WCRPG Combat Demo

[Whistler]

Alright, instead of classing guns differently we could try a new component modifier for damage from more modern and efficient gun capacitors, there-by increasing the multiplier for damage in a believable way. Say, any fighter after WC3...could be a modifier as low as x5 or as high as x10 based on technology progression from Wc3 era to Arena era. Wouldn't be too many more additions to add and you have a canonical explanation.

EDIT:
Scripting the Maverick vs Seether duel...this is what I do to make myself sleepy after 4 AM lol.

2xEDIT
Using x10 modifier for shield regen as well.

 

[capi3101]

Got your PM; responded. Might try the Auto-Repair module at 5x instead of just x (i.e. +25 Engineering instead of +5); I was thinking about that this morning a little bit.

 

[capi3101]

Did a run of Seether-v-Maverick. I need to fix Fission Cannons so they cannot be used with other guns and ITTS. Seether utterly smoked Maverick first round (technically second but the first round was Seether's surprise round).

By "utterly smoked", I mean 651% Core Damage. Killed him six times over. You know, typical day for Seether.

Utterly true to WC4, though...

I should mention that this was a control run; no upscaling of the weapon damage was applied.

Obviously I'll be running this one again a few more times.

 

[Whistler]

If the Fission cannons aren't immediately ready (wings locked and charging to fire) I have been scripting that you have to have your first attempt at firing the Fission's readyed (waiting for the wings to lock into position and a few seconds to charge the shot). Might be a little balancer for that superior firepower. Noted about ITTS but I had been running that way all along. Namely that if you're using a "special" weapon, such as a leech gun, stormfire, fission gun, etc, that ITTS is disabled for those weapons just like in the game.

 

[capi3101]

That sounds like a good way to handle it; I'll need to make it explicit for those weapons. Should just need a little bit of text in 6.2.3; that one's no big deal.

 

[Whistler]

First match concluded and it turned out rather well for our hero.

Notes are as follows, please let me know if there's anything I missed.

Assuming no surprise due to game reference. Seether clearly gloats over the comm before doing a Ride Mine Wake attack on Maverick, uncloaked.

x10 DMG and SHR

Notes: STHR Dragon features 4x Mine in place of 4xHS missiles.

MATCH 1

INI Roll:
MAV: 13+9=22 STHR: 13+13=26

RD1(FIGHT!!)

STHR: tMAV, r3 - exe RMW atk r0, -1 mine: MKM:39 HD:41, 19/47/32/92, 2 hit, mkm refire success, (670x3)+(700x4)=4810 DMG, MAV SHP=190, Crit Miss DMG=350, STHR AHP=2650 -1Tach.
MAV: tSTHR, r0 - rdy IMM evm, prepare fission cannon.
STHR +3Guns, MAV = +400 SHP

RD2

STHR: r0, rdy fission cannon, atk - IFF missile launch - BAL: 39, MAV exe IMM: HD: -19, 87(MISS).
MAV: r0, rdy ShSl, atk - fission cannons - MKM: 43 HD: 39, 89/80 (MISS)
MAV +2 Guns +400 SHP (MAV SHP = 990)

RD3

STHR: r0, atk - fission cannons - MAV exe ShSl, MKM:39 HD: 1, 39/76 (MISS), ready Jinking.
MAV: r0, atk - fission cannons - MKM: 43 HD: 29, 87/81 (MISS), ready IMM
MAV/STHR +2 Guns, MAV +400 SHP (MAV SHP = 1390)

RD4

STHR: r0, exe RMW atk, r3, MAV exe IMM, -10 Jink - BAL: 29 BHD: 21, 20 = hit, DMG = 1000, MAV SHP = 390
MAV: r3, move to r0, atk - fission cannons, 1xHS missile - MKM: 43 BAL: 43 HD: 29, 41/00/66, CRIT HIT DMG = 20000, STHR SHP = 0, AHP = 0, 12,000=CORE DMG, STHR DESTROYED.
Mav = VICTORY.

After any notes or corrections I'll proceed to initiate round 2. In almost all my dice combat tests I usually run a best-2-out-of-3.

That last Crit was the nail in Seether's coffin, a double zero that came out of nowhere. We'll see if the next round isn't so favoring the HotT. After a couple more rounds in this I want to try running cloak-ship detection and acquisition between the two after the initial round.

