so transformed that it reaches a stage of emulating the experience of an RTS into a board game, better than any others before it. You get to build buildings that increases your tech-tree access to even more powerful abilities to augment the fighting capability of your forces, all of which were worked on in extension to the prime basics of the game established in Nexus Ops.

So, with the addition of attributes to units, instead of the linear one-sided evolution of units increasing in power with their costs, and the differentiation of the four Factions into entirely separate entities, with the inclusion of buildings and terrain type effects...there's a lot going for this game, perhaps even more than I have said or even shown awareness of. I will post what I have conceived so far in the next post after this. For those that are interested, add in what you like to the design process, and I give my due thanks and regards.

Calixtus
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Chaos Stone the Board Game

Chaos Stone the Board Game

Glossary:

Resource: The Resource in this game is called Chaos Stone.

Assault: Assault Range and the term Assault itself refers to the distance of 0 separation of tiles, in effect referring to Attacks made against enemies on the same tile, in what is referred to as close combat.

Initiative Comparison: An Initiative Comparison refers to having both opposing sides roll a D6 and adding the value to their Initiatives, with the result that is greater succeeding in effect for its corresponding side.

Building: You can only have one Building on a tile. One of your units must be present before a Building can be built. Defensive Buildings provide +1 to the Armour Level of units on the same tile, and have an Armour Level of 1 against Attacks made against them.

Figurine: Each Figurine has a dial at the bottom, showing one of three settings: D for Deployed, M for Moved, A for Attacked. Once the Turn is over, all settings are reverted to D. For those Figurines with multiple Defence Levels, they have a second dial that records the number of remaining Defence Levels they have, a numerical value up to the max Defence shown on their statistical reference card.

Attack Damage Levels: The game involves the rolling of D6 and D3 dice. D6 is the standard 6-sided die rolled, while D3 is a D6 die rolled, but taking the result and dividing it by two, and then rounding up. You may never reroll a reroll. Attack rolls can never be modified or improved beyond (2+), but if the Attack roll is subjected to negative modifiers, because of the enemy's Armour Level or Cover Level, modifiers from abilities like the consumption of Chaos Stones to augment the Attack of the Warplasma Fusil can be used to negate this protective effect. A roll of 1 is always a failure.

Turn: A Turn refers to the actions taken by a player, irregardless of who, and so when referred specifically as "in each Turn", the effects occur not just in your player's Turn only, but all other players' Turns as well. The collective Turns of all individual players is referred to as a Game Round, starting from the first player with the initiative.

Victory: The only way to lose in this game is if all your units and Buildings are wiped out from the board, or to win, a player gains 30 Victory Points from controlling the Nexus for 30 Game Rounds. For each Round a Faction holds control of the Nexus, its Icon moves up once on the Victory Point Track.

Components:

