Bezzeb

To that end, I will re-state something I do for contested rolls:
 
Many years ago we kind of figured out that this is the basis of the attack roll: one using his CV to attack, opposed by one using his CV to not hey attacked.
 
Using Concelament as an example:
 
By the rules, the concealer rolls his skill when he hides the thing,  then the seeker rolls his skill when he seeks for it, with his roll being modified by the hider's success.
 
 
Alternate:
 
Roll (11 plus hider's concealment  skill) minus (finder's concealment skill) or less.
 
Not only do I find this to be faster-  there is only one roll, and no pressure to pregenerate a bunch of skill rolls for all the hidden whatever's on the map, the dice are in the Player'a hands and not mine.  It doesn't seem like much, but there is a noticeable change in both morale and ability to cope with a "blown roll" when all the rolls belong to the Player.
 
Most importantly to me, unlike a pregenerated penalty number based on a skill roll you threw two days prior while planning the scenario, way more of the rolls are out in the open.
 
So: Players are "in charge" of more rolls, more rolls are in the open, things go a bit faster, it is not a new mechanic to cobbled on top of everything else, and it keeps the attack roll from feeling like an orphan-  Players have less quesrions about "why is this one thing like this" when the see more uses of it as a skill-versus-skill concept.
 
Things going just a tiny bit faster is just a nice bonus.
 
 

To the OP:  I think it's brilliant that you've enumerated a few roll types.  It's made a light bulb go off in my head...
      For a future reprint of 6E I think all of these dice throwing variations should all be enumerated, named, and given little icons to be used used throughout the book so that the commonalities would be clear.  This is a serious aspect which throws off new players until they get a deeper feel of the system.  New players don't know there is a finite number of rolling mechanisms, and get the feeling it's arbitrary and infinite. 
     I routinely bring new players into hero system with good success.  As a GM I'm often pointing out patterns and deeper reasoning to which players respond well.  It would be GREAT if these patterns were put at the forefront in future publications.  Systematized.  Would help expose exactly how consistent and simple the system actually is under the hood.  They are not random, each has different mathematical characteristics which were well chosen by the game designers for each situation
 
     Now, I didn't see anyone mention that Chracteristics and Skill rolls are already identical.  Nobody needs to learn anything new in this example, and using contest rolls with no opponent - for example making a dex roll to avoid slipping and falling on ice, kind of breaks things and leads to less consistency not more.
     Everyone i'm sure knows but just in case, the Characteristic roll is already beautiful and elegant.  The 9+ (CHAR/5) is simply designed to put average vanilla base 10 characters at 11- or less, like a low level skill roll.  Spending character points to raise skils or characteristics helps there respective rolls and all of the mechanics stay essentially identical.
 
    That said, there are lots of opportunities to add a contest roll into the game to spice things up.  I once had a character haggling and turned it into an INT based contest roll, giving them an extra die for some kind of merchant related background profession they had.
 
     So I encourage taking any pcvpc or pcvnpc situation which makes sense and making it a contest roll !!  But please don't break things by fixing them. 

To the OP:  I think it's brilliant that you've enumerated a few roll types.  It's made a light bulb go off in my head...
      For a future reprint of 6E I think all of these dice throwing variations should all be enumerated, named, and given little icons to be used used throughout the book so that the commonalities would be clear.  This is a serious aspect which throws off new players until they get a deeper feel of the system.  New players don't know there is a finite number of rolling mechanisms, and get the feeling it's arbitrary and infinite. 
     I routinely bring new players into hero system with good success.  As a GM I'm often pointing out patterns and deeper reasoning to which players respond well.  It would be GREAT if these patterns were put at the forefront in future publications.  Systematized.  Would help expose exactly how consistent and simple the system actually is under the hood.  They are not random, each has different mathematical characteristics which were well chosen by the game designers for each situation
 
     Now, I didn't see anyone mention that Chracteristics and Skill rolls are already identical.  Nobody needs to learn anything new in this example, and using contest rolls with no opponent - for example making a dex roll to avoid slipping and falling on ice, kind of breaks things and leads to less consistency not more.
     Everyone i'm sure knows but just in case, the Characteristic roll is already beautiful and elegant.  The 9+ (CHAR/5) is simply designed to put average vanilla base 10 characters at 11- or less, like a low level skill roll.  Spending character points to raise skils or characteristics helps there respective rolls and all of the mechanics stay essentially identical.
 
    That said, there are lots of opportunities to add a contest roll into the game to spice things up.  I once had a character haggling and turned it into an INT based contest roll, giving them an extra die for some kind of merchant related background profession they had.
 
     So I encourage taking any pcvpc or pcvnpc situation which makes sense and making it a contest roll !!  But please don't break things by fixing them. 

I'm so freaking excited...  Are you willing to comment on how the first basic objective will compare with the Roll20 script? 
 
For info, we rely on 2 aspects at roll20 in our game group:  Combat turn tracker and the Power "attack buttons" which draw from character sheet modifiers. 
 
