That was Random

Usually when we say that something is random, we do so with a negative connotation. Something random is often something unfair, illogical, and difficult to work with. Randomness is fundamentally about loss of control over the outcome of an event and difficulty in predicting what is going to happen. You wouldn't decide to marry or not at the flip of a coin or leave your choice of career to the roll of a die, that would be silly. Generally speaking, we don't like randomness in our lives, because we like being able to predict things.

This carries over to fiction: Think of your favorite show and describe to yourself what makes it good. You will probably think about a combination of likable characters, well-thought out plot, fancy special effects or animation, and a plethora of other positive qualities. None of those things are random. Even comedy that tries to sell itself as 'random' has gags and jokes written deliberately to seem like they're random, while something that is truly random does not make any sense.

If you're watching a movie and, just when things are getting good, the main character gets run over by a car and the movie abruptly ends... You will probably be a little bit upset. We could make the argument that the movie is realistic, but that does not make it good. Odds are that if you were to deliberately write a piece of fiction that does not seem to make sense and has an ending that no one could have seen coming then it is bound to draw negative attention.

 This summarizes the last two episodes of Evangelion perfectly.

How come then that Roleplaying Games always have such an intrinsic element of randomness to them? And specifically why would a game centered around the notion of simulating Mecha Anime & Manga leave whether a character lives or dies at the whims of the dice gods? 

Randomness can lead to a lot of moments that are simply unfun. Randomness means that you will sometimes fail to do anything meaningful because you keep rolling ones, and you cannot do anything to change your luck! When the same bad thing happens to you time and time again in a game, for no real fault of your own, that's annoying.

OH COME ON THIS IS LIKE THE THIRD ONE!

An Unexpected Development

It turns out that we humans do like randomness, just in small and measured doses. The doses are so small and measured that we often simply call it "surprise" instead of randomness. Randomness as surprises, as opposed to randomness as nonsense, are a desirable thing in entertainment, especially in Games.

A plot or character that never pulls any surprising twists is often a boring one. In the same way, you don't want to know exactly what will happen when you sit down to Roleplay. If you already know how things will turn out, then why are you doing them? Everyone has expectations, sure, but when all expectations enter the game you have to find out how they all fit together. A good resolution will carry an element of surprise for everyone in some way. This is part of the reason we use dice: Randomness does not play favorites.

It might seem contradictory after all that has been said about it, but randomness gives everyone equal opportunities. When two PCs are sparring against each other, their owners can come up with all sorts of justifications to argue that their PC should be the victor. Annette's Player argues she should win because she is the better fighter and she has the moral high ground. Barry's player argues he should win because he is better equipped and the savvy underdog always beats the cocky veteran. Dice do not care about any of that, and under their tyrannical rule there is no room for dissent. All you can do is plan around the idea that luck can be with or against you.


Planning. That's the key to it all. Randomness creates unexpected adversities, rewarding you for creating a character who can overcome the challenges that the story presents to the group. When it comes down to it, Roleplaying is all about solving problems. Some you solve by looking for the right skill or weapon in your character sheet, some with the assistance of other PCs or NPCs, and some you solve by thinking outside the box. Randomness means that sometimes your Plan A fails and you need to resort to a Plan B, combining all the above examples.

Because you never know for sure if you'll succeed or fail, it keeps things from being repetitive. It guarantees that the fifth time you do something will continue to be exciting, which is kind of an important quality if you want to be playing the game for a long time. You never know what challenge you'll be facing next, and while that does not qualify under randomness (unless your GM has tables of randomly generated scenarios and adversaries) it certainly qualifies as surprise.

Imagine spending your starting cash preemptively buying these.

Different Strokes (of Luck) for Different Games

So if we can agree that having an element of chance is desirable, the next question is just how much should be left up to chance. It is a considerably more complicated question, because different games have different needs and thus leave completely different amounts of their gameplay up to chance. Why use dice instead of, say, cards? Why ten sided dice instead of six or twenty sided? Just how much of your character's destiny should be in the hands of lady luck? What if the entire process of character creation was left to the whims of the dice? Those are subjects I'll elaborate on next week.

A Glimpse of the Future

Battle Century G is going through the editing process. Descriptions are more clear, examples more concise, content is ordered in a more understandable fashion and in general it all flows a little bit better. This is a good opportunity to start incorporating some of the feedback. Most of it is fairly inoffensive and won't need another pair of eyes looking over it to make sure it reads properly or isn't balance-shattering.

Now, I did say a while ago I was going to keep the Beta updates to editorial or artistic improvements rather than gameplay changes. What I did not consider back then was that maybe some of those editorial goofs would affect gameplay. Difficult Terrain was supposed to halve Guard and not just Speed. Grand Weapon and Lux Cannon boost your next attack but not the current one. In theory Dueling Blade would demand that you be the one to Engage the target but it actually says that it works against any Enemy that is in a Duel. If I'm going to be fixing that, I might as well be doing other minor balance changes.

