A little over a year ago, I started to write a series of posts reviewing the mechanical aspects of BCG. Today I start the review of BCZ, judging how well the mechanics do the job they were created for. Along the way I will be sharing behind-the-scenes information and talking about game design in general. Much like with the BCG Retrospective series, this will take many months, but at least updates should be weekly on average. I will be going through BCZ in the order of the book's contents, which means we'll start with the new Terrain types that BCZ introduces to the rules. It is not the most exciting new content, but it serves an important purpose, so let's get started already.
Interference Terrain
Interference Terrain uses the same rules that Stealth Field from BCG does. I don't remember when stealth became synonimous with 'Two Disadvantages to non-AoE attacks' but, if I'd known how much it would stick conceptually, I'd have made a Stealth keyword or status condition so I wouldn't have to repeat the rules every time. it was solidified like that. One unique thing about Interference Terrain is that you can't ignore its effects by flying over it. This is for two reasons: The first is that Interference Terrain doesn't represent something you walk over but rather a cloud or mist in the vein of Minovsky Particles from Gundam. The second is that you could exploit flight + Interference Terrain to grant yourself an insane edge against non-flying units.
Sliding Terrain
Sliding Terrain started as a way to represent strong gravity, winds, currents or other terrain that would move units around. Originally, it was going to be used by several abilities as an indirect way to move both enemies and allies around. At some point I realized that it was much more more convenient to simply slide targets around directly, leaving Sliding Terrain as a tool for the GM when creating battlefields.
Withering Terrain
This almost suffers the same fate that Sliding Terrain did - the few abilities that create Withering Terrain almost got rewritten to halving the target unit's energy. Halving someone's energy regeneration isn't quite the same thing as halving their currently available energy, though, and most of the abilities that create Withering Terrain also create Difficult or Extreme Terrain as well, so sticking to Withering Terrain is simply more elegant.
Variant Anti-Air Terrain
This rule is mostly there for GMs. If the entire PC squad is flight-capable then your battlefields might as well be flat Boss Platforms. By using Anti-Air Terrain the GM can force Flyers to avoid specific areas and keep Antigrav users in the ground to make them choose between the dangers on the ground and those on the air. It is also handy for PCs who can create two instances of Terrain during one Turn (like, say, using Surprise Minefield twice) to force a target to take the effect regardless of whether they fly or not.
Lastly, there's the sidebar about how multiple instances of Terrain stack. This was a rule back then in BCG as well, but the rules effects weren't properly spelled out and, I figure, the addition of new Terrain types is a good reason as any to write everything down. All the effects are pretty intuitive, but I think Extreme Terrain might deserve some explanation. Originally, stacking Extreme Terrain simply added a Disadvantage to the Test, but that didn't feel as lethal as it should've been. I tried two Disadvantages as well and, while that was sufficiently lethal for two stacks, it was thoroughly insane for three stacks and above. Now you add Tension multiple times to the Test, which is sometimes rather anemic and sometimes absurdly overpowering, but the transition happens over time in a natural fashion instead.
That's it for today. Think of this update as a short appetizer, we'll get to the main dish and its walls of text soon enough.
Next: New Miracles.
Until then, Gimmick Out.
Variant anti-air terrain felt more like an FAQ answer for players about something that should have been obvious from the get-go really: One can either fill the sky with flak or have it burst near the trenches, and Incinerator makes an excellent dogfighting gun.
ReplyDeleteThe harder ones are those you can't easily get on weapons: the only non-GM way of putting Withering terrain anywhere is the one-shot-one-round Cryogenic Blast, and there's unfortunately no "sliding terrain" mode on graviton beams the way there is for extreme and flamethrowers.
Interference can be a bit troubling though: Magneburst can be used every round to keep a permanent wall of disadvantages from any non-AoEs. As long as it's boosted, it won't suffer from its own effects either, so it's great in a duel. There's no other upgrade or weapon sources of that terrain type though anywhere!
I have a few things to say about the balance of the expansion's beam weapons, with magneburst being one of the big ones. For now, I'll just say that yeah, you're not wrong.
Deletemagneburst is truly ridiculous when used en masse. I saw the scenario which involves mobs which spam magneburst en masse, and that looks pretty horrific for PCs that don't have AOE.
DeleteMagneburst is the only one I find straight up too good for its cost.
ReplyDeleteGround Zero is too much of both extremes: It's extremely strong, but the cost is also extremely high, making it hard to use as anything more than a self destruct button for Unstable Reactor kamikazes.
The rest of the expansion beams have caused no problems for my group at all; in fact I'd say you need to buy at least one reload or supply drop for Remotes to be worth it because they pop so easily with no actual effort (just catch'em in your line or blast so you can keep targeting actual mechs). Overall the high beam costs (+5 energy attribute over what you'd need otherwise, or +4 and a type upgrade costing 20 points rather than 15) make up for their special effects quite easily.
I've had way more trouble dealing with "endless radiation bombs" than with a grav-knuckle interrupting a duel, so for most of them there's no trouble!