fredmiracle
08-15-2014, 11:00
Having played quite a few games now, I'm interested in reviving earlier conversations about the magnitude and distribution of damage
My first comment is that damage seems to be hugely variable. This means some games will definitely be decided mostly by lucky or unlucky draws, and that if you are very unlucky you can be out of the game in a hurry. I think I'm ok with this, but perhaps it's not ideal. It does seems historically reasonable as far as I can tell.
My second comment is that on average, I feel pretty OK about basic game damage. Maybe it does accrue too fast, but I've seen a number of quite extended battles (e.g. my ~40 turn play-through of the Treasure Galleon scenario)
My third comment/question is about crew kills. In general I think I'm ok with the rate at which this happens. It is an important mechanism for smaller ships to operate against larger ships, and seems historically reasonable. But it remains something to keep an eye on.
My fourth comment is that there seems to be significant problems with advanced game damage:
- For one thing, the velocity of damage simply increases over that of the basic game, since it adds on fires and leaks. This is partially offset by the ability to repair one hull box of damage, but I find the additional damage effects predominate.
- These damages also greatly increase the role of luck. The other day I had an undamaged SOL take ~10 damage chits. This filled 2.5 boxes, but she also drew 3 leaks and a fire, so promptly went down with no chance of recovery. Another time my undamaged frigate had a bad A draw of 3/fire, 3/fire, 2, and was essentially eliminated by 3 long-range chits. This does not feel right historically.
- Another thing I notice is that it's quite rare for a ship to get more than 1-2 sail damage, or to get multiple mast hits. Given that in real battles it was quite common to have the ships nearly unsailable by the end, this seems low.
(I should note that I almost never use C/D, so this is largely referring to A/B/E chits).
One approach I know people have taken to address these issues is to change how damage is handled--by doubling the number of damage chits needed to fill a hull box or crew box, and/or by reducing fire/leak effects. Is anyone still doing this on a regular basis? How has it worked out? (The one thing I *have* been doing is to allow am extinguish-fire action to be planned when no fire is currently burning, against the possibility that a fire starts during the turn)
I know another approach that has been discussed is tweaking the counter distribution. What I'm currently considering for advanced games is this: take a full set of counters, and from a second set of counters add in: all 0, 1, 2, Sail+X, Mast+X and Rudder+X. Might need to add a bit of leniency on mast kills (e.g. if you have 3 masts down but haven't yet done your repair you don't need to surrender or something like that). Has anyone tried anything similar?
Thoughts/discussion?
My first comment is that damage seems to be hugely variable. This means some games will definitely be decided mostly by lucky or unlucky draws, and that if you are very unlucky you can be out of the game in a hurry. I think I'm ok with this, but perhaps it's not ideal. It does seems historically reasonable as far as I can tell.
My second comment is that on average, I feel pretty OK about basic game damage. Maybe it does accrue too fast, but I've seen a number of quite extended battles (e.g. my ~40 turn play-through of the Treasure Galleon scenario)
My third comment/question is about crew kills. In general I think I'm ok with the rate at which this happens. It is an important mechanism for smaller ships to operate against larger ships, and seems historically reasonable. But it remains something to keep an eye on.
My fourth comment is that there seems to be significant problems with advanced game damage:
- For one thing, the velocity of damage simply increases over that of the basic game, since it adds on fires and leaks. This is partially offset by the ability to repair one hull box of damage, but I find the additional damage effects predominate.
- These damages also greatly increase the role of luck. The other day I had an undamaged SOL take ~10 damage chits. This filled 2.5 boxes, but she also drew 3 leaks and a fire, so promptly went down with no chance of recovery. Another time my undamaged frigate had a bad A draw of 3/fire, 3/fire, 2, and was essentially eliminated by 3 long-range chits. This does not feel right historically.
- Another thing I notice is that it's quite rare for a ship to get more than 1-2 sail damage, or to get multiple mast hits. Given that in real battles it was quite common to have the ships nearly unsailable by the end, this seems low.
(I should note that I almost never use C/D, so this is largely referring to A/B/E chits).
One approach I know people have taken to address these issues is to change how damage is handled--by doubling the number of damage chits needed to fill a hull box or crew box, and/or by reducing fire/leak effects. Is anyone still doing this on a regular basis? How has it worked out? (The one thing I *have* been doing is to allow am extinguish-fire action to be planned when no fire is currently burning, against the possibility that a fire starts during the turn)
I know another approach that has been discussed is tweaking the counter distribution. What I'm currently considering for advanced games is this: take a full set of counters, and from a second set of counters add in: all 0, 1, 2, Sail+X, Mast+X and Rudder+X. Might need to add a bit of leniency on mast kills (e.g. if you have 3 masts down but haven't yet done your repair you don't need to surrender or something like that). Has anyone tried anything similar?
Thoughts/discussion?