What I do not want to do is subject anyone to three different Beta versions, each with vastly different gameplay, before the actual release. The balance changes that are more dramatic will get discussed here while I test them out though. The idea is that if I'm releasing any other Beta it has to be considerably better than what came before it. It should be a definitive step forward, rather than one step forward and one step back.

Unlike this kind of Beta.

A Faster Paced Game

The one thing that most of the things getting a boost have in common is that they were designed around Operations that last at least six Rounds and plan to make it higher than ten. This is in part because battlefields can be quite big, so it would not be out of place to assume you can spend one or two Rounds just advancing towards the opposition, and partly because there are some very solid ways to stall for time either by buffing up your defenses or just by maintaining your distance. What this means that I've been working on the assumption that effects that run on Tension were a bit on the underpowered side, because they would be used when you can absolutely make sure that they're better than other options. Time for a short aside!

Humans (and gamers in particular) are really good at optimizing systems. Wherever there is a set of rules, we will find a way to exploit it to the fullest. I embrace the idea that Players want their characters to be The Best and will naturally try to gain every edge they can get. Jumping past one or two hoops to make a Character who is better than the 'standard' feels very rewarding. You're smart, you figured out how things work, and now it is paying off. In most games this kind of thing is incidental and not what you're supposed to do, because when you combine a lot of abilities that work well together you get a Character who is invincible and the rest of the group just sighs as they tell you that no, you can't make a character whose stats are infinite.

While there are many things I like about BESM. The game balance is not one of them.

This brings us to the abilities in question. I was careful to make sure they weren't almost always better than other options, but I was probably way too careful. My general stance on conditional abilities (those that need a set up or are only effective in some circumstances) is that the Player will do everything in their power to minimize their downside and maximize their upside. This sometimes works well because said abilities are costed aggressively (like Techniques) but with some other effects (Chainblade, Electro-Sapper Pods) they just take too much effort or it is too easy to disrupt them.

It is fine to jump through a couple hoops to make your conditional Weapon the better one, but it also has to have a degree of general usefulness the rest of the time. Which is to say, it can't be either useless or fantastic, there has to be a middle ground. That's what I am going to be more careful with in the future, to not preemptively make abilities that are already conditional even harder to use.

The side effect of this is that the game will be faster paced in general, but if it does last much longer than 10 Rounds some of these abilities will be clear gamewinners. I might need to put a cap on the maximum Tension bonus, or make it count down afterwards until it gets to 0 and then it counts up again, or something to that effect. Enough chatter. Here is the quick and dirty version of these changes.

General Rules:

• Difficult Terrain halves Guard and Speed.
• Extreme Terrain adds Tension to the DN.

This is pretty simple. The first was a thing that was always supposed to happen, and I think the abilities with Difficult Terrain will make more sense now that it has been fixed. The second keeps Extreme Terrain dangerous at high Power Levels (when games last longer) and buffs abilities that cause the effects of Extreme Terrain without instantly winning the game. Against targets with bad luck or those that did not invest in Systems and Speed it basically deals twice the current Tension in Damage, making Extreme Terrain akin to a Technique.

Skills:

• Providence renamed to Fortune. It is now an universal Resources Advantage that will not cause further Resources Tests during the same Episode to suffer Disadvantages.
• Sight is now a Willpower Help Test that boosts your next Awareness Test without using an Action.
• Somatics is now a Willpower Help Test that boosts your next Fitness Test without using an Action.
• Removed the Speed Miracle.

Miracles as universal Advantages to a single Attribute don't work very well when they cost more than just increasing said Attribute twice, but as a Help Test they grant you from two to four Advantages per activation, which is pretty good! Resources is an exception in that with high Resources you can get away with not needing other Attributes and Skills but you need time and access to your, well, resources to use it.

Somatics got a bit nerfed from it, but it was way too good at keeping everyone else up and running, and if I'm going to have one Miracle that buffs your Fitness Tests then Somatics makes more sense than Speed. I can redo Speed in the future though, when I come up with a better niche for it.

Today is not your day my precious. But soon... Soon.

Traits:

• Jaded lets you turn a Failure into a Success.
• Superior Immune System lets you turn a Failure into a Success.
• Gumshoe is tied to Humanities, Investigation and Sciences.
• Attractive is tied to Deception, Diplomacy and Presence.

These are pretty simple buffs. There was a problem with Humanities and Sciences in that they are one of the few Skills that don't have any equipment you would need to use them, so if you are not trained in their use you can often get by just using a raw Intellect Test. You can still do that now, but getting those Skills and Gumshoe is very much worth their weight in gold. Attractive is the only nerf of the bunch, because it was a bit too vague and thus could potentially apply to everything.

