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Calculating Movement, Velocity, Acceleration, etc


mwpowellhtx

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Hello,

I want to come up with a way to more accurately model sports genre movement, velocity, possibly extending into acceleration. These are some formative thoughts.

As a basis, I am dissatisfied with the recommendations in HE6E. Haven't examined 5E that closely, but I expect I would find similar recommendations. I have also read about a 'velocity factor' optional rule, but I don't know the details, apart from the fact that it seems to be more DEX-based in nature, which would be closer to providing 'athletic' differentiation, if you will.

Just talking about the genre, I don't care about scaling into heroic or even superheroic leagues, per se; which, understandably, seems to be the recommendations I find in either 5E or 6E.

Taking a step back, let's consider human movement in general. Average walking speed is about 3 MPH. Jogging is anywhere from 4-6 MPH. A really FAST sprinter is something like ~25 MPH, perhaps even a little better. And we work from there.

In football, for example, another metric is in the combine, 40-yard dash, which apparently has its roots in punting hang times; something like ~4.5 seconds to run 40 yards is a good measure.

Athletically, I figure I should be taking into consideration, characteristics, like Speed, or Dexterity, or even Strength, movement, like Running, and this mysterious 'velocity factor'. Perhaps just do the math and calculate Running from these other metrics and go from there into what seems reasonable to purchase initially, develop over time, and so on.

Segmenting player movement is something I also want to consider, especially as befits determining acceleration, maximum movement rate (i.e. velocity, or 'velocity factor'), and so on.

 

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I've long thought that a game that can simply and accurately simulate playing sports would be the best possible combat system made.  Stuff like "hitting a 70 mph curveball to left field" or "intercepting a pass" is difficult to do in game terms.

 

I hear you. But not impossible. I'd like to quantify it somehow if possible.

 

Nevermind gauging kicking distance and accuracy of a punt or field goal, or did the QB throw a direct pass or arc one over the WR shoulders. I've read some posts that claim, I haven't done the math myself, that the scales are horrible at this sort of thing.

 

'Real world', some authorities I am reading on the subject of 40 yard dash, for example, are more concerned about acceleration than necessarily top end velocity. So, where HS appears to capture time and distance, and as far as I know, an approximation of acceleration in SPD per Phase (?), with Segmented Movement, and so on, perhaps that's good enough.

 

Other than that, I am planning on capturing a lot of combat maneuvers, mapping them to relevant skills, and there being a lot of skill/skill or skill/cha or cha/cha contests going on. i.e. QB 'Throws' pass to a WR whose assigned CB has an active man-to-man 'Cover' action in effect, if QB fails, chances are CB deflected (at least) or intercepted (worst case, for the QB), the ball. Zone coverage might be 'Cover' but at a -1 (or more) due to area. TBD, thinking that one through.

 

If an engine can resolve the turns, phases, movement, and called actions accurately, if not precisely, that's good enough IMO. It can be improved from there.

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For what it's worth, I think the Velocity Factor rules are about as good as it's going to get with HERO (they incorporate SPD, not DEX).

 

Fair enough. I am prepared to derive my own set of calculations out of otherwise informed options at my disposal if that's what it takes. I'll have a closer look at VF, though. First glance, still, being that it seems more geared to top end movement, vehicles, supers, and the like.

 

GURPS is probably the only other system out there that will handle the kind of realistic detail you are looking for.

 

Thanks. The feedback is appreciated.

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One of the downsides of the conversion of inches into 2 meter sections is that it creates the false impression that any of this has been rigorously tested vs. the real world. measuring everything in hexes and inches makes very clear that it is strictly relative to each other.

 

This does not work very well in sports, where instantaneous acceleration, rapid change in vector of velocity, and reaction time are immensely important. It is even less accurate in space, where acceleration is a better rating of ship perfromance, reaction time shouldn't matter (i.e. speed and acceleration shouldn't be tied to the SPD score), and the acceleration rules simply fall appart, especially when you tack on the megascale modifiers. In space, however, you are almost always discussing vehicles, which while relatively consistant, are not particularly balanced pointwise. In sports, you might end up paying more for your movement based on the velocity factors and accelleration than you do in actual meters per turn of movement.

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1 Inch = 1 Hex = 2 Meters in all editions by default.

 

The only thing 6E did differently was change Movement Powers to be measured in Meter increments instead (it didn't even change the cost, 2m still costs the same); by doing that simple thing it allowed you to easily (i.e. no conversion required) change the scale on the fly. Most GMs I know still use 2m = 1 Hex/1 Inch.

 

6Es notation means you can set 1 Hex = 1 Meter, and your movement then directly translates to the battle map (Running of 12 Meters? That's 12 Hexes). Simple math (yay division) will turn your Running # into Hexes Moved.

 

One thing you can change in Space Combat is turning Movement In Zero G to "acceleration/deacceleration per Phase" instead of "Movement per Phase"; relativistic speeds are your problem, but the base idea is a ship with Flight 12 Meters can accelerate 12 Meters every Phase the Pilot can act on.

 

And the only reason we divided actions into Phases (or whatever your game system calls combat turns) is to easily organize the whole messy ordeal around a table with a bunch of people. It's strictly a game organizing mechanic.

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