On the latter, for Hero Vets and Newbies alike, it keeps everyone in the flow instead of pausing all the time to do math. The secret to a great Hero System module in my eyes is making OCV/DCV modifiers easy and intuitive for players to manipulate.  The guy who designed the Roll20 script and character sheet did a decent job of it.
 
And no joke, the Roll20 script has been VITAL for letting me bring in players who are new to Hero System.  As GM i say "Let them play first, learn later."  With the roll20 scripts, takes me 5 minutes to teach how to click the modifier option buttons and how to pick an attack on their powers page which I've prepared before hand - then we're gaming.  They pick up the math and logic along the way.  If your new FoundryVTT module meets or exceeds in this area of making it less daunting for newbies, then we could see some growth in the number Hero System gamers.

Hey Bigdamnhero, I just wanted to say thanks for writing up this movement example!!  I see nobody else replied, but i think that's very cool, and will definitely give it a shot when our Star Hero campaign gets to space combat. Standard Hero vehicle combat is okay for ground and air vehicles, but i really was not looking forward to trying to use it in space. 
 
I'm a firm believer in inertia and the vacuum of space.  Without air under ones wings or asphalt under ones tires, things are be different.  It really annoys me when some sci-fi shows depict space battles as airplane dogfights and i was dreading our space fights looking like that.  So all hail Babylon 5, BSG and The Expanse for showing us how amazing some realism can be.    The movement system you've described looks like the perfect cure, and separating ones movement vector from their heading and using angles seems brilliant...  If you play again soon, would be sweet to see a short video depicting a few turns of space dogfight combat.  
 
Thanks again and all the best!

Hey Bigdamnhero, I just wanted to say thanks for writing up this movement example!!  I see nobody else replied, but i think that's very cool, and will definitely give it a shot when our Star Hero campaign gets to space combat. Standard Hero vehicle combat is okay for ground and air vehicles, but i really was not looking forward to trying to use it in space. 
 
I'm a firm believer in inertia and the vacuum of space.  Without air under ones wings or asphalt under ones tires, things are be different.  It really annoys me when some sci-fi shows depict space battles as airplane dogfights and i was dreading our space fights looking like that.  So all hail Babylon 5, BSG and The Expanse for showing us how amazing some realism can be.    The movement system you've described looks like the perfect cure, and separating ones movement vector from their heading and using angles seems brilliant...  If you play again soon, would be sweet to see a short video depicting a few turns of space dogfight combat.  
 
Thanks again and all the best!

I'm currently running a Galactic Champions game, so our space battles also include flying spandex people punching spaceships. We mostly use standard Hero vehicle combat (6ed), but I wanted to use a vector-based movement system with at least a passing resemblance to how objects actually move in zero G instead of looking like the usual WWII dogfight. (Basic concept swiped from the minis game Full Thrust.) We've only had one space combat so far, but it worked really well: the players found it easy to understand after just a couple moves, it played quickly, and really gave the battle a unique feel.
 
No hexes: freeform movement measured using rulers or measuring tapes. The exact scale is handwaved, but 1 “movement unit” = 1cm on the map. (You could use 1m = 1” but you’ll need a big playing space!)

We ignored the Z axis and just did everything in 2D. In my experience/opinion, trying to simulate 3D on the tabletop is way more trouble than it's worth.
 
A ship’s Flight is how fast it can accelerate; there is no maximum velocity. (I mean theoretically there is, but I’m pretty sure you’ll run out of table long before you approach 1 C!) Ships can move NCM if they want, with the usual effects on CV.
 
For each ship you need to keep track of three things:
- FACING is the direction the ship is pointing – indicated by the miniature’s facing
- COURSE is the direction the ship is moving, which may not be the same as its facing – indicated by arrow on a disk or a counter
- VELOCITY is how fast the ship is currently moving – we tracked velocity using 2d10s (ie a velocity of 24 is reflected with a 2 on one die and a 4 on another)
 
Ships move and act on their Phases as normal. Movement is a 4-step process:
- The ship drifts in the direction of its current Course for its current Velocity in cm. Leave the Course arrow in place to mark the ship’s starting position.
- From its drift location, the ship can then move normally up to its full Flight move in cm. There is no Turn Mode, and rotation is “free” so basically they can move wherever they want up to their full movement. The new Facing is in line from the drift point to its final location, to reflect the direction the ship was applying thrust.
- Measure the distance from the starting position (the arrow) to the final location (the mini); the distance in cm is the new Velocity.
- The new Course is in line from the starting location to the final location; move the course arrow up to the final location.
 
Combat is handled normally after movement. For simplicity, I let ships & character do a full move and attack at one additional range band (ie -2 OCV).

Movement Example: A ship with 24m of Flight is currently moving towards the right, which we’ll call 3 o’clock; its current Facing and Course are the same and its current Velocity is 10. The ship wants to accelerate. First the ship’s mini drifts 10cm towards 3 o’clock, and the arrow is left in place. The ship then moves normally, and decides to move 24cm straight ahead. The distance from start to finish is 34cm, so that is the ship’s new Velocity. Its Facing and Course are unchanged. Move the arrow counter up to the final location. Note that for linear examples like this you could’ve just added 10+24 and moved the ship forward 34cm.
 
