Bombs Away - Heat 2 - Underway!

[cd4]

by chance where was cd4 and who hit him?

I was actually on E8 and Calar did hit me.

1.Did you have fun?

Yes, it was a fun game

2.Did you have a strategy/system, or did you just fire blind?

I did have a strategy of working out where people could be and shooting at the squares most people where at. The only player I thought I had down to one square during the game was Minty Ninja but apparently I had made a mistake and he wasn't on C6 like my plan told me. After that I started moving and shooting in the rough general of most of the players in the hope that I hit someone while I was away.

3.Does the game work in it's current format?

I think they need some changes but it generally works with the current format.

4.Any rule changes needed to make it better/work at all?

The abilities to me are not balanced and need changing a bit - see below.

5.Were the starting abilities and upgrades balanced?

I don't think so. I'll examine them in detail.

Basic

Run like Hell - Not that useful - In certain situations when there is a target that is just out of range/sight but it is only really helpful if the target's location is known.

Cluster Bombs - Very Useful - The best way to get kills is to target as many squares as possible and this does so.

Sniper Bombs - Not that useful - Able to hit from futher away but still only hit one square. It does make you slightly harder to find but it doesn't help you get kills.

I'm Bruce Lee - Useful - Making it so that you have two squares that you target, like Cluster Bombs is a very good way of making kills. The teleport means that it is not instantly known where you are and is working at the moment.

With this the next few games will probably be with players that have Cluster Bombs vs I'm Bruce Lee.

Upgrades

Fleeing Coward - Not that useful - while moving three squares could be nice, you have to give up your shots to do so meaning you cannot get a kill without I'm Bruce Lee.

Dragon Breath - Very Useful - Able to hit 8 squares at once helps get more kills.

Super Bombing Arm - Useful - As demonstrated in Heat 1 with this you can sit somewhere, shoot and no-one can find you.

X-ray Specs - Very Useful - One of the main safetys is the fact that the wall in the centre is blocking half of the squares, with this you can shoot at someone just as soon as they get within range.

Steel Codpiece - Extremely Useful - It does partly reveal your location at which point the Fleeing Coward and Run Like Hell could be useful but even so, it everyone tries to kill you all they have to do is target the same patten of squares however you moved. It also helps keep your upgrades for another turn and lets you play on.

Machine Gun Bombs - Very Useful - Like Cluster Bombs they give you more chance of getting a kill.

Marksman - Very Useful - Able to shoot twice is a very useful ability and quite a good way of getting a kill.

Though while I can see how they are at the moment I am not sure how to make some more useful than others.

6.Are the Deathmatch-style updates sufficient, or should I try and narrate things?

The current narrations work well and fit the theme very well.

7.Would you play again (with any mentioned rules tweaks), possibly in an ever-updating league table?

Yes I would.

8.Any other comments?

It is a good, fun game. Which I won. YES!

Question

If 2 people target someone with a steel codpiece and hit who gets the kill?

[banjo1985]

8.Any other comments?
What is a "Mover Shaker"?

The player who moved the most spaces during the game. Doesn't really mean anything, I just like keeping fairly pointless stats as the game went on.

Question

If 2 people target someone with a steel codpiece and hit who gets the kill?

An interesting question, I hadn't even considered that situation. I would probably have ruled that the first shot destroyed the codpiece, while the second got the frag. Again, this would have favoured late posting in the thread.

Thanks for the feedback on the game, I'm glad it was enjoyable even with quite a few problems that need to be ironed out. For future games I'll be looking at changing the way abilities are gained, as the abilities at the moent are unbalanced, and the game favours whoever gets the first kill. There's also a few absolutely killer combo's that almost guarantee a win, such as Super Bombing Arm + Machine Gun Bombs + Marksman.

A few ideas for fixes to the abilities:

- When someone scores a frag, the ability drops on the square the target has just been fragged on, for anyone to pick up.This could create some interesting choke points on the map, and stop someone from camping and sniping people from across the board. Well it wouldn't stop them, but they would struggle to get any upgrades.

OR
- The first frag someone scores gives them another starting ability as an upgrade. Only on the second frag (without being fragged themselves) would they get one of the more powerful abilities.

I'll also look to reduce the advantage of posting late in the turn as well, though doing so without making actions PM only (something I really want to avoid) will be difficult.

Anyhow, thanks for the feedback and for playing! I'm going to step back and take a look at the rules and see what I can do to polish them based on these two heats. Hope to see you playing again when Bombs Away 3.0 starts recruiting!