Powers:

• Synchro Attack grants two Advantages instead of a +5 to Might.
• My Style is Impetuous lets you treat Tension as if it were 4 higher for one Action instead of autohitting Enemies for the current Tension as Damage.
• You can do Better than That makes anyone's attack an autohit with Tension as Damage instead of granting two Advantages to the Test.

Notice that the effects of Impetuous Style and You can do Better got basically switched, with a slight tweak on top for the former too. Letting one of your friends turn a failure into a success is exactly what a support character wants, while a temporary Tension boost is brutal with Techniques and other similar abilities in the mix.

A Technique with Synchro Attack and Impetuous Style will reduce you to light. 

Upgrades:

• Berserker renamed to The Beast. It grants an Advantage to the use of Default Weapons per each Level of Threshold missing, but also lets them ignore Active Defenses.
• Regenerative gives Energy spent in Threshold but uses two Restorations instead of one.
• Airstrike uses the current Tension instead of halving it.
• Interference Bomb removes all benefit from Tension instead of halving it.
• Flyer lets you move around in space.
• Terrain Specialist is now like Anti-Gravity in that you ignore cover and all negative Terrain effects instead of granting Defensive Terrain.

Now we're getting to the important stuff! One of the things that was keeping Berserker from reaching its full potential was that it wanted to represent lots of Mecha that went out of control, and I had to keep it from being a Might boost that everyone would want. By tying it to Default Weapons it has a distinctive niche that you can either build around or grab in place of something that prevents Maims.

The Beast is a lot less subtle about its raw power. Much like its inspiration.

Regenerative and the various Tension-related buffs are a good example of why I'm saying the game is getting faster. What would take two Turns now takes one. That's also why I'm standardizing what the various Terrain abilities do by making them more like each other, and taking out Terrain Specialist's defensive boost. A team shield that gives everyone 10 Defense is a lot more dangerous in a game where things like Interference Bomb and Chainblade scale in power a lot faster. Stealth Field is still fantastic but less likely to make unbreakable stonewalls. This way Beam users can still compete with groups of characters who spend their Energy on special abilities like Stealth Field and Signature Weapon.

Weapons:

• Unreliable will lose the benefit of Tension to the Might Test instead of halving Damage dealt.
• Boosted Lance clearly states you can make use of the Duel Advantage .
• Chainblade is full Tension.
• Dueling Blade deals 1 bonus damage against the Enemy you are dueling with instead of the old 'gains an Advantage 90% of the time' ability.
• Rocket Punch increases its Range by 5 when you Aim with it.
• Whirlwind Attack is now Slow but gains an Advantage to its use.
• Assault Rifle is so accurate you can choose Areas Maimed with it.
• Bombardment uses the current Tension instead of halving it.
• Electrosapper Pods deal half your Systems in Damage as a bonus instead of the difference between your Systems and theirs.
• Missile Massacre is clarified to state that the debuff is only against the surviving Enemy.
• Grand Weapon now boosts the current Test instead of the 'next' one but also costs 1 more Energy.
• Radiant Fist grants 2 Advantages to the Might Test instead of one but also costs 4 Energy.
• Lux Cannon now boosts the current Test instead of the 'next' one but also costs 1 more Energy.
• Powered Rifle costs 3 Energy instead of 2.
• Reactor Overdrive increases its Range by 5 when you Aim with it.

That is a lot to process. Some of the weakest 'general use' Weapons were granted a small buff. Meanwhile those that had a very specific niche but weren't all that good at it just got better at their job. Some of the clearly 'better Weapons in the game' got a slight nerf but nothing too severe. Dueling Blade isn't getting a clarification as much as a slight rewrite, but this should work better.

Honestly most of these are pretty straightforward. Chainblade and the Pods are now considerably stronger, so much that they started out as Slow but they already are conditional Weapons with a tendency to miss when they don't hit for a lot, making them much worse against Active Defenses that aren't Absolute Barrier.

Also the new Beam Techniques are downright obscene when combined with My Style is Impetuous. Like seriously. Interference Bomb is a lot better now too, so a dedicated Support Mecha can keep most of these buffed Weapons shut down, so it is not an unstoppable strategy.

Don't mind me, just trailblazing a path of death and destruction ahead.

On to the Experiment

So that's a whole bunch of stuff right there. But wait, there is more! There are some other things I am experimenting with and testing to see if they improve the game too.

Powers:

• Removing Cool your Jets. 
• New Power: This is my Battlefield - Choose a type of Terrain and activate the Power to create a block of 4 Zones of that Terrain type. The effect lasts until the Operation ends.

Upgrades:

• Removing Experimental Reactor.
• Commander Type would cost 5 Energy to activate but would not spend the Support Upgrade on use.
• Splitting Stealth Field into two Upgrades: Stealth Field and Guardian of Steel.
• Stealth Field would cost 10 and keep the part that adds the Tension to Maneuvering Tests.
• Guardian of Steel would cost 20 and keep the part that shields your Allies for 5 Energy, but its reach is extended to half your Systems.
• Electromagnetic Detonator would affect a single target and apply the 'Energy Burn' effect of Cool your Jets.

