OBT Forum
General BattleTech => Alternate Universe => Age of Chaos => Topic started by: Knightmare on July 09, 2011, 12:17:34 AM
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I just realized we only briefly touched on this very important subject and I wanted to hear thoughts on the subject. Force allocation for the larger factions with organic production facilities is pretty straight forward, but what about smaller factions without?
I'm just curious to hear everyone's thoughts (and yes, I haven't given much info on purpose.)
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I would use a base formula. For example.
Major states get 1 Regiment (9 Companies) per production line.
All states get 1 Company per world
Therefore a large state with 100 worlds and 12 production lines would have 208 Companies, or about 23 regiments, likely deployed as Battlaions, as this seems like a Mad Max setting.
A small 10 world state would have just over a Regiment.
From there, you take the base and modifiy it to suit the needs of the story. However, if you plan to make a game out of it, this does balalnce forces.
But that's just me.
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Major states get 1 Regiment (9 Companies) per production line.
And the smaller States?
However it depends who are the Major States.
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Major states get 1 Regiment (9 Companies) per production line.
And the smaller States?
However it depends who are the Major States.
All states get 1 Company per world
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Seems like a good force ratio to me.
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Smart thinking Black, I hadn't considered using production lines as a possible determinant for game balance. I might want to amend the totals a bit so I can reduce the number of 'Mech Companies and replace them with conventional armor/infantry formations, but with the total number of production lines available already low that might not be an issue.
The deciding factor may not even be the total number of 'Mechs, but rather transport availability - I'm thinking there might be a number of necessary "independent" players who run guild or corporate fleets.
I'll have to work some game factors for playability, but that's a bit down the road. This was very helpful to get my game dynamics juices flowing. Thanks!
Any other thoughts folks?
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For conventional and aero forces, just use a ratio to the base number of Mech units. It is what I did for the KU. Eg, the FWL got a higher ratio of aero units, where the AFFS got more conventional units etc.
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Could you tell us who are the big States and the small ones?
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Eh, not yet. There's still some tweaking let to be done.
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Eh, not yet. There's still some tweaking let to be done.
Then how can you decide, which one will have production lines and which one won't?
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Well, I've compiled my semi-accurate canon list. Those lines will be trashed according to die rolls - if they're super unbalanced then I'll run a secondary roll to add a few back. Factions without organic production facilities of their own will probably receive a few basic lines producing low-tech designs. The little guy does get dumped on a little, but it'll be offset by other things. (Higher start #s, more cash, etc.)
Fiction-wise I can write whatever I want, but for game balance and design these things have to be taken into account.
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Fiction-wise I can write whatever I want, but for game balance and design these things have to be taken into account.
God power 8)
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I do have a note for this thread based on information gleamed from Objective's Federated Suns.
- The use of secondary manufacturers for diversification
- Justification of RetroTech Designs
- Component Manufacturers
This is for organic creation of game units.