TLDR: 28mm scifi skirmish. Need opinions on a per model/unit resource called Energy, used to soak damage defensively, and to power up offensively. I need some opinions on the system, and point out any obvious problems that I'm missing.
Doing some theory crafting on some new mechanics for my scifi skirmish game. Nothing special or original, just trying to fit all the parts together. See below the break for a description of my game to get a better idea.
The mechanic I'm testing is using a new stat, called Energy, as both an offensive and defensive resource. Energy/stamina/fatigue concepts are pretty common in tactical boardgames, not so much in older style miniature wargames. I'm running into some issues regarding use, and bookkeeping on the tabletop.
Defensively, this energy resource should reduce or replace damage with energy loss, a way of saving a model from a bout of exceptionally bad luck, with the downside of losing offensive capability and potentially taking more damage later. Offensively, you can spend it to gain extra movement, use powerful abilities, and more.
Fluff-wise it represents a temporary damage such as fatigue/endurance, depleted shields, cracked armor, low ammo, overheating tech, and minor wounds. Offensively, it means expending extra ammo, powering up an attack with extra kinetic force, etc.
Originally, it was a take on a concept called Disruption, from an old community rules set called Forge of War. In that game, it was a straight 1 to 1 conversion of damage into disruption, and the player always chose to do this up to a limit. Then, each point of disruption, similar to Bolt Action's pin markers, would have a 1 to 1 negative penalty on shooting.
In my game, I didn't want it to be so dry and predictable as, "cancel 1 damage for 1 energy." Also, I quickly removed the straight penalty to shooting, since this was an action oriented space fantasy game, rather than a game that would model suppression in detail.
Most units will have around 8 energy, with better quality troops having more, poor quality troops having less. Models will also have an average of 8 health for a well equipped, healthy human-equivalent soldier.
Models will have defensive abilities, called Soaks, that cancel out a portion of damage, in exchange for losing energy. The exchange rate on each would vary from model to model. One basic idea for a soak ability is one that cancels damage at a better exchange rate, such as 3 damage for 2 energy. At this point the options are many so I'll need to start playtesting ideas to see what works. Some soaks could be taken multiple times and others only once. Some soaks might be required if damage is over a certain amount, triggering status effects like armor/shield breaks, stunned, downed, etc. Then there's the fallback of 1 damage to 1 energy.
The only way to regenerate energy is to take a "Recover" action that gives energy, so doing so wastes actions that could be completing objectives.
I also wanted a reason to keep energy high, giving a kind of passive bonus against effects like suppressing fire and critical hits, thus giving a reason to take Recover actions early, besides canceling damage. I was thinking of thresholds for Energy, which if you stayed above, then at the time you took suppressing fire, took a critical hit, or went over a health threshold it would give a bonus to those outcomes.
Some soak abilities might only be usable while the energy is above a certain threshold. However, I feel this might discourage the use of energy offensively.
I plan to present, and track all this information on cards similar to Warmachine or Malifaux's. Using markers or tokens on the cards to track this info. I'm also considering some generic dials from boardgames. Again, all this would not be placed next to the miniature, but rather on its card or printout, to avoid cluttering the play space.
My concerns are:
How do I make the damage canceling ability of energy into something that's not just soak 1 damage for every 1 point of energy? Add some randomness?
Too much bookkeeping? Do you think components like cards, dials/tokens, etc can help with that?
This system is designed to prevent the loss of a healthy model from being wiped out in one turn from exceptional randomness. However, effectively losing a model in one turn is a good thing in many designs, because it's a punishment for overextending.
*** Below this is an explanation of my rules, as they are currently ***
My game is a squad level scifi skirmish, called Exoshift. It's similar in scope and scale as Infinity or Deadzone, or some recent tactical boardgames. Models will alternate activations, so one player uses one model, then another player does the same, until every model on the table has activated.
It's also an old style miniature wargame. No board with grids, just the tabletop with tape measures and dice. However, I am exploring the use of boardgame components to enhance complexity while keeping bookkeeping manageable.
In the setting, defensive tech has outpaced offensive technology for a while now, and these techs are practical and affordable for almost every soldier. Although extremely deadly weaponry exists, they are costly to produce, even with the latest nanotech fabrication methods.
The current rules are basically: Roll d10, get equal or less than Ranged Combat stat to hit, with modifiers to the stat such as range and cover. Weapons will have 2-4 shots every time you shoot.
On a hit, take the Power stat of the weapon (7-10 for basic guns), subtract the target's Defense stat and cover to get a damage target number (TN). Roll d10, get equal to the damage TN to do 1 point of damage. If you roll less than the TN, you do 1 additional damage for each point under the TN. Thus the damage can really pile up with a good turn of shooting getting multiple hits.
There is a reaction system, where models have 2 actions on their "activation" with 1 reaction that they can spend as a third action, or use to react to enemies taking their own actions. Hence the need for this energy system to reliably soak some damage during a reaction attack, giving players an incentive to be aggressive.
begins to think about terrain for Team Yankee.