Weapons:

• Dueling Blade would be rewritten so that it lets you make a Contested Speed Test against your opponent after use, even if you fail the Might Test. The Winner of the Speed Test gets to move the Duel in a direction of their choice a number of Zones equal to the lowest Speed of both participants.
• Slightly buffed versions of all the Boosted Beam Weapons discussed last week.

Enemies:

• Removing Come Forth, my Minions. 
• Removing All Become One.
• New Power: I Accept your Offering - Sacrifices an Allied Grunt to restore their Power Level plus their Levels of Threshold intact in Threshold, and also to deal that much Damage.
• New Upgrade: We are Many - Spawns a Level 0 Grunt when you lose the first Level of Threshold, two Level 0 Grunts when you lose the second, and three Level 0 Grunts when you lose the third.
• Your Fate is Sealed denies all Tension and completely blocks healing for one Round.

 Experiments may or may not be safe to try at home.

Okay that is a whole bunch of new stuff too, and is a lot more radical about the changes. That's why I'm being careful with what I actually publish, because I am trying out a lot of different tiny little things behind the scenes. Here is a quick summary of what they accomplish as a whole.

Dedicated Support users can lock down Enemies with debuffs indefinitely, to the point where they can defeat combat specialists who have no Plan B. It creates an interesting dynamic where Combat Specialists beat Generalists who beat Support Specialists who beat Combat Specialists. Whether this is actually fun to play against remains to be seen though. I've got my doubts, because at low Power Levels there is not much they can do once debuffed... But then again they are spending 5 Energy and considerable MP on those Supports, so you should be able to overpower them with one or two good blows if you can play around their abilities

This works pretty well with the new Electromagnetic Detonator and the buffed Boosted Beams. Boosted Beams either cost less or have less drawbacks than the versions previously posted, so the threat of facing a dedicated Energy-Burner is only fair.

You can now use Powers to create Terrain permanently. This is especially useful for Defensive Terrain, since it lets you set up shop with Stealth Field and Guardian of Steel. They are well worth the 30 points that they cost together.

Speaking of Terrain, with Dueling Blade you now have another tool to keep Enemies within Difficult or Extreme Terrain, or to move them out of the Defensive Terrain they've created for themselves. It is a lot more interesting than 1 bonus Damage, at the very least.

Your Fate is Sealed would be fine as a single Turn super debuff in light of PCs having their own repeatable debuffs. Lastly there is the switch between the Minion Spawn ability and the Minion Sacrifice one. I haven't gotten to try it out yet but it sounds like it should play much better for both sides: PCs can shoot down the Grunts before they get a Turn in and the Boss can sacrifice them for a better effect right out of the gate.

But I haven't tested these yet. No one gets to skip that step.

One Last Paragraph (or two)

This turned out quite long, but at least the purpos of the new poll should be clear. Battle Century G is coming along quite nicely, though there is still a lot of art in need to be done. In the meantime I can keep you up to date on things and also offer you a chance to try out changes to the rules as much as you want. 

Again, I'm not going to make any big sweeping changes until I'm absolutely sure they're for better. I'm pretty sure the few first tweaks posted are pretty much either inoffensive improvements or worth the changes. The experimental stuff is more out there though, so if you are curious I can write it in its own errata pdf until it is either confirmed to work as intended or we discard it as a failed experiment.

Shining a Light on Theoretical Energy Weapons

I've been exploring the beam variants being polled, and they're good enough to merit some playtesting by now. I've got proof of concept drafts using Variable Beams (the most popular) and Boosted Beams (tied for second most popular and far easier to design than the other choice). This is going to be a wordy post! You have been warned.

Before going any further let's recap what Variable and Boosted Beams looked like the last time we met them:

Beam (Variable)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. You may spend as much Energy as you want when using a Beam Weapon, increasing the result of the Might Test by half the amount spent.

Beam (X) (Boosted)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. Beam Weapons have an optional Energy cost between parentheses you can pay for to grant them an Advantage to their Might Test.

When it comes to designing Variable Beams we have to keep in mind that, even if they scale slowly, they still let you transform essentially half your Energy into Might. They give you options, and in any game with strategy elements options are powerful. To keep them at the same MP cost of other Weapons they wll need to have drawbacks, and drawbacks that hurt them at that.

A Powered Rifle user that attacks from far away can afford to safely pump everything into its damage output while a friend tanks for them, making it essentially better than an Assault Rifle. Even if it were to have something like Overheating, it would only take back a minimal fraction of how much Damage it can dish out, so it is not as simple as just slapping the first drawback you can think of on it.