Victory Point Track
-1 Victory Point Tracker for each Faction
One-Hex Terrain Tiles
-2 Plains Terrain Tiles
-2 Forest Terrain Tiles
-2 River Terrain Tiles
-1 Nexus
Two-Hex Terrain Tiles
-1 Plains/Forest Terrain Tiles
-1 Plains/River Terrain Tiles
-1 Forest/River Terrain Tiles
-1 Plains Terrain Tiles
-1 Forest Terrain Tiles
-1 River Terrain Tiles
Three-Hex Terrain Tiles
-1 Plains/Forest/River Terrain Tile
-1 Plains/River/Forest Terrain Tile
-1 Forest/Plains/River Terrain Tile
-1 Forest/River/Plains Terrain Tile
-1 River/Plains/Forest Terrain Tile
-1 River/Forest/Plains Terrain Tile
Tokens
-First Player token
-36 Exploration tokens
=3 3-Mine tokens, 6 2-Mine tokens, 9 1-Mine tokens, 3 3-Deposit tokens, 6 2-Deposit tokens, 9 1-Deposit tokens
-100 Red Chaos Stone Resource counters
Dice
-
The Civilisation of Humanity (Blue)
-Faction Sheet
-Reference Cards for the Units
-Headquarters Terrain Tile
Cards
-10 Human Research Technology Cards
-20 Special Operations Mission Cards
Tokens
-30 Rank Promotion tokens
-80 Mission Point tokens
-30 Supply tokens
Figurines
-15 Riflemen
-12 Snipers
-9 Stealthsuits
-9 Combat Walkers
-6 Battle Tanks
Buildings
-1 Headquarters
-18 Refineries
-6 Factories
-6 Research Facilities
-6 Bastions
-6 Outposts
The Animagusi Coven (Red)
-Faction Sheet
-Reference Cards for the Units
The Evolved Bionids (Green)
-Faction Sheet
-Reference Cards for the Units
Cards
Tokens
-100 Genetic Material tokens
The Great Rhuds (Grey)
-Faction Sheet
-Reference Cards for the Units
-3-Hex Warren Terrain Tile
Cards
-10 Chaos Stone Technology Cards
Tokens
-10 Warpwind Cloud tokens
Figurines
-18 Scavengers
-15 Fusiliers
-12 Runners
-12 Tunnellers
-9 Moulders
-6 Plaguestone Throwers
Buildings
-1 Warren
-12 Burrows
-12 Tunnels
-6 Warplightning Towers

Terrain Tiles:

Plains: Units move and behave normally on Plains, but certain units may be able to gain bonus Movement speed when moving through or from or to such a terrain tile.

Forest: Units in a Forest terrain tile gain a +1 to their Armour Level, and reduces the Initiative of enemy units Attacking by 1, in the first round of combat. Shots may not be fired at enemy units where the shots have to pass through a Forest, or a Defensive Building like Bastions or Outposts, for that matter. Once a Building is built on such a tile, the Forest terrain is cleared, and so provides no more bonuses to Armour Levels, or negative modifiers to the enemy's Initiative. Armour Levels provided by terrains are collectively called Cover Levels. These act as normal Armour Levels, adding onto the cumulative effects of standard Armour Levels, but have distinction in those cases when Armour Levels and not Cover Levels are affected and modified. Cover Levels never apply in Assault.

River: Units moving across a River suffers a -1 to their Movement speed, down to a minimum of 1. When you build a Building over a River terrain tile, the River restricts the Movement of enemy units only, instead of your own. If an enemy has 3 Movement, and it attempts to Attack a Bastion built over a River terrain tile, it can only reach it if it is a distance of 2 Movement away, not 3.

Nexus: Units controlling the Nexus at the centre of the board gain 1 Victory Point and have 1 Chaos Stone Resource generated for their controlling player. Buildings may not be built on the Nexus.

Turn Order Sequence:

The game revolves around a Game Round, which is a Round in which every player takes their Turn, resolving each Step within a Turn in entirety, before progressing to the next player and so on. Each player, in clockwise fashion, start taking Turns, beginning with 10 Chaos Stones Resource for the first player, and 3 more Resource each for subsequent players beyond the previous, that can be used for any number of purchases.

Deployment Step:

Units purchased may be Deployed in the starting tiles of your Base, or from Factories and other unit-producing Buildings on the board. May build one Building each on tiles with your units on them.

Movement Step:

Move each unit of yours once, according to its rules for Movement. You may Retreat units from a contested tile, and then Attack if your units have a Ranged weapon, during the Battle Step.

Exploration Step:

Reveal the hidden Exploration tile of each unexplored tile that has a unit of yours present, by flipping it over. There are two types of Exploration tiles, a Mine with a value of 1-3 Resource of Chaos Stones that can be Mined and harvested, or a Chaos Stone Desposit, that gives an amount of Chaos Stones from 1-3, without the need to Mine the location initially. Once revealed and given its containing amount, the Deposit provides no more Chaos Stones.