 

[Whistler]

So Seether got to open up with his signature move on Blair, though it didn't get him much for the initiative. Though Seether did manage to pepper Maverick with shots but the shields held. Thanks to Auto-slide, maneuvering to acquire a shot takes little skill in a Dragon.

Maverick, as his nature (and that of the actor's roles he plays), manages a critical hit with his big fission gun.

Seether: "I have failed.....YAAAHHHHH!!!"

Next matchup after I've taken care of the dailies.

 

[Whistler]

Drat, should've remembered to post this first:

Hopefully I did this thing right.

 

[capi3101]

Close. Trying to figure out why our numbers are off...

(59-73) +(12-12) + 25 = -14 + 0 + 25 = 11
(59-63) + (12-12) +25 = -4 + 0 + 25 = 21

Also trying to figure out why I accounted for Size Class this time around. It made no difference but this isn't a cross-combat situation so SC shouldn't matter.

 

[capi3101]

Notes are as follows, please let me know if there's anything I missed.

Alrighty...let's pick this thing apart then...

Assuming no surprise due to game reference. Seether clearly gloats over the comm before doing a Ride Mine Wake attack on Maverick, uncloaked.

Huh. Reason why I added one is because as soon as he's done gloating, you see him do his little mine trick right onto Blair's six and start blasting away, which is where the game puts him when control reverts back to the player, IIRC...

x10 DMG and SHR
Notes: STHR Dragon features 4x Mine in place of 4xHS missiles.

Okay. So the wep damage is as follows: Plasma Guns at 670, Tachyons at 70, Fission Cannon at 10,000, HS at 4,000 and IFFs at 2,500. That seems to match up with what you used.
Maverick's composite Defenses score is 20, you multiplied this by ten to get 200. Likewise, Seether's is 5, so he'd be recharging at 50.

This actually is a mistake that carried over from the first combat demo; my bad on this one. Shield recharge is supposed to be 10% of the craft's total SHP plus the mechanical specialist's Defenses Score.
Dragons (LANCES!!) have 5000 SHP, so their base shield recharge rate is 500.
There's also the +5 Auto-Repair System in play, which boosts Engineering Skills by +5 (I'm considering upping this to +25). Thus Blair's recharge rate should be 525 and Seether's should be 510.

INI Roll:
MAV: 13+9=22 STHR: 13+13=26

I'm still trying to figure out what happened here...it looks like you rolled 9 for Blair and 13 for Seether. The base Initiative score for a Lance (DRAGON!!) is 9, not 13.

RD1(FIGHT!!)

Liu Kang, Wins. Kano, kinda sucks, banality...

STHR: tMAV, r3 - exe RMW atk r0, -1 mine: MKM:39 HD:41, 19/47/32/92, 2 hit, mkm refire success, (670x3)+(700x4)=4810 DMG, MAV SHP=190, Crit Miss DMG=350, STHR AHP=2650 -1Tach.
MAV: tSTHR, r0 - rdy IMM evm, prepare fission cannon.
STHR +3Guns, MAV = +400 SHP

Point of order: Seether's Marksmanship DC of 39 sets his critical miss threshold at 93.
I'm assuming the ITTS roll for the Plasma Cannon was 1 and for the Tachyon Cannon was 2.
+400 on shield regeneration?
How are you handling variations in range? If you're simply not bothering with it for the sake of testing, that's fine; just asking.

RD2
STHR: r0, rdy fission cannon, atk - IFF missile launch - BAL: 39, MAV exe IMM: HD: -19, 87(MISS).
MAV: r0, rdy ShSl, atk - fission cannons - MKM: 43 HD: 39, 89/80 (MISS)
MAV +2 Guns +400 SHP (MAV SHP = 990)

Did you have Maverick roll for his Immelmann? Not that it would've mattered in this case; an 87 is a miss either way.

RD3
STHR: r0, atk - fission cannons - MAV exe ShSl, MKM:39 HD: 1, 39/76 (MISS), ready Jinking.
MAV: r0, atk - fission cannons - MKM: 43 HD: 29, 87/81 (MISS), ready IMM
MAV/STHR +2 Guns, MAV +400 SHP (MAV SHP = 1390)

Nothing new here.

