[MS] Design Goals VER 8 – Death Rays

One thing we’ve been able to play around with recently have been Death Rays, the catch-all weapon profile for any Area of Effect type of attack that typically is in a line. Since we’ve been drafting up profiles for Super Robot style shows like Getter Robo we’ve been able to use them more often. For a game like MechaStellar we always try to thread the needle by keeping a profile general enough that it can be used by either a Super Robot or a Real Robot show, with the latest iteration of the Death Ray type weapon we get closer to that goal.

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[MS] Design Goals VER 8 – Point Costs

Points updates are pretty common when it comes to wargames, you don’t want a unit to be too powerful while being undercosted otherwise you wind up with some very uneven games. For MechaStellar we adjust points during each Version and on occasion will make a large adjustment between editions. For Version 8 the biggest changes were to Pilot & Performance cost.

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[MS] Design Goals VER 8 – Commands

While we were working on the revisions to Pilot Level we reexamined Commands that affected only a single model and especially those reserved for Ace Pilots and moved them over to the new and improved Pilot Skills section. After that we looked at our remaining Commands and modified them to affect multiple units as well as adding additional ones. Below are some examples below the break.

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[MS] Design Goals VER 8 – Melee

The Melee system in MechaStellar got a serious overhaul in Version 8. While the Melee systerm was one of the most fun parts of Version 7 it effectiveness generally tapered off at higher levels when both the attacker and defender had 7 – 10 dice available to roll. For Version 8 we set out to make it more interactive both for the Attacker and the Defender.

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[MS] Design Goals VER 8 – Pilots

Our biggest factor driving the Version 8 update was an update to the Pilot rules. Pilot has stayed fairly steady over the last few Versions with each rendition improving your Army’s Momentum. In Version 8 we wanted to make Pilot more important on an individual unit basis instead of just strengthening your army.

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MechaStellar Version 8 Released

Good morning everyone and thanks for your patience. The last two months have been a fun time working on MechaStellar. over the holidays and we got a lot of playtests in during December and January.  Today we are releasing Version 8 which overhauls the Pilot system and Melee system as well as points adjustments for the Pilot and Performance stat.  Below is a quick summary of all major changes, we also have some in-depth posts here if you’re curious about any design decisions.

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[MS] Design Goals – Cross Era and Cross Universe Compatibility

One of our design goals was to ensure there is some compatibility between both eras and different mecha universes.  Cross Era compatibility would let you reenact the Jaburo drop in Zeta Gundam or the Assault on Torrington in Unicorn where you field units from different time periods and have them at least stand a chance against newer models.  Cross universe compatibility would let you mix Gundam and Evangelion for instance, or Gurenn Lagann and Getter Robo like you would in a Super Robot Wars style game. 

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