Post by Swift Nic on Sept 25, 2009 10:02:47 GMT -5
As soon as you add the option to capture non-derelict ships, it's going to really throw things off unless you make it really difficult to do and/or make it into a expensive ability (much moreso than the Harbinger's ability). If it is in any way based on the number of masts or crew on a ship, even with a die roll involved, it's going to make the larger ships (especially 10-masters) even more powerful than they already are. If you base it solely on die rolls, it'll be far too luck-based and you could see single-masted ships capturing fully intact 10-mast ships, which is even less realistic than requiring a ship to be derelicted first.
The real trick will be to find a good middle ground. Keep some luck so it's not always going to in favor of the big ships, but not so much that it's completely random or rewards lucky insanity. You also have to make sure it's not so easy to do or so game-breaking that it becomes the dominant tactic in the game. Short of redesigning the entire game, I don't know if that's even going to be possible.
Back on topic:
If two or more ships (on the same side) attempt to board one ship in the same action, should their masts and DM's be totaled and added to a single roll ?
If two or more ships (on the same side) attempt to board one ship in the same action, should their masts and DM's be totaled and added to a single roll ?
It could also make it too easy to guarantee a win in every boarding action as long as you had an extra ship or two nearby. If you're going to give the attacker the potential to gain huge bonuses like that, you'll need to give something to the defenders too to keep it somewhat fair.
Woelf,
thanks for responding. Your opinion is especially valued.
First, I agree about boarding attempts by multiple ships. Rolling for each ship keeps it simple and more interesting.
As I understand it, the published Rules allow you to eliminate named or generic crew or steal treasure/cargo by boarding. But if the boarded ship doesn't have any crew or cargo aboard then boarding doesn't have any effect at all.
Under my proposed boarding rules you use Sailor tokens to represent each mast and crew tokens for each generic or named crew.
Once the crew are all eliminated, the ship is effectively derelict as there's no one left aboard to sail her.
If the defender wins once, then the attackers are repulsed.
At this point I don't know how to figure in SA's that eliminate all crew, or board at a distance.
My rules might work better if the rolls were made between each crew token rather than adding them all together, but that would add a lot more time and complication.
Regards,
Nic