More of a philosophical question, but wanted to get the community opinion on this, since my group has built the application described below and we currently use it. I, however, have some doubts as to whether it makes sense to allow it during gameplay.

Suppose I had an application that allowed the user to enter any combination of dice, alongside any extra surges or bonuses that might get added during an attack. Additionally, the user could enter the defense dice (i.e. a single black die, a single white die, two black dice, etc) and any other extra bonuses that might get included in the defense. The application outputs the probability of dealing 1 damage, 2 damage, missing, etc.

Would it be a good idea to allow players to use this tool during the campaign missions, or does it offer too large a benefit? Does using it remove an element of skill that one should expect a player to exercise, analogous to knowing when to hit in blackjack, or knowing when to fold during a poker game, or is it just another legitimate aid, like knowing the contents of the deck before you play?

Wouldn't really make a difference, since most already know what the chances are of each face showing up - they're all only 6 sided dice, so not exactly complex. Wouldn't be much different than those chance to hit values you see in the Fallout or XCom video games. So whether it gives a noticable benefit - I wouldn't think so...

The is at least one such dice tool somewhere in the web already.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1416607/imperial-assault-calculator

The certainty and possibility to achieve the required accuracy is the most important fact players learn quickly. A little more thought goes into deciding about rerolls.

As long as it's available to both sides, and you don't care about the extra time spent because of it, I don't see why it would be a problem. I don't think the game is supposed to test how well you can do complex probability calculations in your head

On the other hand, it probably breaks the immersion and takes some of the excitement out of the attack rolls. So that might be a reason to avoid it, at least in the campaign.

Whats the pt? In the end, you can do all the calculations you want, but if the dice roll sucks, it sucks, if its good, its good. Thats why reroll abilities are so nice.

~D

There are a lot of reasons you might want to know what your odds are, but mainly it boils down to: if you need to choose between two targets to attack, and you have a (for example) 60% chance of killing the one and a 30% chance of killing the other, then you can factor that into your assessment of which one you want to attack. Maybe the one you are less likely to kill is more powerful, so you need to decide if it's worth the risk.

It's also useful for the Imperial player in campaign to determine which groups are best against white dice or black dice, factoring in whatever other defenses the Rebels have as well.

I don't allow either side to use the mobile dice app during missions because there is too much potential to slow down the game, but I encourage my players to use the app between missions (and I always give them the entire week to choose their item purchases) so they can know which weapons to buy and when it's better to use one weapon over another, which comes up a lot with Verena.

I had a similar conversation with someone recently, and after the explanation of one character's dice rolls vs the opponent and calculating the best point v point ratio; I decided that anyone who needs to use an app such as this would probably have had a massive brain explosion and died a horrible death in 1979 playing 1st edition AD&D.

That whole process is what we in the old school of thought call: Experience.

Experience is not just a points thing applied to characters but also something as a player we gain by doing things and learning what not to do.

I wouldn't, but I'm there are those that would.

Personally I don't think it's in the spirit of the game.

You can have educated guesses as to what your best options are, but in the end you have to roll them and see what happens.

Not calculate every odds to the nth degree before deciding what to do.

Missions take long enough as it is.

Firstly, I'm in Ailer's group, so I have a little extra context here.

Whats the pt? In the end, you can do all the calculations you want, but if the dice roll sucks, it sucks, if its good, its good. Thats why reroll abilities are so nice.

~D

A calculator can certainly be an advantage, even to experienced players. "I want to kill this probe droid in one shot. I'm probably very likely to do it. Do I spend a strain to focus myself here, or would that be a waste? What are my odds of killing it with/without the focus? Am I more or less likely to kill that Imperial Officer over there, instead?" Sure, benefits may be small, but incrementally it can lead to more informed decision making.

Wouldn't really make a difference, since most already know what the chances are of each face showing up - they're all only 6 sided dice, so not exactly complex. Wouldn't be much different than those chance to hit values you see in the Fallout or XCom video games. So whether it gives a noticable benefit - I wouldn't think so...

Indeed, I view it as simply producing results much like those that are available in XCOM. Unfortunately, fiddling with the calculator takes quite a bit longer..

Personally I don't think it's in the spirit of the game.

You can have educated guesses as to what your best options are, but in the end you have to roll them and see what happens.

Not calculate every odds to the nth degree before deciding what to do.

Missions take long enough as it is.

I totally acknowledge arguments that it may be against the spirit of the game, or that it may result in missions taking too long. The latter resonates the most; many of our missions take around 4 hours to finish, which can be a little too long...