Newbish n00b questions, MkII

[IVhorseman]

I usually make em use their move from inside the vehicle, but that's probably less fun than what you suggest.

Bigger tools just multiply normal tool stats by their size in inches. That's the simplest solution.

[Battlegrinder]

Regarding the bit about heroes sitting around giving speeches instead of doing something, I've actually found a workaround for that. What I like to do on the rare occasions that I want to inspire the troops is have the hero do something awesome, and have the inspiration come as a side effect of that. For example, on time I had my hero grab a spear and skewer a guy who'd been causing my army trouble, and then he said something along the lines of "top that, losers!"

Basically, have your hero do something inspiring instead of just saying something inspiring.

[Zupponn]

Command Vehicles could use something like an ability called "Berate" where, once per turn, the commander in the command vehicle may berate a nearby minifig.  The minifig gets a -6 penalty to his next roll.  Then roll for success.  If you succeed, your minifigs in the area get a +1 bonus.  If you fail, your minifigs in the area get a -1 penalty.

[stubby]

Command Vehicles could use something like an ability called "Berate" where, once per turn, the commander in the command vehicle may berate a nearby minifig.  The minifig gets a -6 penalty to his next roll.  Then roll for success.  If you succeed, your minifigs in the area get a +1 bonus.  If you fail, your minifigs in the area get a -1 penalty.

Do you remember when we were talking about a Drill Sergeant unit? He was like an officer with a power drill and the ability to Scapegoat a squad member. Once a turn, he could blame any failure on one of his squad members, sacrifice him (by drilling a hole in his head), and then the rest of the squad would get a motivation bonus. (Later this got turned into Masters and Thralls in chapter 10, but I always liked this image of leadership.)

[stubby]

Oh man, reading back through that Leader thread again now -

121. how did I forget about this??

What do you think of this:

A Leader can ScapeGoat any subordinate unit that hasn't taken its turn yet, blaming them for failures real or imagined and motivating the troops with his decisive leadership.  The unit's CP cost is immediately converted into Instant Benny bonus points which can be divided up and spent during that turn by the Leader and/or any other subordinate units.

The Leader picks an enemy player to control the ScapeGoat unit from that point forward, so it's in his own best interest to neutralize the victim quickly. The ScapeGoat now acts on the enemy's turn, so he won't be able to respond immediately, but he will have a Response Action to spend (since he hasn't taken his turn yet).  When a Hero is ScapeGoated, he can make a one-time 1d6" roll for loyal RedShirts to join him in exile, although the RedShirt's CP costs will increase the number of bonus points for the Leader as well.

In a pinch, the player may also have any subordinate unit ScapeGoat the Leader instead.

Not that this has anything to do with command vehicles, but it's still great

[Battlegrinder]

122. Can vehicles use the stealth skill?
123. Can units enter the battle as reinforcements already stealthed, or do they have to arrive visible and then cloak?

[stubby]

121. how did I forget about this??

121. I think it's because you're stupid.

122. Can vehicles use the stealth skill?
123. Can units enter the battle as reinforcements already stealthed, or do they have to arrive visible and then cloak?

122. If it fits the vehicle concept, I guess so. They lose the advantage of the +1 Cover of course, since that's minifig-specific.

123. They arrive visible. The main balancing factor on Stealth is the need to find those hidden spots where you can successfully cloak. So the bigger your vehicle, the hard it is to find a spot where you're hidden.

[Battlegrinder]

122. Can vehicles use the stealth skill?
123. Can units enter the battle as reinforcements already stealthed, or do they have to arrive visible and then cloak?

122. If it fits the vehicle concept, I guess so. They lose the advantage of the +1 Cover of course, since that's minifig-specific.

123. They arrive visible. The main balancing factor on Stealth is the need to find those hidden spots where you can successfully cloak. So the bigger your vehicle, the hard it is to find a spot where you're hidden.

