ScrapYard Armory

Give Combined Arms a Chance

A well respected poster on the Classic BattleTech forums recently chimed in when discussing the Inner Sphere in Flames rules.

The main problem with ISiF is that there’s no real reason to build much of anything but 3025 Light ‘Mech Companies.

He is absolutely right. When you look at the combat strength of all the units available in the game, those light companies are the most efficient cost wise. Add in the fact that factories produce units in batches (each line produces 3 resource points worth of units per month) and it is obvious we have a problem.

On page 15 under a section labeled “Battle Field Tactics“, combined arms is described as a vital component of a leaders military arsenal. The rules should fit that fiction.

Solution: Give a bonus to all forces that use combined arms.

It’s simple and the bonus can be modified to reflect the wants and desires of the particular group playing the game.

Combat and the Game Turn

Each turn in the Grand Strategic Game lasts one month. Each force can be given up to four orders in a turn. This makes perfect sense. The average recharge time for a KF-Drive is around a week. Sounds innocent enough, but when you start moving multiple units around to conquer planets, the cracks in the foundation show.

The critical flaw is in how combat is resolved. Whenever two forces end movement on the same planet, you get a battle. Each move takes one week to resolve. Combat is resolved all at once however. If two opposing forces are already on a planet at the start of the turn and are not ordered to retreat, they fight for the entire turn. Now what if the invading force is two jumps away? First order is to move, the second order is to assault the plant in question. Combat occurs just the same, even though the invading force is only on planet for 3/4 of a turn, the damage potential remains the same as if they had been fighting the entire month.

What if the invading force is three jumps away?  What if there are three forces invading, each different distances from the target?

You can go on and on making up examples that just don’t make sense.

Solution: Break up combat into four parts to reflect what is already happens with movement.

The record keeping becomes a bit more convoluted, but the damage dealt in combat is properly synchronized with the game turn.  We deal with the record keeping next.

Cutting Out the GM

As previously mentioned on this blog, my own venture into a forum based Grand Strategic Game failed. By the time we got to turn 8 or so, the game master was simply overwhelmed by the workload required to process our orders. And all we did was a regional conflict. Imagine the chaos a full Succession War sized conflict would have wrought.

To make matters worse, we weren’t even using most of the espionage rules or the advanced economy rules. It just was beyond what one or even a group of people are able to accomplish between forum posts and emailed spread sheets.  Its a shame really.  The prospect of tangled webs of espionage and special ops forces behind enemy lines is something that made the game so appealing to me.

Military actions are just as screwed.  The more forces in play the bigger and badder the record keeping becomes.  Spreadsheets balloon and sooner rather than later mistakes creep in.  Most gamers don’t cheat.  But I unashamedly admit to making a mistake now and again.  Simple innocent mistakes can possibly undermine the credibility of the game.  No game master can possibly keep proper tabs on a cache of information required for even a regional conflict.

Solution: Design and program a stand-alone computer program that automates the whole game.

I’m talking about a program that will allow any group of gamers to host their very own Grand Strategic Games in any era that will handle regional conflicts as well as full blown succession wars.

I have no delusions about my programming ability.  It is going to be tough and I’m likely to have to learn a thing or two along the way to make it happen.  I’m nothing if not persistent.

I have some gamers from the Classic BattleTech community in the wings kicking my ass along the way.  Want to join them?  Leave a comment or contact me.