On a completely different note, I'd like to ask about a rules change for future fights. I'm still waffling on Borderline, but in terms of power consumption, I'd like to redefine how long a round is.
As it stands right now, a round = 1 minute of "real time," which seems to make sense in that 'hurry up you're running out of power' sort of way, but actually provides us with Evangelions that are significantly slower and clumsier than anything seen in the TV show, not even counting Rebuild, where they're sped up even more.
Why? Well...
First and foremost, picture one of the Evas just... I dunno, freaking out during a berserk. How long does the punch take? Is it a second, maybe? Cool. Now sit there for 59 seconds. Go ahead, I'll wait.
...
Congrats, you may now take a second swing. Wait another 59 seconds.
...
Man, this all-out-attacking every turn is brutally visceral, huh? I'm tired just thinking about it. Well, I'm sleepy, anyway.
So there's that. Additionally, when we take a look at Eva-speeds, we find that an Agi 40 Evangelion has a 32dm sprint. That's 32dm per minute, or 320 meters per minute, or 19200 meters per hour, or 19.2 kph, or a whopping 11.9303 mph. That's right, the mightiest war machine ever devised by mankind can be outrun and outdistanced by an obese kid on a bicycle.
Between these two issues, things like racing to catch Sahaquiel, dance-dueling Israfel, or taking out 9 Mass-Produced Evas in 3 minutes aren't just unlikely, they're flat-frigging-impossible. To say nothing of how one could even tell the difference between single shot and semiauto - your E-scale handgun takes 59 seconds to chamber a round, never mind reloading. Cripes, musket-wielding armies had a better rate of fire than that.
It seems like it would be easy to solve this little issue, except that there are some E-scale actions that really should take a whole minute, and of course, there's the power issue.
So what I propose is this - I'd like to introduce a new "time rate" to the game. You already know about dramatic time, but I would split combat time into strategic time and tactical time. Strategic time is Combat Time as you know it, where one minute equals one round. Tactical time is going to be reduced to 1 round = 10 seconds. This is still a bit slow, but if we treat All Out Attack and Full Auto Burst, etc, as being a flurry of attacks or a flurry of shots (more than the ammo downtick), then we can start talking. Even better, this enables Agi 4 Evas to run at nearly 70 mph (about 50+ for Agi 3), and if other agility boosts or AT powers come into play it could be faster yet, which means that the terrifying berserk machine can no longer be avoided by cross country runners or anyone with access to any kind of transportation technology invented in the last millennium. This also means that a successful jump check does not give you a full minute of hang time, awesome though that may be.
This does indeed give you 18 rounds of "racing" time - more if you decide to throttle back. While it may seem like this will never be an issue ever again, I'd like to point out that Forcas has been doing literally everything conceivable to speed up the combat, is still not even close to calling it quits, and you're on round 5-6 now. I'd like to be able to let the OD deploy the Evas somewhere where there might not be a power grid without having to live with the knowledge that the Evas automatically lose if the Angel just runs away for 3 rounds and then comes back to start bashing heads, yet still having to worry about a dragged-out fight with a defensive Angel.
Strategic time would be used for the Phase 1 combat, which can simply be 100 unspecified units of space that the units are moving about via abstract speeds, firing nonspecific numbers of bullets and rockets or doing tricks. This can be measured in minutes just fine, as Angels never bring out their "A-game" at the defensive line, anyway. Strategic time could also be used when things are happening but everyone isn't trying to kill each other - for instance, when playing hide-and-seek with a stealthy Angel, or anything else that would encompass a full minute's worth of effort with a single roll.
So what do you think? Does this make sense to you?
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Yeah, the only good example I can find is in 1.11 where shinji is prog knifing sachiel. "AHHHHHHH ~Push controller forward~!" ~chuckle~
Not sure how to fix it though but I think it should be break down to rounds equating to 6 seconds a piece, with the battery life being 3-5 minutes (whichever system you're using ; think one leaves at 5, others reduce to 3). From there when you disconnect from the umbilical cable you lose battery life at a rate of 6 seconds a full round (or 3 seconds per half action), if you later reconnect you go back to cable power and restore 6 seconds of battery life for every round you're back on the cable as you slowly recharge.
