While making MechaStellar VER11 we had to fix some core balance problems that arose at the end of VER10, in doing so we’ve created an entirely new weapon system called “Triggers” that we’re really proud of, and we’re sure you will enjoy on the tabletop. Read on for a discussion on how we got here and the genesis of “Weapon Triggers”.
At the end of VER10 we were doing some heavy testing on Warships as well as small size units like Aura Battler Dunbine, VOTOMS, and soon to be Code Geass by popular request. At the end of VER10, power creep led to Machine guns having a base 10d10 attack dice, and were capped at DMG 200. So for a small size machine gun you would see on a Knightmare Frame or Armored Trooper, if we lowered DMG to 100 we’d have to raise one of the other stats.
One option was to raise the rapid fire stat, say from +2 Hits in Rapid Fire range to +5 Hits in rapid fire range. Another option was to increase the attack above 10d10, with those dice being auto hits. So a 15d10 machine gun rolled 10d10 with +5 auto-hits. While the damage wasn’t very high by default, it was a bit demoralizing having so many auto-hits coming at you and having no realistic way to completely dodge the attack.
Then once you toss in pilot upgrades, a legendary soldier like Chirico could be pumping out high volumes of hits on attack and counterattack while also racking up Finishing Blows. Finishing Blow proved to be a very troublesome system, that was awesome for super robots but absolutely busted for any machine gun units, especially small units. We’ll deep dive on Finisher in a separate post.
Still you might be asking? “Well if this is a big problem for small size units, why not just get rid of small size units and make them use the same weapons as everybody else?”
And that’s a valid point!
- Problem #1 For people who like versimilitude the 2m mech having the same damage profile as the 18m mech doesn’t feel great.
- Still it’s an abstraction so we can make do.
- But then we also have these two problems.
- Problem #2 – Unfortunately problems were popping up on normal sized units too, especially when you add Squads into the mix.
- Plus machine guns + rapid fire was either overkill or unsatisfying.
- Problem #3 – Rapid Fire heavily encouraged, getting super close, all the time, and sometimes felt like a punishment for rifles and bazookas who were heavily balanced around 1-2 unblocked hits, where rapid fire range feeling like a requirement to attack any evasive units. Something had to change.
- For Warships Rapid Fire range was essential to making them functional
So the DEV Team started working on “Barrage” as a trait that machine guns have, that let them feel like machine guns. Barrage was going to be a DakkaDakka type trait where rolling 10s were exploding dice that could be rolled again. This way, the small machine gun could be DMG 100, but have a bigger Barrage trait, i.e. [Barrage 8+]. Then the question came up, well does Barrage and CRIT stack? So 10s are worth double but also explode into more dice? If it’s Barrage 8+ are those also Crits? Generally, the Devs felt it should be Crit and Barrage because it might get complicated.
So the DEV Team asked a simple question. “What if we got rid of rapid fire?”
“What if you got rid of rapid fire? Replace with battlefield roles like Barrage, Bullseye, Counter, Finisher, etc.”
Now that’s a novel idea.
Getting rid of rapid fire meant we no longer had to worry about going over 10d10, we didn’t have to worry about machine guns spiking up to incredible number by virtue of being 12″ closer, we didn’t have to worry about some weapons being ineffective until you get closer forcing you to always move in for our staple weapons of rifles and machine guns, and especially Warship guns. We wouldn’t have to worry about writing rules to benefit or not benefit machine guns, i.e. DMG<300 or ATK>7d10, we could just say “This bonus applies to Barrage weapons”, and it make it way easier to calculate weapon points without half a dozen nested if statements. This would solve a lot of problem we have had over the years.
Suddenly we would open up a whole new design space for each weapon type, giving them all a Battle Field Role, where rolling this number or better would trigger a special effect; thus the name “Weapon Trigger” was born. Here’s a copy paste from the Dev notes doc, that shows our initial brainstormed ideas from that day for triggers and even a few melee weapon ideas.
Weapon Trigger Brainstorming
- Crit 10+ = Crit on a 10 like usual
- Counter 7+ = Only these weapons can Counter, but during Counterattack they instead hit on a 7+
- We can combo this with the Intuition Skill – Gain Counter 9+, if you already had counter then improve the number by +2
- To avoid this becoming super long we should not let the attacker get a counterdefense, but you can still use shields, cover, etc. to block.
- Barrage 8+ Exploding dice on 8+, each 8 means rolling extra dice. This will be a separate dice pool so we don’t have to worry about the 10d10 cap.
- Because there’s a lot of sequencing issues with pilot skills, this weapon should probably Auto Hit on a 3+, Elite units instead gain bonus Hits per model in the squad making it a great anti-squad weapon
- Bullseye 8+ These weapons Crit on a 8+ vs a unit on a CP or a unit with <2 Move Actions (crippled).
- Can target any unit, elite units gain a +HIT bonus
- Can cause System shock saves to cripple legs
- Bombard – Crit on Targets without Cover. Trait for cannons, will combo well with Bazookas (Siege)
- Siege 10+ Rolling this number blows up one piece of cover.
- Define cover by levels like 1-3, which gives +1-3 DEF. Each time a piece of cover is blown up lower the level by 1.
- Maybe Siege should also blow up Shields which was really common in 0079
- Simplest might be blow up shield instead of weakening, so if it’s a level 2 S2 Shield, then you need 2 triggers to blow it up, 1 trigger doesn’t hurt it, which would ease the bookeeping burden.
- Maybe using the Iron wall skill means your shield can no longer be broken that Turn, but then we run into a weird timing issues for the attack action…
- Finisher 8+ = 8s are crits when target is below 50% HP
What about Combination Triggers?
- AOE = Barrage (Anti Squad) + Siege (Anti Cover)
- Breaker = Pierce + Finisher
- CIWS = Barrage + Counter
- Dominate (Warship) = Bullseye + Finisher?
- IDF = Siege + Bombard?
- Overkill = Crit + Finisher?
Weapon Type Brainstorming
- Drill = Pierce
- Scythe = Finisher
- Saber = Crit or Counter?
- Axe = Crit
- Hammer = Siege
- [CC] = Bombard or Counter?
A lot has changed since then, some triggers like Barrage have merged, others like AOE and IDF have become separate bonus Traits, but overall many Triggers are still very similar to their original incarnation. Before we start the deep dive on Weapon Triggers for Barrage / Bullseye, Bombard / Siege, and Finisher we’re going to take a small detour for Sensors and Target Lock which instead of bonus attack dice will instead modify a units Trigger value.
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