Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

[Legendsmiths]

Found these when following another link to some of his house rules. Once I understood the chart, which I think is pretty swell, I got to thinking that something coded would be more useful, at least from the "I need to attack now" PoV.

 

So, here it is. Take it, take it, grab your chicken and bake it.

 

http://www.narosia.com/masscombat/

 

Thanks Markdoc.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Interesting. I have done this before by simply giving a multiple attacker bonus (actually +2 per additional attacker) and treating it as one autofire attack with a number of shots equal to the number of attackers. Then I had a table which I created by calculating the average damage that an attack with a given DC does to a defender with a given defense. That way I didn't have to roll for damage at all, no matter the damage dice. It worked out pretty well.

[Trencher]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

They all hit all the time?

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

They all hit all the time?

Wha? If you are talking about my description: no. I just make one attack roll, as if with autofire. That means: just like one character attacking with an autofire attack (and an increased OCV). Except that I don't go by the normal autofire rules for doling out hits. That I tend to do randomly (or at least arbitrarily, modified by a little tactical common sense).

[Trencher]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Sorry I was talking about the calculator

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Wait a sec! You wrote code to implement this mass combat simplification?! If you are going to write code, you might as well have it make all the actual roles! It could attack for thousands of combatants in way under a second! What the heck?!

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Sorry I was talking about the calculator

Ah. Nah. I tried it with 20 attackers and I think a DCV-OCV of 3, and I got 18 hits.

[Trencher]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

So you are not to type in the attacers ocv minus the defenders dcv?

Like 7-6?

[sbarron]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

So you are not to type in the attacers ocv minus the defenders dcv?

Like 7-6?

Nope, looks like you type in the difference.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

So you are not to type in the attacers ocv minus the defenders dcv?

Like 7-6?

Oh. I guess I entered a OCV-DCV of 3, not the other way around.

 

No. With your example of an OCV of 7 and a DCV of 6, you would simply enter, "1" (without the quotes, of course). EDIT: BTW, the usual parsing would convert, "7-6" into an integer by reading characters up until it finds one that is not part of a number, so entering this is most likely equivalent to entering "7".

[Trencher]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Got it thanks.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Sorry, haven't been on since yesterday. Yes, you enter in the diff between OCV & DCV. You are correct that I could just have it roll all of the attacks. However, the results aren't going to be terribly different from this.

 

I'll rewrite it to actually roll. The code will be simpler.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Okay, done. Rewrote the script to actually roll for every attack.

 

Sheesh. You think computers can do EVERYTHING.

 

http://www.narosia.com/masscombat/

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

Made your code like a quarter the size, too. You can write programs that will simplify die rolling enormously. You can have them roll all the dice for you if you want. But where is the fun in that?

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

I agree. But for having 15 Agents shoot at SuperAndrogenusMan it makes things a lot easier.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Markdoc's Mass Combat Quickie Rules

 

True. I have an HP 48G programmable calculator I use for rolling most of the time. The programs I have written and use most are:

• Roll a type of die. This can be done with 2-3 button presses (depending on the type of die).
  
• Roll n dice of a given type, and show a list of results. 4-6 presses.
  
• Roll n dice of a given type, and show the sum only. 4-6 presses.
  
• Roll m copies of n dice of a given type, and show a list of each sum. 6-8 presses.

I also have a few Hero specific programs:

• Roll 3d6. One press.
  
• Enter OCV, show DCV that is hit (and whether a 3 or 18 is rolled). 2-3 presses.
  
• Enter number of DCs, show Body and Stun damage for Killing Attack. 2-3 presses.
  
• Enter number of DCs, show Body and Stun damage for Normal Attack. 2-3 presses.

This makes even mass combat much, much easier, as I am not picking out, rolling, and counting up a ton of dice. I haven't found a great need to do anything more complex, though.