Battle Step:

For units that are able to Attack at this point, Battle commences according to the rules of Attack for those units. Units in the same tile as the enemy's will always have to Battle, even if they have no Assault (close combat) ability. Units may only choose to Retreat during their Movement Step, in fact Retreating is considered entirely the same as Movement. If not, they are to be engaged in Battle, which is one of the strong points of Assaulting or close combat in this game; within a distance of 0 tile separation, on the same tile as the enemy, when Battles are resolved in an Assault situation, both parties naturally get their chance to Attack, in the order of their Initiative values proceeding down. The same cannot be said for Attacks made at a distance, from Range.

Attacks made have to roll greater than and equal to the Attack value of the Attacking unit. If the target enemy unit has Armour Level(s), for each Armour Level and Cover Level of the enemy unit, the roll you need to make in order to successfully Attack is subjected to a -1 modifier. A successful Attack means that the Defence value of the targeted unit is reduced by 1. Should this bring the value to below Defence 1, the unit is destroyed. Area-Effect weapons and powers ignore Cover Levels, but not Armour Levels.

Resource Step:

Gather up the total amount of Chaos Stones Mined and harvested by your Buildings or units. If the tile is contested with the presence of other enemy units, then no working of that Mine happens, unless the Building, for instance the Human Refinery, still remains and is not destroyed in Battle.

Research/Mission/Evolution/Consolidation Step:

May Research as many Technologies as you have Research Facilities, for The Civilisation of Humanity for instance, paying the cost in Chaos Stones as stated in the number in brackets, next to the name of the Research Tech. The Faction Secret Mission Cards are drawn here, one each.

Statistics Details:

Name – Resource Cost:RC Range:R Movement:M Initiative:I Attack:A Defence:D Special:S

Name refers to the name of the unit.

Resource Cost (RC) refers to the cost in amount of Chaos Stones required to purchase the unit.

Range (R) is the maximum distance away in terms of hex-tiles that the unit can Attack with its weapon(s). You may not use a Ranged Attack against enemy units on a tile which contains your own friendly units.

Movement (M) is the maximum distance the unit can move in a given Movement Step, considering all modifiers.

Initiative (I) is the value in consideration for Detection of Stealth units, and the deciding order in Assault, with the units with the higher value Attacking first.

Attack (A) refers to the number the unit has to roll equal or above to, in order to inflict a point of Attack Damage on the target enemy unit. If the target enemy unit's Armour Level causes the unit's Attack to rise above 6+, in order words making the Attack impossible, multiple units may combine their Attack, for every point above 6+ requiring an equivalent amount of such units, making one single Attack of 6+ together, at the expense of the number of Attacks they can usually make separately.

Defence (D) refers to the number of such Attack Damage Levels the unit can sustain before becoming destroyed.

Special (S) refers to Special Abilities that the unit might possess.

Calixtus
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Faction: The Civilisation of Humanity

The Civilisation of Humanity

Themes: Ranged, Promotion of Ranks to Elite Level, Technologically Advanced.

Faction Traits:

Rank Promotion: When a Human unit accomplishes the directives of enough Special Ops Mission Cards that grant Mission Points, the Mission Points can be awarded to a unit, upgrading it and Promoting its Rank if there is sufficient Mission Points to do so. To know what changes is experienced by the Promotion of a Rank, if the unit gains Special Abilities that it does not start with, the Special Ability will be denoted with the letter "S" together with a number. If it is "0", this means the unit starts with it at its Default Rank, and if it is "S1" for instance, that means it is the Special Ability it gains when it is Promoted to Rank 1. When a unit is Promoted, place the Rank token with the side that shows its Promoted Rank underneath the figurine. You may Promote the Ranks of any of your units, once a Mission is accomplished and you gain the corresponding amount of Mission Points.