The most important thing about Boosted Beams is that they are essentially two weapons in one, having a boosted and an unboosted state. You can spend energy for a powerful attack, or not spend any for a weapon that is a bit weaker than average, this is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to designing them. At least in theory.

In practice high energy costs would almost never be worth it. Let's take Radiant Fist (as you know it) but at a cost of 4 or 5 optional Energy. Not only is all that Energy not really worth a single Advantage, but without the Energy cost then it is basically a better Zweihander. A straight adaptation was not going to be possible here either.

We have a total of ten weapons to rewrite. Taking these issues into account... How hard can it be?

From Concept to Gameplay

Of our ten weapons some can be adapted very easily and others... Not so much. Let's go over them in alphabetic order.

Beam Rifle: This one is easy, since I wrote up both examples last week. Let's move on.

Beam Saber: See above. We have two of eight in the bag, hopefully the rest will be just as easy.

Charge Cannon: This is our first bump in the road. A Variable Charge Cannon needs a considerable drawback or else it becomes a Rail Bazooka that can also fire continuously if it needs to. A Boosted Charge Cannon has similar issues on top of being conflictive from a conceptual standpoint, because you can power it up with energy and with an Aim Action, with both powerups having different effects.

Grand Weapon: A giant weapon that hits for a lot if you spend more energy to make it even stronger. This is already a thing that Variable and Boosted Beams do by themselves so it doesn't have much of a place anymore. It could keep a similar role by being more efficient about the Energy to Might ratio but that is going to need a considerable drawback if it is not going to be massively overpowering.

Infinite Blade: This one is relatively simple to adapt, though it will take a little bit of tweaking. The Variable version can grant a Range bonus based on the amount of Energy spent to power it up. Likewise, the Boosted version would have a Range bonus if you were to pay the Energy cost.

Incinerator: As easy as it gets to adapt outside of the Saber and Rifle. Both versions only really need a drawback to compensate for the Weapon's extra ability. Overheating is the perfect choice, making sense conceptually (this is a giant flamethrower we are talking about) and mirroring how it can hit foes more than once.

Lux Cannon: See Grand Weapon. Finding this one a role is going to be specially hard considering that Shooting Beams are more convenient than their Melee siblings. Both of these might need a total rewrite or outright replacement.

Powered Rifle: Like the Incinerator, this one only needs a drawback to keep it from being always better than the Assault Rifle. Slow is the obvious choice - it makes sense that a long range beam cannon would need a moment to recharge. That it stops Powered Rifle users from being absolute kings and queens of long range shootouts is a nice bonus

Radiant Fist: Radiant Fist can afford to have its own custom rules because it is a big flashy supermove. But at the same time, I'd like to keep things simple and not make it overpowered. The Variable version is probably strong enough, while the Boosted version could afford to be a little stronger when powered up.

Reactor Overdrive: At the risk of repeating myself a lot, this one is in a similar position to Radiant Fist (see if you spot the pattern) just with the balance issues that you have to keep in mind when it comes to Shooting Beams. The ability to choose whether to hit one or multiple enemies is a powerful one, and I can't just give it Slow because that basically doesn't do anything, so this is going to force me to get creative with drawbacks. Keeping this one from having too much rules text will be the biggest challenge.

Infinite Blade and Charge Cannon were going to need a tweak. The former would have its maximum range toned down because I'm not letting a Melee weapon that costs 5 MP outreach the grand majority of Shooting ones, even if it costs a few Energy points to do so. Charge Cannon could continue to exist as the gun that you can charge up for an area of effect attack, but giving it a relevant drawback (like Slow) would conceptually make it lose its 'continuous' firing mode. A name and description change (while keeping them more or less the same weapons otherwise) might be in order.

While I could adapt Grand Weapon and Lux Cannon, I'd rather set them aside and come up with something new instead of being redundant. Its not like we couldn't use more weapon variety! The departure of Grand Weapon and Lux Cannon leaves us at a loss of Beam weapons that are bigger and badder than the others while also being repeatable. I don't have to make Weapons that hit harder than the others though, they just have to feel like they're stronger.

I ended up going conceptually with 'huge blade that chops limbs off' and 'a gun that is actually two guns' under the names of Beam Ripper and Double Blaster. The former works for anything big like axes or scythes. The latter suits double barreled rifles and shoulder mounted cannons.

Gundam: Your #1 inspiration for beam weapons in all shapes and sizes

Weapons of Assault and Battery

I touched up the descriptions of Beams a little. The only thing really worth mentioning is that 'boosting' a beam is now a verb.

Beam (Variable)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of heated particles. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. You may spend as much Energy as you want when using a Beam Weapon, increasing the result of the Might Test by half the amount spent.