The next Phase I took pictures! Ship’s Course and Facing are both still towards 3 o'clock, Velocity 34. (The arrow is on the disk under the ship counter, but you don’t need to see it until you move anyway.)

 
Say the ship wants to turn to port/left. First, the mini drifts 34cm to 3 o'clock, leaving the arrow in place.

 
From there the ship moves its full 24cm to 12 o'clock. The ship’s facing is now towards 12 because it was applying thrust in that direction.
 

 
Measure the distance between the starting and end locations, which comes out to around 42cm – that’s the ship’s new Velocity. The angle from start location to finish is the new Course; move the arrow up. (I left the arrow on top so you could see it.) Looking at this pic it looks like the ship counter got bumped out of alignment, but it should still be facing straight towards 12 o'clock.

 
On it’s next Phase say the ship wants to stop. First the mini drifts 42cm along its current course (call it 2 o'clock). Then the ship moves 42cm (using NCM) back towards 8 o'clock, ending up where it started. Velocity is 0; new facing is towards 8 o'clock, and the Heading counter is removed (or ignored).
 
 

I have 2 cents for this thread, as I also have a new game group (old friends, new to hero system) which i'm starting a Star Hero campaign with.  They naturally asked about the roll low thing, but I cleared them up and made them pretty happy in maybe 5 minutes by explaining: 
A:  Think Golf.  This isn't some alien concept, par is like your success goal, which means LOW.  Just this one point got me 90% there with my group.
B:  GM applied modifiers are a big part of hero system, and if you want them to be intuitive, one simply must use a roll low mechanic. 
    B.1:  It's quite elegant for me to tell a player they have an advantage for some reason so "+1 to your roll".  Plus one is good right??  Yes it is! 
    B.2:  Or the inverse, they are trying to do something really difficult, so i say "Go for it at -3".  They know minus is bad and might have second thoughts.
     -->  Inverting the test roll mechanic borks this up.  
C:  Final point i teach on this topic:  3d6 tests are all about finding a statistical probability range for the player that fits a situation in a fair way, roll under golf rules apply so that bonuses and penalties make sense.  Doing damage, well that depends on the attack you hit with.  Grab as many dice as your attack allows and go for it, may you always roll high!  Unless you're pulling a punch or holding back strength.  (laugh)
 
So the whole group quickly got it, was on board, and they today think it's a really elegant system, which it is.  Hero system needs some expert hand holding to get past the learning curve, but i'm pretty confident i could get anyone to fall in love with the roll-under system if i sat down and talked it through with them.  Biggest risk is they might go play other systems and start to realize how dumb those non-hero game mechanics are.  (LOL)  I know i find it painful to play other systems, though i do regularly as a player...  (I don't have the intestinal fortitude to GM other systems...)
 
One of my players said it best.  "Wow, Hero System is like the GM on the Critical Roll videos saying 'How do you want to do this', but all the time!!  I don't have to wait until I roll a 20!"  Couldn't have said it better.   
 

I have 2 cents for this thread, as I also have a new game group (old friends, new to hero system) which i'm starting a Star Hero campaign with.  They naturally asked about the roll low thing, but I cleared them up and made them pretty happy in maybe 5 minutes by explaining: 
A:  Think Golf.  This isn't some alien concept, par is like your success goal, which means LOW.  Just this one point got me 90% there with my group.
B:  GM applied modifiers are a big part of hero system, and if you want them to be intuitive, one simply must use a roll low mechanic. 
    B.1:  It's quite elegant for me to tell a player they have an advantage for some reason so "+1 to your roll".  Plus one is good right??  Yes it is! 
    B.2:  Or the inverse, they are trying to do something really difficult, so i say "Go for it at -3".  They know minus is bad and might have second thoughts.
     -->  Inverting the test roll mechanic borks this up.  
C:  Final point i teach on this topic:  3d6 tests are all about finding a statistical probability range for the player that fits a situation in a fair way, roll under golf rules apply so that bonuses and penalties make sense.  Doing damage, well that depends on the attack you hit with.  Grab as many dice as your attack allows and go for it, may you always roll high!  Unless you're pulling a punch or holding back strength.  (laugh)
 
So the whole group quickly got it, was on board, and they today think it's a really elegant system, which it is.  Hero system needs some expert hand holding to get past the learning curve, but i'm pretty confident i could get anyone to fall in love with the roll-under system if i sat down and talked it through with them.  Biggest risk is they might go play other systems and start to realize how dumb those non-hero game mechanics are.  (LOL)  I know i find it painful to play other systems, though i do regularly as a player...  (I don't have the intestinal fortitude to GM other systems...)
 
One of my players said it best.  "Wow, Hero System is like the GM on the Critical Roll videos saying 'How do you want to do this', but all the time!!  I don't have to wait until I roll a 20!"  Couldn't have said it better.