Army Ranks:

Rank 0: Default Rank
Rank 1: 2 Mission Points
Rank 2: 4 Mission Points

Human Buildings:

Headquarters, Refinery, Factory, Research Facility, Bastion, Outpost

Headquarters (Base) – RC:5 D:4
S:Headquarters – The Headquarters of The Civilisation of Humanity generates 3 Chaos Stones Resource a Turn. This cannot be altered in any way, unless the Headquarters is destroyed. A destroyed Headquarters can be rebuilt. If it is unable to be rebuilt due to a lack of Resource within a single Turn, The Civilisation of Humanity Faction is eliminated from the board.

Refinery – RC:2 D:3
S:Refine – A Refinery built over a Resource area allows you to gather and Mine the Resource, depending on the amount the area produces.

Factory – RC:3 D:3
S:Manufacture = The higher tier units of The Civilisation of Humanity Faction can be produced from here, from Stealthsuits, to Combat Walkers and Battle Tanks, and can be used for forward deployment of these units.

Research Facility – RC:5 D:3
S:Research – Each Research Facility allows you to draw one card from the Human Research Technology Deck, upon which during the Research Step, may be paid its cost and added to your usable tech. Multiple Research Facilities may be used, instead of drawing more Tech cards, to reduce the cost of one Tech by 1 for each Research Facility used this way, down to a minimum of 1 Chaos Stone Resource.

Bastion (Defensive Building) – RC:4 R:3 M:0 I:0 A:(4+) D:5
S:Garrison – Infantry units like Riflemen and Snipers gain an increase in Range and Initiative by 1 when stationed in the Garrison of a Bastion.
S:Fortified - All units on the same tile as a Bastion Building may not be Attacked by enemy units, until the Bastion is completely destroyed. Enemy units may not move through the tile on which a Bastion is built over.

Outpost (Defensive Building) – RC:4 D:4
S:Logistics – Friendly units moving through an Outpost may make a second action during the Movement Step.
S:Supply – For the number of Turns a unit stays within an Outpost, it gains that amount of Supply tokens, each of which can be used to negate an Attack Damage against one of your friendly units, on a roll of a 5+. Supplies used in this way are spent and lost.

Human Units:

Rifleman – RC:2 R:2 M:1 I:2 A:(5+) D:1
S0:Guard – A Rifleman may choose to take Attack Damage in the place of another one of your units on the same tile.
S1:Return Fire – When being Attacked from Range, the Rifleman may Attack back, in accordance with standard Attack limitations like Range. A Rifleman can only ever Return Fire to a single enemy unit, once on an enemy's Turn.
S2:Rapid Fire – When Attacking from a Range beyond Assault, may roll 2 dice instead of 1.

Sniper – RC:4 R:3 M:1 I:2 A:(4+) D:1
S0:Snipe – In order to Attack from a Range beyond Assault, a Sniper may not move during the Movement Step. Snipers may never Attack in Assault Range.
S1:Covering Fire – For each enemy unit Attacked by a Sniper on a tile, a free Movement by a friendly unit of yours can be made towards the direction of that same tile on which is located the enemy unit. Those enemy units on the tile may not Attack those friendly advancing units of yours.
S2:Headshot - On a roll of a 6 when Attacking, a Sniper removes D3 Defence Levels of the targeted enemy unit, no matter what, regardless of the Armour Level of the target enemy. Only Armour Levels provided by being in Forest terrain for instance, called in this way Cover Levels, can have any means of prevention against Headshot.

Stealthsuit – RC:6 R:1 M:2 I:2 A:(5+) D:1
S0:Stealth – When enemy units are Attacking a Stealthsuit unit, they must first compare Initiatives, by having each side involved rolling a D6 for every enemy unit Attacking, and for each Stealthsuit being fired at, then adding the scores to their respective Initiative values. The resulting score is compared, and if the Stealthsuit units have a score greater than the enemy's, the Attack fails, as the Stealthsuits remain undetected.
S1:Suppression – When enemy units are being Attacked by a Stealthsuit unit, once again compare Initiatives, and if the resulting score for the Stealthsuit unit is greater than the enemy's, the enemy may not move during the Movement Step, but it may still Attack.
S2:Sabotage – A Stealthsuit may infiltrate an enemy-held tile, once again doing the same and comparing Initiatives, and if it is undetected, it does D3 Defence Levels of Attack Damage to a Building there.