RD4
STHR: r0, exe RMW atk, r3, MAV exe IMM, -10 Jink - BAL: 29 BHD: 21, 20 = hit, DMG = 1000, MAV SHP = 390
MAV: r3, move to r0, atk - fission cannons, 1xHS missile - MKM: 43 BAL: 43 HD: 29, 41/00/66, CRIT HIT DMG = 20000, STHR SHP = 0, AHP = 0, 12,000=CORE DMG, STHR DESTROYED.
Mav = VICTORY.

So Seether dropped a mine to get away and wound up at range three. Then he started Jinking. Meanwhile, the mine detonated; Maverick attempted an Immelman to mitigate the damage but the mine hit for a thousand damage. Okay, I can see that. Took me a little bit to figure out exactly what was going on.

Yeah...12,000 translates to 1,000% Core Damage. That's some serious overkill going on there...

After any notes or corrections I'll proceed to initiate round 2. In almost all my dice combat tests I usually run a best-2-out-of-3.

Good way of doing it; it's a also a good way to test out the effects of tweaks.

That last Crit was the nail in Seether's coffin, a double zero that came out of nowhere. We'll see if the next round isn't so favoring the HotT. After a couple more rounds in this I want to try running cloak-ship detection and acquisition between the two after the initial round.

Criticals. Gotta love 'em.
Go for it. Though I should note I was thinking about putting Tachyon Sonar on the Dragons/Lances/Dragons/Lances/F-107s. I seem to remember from WC4 that you could see cloaked craft when you were flying one of thems. Probably would be good to do that before/if I make that change.

 

[capi3101]

I foresee the need for additional test runs; I think I may do one or two from the Arena and P2 eras today. To that end, I've created a set of "crash test dummies", a very basic, generic group of 500-point Terran and Kilrathi pilots. Here is a blank EHD map and their skill scores:

The goal here is to see if the Arena and P2 craft need the weapons uprating; I'm confident that the WC4 and Prophecy-era craft do. I'm pretty sure the Arena craft do as well but I'm not as sure about the P2 craft.

 

[capi3101]

Boy. This is a tough call. Doesn't help that those P2 ships suck.

Alright: I've got Arris flying a Straith versus the crash test crew in Chirichan Demons. Vince has crit-missed himself with a Brute 2 (which does 800 damage normally) and Arris just scored five hits with Volt Lasers (25 damage apiece) on Larry. No scale up here, so Vince is sitting at 600/1,000 AHP and Arris's lasers did a measly 125 points of damage to Larry's shields; he's at 625/750 SHP (at a recharge rate of +97 SHP per round).

At times 10 damage, Vince would've blown himself up with his own missile easily (Demons have 1750 HP total; 4,000 damage would've causes 175% Core Damage) and Arris would've knocked down Larry's shields and half his armor.

I'm thinking a 5x upscale for the P2 craft maximum. Or should I just leave them like they are? Like I said, those ships kinda suck...

 

[capi3101]

Results are in from the P2 5x upscale fight:

===NAV 8===
OOB: VNC, BST, ARS, LAR

-RD 1-
VNC: tARS/r2-11. hail ARS - "Argh matey.", standsby
BST: tARS/r2-08. ready EVM special, standsby.
ARS: tLAR/r2-11. standsby.
LAR: tARS/rR-11. standsby.
(no recharge)

-RD 2-
VNC: tARS/r2-06. ab to r3, -1STREAM. VNC BRUTE2 ARS bal27 ehd30 /96/CRITM=2000dmg - VNC=77%Core/23DC=27destruct. rsv39/57=nojoy ===VNC KILLED===
BST: tARS/r1-09. ready EVM special, standsby.
ARS: tLAR/r2-01. move to r0. ARS VOLT LAR mkm28 ehd31 /27/75/82/23/1VOLTx1+2VOLTx2=5VOLT=625DMG
LAR: tARS/rR-00. LAR STREAM ARS mkm32 ehd33 /42/42/miss. LAR SNIPE ARS bal27 ehd33 /98/CRITM=1125dmg - LAR=9%Core/DC91/44=ok. flaw=69/STABILIZER BLOWN (-1 INIT, -20 VEP). 12SYS=25%Shield, 50%Gun, 25%Radar, 25%Comm, 25%Engine, 50%Eject, 2Wd=-60HP, 50%LSS. FSV 36/32/ok LAR ~fatigued~.
ARS/LAR +1GUN, LAR+97 SHP(97)

