MicroScale

[Quantumsurfer]

Since I don't have a lot of room to do vehicular type battles, I wanted to do them in MicroScale. My initial thought was just to scale normal BrikWars down so that I didn't have to create my own ruleset. Microspace doesn't help me (I'm building my own version of them anyway) for a lot of reasons I don't want to get into here.

So I built a few MS pieces, picked one, and compared it to a "full size" version. I took some quick measurements of a boxy, implied volume. I came up with a scale of about 12.5%. Which was a little small. I found that, when screwing around with the numbers (keep in mind that I'm math retarded, so who knows if I did any of this "correctly") I found that 25% was a much more usable scale. I'll waffle on that until I have a legitimate battlefield built for reference (I'm thinking it'll end up being 2 or 3 feet by 3 or 4 feet). So, basically, the scale was just for inches (range, move). I'd build the constructions "as though" they were normal size so I didn't have to screw with the dice. The idea was that, at 12.5 or 10%, a 20" move vehicle would only be able to move around two inches a turn and, using basic weapons, fire at half that, or one inch. Moving the pieces around to get a look at it reveals how awkward it is. Doesn't...seem right with the physical size of the models. So, to increase playability, I doubled the scale down to 25%, which produced moves of 5" and shots of 2-3". This would leave minifigs on the ground, represented with 1x1 stacked plates, moving around at 1".

Alright, I can work with that...I guess. But I run into a lot of problems when I start taking into consideration dice rolls that affect inches. Like Stunt Driving. I tried to sort of scale a range of rolls in. Like:

On a d6
1 Fail
2-4 +1 inch
5-6 +2 inch

or a d8
1 Fail
2-4 +1 inch
5-6 +2 inch
7-8 +3 inch

The trouble is, I can't really find a range scale that works through all the die types (I think). The above pattern (3 possibilities lead to a +1, then 2 to +2, then 2 to +3 all the way through 2 to +5 on a d12) has its own flaw (again, I think) in that there is an equal chance to roll for anything above a +1 which means players are only really left with the choice of whether to try for the +1 or to try for the maximum.

I thought about Just simplifying it to those two possibilities (a min and a max), but that plays a bit of havoc on the sabotage thrust dice if a player botches a roll. Also, its lessened variability makes it a little less interesting in this instance.

Sorry, I know its confused but I'd sure appreciate any help working through the idea.

[Falk]

What if you just converted inches to centimeters?

[Quantumsurfer]

Hm. So upper limit move for normal propulsion 16" becomes a little over 6 inches (I cannot break free from my stupid american mathematics upbringing, gah). Fast propulsion 20" becomes a little under 8". Normal minifig move of 5" becomes 2". Range 6" is a little over 2". Range 10" becomes right at 4". Average pilot stunt driving shoots for 4" which nets 1.5 extra inches, or almost a third extra movement on average. Upper limit, before bonus dice, 8" nets 3 extra inches move, or half again base movement. That seems fair. Put all together, on a 2x4 foot board, takes average pilot with sprinting or stunt driving about 3 turns width wise to cross and 6.5 length, 7 diagonal. Same pilot with better vehicle crosses the distance 2.5 width and 5 length, 5.5 diagonal.

MS creations are about the size, on average, of a minifig lying down, so moves of between 6-10 inches and ranges of between 2-5 inches seems to occupy the same general space as a normal BrikWars game. Movement is a little higher to double with range being abut half. Since weapons will likely be mounted on vehicles, they'll probably be size 2 (around 4" range), 3 (around 5.5 inch range), or possibly 4 (around 7" range). Minifigs trotting around on the map are much more bunched up, moving at 2 with short range almost completely adjacent at 2.3 or something and long range at 4. Might be better to "zoom in" on minifig fights if they happen simultaneously with MS vehicle combat.

Thanks, Falk, that seems to be the best solution so far.