Combat Walker – RC:8 R:2 M:2 I:2 A:(4+) D:2
S0:All-Terrain Walker – The Combat Walker never suffers negative modifiers for moving through the River terrain. In Forest terrain, the Combat Walker gains +2 to their Cover Level, instead of just +1.
S1:Assault Vehicle – When Attacking in Assault, the Combat Walker's Attack improves to 3+.
S2:Multi-Lock Targeting System – The Combat Walker may fire twice, at two separate enemy units on different tiles, or have both Attacks focussed on a single target, in a single Battle Step.

Battle Tank – RC:10 R:2 M:2 I:1 A:(3+) D:3
S0:Armour - A Battle Tank may not Attack enemy units in the same tile as it is in, but it may still Attack other enemy units within its Range, even if it is already engaged in an Assault. Battle Tanks have a default Armour Level of 1 and has +1 Movement when moving through Plains terrain tiles.
S1:Tank Shock – All enemy units on a tile that has been passed through or stopped over by a Battle Tank, receives an Attack of 6+, modified by +1 for each tile moved over by the Battle Tank before impact.
S2:Explosive Blast – A Battle Tank Attacks all units, even friendly ones, present on the same tile that it is Attacking, in effect gaining Area-Effect for its Attacks.

Human Research Technology:

Projectile Ballistics (4) – Increase the Range of weapons by 1.
Plasma Weaponry (4) – Increase the Attack of weapons by 1.
Tracer Rounds (4) – Shots fired with a Tracer Round do not do Attack Damage, but grants an Attack bonus of 1 and reduces the Cover Level of the target enemy unit by 1, to other units firing at the same target as the Tracer Round.
Power Armour (3) – Grants an Armour Level of 2 to Riflemen and Snipers.
Defensive Matrix (2) – Grants an Armour Level of 1 to all units, for the entire duration of a Game Round. Once used, must be replaced by Researching again.
Concussive Field (4) – Reduces the Initiative of units engaging your units in Assault by 2, and the Movement of enemy units after that Assault, when trying to Retreat or move for instance, by 1.
Jumpjets (3) – Allows any unit besides Snipers and Battle Tanks to move after Attacking, instead of moving before Attacking.
Advanced Sensor Array (4) – Increases the Initiative of all units by 1, and when used for the purposes of Stealthsuit Special Abilities and Detection, gain a temporary Initiative bonus of +1.
Medical Facilities (3) – Supplies negate an Attack Damage on a roll of a 4+, instead of a 5+.
Orbital Strike (5) – Allows units produced from your Base to be Deployed on any tile on the board, that is not an enemy's Base.

Special Operations Missions:

