6 hours ago, Mangipan said:There are two months until Scum submissions are due, which is time for things to be turned on their heads completely. But it is also time for me to explore an idea fully before discarding it out of hand because two guys didn't like it.
There's a reason why I'm spitballing ideas around here rather than in it's own thread - this is very early and very rough. But the way the game ends is a massive part of the game and changing it alters gameplay by literally effecting the way that you play the game, because you're trying to achieve a different outcome than you would be otherwise.
For the Team Covenant Open vassal tournament, they rebalanced Emperor Palpatine. His points cost is changed to negative eight points, but if his ship is destroyed or his card discarded you immediately lose. I see things like that and it's so compelling from a design standpoint and such a flavour home run. If Palpatine is dead it doesn't matter what else happens, the Empire has already lost. There's nothing else that quite captures that flavour right now, but if you told me I had to give you a Supreme Leader Snoke tomorrow you can bet that's the first direction I'd be looking in.
By changing the way the game ends you alter the scenario. Every tournament game is a 100 point dogfight to the death, but what if it wasn't. What if you had a card that let you achieve victory in another way? I don't know what that way is yet but you can be **** sure I'm going to keep trying to figure it out.
In any scenario that you play you will naturally fly and play differently to a standard dogfight, because your priorities are warped by the objectives. It's exactly the same here - a card that effects the outcome of the game effects the game by altering your priorities.
Um. No?
We try things, and sometimes they even work. But by not exploring new design space, and believe me the end of the game is a huge space that is ripe for exploration, we will always miss things.
Like don't get me wrong, I appreciate being told that things don't work, but I'm coming in here to bounce ideas around, get some feedback and do some brainstorming. What has happened instead is "No never think about this stop trying."
Prior to Wave 8, I had a design for Discord Missiles (As seen in Revenge of the Sith, deploying Buzz Droids and ruining Obi-Wan's day) which said "If this attack hits, the defender must choose and discard an equipped upgrade card." The response it received was knee-jerk negativity. I was told that upgrade cards are sacred, that they should never be touched, that I was making terrible and un-fun cards and that I should throw away my design and not look at it again. Then along comes Boba Fett and it turns out that discarding upgrade cards, in a much cheaper and more precise manner, isn't actually a big deal.
So in short, I'll keep messing around in any new design space I can find because the entire point of this exercise is to introduce new and interesting ships that aren't simply a retread of what we've seen before, and if we're not innovating we're stagnating.
You're not changing gameplay.
You're changing the way the game is played. Big difference. Enormous difference. Changing gameplay is an adjustment of mechanics already built into the game. Changing the way the game is played is changing strategies of how the game needs to be approached.
One is fun for both players(potentially), the other is fun for only half of the players. A card that lets you achieve victory different from everyone else is BROKEN. It's the most unfun thing i can imagine. I'm honestly having trouble putting into words just how stupid of an idea that is. I can honestly say that if FFG released a card like that, one that gives the other player a different, easier way to win than their opponent, i'm done. Standard X-Wing is done for me if that ever happens. I'll retreat into my corner and keep developing X-Wing TCS and play only that. I'm stating this now and publicly and i mean it. Hold me to it.
Now changing the way the game is played isn't necessarily bad; But doing so like you did is. Anyone who equips that card(and given that Scum is the best faction in the game right now doesnt really help) makes ending the game easier for themselves and harder for their opponent in nearly every variation you've made. Not the the game itself, not the gameplay, it makes ending the game, and what happens after the game easier for the person using it.
I cannot allow a card like that to even be considered.
The difference being that Discord Missiles actually had an impact on the game itself. It introduced a new gameplay mechanic.
Also a big difference is that Boba Fett can only be used once per list, ordnance can be equipped to any ship with the right slot, then you've got extra munitions, and with LRS, Deadeye, and Chips existing, means you can spam them until your opponent simply hasnt got any upgrade cards left. Boba is a tactical "use one, use wisely". I'd have to say that even today i'd still oppose Discord Missiles.
Somehow though Last Chance is still worse.
Edited by Razgriz25thinf