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Yeah Jade that makes sense and it is a good idea. I would potentially divorce active unplugged rounds from a direct conversion to measured time perhaps. But then you are back in a "Unit 02 couldn't drop 9 in 3 minutes" issue.
Indeed it is and I'm working on it but I've got a bit of a 'I want to cut off my ear! Oh God! Why wont the pain stop!' problem at the moment so I've been lying down and feeling sorry for myself in my free time. Going to see my pharmacist tomorrow if the pain persists and if he doesn't (or she doesn't) have anything for my ear I'm pretty much forced to go ask my doctor to stick a thing-y in my ear to see whether or not the French Foreign Legion is or is not camping out in there.
Post should be up soon-ish. Maybe. If the weather permits. And the price of painkillers remains stable. Or the sun takes his hat off.
I like the sound of speeding time up, because the fight with the T-RIDEN-T was more than a little nerve-racking. Three rounds to kill it if it had taken out the umbilical/MSS is quite a challenge.
The fact that the thing kept running away was even more difficult - if it had used its tactical movement to it's full potential I could never have beaten it - or even caught it. In 18 rounds my superior movement would have paid off; but for three rounds the advantage was almost negligible.
More time to act in will make the combats a lot more interesting, I think, as it simply allows more options in combat. 10 seconds a round sounds about right, too, I think - narratively speaking it's probably a bit slow, but mechanically speaking it's a good number.
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Edit: Forcas is successfully held by Rata's Halt Advance maneuver. Forcas cannot move until the beginning of his turn in Round 7 (it is currently Round 6). As per Halt Advance, Forcas is not hindered in any other way, and can still use any non-movement action.
Edit: Also, I'm going to go ahead and implement the rules change effective now. Since Unit 03 finished its first fight, and Units 04 and 08 haven't been disconnected from the power grid yet, we should be fine using it right away.
__________________ "Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel."
- Mark Twain
"Life is too short for [manuals], but occasionally much too short without them."
- Randall Munroe, xkcd.com (paraphrased)
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Last edited by Jade_Tarem : 06-24-2012 at 01:49 AM.
Is Rata trying to get me to run away? Or just move a bit away? Each has its advantages and disadvantages...the biggest disadvantage with running is with my speed slowed, the Angel will catch up to me in one turn on the charge.
She plans to keep using Halt Advance and with a slight better than fifty/fifty chance of being successful (52% to be exact) I'd say running is a good idea.
I just wonder how long you can last with that. I was going to move a couple dam, aim, and autofire again at point blank range, leave my A.T. Field up to Barrier if I need to.
65. I think I should spend a Fate Point but I want to ask: is Forcas concentrating on Rata again? If it is then she wont spend a Fate Point to re-roll her Test.
In the interests of following the rules, here's a WP test to resist the 'Loss' trait and abandon Zoe to get back to the convoy.
With a -30 to the test due to knowing Zoe personally, I can only succeed on a 01 - assuming a 01 is an auto success under this system (I don't actually remember) - otherwise I can't acutally succeed it.
(1d100)[22]
Not, I hasted to add, that William will abandon Zoe even if he (somehow) passes the test. I just feel obliged to laugh at the results
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The description in "Loss" is a little vague, I took to mean someone you've been introduced to and have spoken to. Whereas the -10 is just for a complete stranger, or someone you're vaguely aware of.
I'm sorry if that last IC post is a little hazy/weird or anything, I may have been a little drunk when I wrote it up.
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Random question. Do we get any additional size modifier to hit the Angel, like in the Dark Heresy system? I'm not sure if it's big enough compared to the Evas to qualify for that, but wanted to check.
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Re: Adeptus Evangelion: The Sun Never Sets (OOC)
It is now DarkDM's turn.