Defend against the Tide (5MP): Successfully defend against an enemy's Assault, when his units outnumber yours.
Hold the Line (5MP): For an entire Game Round, do not Retreat any of your units and do not lose control of any tiles held by you at the start of the Game Round.
Guard the Lands (4MP): Successfully guard a Defensive Building against a Ranged or Assault Attack, without losing a unit.
Repel the Invaders (4MP): Successfully destroy or cause to Retreat enemy units on a tile that has one of your Buildings.
Territorial Dispute (3MP): For each tile that is in unsettled contestation, having forces on both sides disputing control of the territory, gain 3 Mission Points at the end of every Game Round.
Seize the Initiative (6MP): Attack before all enemy units in an Assault. If you successfully destroy all of them before they can retaliate, from now onwards, the Game Round begins with your Turn, instead of the enemy's.
Control Strategic Area (1MP): Hold control of the Nexus, for each Turn it is in your possession, gain 1 Mission Point.
Kill Count (2MP): For every 5 enemy units destroyed in a Turn, gain 2 Mission Points.
Blitz Attack (3MP): Destroy two enemy forces on separate tiles, in a single Battle Step.
Tactical Manoeuvre (5MP): Gain 5 Mission Points if all of your forces have Attacked the enemy at Range, while remaining unengaged in Assault, during a Game Round.
Full-Scale Mobilisation (5MP): Gain 5 Mission Points if all your units are engaged with the enemy, whether at Range or in Assault, within your Turn.
Sweeping Advance (4MP): If the enemy units attempt to Retreat from a Battle with your units, on a comparison of a D6 roll made by and added to each side's highest Initiative value, if the roll for your side is greater than or equal to the enemy's, they are completely wiped out.
Strike Force Insertion (4MP): Have an army of Riflemen and Snipers use Orbital Strike to be Deployed on a tile in proximity of one containing enemy units, and then destroying all of them.
Storm the Front (3MP): Successfully Attack and destroy an enemy's Defensive Building, in your Turn.
Siege (3MP): For each Turn your Attacks against an enemy Defensive Building from Range, but not in Assault, persists, gain 3 Mission Points.
War of Attrition (4MP): For every Battle that results in the loss of your units, with their collective Resource Costs being lower as compared to the total Resource Cost of the enemy's destroyed units, gain 4 Mission Points.
Saboteur (5MP): Destroy an enemy Building with a Stealthsuit's Sabotage Special Ability.
Infiltration (5MP): Have a Stealthsuit infiltrate an enemy-held tile, Attacking them in Assault without being Detected.
Assassinate (5MP): Destroy the most powerful and advanced tier 5 unit for your enemy's Faction, with a Sniper's Headshot.
Guerrilla Offensives (4MP): For every use of Jumpjets to successfully Attack an enemy unit without being Attacked back, gain 3 Mission Points.

Calixtus
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Those of interest...

This is the rules summary, together with mention of the first of the Factions, The Civilisation of Humanity. With enough interested given, I will show the remaining Factions, one by one.

MattPlays
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Thats a lot to read through!

(I didn't)

Tbone
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Brief Summary?

Could we get a brief summary at least? This will turn away 95% of viewers just because of the shear length! At least a document or something yeaaash...

Calixtus
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Which is it?

Yo bro, the irony is that you are talking to me on this forum, but blocking me over Facebook. Which is it? Are you ok with working with me once again? I think I know what you want me to write, something like a condensation or summary. I can do that, but first, answer the question, please. ;)

It is a game based on Nexus as have been said. Someone takes the first player token, and games rounds go clockwise from the first player. Just like Nexus Ops, there are six steps in a single turn. First being Deployment, being the training and building of new buildings and units. You need a unit on a hex-tile space in order to build a building there. After Deployment is Movement, and every single piece in the game is made to move. Because there a lot of figurines in the game, I would require that the figurines would be specially made to incorporate a dial at their base, showing the three states of Deployed, Moved and Attacked. This part is a little common sense, if you have Moved a unit but not Attacked with it, the fact that the dial is still at M should inform you the unit can still attack in this turn.

After this is Exploration, which works the same as Nexus Ops, with the difference being what you get. You only either get Chaos Stone Mines, or Chaos Stone Deposits, the difference being the former is permanent, while the latter only gives a fixed amount of Chaos Stones before becoming useless. Then the Battle Step happens, although only units in contested spaces are engaged in Assault, which means they always have to fight each other. The same isn't the case for Ranged Attacks.