Beam Saber (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam.
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam.
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Beam (X) (Boosted)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of heated particles. If you pump Energy from your Mecha into them, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than others. Beam Weapons have an optional Energy cost between parentheses, you can boost them with an Advantage to their Might Test by spending that much Energy. You can boost a Beam Weapon once per Action.

Beam Saber (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3).
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3).
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Okay so we already saw these last time, but I'm including them for the sake of completeness. Let's get to the good stuff.

Incinerator (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Overheating. Passing the Might Test with this Weapon will inflict the effects of Extreme Terrain on Enemies during their next Turn.
Someone just had to devise the equivalent of a giant flame-thrower, giving birth to the best friend of terrorist organiza-tions that own giant robots.

Infinite Blade (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Slow. This Weapon's Maximum Range is twice the Energy spent on it.
This weapon's length is theoretically infinite. The only thing keeping it from reaching the moon is that most Gears just do not have the power to make that happen.

Powered Rifle (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Long-Range, Slow.
A Weapon for providing support fire at long distances, combining accuracy with penetration power. It can pierce through all but the most heavily armored of foes if you take a moment to align the sights.

Mega Beam Cannon (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Slow. If you take the Aim Action with this Weapon before firing it gains the Blast ability.
An oversized cannon that can blast multiple targets with one pull of the trigger. If given a moment to charge, its explosions will level buildings and outright vaporize infantry.

Incinerator (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3), Overheating. Passing the Might Test with this Weapon will inflict the effects of Extreme Terrain on Enemies during their next Turn.
Someone just had to devise the equivalent of a giant flame-thrower, giving birth to the best friend of terrorist organizations that own giant robots.

Extending Blade (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (4). If you boost this Weapon, its Maximum Range becomes 10 for this activation but it gains the Slow ability for this activation.
This weapon's length is theoretically infinite. The only reason it doesn’t go farther than it currently does is because they just haven’t figured out how to keep the excessive output from breaking the device itself.

Powered Rifle (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3), Long-Range, Slow.
A Weapon for providing support fire at long distances, combining accuracy with penetration power. It can pierce through all but the most heavily armored of foes if you take a moment to align the sights.

Charge Cannon (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (4). If you boost this Weapon, it gains the Blast ability for this activation but you do not regenerate Energy during your next Turn.
A portable, pistol-shaped beam cannon with two different firing modes: Continuous and Charged. Continuous fire provides an accurate, consistent supply of firepower. The Charged mode can blast multiple targets with one pull of the trigger but will force your systems to go into cooldown for a moment afterwards.

Old friends with new faces! Their descriptions are mostly the same with some concessions here and there to adapt them in a way that works. The Incinerator risks taking Damage in the same way that it has a chance of dishing out extra points, and the Powered Rifle is made Slow to basically mirror the Sniper Rifle. Extending Blade and Mega Beam Cannon are obviously slight tweaks to Infinite Blade and Charge Cannon, but adapted to their corresponding Beam mechanic. Now let's have a look at the finishers!

Radiant Fist (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Technique, Overheating. When using this Weapon you add all the Energy spent to the result of the Might Test instead of halving it but you do not regenerate Energy during your next Turn.
The ultimate in close range finishers, the unit’s hands are equipped with an extremely damaging system, from electric colliders to a radiation pulse that glows with an awesome power.

Reactor Overdrive (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Technique, Overheating. If you take the Aim Action with this Weapon before firing it gains the Long-Range ability and attacks all Zones within Range in a straight line aimed in a direction of your choice. After using Reactor Overdrive you do not regenerate Energy during your next Turn.
You overload and expose the Gear’s generators redirecting the power surge towards outside rather than your own systems. The process may cause lasting damage to your own machine, but the brutal energy blast released is much more certain to do even worse for whoever is on the receiving end of it.

Radiant Fist (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (6), Technique, Overheating. If you boost this Weapon, it gains an additional Advantage to its Might Test for this activation.
The ultimate in close range finishers, the unit’s hands are equipped with an extremely damaging system, from electric colliders to a radiation pulse that glows with an awesome power.

Reactor Overdrive (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (6), Technique, Overheating. If you boost this Weapon, it gains the Long-Range ability and attacks all Zones within Range in a straight line aimed in a direction of your choice for this activation but you do not regenerate Energy during your next Turn.
You overload and expose the Gear’s generators redirecting the power surge towards outside rather than your own systems. The process may cause lasting damage to your own machine, but the brutal energy blast released is much more certain to do even worse for whoever is on the receiving end of it.

The Technique duo of Radiant Fist and Reactor Overdrive did not change all that much. They're very strong and might even require toning them down a little, but being expensive and more or less single use means it should work out fine. Now let's pay a visit to the new kids on the block and offer them a cup of sugar. Is that still a thing? It sounds so weird to someone who knows people they've only met over the internet better than their neighbors.

