One of our primary goals in making VER11 a simpler and easier to teach improvement over VER10 was to cut down on the number of “oh I forgot about this ability” on a mech’s profile sheet. Early in VER11 development the first thing we did was remove pilot bonuses, formerly Barrage, Bullseye, Dodge, Guard, etc. Instead, they were replaced with a Flat +1 bonus to HIT or DEF or both depending on the level of the pilot.
As we continued developing VER11 we got rid of bonus +HITs and +DEF and instead just used dice pools. As mentioned in our previous post, we were considering how to handle Elite pilots whether or not they should include a mechs combat dice pool or improving their TN to Hit or DEF. Eventually we settled on having a unit improve Target Number (TNs) for Attack, Defense and Morale.
Pilot progression has existed in Mecha Stellar for years, and for the most part it has always worked. Ordinary pilots eventually became Elite veterans, then Skilled pilots, and finally legendary Aces. As Version 11 continues simplifying the core game, however, pilot progression became one of the last major systems worth re-examining. The original progression for VER 11 was straightforward.
Ordinary Pilot
- HIT 5+ / DEF 5+
- Morale 7+
↓
Elite
- HIT 4+ / DEF 4+
↓
Skilled
- HIT 4+ / DEF 4+
- Morale 6+
↓
Ace
- HIT 3+ / DEF 3+
- Morale 5+
There was nothing inherently wrong with this system. In fact, it had one enormous advantage.
The Biggest Strength of the Original VER11 System
Elite pilots required almost no bookkeeping. Imagine deciding before a battle that every Zaku in your force was crewed by Elite veterans. Nothing on the printed profile needed to change.
You simply remembered:
“These Zakus HIT and DEF on 4+.”
Likewise, campaign progression was incredibly simple. A surviving pilot became Elite without requiring players to edit their profile. I considered this one of the system’s greatest strengths.
As Version 11 evolved, another issue slowly became apparent. The new version removes passive HIT and DEF bonuses from weapons entirely, in it’s place we now placed the units TN to Hit or DEF (i.e. 5+, 4+ or 3+ on the profile). So now if you change a characters elite level you would need to scratch those out potentially. Then another problem arose.
The Character Problem
In the above progression, all battle-tested, skilled and ace units wind up with the same bonuses. But that’s not really how we view our characters. Consider a few Gundam examples.
- Late One Year War Amuro might naturally become both incredibly accurate and almost impossible to hit.
- Kamille, on the other hand, feels much more like a pilot who continually invests in overwhelming offensive ability.
- Quattro often feels calmer and more defensive than his younger self.
- Emma Sheen represents professionalism and composure more than reckless aggression.
Those characters shouldn’t necessarily end up with the same statistical progression. They should tell different stories.
So we decided to let elite units choose where to spend their elite passive upgrades, splitting options into ATK+, DEF+, Morale+. A Battle Tested unit might be Morale 5+, or Hit 4+ or DEF 4+. A skilled pilot would choose 2 of those, or perhaps only have ATK 3+. It worked great, but the more we played the more we felt it didn’t represent the full breadth of characters present in Mecha fiction. For example, Amuro might be an all rounder, while Kamille favors shooting over melee, similarly we might see Quattro more reserved and defensive than the aggressive Red Comet.
We realized that it would be a lot better to further split up ATK and DEF into Shooting / Melee ATK and Evade / Melee DEF. Each level of elite unit, whether it be Battle Tested, Skilled or Ace, will have points available to improve these target numbers giving us a lot more variety in types of pilots. Consider the following:
- Basic pilot – Morale 7+, ATK / DEF 5+
- Char – Morale 5+, Shooting 4+, Melee 4+, Evade 3+
- Ramba Ral – Morale 6+, Melee 3+, Evade 3+, Melee DEF 4+
- Black Tri Stars – Morale 6+, Shooting 3+, Melee 3+, Evade 4+
Now let’s consider some pilots with very similar archetypes, we now have a lot of flexibility to make them feel different
- Might Gaine with Maito Senpuji – Morale 5+, Shooting 3+, Melee ATK 4+, Melee DEF 4+
- GaoGaiGar with Guy Shishioh – Morale 3+, Melee DEF 4+, Melee ATK 4+
- Gurren Lagann with Kamina & Simon – Morale 3+, Melee ATK 3+
Campaigns And Scenarios
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the new system is that campaign progression and historical scenarios now use exactly the same language. A rookie pilot surviving battle after battle simply chooses upgrades as they earn promotions. Likewise, historical characters can simply begin at different stages of that exact progression and you can use the optional upgrade system to take a base profile and make it the best version of that pilot. The system naturally supports both.
One realization kept resurfacing throughout the discussion. Version 11 is increasingly moving away from making every veteran mathematically better at everything. Instead, it encourages players to ask:
“What kind of pilot did this character become?”
- Did they become gods of melee?
- Did they become impossible to hit?
- Did they develop legendary marksmanship?
- Did they simply become one of the calmest, most reliable commanders on the battlefield?
- Those answers should not all be the same.
Hopefully, the new pilot progression finally allows legendary characters to feel legendary in different ways. Campaigns, however, tell a different story.
Pilots earn promotions through surviving battles and achieving victories, slowly investing in ATK, DEF, or Morale as their experience grows. Reaching 3+/3+/3+/3+ should feel like the culmination of an extraordinary career, being the best pilot to ever live and having your final battle as Axis is falling towards Earth or right before Genesis fires on Earth.
Elite units now provide passive bonuses fully built into your unit profile, you no longer need to refer down to their pilot trait or need to remember what it does. Fear not though, for the previous pilot traits of VER10 still exist, but now become upgrade options for any given unit.
Likewise, we are making Elite Captains play just like an Elite Pilot using almost all of the same pilot skills (with 1 exception) and have the same passive pilot abilities. Captain’s orders and mission commander orders are also still in the game but they will also be relegated to upgrade options.
We’re still experimenting on whether or not we want elite units to also improve, Weapon Trigger TN, Save TN, or DMG, so were looking for feedback from you, on whether that would be AWESOME or TERRIBLE for game balance.
MechaStellar 