So after Deployment, Movement, Exploration, Battle, comes the Resource Step, which is basically your total resource income in the game, gained to be used during your turn next round. And finally, we have the Consolidation Phase, where Researches can be researched and Special Secret Missions can be drawn and have their criteria fulfilled. That's the basics of this game. Do you need more?

wombat929
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Explain it yourself

I get the point of comparing the game to Nexus Ops, and perhaps there is value in making that connection, but there are problems with continuing to do so:

1 - I don't know Nexus Ops, so as a reader of your game's documents, I'm lost. Your game can't begin with an explanation that "it's just like Nexus Ops."

2 - There's a potential intellectual property dispute concern if you continue to do so -- Fantasy Flight may, at some point, insist that you stop 'copying' their game. By avoiding making the connection overt, you can likely avoid this.

Have you playtested this yet? If not, mock up a prototype and get playing. It will help you refine your rules.

The most useful playtests will be ones where you didn't tell the people how to play. Give them your rulebook and ask one of them to teach the others to play like they'd just bought it and were learning from the rulebook. Then sit in the back and watch as they play. It will be very instructive.

ElKobold
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So, essentially, you're

So, essentially, you're taking an existing design and making an 'addon'. IP issues aside, in my experience, it's extremely hard to take a working design and stick in more mechanics, without breaking the game. From what i've read so far, your design won't work.
Here's just one reason why: You mention 'holding 'nexus' for 30 turns' to win the game. So since there are four factions, I assume its best played with four, right? So 30 turns times 4 players, times how many minutes per turn? While most strategy games should aim at 1-2 hour playtime. I really suggest to start from the ground up and not mess with an existing design. It will be easier and will likely produce a better result. Good luck!

P.S: Have no clue what a Nexus Ops is

Calixtus
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I understand all your concerns, but...

First of, in my game, the need to hold the central ground for 30 turns will likely only be used to break ties, because the incentive to destroy the enemy's faction during this time is quite high. You don't have to control for 30 Rounds if within that time, you destroy all opposing factions. Then again, it is unlikely there will be a tie, given the mechanics of the game.

Yes, there is a resemblance to Nexus Ops, but it is far in advance of it. The only thing it really borrows is the nature of the board, and the Turn Order Sequence, other than that, it is a far more advanced creation, with individual attributes differentiating each unit's ability, power and usefulness. Also, there are elements of Warhammer 40,000 in it, and the use of Secret Missions is only used as a mechanic for improving the capabilities of individual units for the Humans, called by them Special Operations Missions.

I have to ask, at some level it is true I am writing from the perspective of someone already having an idea of how Nexus Ops is played, but as I read the rules I have already written, I think, or at least it appears to me, it instructs the game quite clearly. Can you tell me what you don't understand of it, so I can rewrite it? Or how about what do you understand of it, at this point?

ElKobold
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Have you play-tested it yet?

Have you play-tested it yet?

Calixtus
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It isn't completed

The problem is it isn't completed, that's why I am posting it here, hoping to recruit someone to work with. But I just had some great ideas for the third Faction. The fourth will be the trickiest. Do you want to see the second Faction? That one is also done with and finalised.

ElKobold
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Calixtus wrote:The problem is

Calixtus wrote:
The problem is it isn't completed, that's why I am posting it here, hoping to recruit someone to work with. But I just had some great ideas for the third Faction. The fourth will be the trickiest. Do you want to see the second Faction? That one is also done with and finalised.

Look, you don't need a complete game to play-test.

Try the proof of concept first. I.e. play a couple of turns with only very basic units and few cards available. Give all players the same faction. Check if it's fun. Check how long one turn takes. Work from there.

Otherwise you risk wasting tons of time only to find out that some of your mechanics need to be fixed and then all your cards need to be changed, to accommodate the fix.

For example, my current project has ~10 different heroes, with 18 cards each, complicated map etc etc.

To check if my concept works at it's core, I've first tried it with 1 hero, 3 basic cards and an empty 5x5 hex grid.

In your case it's even easier, since you're using an already existing game as a basis.

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forum | by Dr. Radut