Beam Ripper (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Slow. You choose which Areas this Weapon Maims
The Foundation's 'Beam Rippers' are giant beam weapons taking the shape of axes, scythes or other similar oversized blades. They are unwieldy devices that eat Element G like breakfast, but prove invaluable when it comes to subduing Cryptids. Chopping the key body parts of giant regenerating monsters turns out to be pretty useful when you're trying to capture them alive.

Double Blaster (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam, Overheating. When using this Weapon choose one option of either adding all the Energy spent to the result of the Might Test instead of halving it or attacking two Enemies instead of one, you gain the chosen ability for this activation. After using Double Blaster you do not regenerate Energy during your next Turn.
A double barreled beam weapon that can be split into two separate rifles, making it as good as two guns in one. It is not just versatile but powerful, perhaps too powerful for its own stability, tending to overload and self destruct after consecutive uses.

Beam Ripper (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (5). If you boost this Weapon, then you choose which Areas it Maims for this activation.
The Foundation's 'Beam Rippers' are giant beam weapons taking the shape of axes, scythes or other similar blades. They are unwieldy devices that eat Element G like breakfast, but prove invaluable when it comes to subduing Cryptids. Chopping the key body parts of giant regenerating monsters turns out to be pretty useful when you're trying to capture them alive.

Double Blaster (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (5). If you boost this Weapon, choose one of having an additional Advantage to the Might Test or attacking two Enemies instead of one, you gain the chosen boost plus the Overheating ability for this activation.
A double barreled beam weapon that can be split into two separate rifles, making it as good as two guns in one. It is not just versatile but powerful, perhaps too powerful for its own stability, tending to overload and self destruct after consecutive uses.

They're powerful alright, but you cannot carelessly spam them so you have to juggle between different Weapons. Double Blaster in particular is very strong, and if you alternate between Aiming and Attacking with it you maximize its strength while minimizing its drawback... But a foe can alternate between Attacking and Maneuvering to counter you, or ruin your key Turns with a well timed debuff to your Energy.

(Incidentally, Support options could afford a slight buff to make sure this is a viable counterstrategy for longer than 2-3 Rounds. I'm on it.)

Particular care was taken with the Shooting Beams to ensure they are competitive with the other firearms. Powered Rifle would let you shoot +2 Beams from waaay in the distance with impunity if it weren't Slow, but keeping it from firing consecutively lets Assault Rifle keep its niche as a constant source of Damage. You could make a similar argument for Extending Blade as well, and these both play pretty well together if you alternate between using one and the other. The Mega Beam Cannon, Double Blaster and Reactor Overdrive can shoot multiple targets but complicate things for you in your next Turn and two of them have a strong kickback. Rail Bazooka has better Range and doesn't do a number on your reserves, while Riot Weapon can be repeated with ease.

The Glittering Crux of the Matter

This is a proof of concept draft. The numbers could be off, but they seem reasonable after some examination. I will be playtesting these on my own to see whether they work better or not. If you choose to do the same, tell me how it goes.

Tuning up (or down) the rest of the armory would bring all Weapons more or less in line. Dueling Blade goes down, while the Electro-Sapper Pods go up. I won't be changing them much, just enough to keep their power level close to each other and one option does not outshine the rest. I don't want to be rewriting stuff from scratch, I'd rather tweak what is already there. Beams are an exception that I'm willing to experiment with to see if it works.

I don't think it is possible to have a game where all options are perfectly balanced with each other, not if we want something with more nuance to it than Rock Paper Scissors, but I can definitely craft a wide variety of strategies that all are more or less useful depending on the kinds of challenges you face.

If this goes well I'll be doing more posts in the future about stuff I'm testing out and not just the end result of said testing.

Taking a short break this week.

By next Sunday I'll have some proof of concept drafts for two Beam variants. If you haven't voted yet, do so!

(Re)Balance Beams

Weapon Balance is the hottest subject in the comments section. Some of the issues raised can be addressed pretty quickly, like giving Chainblade the full Tension bonus instead of one half or clarifying that Missile Massacre's negatives only apply to the attacked Enemy. By far the most important part of the debate is about Beam Weapons though. And I've talked about them briefly myself. They are clearly a better choice if you have the XP to spare, but at most Power Levels you don't have that.

Depending on how you look at it, this is either a bug or a feature. The verdict on that won't be out for a while, but that does not mean you have to sit idly by and wait while the judge works. I said in the first post of this new blog that communication is key in game design, and this is the perfect opportunity to put that to the test. I've been sort of experimenting (I like experiments, as you can tell if you look at the header) with the Beam rules, and I might as well show you how some of it is going.

They each have their own quirks, and I'm interested in seeing which version(s?) you like best. As a final note, all these versions are written with the removal of Experimental Reactor in mind. Without further ado, let's get into it.

There is a world of difference between some of these options.

Exhibit A - Premium Beams

Beam (X) (Premium)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. You may spend an amount of Energy up to the number between parentheses when using a Beam Weapon, increasing the result of the Might Test by the amount spent. 

