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An alternative non-combat movement approach


unclevlad

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This is primarily related to Running and Flight as the primary continuous-movement powers.

 

The issue as I see it is the +5 adder to double non-combat makes building characters with a good but sane top speed extraordinarily expensive...and moreso if you have to add Reduced Endurance, because the adders create an Adjusted Base Price.  (Buy 20" with x16 noncombat, that's 35 points.  If you want 1/2 End, that's 9 more.  Whereas, buy 20" with a +3/4 modifier for noncombat speed, that's 35...but 1/2 End only takes that to 40.)

 

So what I'm toying with is:

 

1.  There is no velocity adder.  Basic noncombat velocity is 2x your combat move.

2.  There's 3 new advantages, at +1/4, +1/2, and +3/4 that are noncombat multipliers.  I'll propose 2 scales.

3.  These advantages work analogously to MegaScale movement for acceleration, etc.

 

Scale1: 

+1/4 == 5x

+1/2 == 25x

+3/4 == 100x

 

Scale 2

+1/4 == 10x

+1/2 == 50x

+3/4 == 250x

 

In scale 2, each +1/4 gives 5x noncombat velocity.  Scale 1 is clearly less generous, but you can get some very good speeds:

 

Combat Move 5 10 25 50 100 250 1000  
5 30 60 150 300 600 1500 6000
mach 4.86
10 60 120 300 600 1200 3000 12000
mach 9.72
15 90 180 450 900 1800 4500 18000
mach 14.57
20 120 240 600 1200 2400 6000 24000
mach 19.43
25 150 300 750 1500 3000 7500 30000
mach 24.29

 

Noncom velocities were based on speed 4, and are in kph.  Mach is the speed of sound, ~1200 kph.  Note that x100 for a +3/4 still gets you about mach 2, for 35 points, with a nice combat half-move.  The last column is the velocity for the +1 level MegaScale, translated to mach numbers.

 

In either scaling, the full 1" = 1 km MegaScale can be reserved for rockets and starships and similar things where we're using fractions of the speed of *light*...not sound.

 

Also to reiterate, this is NOT for teleport, at least for me.  With teleport I'm not considering speed, I'm considering range.  

 

This way, you get to have combat move and noncombat velocity, which makes WAY more sense, and you don't have to play munchkin games with MP slots or the like.

 

Thoughts?  Stupid?  Old hat?  Maybe something worth a darn?  

Bed time....this is the kind of thing I think about too much, rather than go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

 

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I think movement is appropriately scaled already, personally. If I have 10" of running and buy the +3/4 for 100x for 7 active points, I am at 1000" per phase. A move through would do 167d6 of damage. A Move By would cause 100d6 and the player would take 33d6. The equivalent in Megascale would cost 2 more for base movement and another 18 in advantage cost or 20 active points, that seems plenty cheap for the utility of the movement. If you take the additional 13 points and buy PD, only versus Move By and Move Through damage (-1) you would even survive the attacks, although you would probably be very unconscious. If you go this route I would certainly add the same limitations as megascale has (not able to use for move through / move by) and even then I think I would pass and stick with the current system. But it does not seem terribly unbalanced if you don't allow it to add to velocity damage.

 

- E

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Yes, this has the same restrictions as MegaScale for rules like MB/MT.

OK, that suggests:

 

a)  leave the adders as is, for someone wanting high-speed move-by and move-through.  

b)  probably drop the +1/4 level as overly duplicative, but it can be kept too.  It's cheaper in many cases, it gives a fairly nice noncombat velo, and lots of chars don't do MB/MT

c)  the +1/2 and +3/4 are extensions on MegaScale, if you will.  Can't be used with MB/MT.

 

 

 



 

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13 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Yes, this has the same restrictions as MegaScale for rules like MB/MT.

OK, that suggests:

 

a)  leave the adders as is, for someone wanting high-speed move-by and move-through.  

b)  probably drop the +1/4 level as overly duplicative, but it can be kept too.  It's cheaper in many cases, it gives a fairly nice noncombat velo, and lots of chars don't do MB/MT

c)  the +1/2 and +3/4 are extensions on MegaScale, if you will.  Can't be used with MB/MT.

Scale sounds right, if you are looking for extremely fast NCM to be the norm. Personally, I try to leave that in the realm of either a Base (teleport portals, etc), a vehicle (team transport) or as a shtick for the speedsters / really fast flyers. It takes away some of their "shine" if everyone on the team can run to New York to pick up bagels for the team or to look up something on microfiche at the Library of Congress while the team continues to search for other clues.

 

- E

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Well, some of this is to construct an alternative to someone who wants NCM, to buy 5" with +1 MegaScale, while at the same time, allowing someone to go San Fran to LA in an hour without spending a crazy amount.  One thing to also note:  if you're gonna be doing this for that hour, you may hit the LTE rules.  So you're gonna need at least 1/2 END, and if you break 40 Active, probably 0 END.  Note that this is a side issue with the Adder 'double NCM' format.  It increases the base cost *before* applying any advantage.  This makes even 1/2 END notably more expensive.  With a 4 SPD, 20" of running, x16 net NCM is 35 active.  1/2 END adds 9 more.  Base running cuts 12 off the cost, so 32 points.  That gets you...about 240 mph.    If it's Flight, we're talking 44 points for "I can't beat the slowest private plane at the local airport."

 

The adder is also very expensive if all you want is quicker NCM...because in part, it's not just about NCM.  It has a significant combat application.  Say you want 15" of running and x4 NCM.  You can't break the highway speed limit, at SPD 4 or 5.  But going from x2 to x4 is slightly worse than a +1/2 Advantage.

 

But, it is true that flight and especially running are fairly cheap.  How about
+1/4 Adv:  x5

+1/2 Adv:  x15

+3/4 Adv:  x50

 

20" of movement, speed 4, x50 NCM is just under the speed of sound.  Same cost as 20", x16, same need for reduced END...but it'll cost less here.  It's 5 points, not 9.  So if this is running, it's 28 points.  If it's flight, it's 40.  

 

Granted, if you tack on limitations it gets cheaper.  I'll definitely agree the 3/4 Adv level (at least) justifies a yellow Caution.   I'm hoping this strikes a reasonable balance, tho.

 

 

 

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