-RD 3-
BST: t2-04. move to r2. BST STREAM ARS mkm32 ehd31 /15/82/4streamx1=440dmg. ARS=560 SHP
ARS: t5-04. move to r2. ARS SNIPE LAR bal28 ehd29 /89/miss
LAR: tR-02. move to r0. LAR B2 ARS bal27 ehd33 /40/miss
ALL +1GUN, ARS +102SHP (662), LAR +97SHP (194)

-RD 4-
BST: t1-03. move to r1. BST B2 ARS bal27 ehd32 /16/hit=4000dmg. ARS=369%Core ===ARS KILLED===
PIRATES RULE. KANO STILL SUCKS, BANALITY.

===END===
So basically, Vince manages to kill himself with his own missile, Arris gets some good hits in on Larry, Larry's own Snipe blows up in his face causing him some serious, near fatal wounds, and yet he manages to cling to consciousness (owing to a tweak I plan to make to character-scale combat). Meantime, Buster gets on Arris's tail and makes him eat a Brute Mk-2.

...and the guy with the colostomy bag eventually offs both David Warner and Christopher Walken. On the plus side, Clive Owen doesn't have to do Gosford Park.

I think the 5x upscale works, so I'll go with that for these ships. Apparently I also need to work on my pirate dialogue.

 

[Whistler]

Lolz on the pirate speech. With the P2 universe I'm happy to let them blow their own faces off all they want. I also just re-read the ship list...yeah they do kinda suck...that's what they get for being isolated. Hope Cottam isn't reading this lol. At least they look cool.

 

[capi3101]

I've been meaning to ask Cottam whether or not he knows what the intended scale of those ships are; I still haven't got much hard data on that. Probably won't have any until after the game goes to print. Oh well.

Next up: the Arena match. I'm taking Star*Soldier's description of the Thunderdome...er......the Bearpit literally - two men enter, one man leaves. I'm assuming that can be two Terrans against one another, so we'll have Vince versus Larry. I'm not going to do the whole powerup bullcrap but it might be interesting to give the two of them access to the three Arrow and three Rapier variants (just to make it Arena-ish). Kill your opponent and he has to pick a different ship; first pilot to six kills wins. This'll be a 10x upscale matchup.

 

[Whistler]

I've been meaning to ask Cottam whether or not he knows what the intended scale of those ships are; I still haven't got much hard data on that. Probably won't have any until after the game goes to print. Oh well...

Best way to compare scale on the P2 ships might be to use the Talon fighter found in the game since we have lots of hard data on them. Do you have a means to view the ships outside the game engine? I think there's a object viewer archived somewhere here at the CIC.

 

[capi3101]

There are aspects of each ship, so I have their relative dimensions; the problem is that I don't have a scale to work against (you never see anything that says "The length of a Straith is x meters" or some such).

Arena fight's going well. Larry's winning so far.

 

[capi3101]

Finally finished the Arena matchup. The final victor was Vince, six kills to four. Wasn't sure he was going to win it in the early going. Pretty compelling matchup, so let's get into the coded notes...

===VINCE-V-LARRY (VNC-V-LAR)===
VNC-GUARDIAN (11) VS LAR-GUARDIAN (17)
OOB: LAR VNC

Alright, like I said the other day, I gave each pilot six ships, the three Arrow variants and the three Rapier variants. When a pilot's ship was killed, he had to switch to a different ship and couldn't pick the destroyed one again for the rest of the match. So the first thing that happened was the selection of initial ships; both got the Arrow Guardian for their first ship. Initiative Check set Larry to shoot first.

-RD1-
LAR: tVNC/r2-08. ab to r3 -1tac. LAR FG VNC mkm32 ehd21/31/80/08/2neux5=10neu=6200DMG. VNC=308 AHP.
VNC: tLAR/rR-03. move to r0. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd24/75/71/36/80/miss.
LAR/VNC +1gun, VNC +647SHP (647)
 
-RD2-
LAR: tVNC/r1-06. ab to r1, -1tac. LAR ImRec VNC bal27 ehd23 /09/1hit=5200DMG. VNC=471%Core ==VNC-GUARDIAN KILLED==
LAR +1gun.