Nuts. I was planning on doing something really    with a stealthed APC sneaking up behind an opponents army. Guess I'll have to come up with another way to create the brikwars version of Creed.

[Zupponn]

Command Vehicles could use something like an ability called "Berate" where, once per turn, the commander in the command vehicle may berate a nearby minifig.  The minifig gets a -6 penalty to his next roll.  Then roll for success.  If you succeed, your minifigs in the area get a +1 bonus.  If you fail, your minifigs in the area get a -1 penalty.

Do you remember when we were talking about a Drill Sergeant unit? He was like an officer with a power drill and the ability to Scapegoat a squad member. Once a turn, he could blame any failure on one of his squad members, sacrifice him (by drilling a hole in his head), and then the rest of the squad would get a motivation bonus. (Later this got turned into Masters and Thralls in chapter 10, but I always liked this image of leadership.)

Honestly, I don't always pay complete attention to this part of the forum, especially with the 100+ questions that have been asked recently.

I'm glad that my thought is unoriginal though.  

[stubby]

122. Can vehicles use the stealth skill?

If you've put a bunch of camouflage all over your tank and are sneaking it up to enemy lines, then it works exactly like Stealth. If you've just cloaked your Romulan Warbird, then you want to do it somewhere where the Enterprise doesn't notice it, otherwise they're tracking your ion signature or something the whole time.

Cloaking is tough to balance, mechanics-wise; it's very tricky not to make it OP. The Stealth rules are the best solution we've come up with so far, but I'm open to more ideas if you've got any.

[Battlegrinder]

Cloaking is tough to balance, mechanics-wise; it's very tricky not to make it OP. The Stealth rules are the best solution we've come up with so far, but I'm open to more ideas if you've got any.

That's why I wanted to try and Stealth a vehicle. I'd planned on sneaking an APC behind someone's army, then shooting them with mounted guns, running over a few squads, and disembarking the infantry. I eventually decided that doing that would be a little too likely to get me beaten, so I scrapped the idea. I have been thinking about using the stealth rules to hide units I really want to protect (like my drop pod guidance vehicle, should it prove worthwhile to use), but I suspect that the points spent to make a vehicles capable of using stealth will generally be better spent on more weapons, troops, and gear.

[Battlegrinder]

131. I know that creation cannot move while it is using the Divert All Power or Teamwork rules. Can it move after doing so? For example, if a light tank is ambushed by a bigger one, but manages to get behind cover, could it use Divert All Power to charge up all it's weapons, and then roll out of cover to engage the bigger tank, or would it have to stay in postion and wait for the larger tank to come after it?

132. Can a unit use Divert All Power to charge up all weapons, but instead of firing them the next turn, only use it's normal allotment of weapons, keeping the extra ones charged for later use?

[stubby]

131. I know that creation cannot move while it is using the Divert All Power or Teamwork rules. Can it move after doing so? For example, if a light tank is ambushed by a bigger one, but manages to get behind cover, could it use Divert All Power to charge up all it's weapons, and then roll out of cover to engage the bigger tank, or would it have to stay in postion and wait for the larger tank to come after it?

132. Can a unit use Divert All Power to charge up all weapons, but instead of firing them the next turn, only use it's normal allotment of weapons, keeping the extra ones charged for later use?

131, 132: No.

[Battlegrinder]

131. I know that creation cannot move while it is using the Divert All Power or Teamwork rules. Can it move after doing so? For example, if a light tank is ambushed by a bigger one, but manages to get behind cover, could it use Divert All Power to charge up all it's weapons, and then roll out of cover to engage the bigger tank, or would it have to stay in postion and wait for the larger tank to come after it?

132. Can a unit use Divert All Power to charge up all weapons, but instead of firing them the next turn, only use it's normal allotment of weapons, keeping the extra ones charged for later use?

131, 132: No.

134. So once a unit has spent a turn using Divert All Power, it's completely immobile on all subsequent turns until it fires?

[IVhorseman]

It can move again if it wants, it just reverts back to normal weapon allotments.