Beam Saber (Premium)
Melee Weapon (10)
Effect: Beam (4).
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Premium)
Shooting Weapon (10)
Effect: Beam (4).
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Pros of Premium Beams:
-Extremely powerful and efficient.
-You can spend 0 if you are somehow entirely out of juice.
-They have all the pros of the last two exhibits, really.

Cons of Premium Beams:
-High MP cost and linear Energy dependency makes them very Expensive.
-You're really going to need a tank with all you're spending on attack power.
-Individual Weapons are a bit hard to design though not too much.

These are the least different from BCG's current Beam Weapons on a practical level. They take the idea of Beams being specialty guns stronger than the norm to its logical conclusion. They are more or less the current Beams with Experimental Reactor in-built into them. They're going to need tough drawbacks to balance abilities like Long-Range and Blast though. With that said they don't really change things much, though they are probably more fun to play with than the current Beams.

Exhibit B - Variable Beams

Beam (X) (Variable)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. You may spend as much Energy as you want when using a Beam Weapon, increasing the result of the Might Test by half the amount spent.

Beam Saber (Variable)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam.
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Variable)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam.
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Pros of Variable Beams:
-Cheap in Mecha Points.
-Energy costs are as high as you can afford to spend, including 0.
-Pretty strong at high Power Levels.

Cons of Variable Beams:
-Weak investment returns for Energy spent.
-Needs someone to tank for them so they can spend all their Energy offensively.
-Individual Weapons are hard to design since I cannot use fixed Energy costs as a drawback.

Variable Beams are more or less how I originally wrote Beam Weapons, but between being pretty weak early on and having to come up with unique mechanics for every single Weapon I wasn't too fond of them. If I tried enough, I'd get around the latter problem but the former is something of a tougher issue. Beams are, in fiction, almost always superior to material weapons so that was the deciding issue there. But they are there, and are one of the possible options we could go with. I still have a soft spot for them, honestly, and think they could work well.

Exhibit C - Boosted Beams

Beam (X) (Boosted)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. Beam Weapons have an optional Energy cost between parentheses you can pay for to grant them an Advantage to their Might Test.

Beam Saber (Boosted)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3).
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Boosted)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (3).
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Pros of Boosted Beams:
-Cheap in Mecha and Energy terms.
-Custom Advantage is easy to earn but not obligatory.
-Easy to design individual Weapons with, since they are more or less like the current Beam Weapons.

Cons of Boosted Beams:
-Not very efficient energy to attack power ratio.
-They don't scale very well since they lack Experimental Reactor and cost too much to use with Weapon Specialization.
-Technically weaker than the current Beam Weapons.

This is probably the system most superficially similar to the current one. You can use their standard version or spend some energy to grant them an Advantage. It is simple and gets the job done. It is pretty easy to visualize how most current Weapons would end up with this change in, just make their Energy cost a little more expensive (Probably +2) and you're done. Obviously it'll be more complex than that and will have to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, but that's the gist of it. By far the most practical option of the bunch in terms of implementation.

Exhibit D - Fixed Beams

Beam (X) (Fixed)
The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of light. Their output varies depending on how much Element G is pumped into the weapons themselves. With enough juice, they are harder to dodge and pierce the armor of targets much better than their more physical counterparts. Beam Weapons have an Energy cost between parentheses you must pay when using them, but increase the result of your Might Test by the same amount.

Beam Saber (Fixed)
Melee Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (1).
A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-piercing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass produced and made standard issue for most factions.

Beam Rifle (Fixed)
Shooting Weapon (5)
Effect: Beam (1).
Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-purpose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.

Pros of Fixed Beams:
-Costs 5 per Weapon.
-Very cheap energy costs for high attack power.
-Almost always stronger than material Weapons.

Cons of Fixed Beams:
-No scaling whatsoever.
-They need innate drawbacks to compensate for their raw power.
-By far the hardest to design since they are very strong and need considerable drawbacks.

Fixed Beams read like they're closer to the ones BCG uses, but play very differently since they all have drawbacks to compensate. In fact they are so strong that their version of Experimental Reactor has to hurt the user to keep them in check. Energy Costs would be around 1-3 for the most part, with Techniques and their ilk being allowed to use 4 and 5 since they would have negative traits up the wazoo anyway. I honestly am not even sure these have what it takes to carry 10+ Weapon designs in them, making them my least favorite of these four.

Beam Me Up

I was going to experiment with these privately over the next few months, but if there is interest I could adapt the current arsenal to these variant rules and post them here instead. That way you can have a better look at them beyond their very most basic forms and even try them out yourself. I won't be expanding all of them though, because this stuff takes time! I can do one or two armories this month, depending on how difficult to design and test they are, so that's what this month's poll is about. Choose one or choose none, it is up to you.