The initial fight lasted twelve seconds - two rounds. Larry walloped Vince with some serious shooting, hitting hit ten times with neutron guns in the first round and then finishing him off in the next. Vince was obviously not prepared...

-RD3-
LAR +1gun.
 
VNC-ECLIPSE (14)
OOB: LAR VNC
 
-RD 4-
LAR: tVNC/r2-00. LAR CVM/SPEC-DC42 /53/FAIL. LAR 1TAC+2NEU VNC mkm32 ehd25 /79/05/02/2NEUx3+2-CRITH-NEUx1=10NEU=6200 DMG. VNC=133%cORE ==VNC-ECLIPSE KILLED==
LAR +1gun.
 
-RD5-
LAR +1gun.
 
VNC-BLADE (9)
OOB: LAR VNC

I gave each victor a respite round between matchups to continue recharging for the next match; I did not automatically reset their stats. Vince drew an Arrow Eclipse for his next ship. Unfortunately, he respawned right in Larry's sights...

Next ship Vince drew was the Rapier-II Blade.

-RD6-
LAR: tVNC/r2-09. ab to r4, -1neu. LAR ImRec VNC bal27 ehd18 /44/54/miss. 
VNC: tLAR/rR-05. move to r3. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd22 /36/09/15/68/3MESx5 + 3TACx1 = 6300 DMG. LAR=208 AHP
VNC +4GUN, LAR +1GUN, LAR+647SHP (647)
 
-RD7-
LAR: tVNC/r1-09. ab to r4, -1neu. LAR DF VNC bal27 ehd18/67/57/80/26/99/81/CRITM=1500DMG. LAR=143%Core ==LAR-GUARDIAN KILLED==
(NO RECHARGE)
 
-RD8-
(NO RECHARGE)
 
LAR-VANGUARD (10)
OOB: LAR VNC

It's always embarassing when you kill yourself - that's kinda what happened here. Vince served up some pain in round 6 and in Round 7 Larry got a critical miss with a DF missile, which blew up in his face. Vince had full shields and guns when it happened, so no recharge was needed. Larry's next ship was a Rapier-II Vanguard.

-RD9-
LAR: tVNC/r2-09. ab to r2, -1 LAS. LAR FG VNC mkm32 ehd20 /16/09/52/08/89/4LASx2+3NEUx1+3NEUx1=5160DMG. VNC=1792 AHP
VNC: tLAR/rR-02. move to r0. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd25 /47/54/08/23/3TACx3+1TACx2=5500 DMG. LAR=1792AHP
LAR/VNC +4GUN, VNC +582SHP (582), LAR +252 SHP (252)
 
-RD10-
LAR: tVNC/r1-04. move to r1. LAR 2LAS+2NEU VNC mkm32 ehd21 /25/69/38/02/CRITH-3NEUx2=7440 DMG. VNC=558%Core ==VNC-BLADE KILLED==
LAR +4GUN, LAR +252SHP (504)
 
-RD11-
LAR +2GUN, LAR+252SHP (756)
 
VNC-CAVALIER (8)
OOB: LAR VNC

Had a pretty good back and forth going on between Larry's Vanguard and Vince's Blade. A critical hit from Larry's Neutron Guns sent Vince's ship into the scrap heap; he drew the Rapier-II Cavalier next.

-RD12-
LAR: tVNC/r2-11. ab to r4, -1LAS. LAR DF VNC bal27 ehd05 /32/48/52/89/miss.
VNC: tLAR/rR-04. move to r2. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd23 /30/87/13/73/37/25/4LASx4=2880 DMG. LAR=37%Core,DC63/13/ok. flaw=45/6/EJECT MALF. 33SYS=100%Shield, 50%Gun, 50%Missile, 25%Radar, 50%Comm, 50%Engine, +5Eject (+>100%Core), 6W=119 HP, +1LSS (+10%Core) ==LAR-VANGUARD KILLED==
VNC +1 GUN.
 
-RD13-
VNC +1GUN.
 
LAR-ECLIPSE (6)
OOB: VNC LAR

This one was short. Basically, Vince got enough good hits in on Larry's damaged Vanguard to cause enough system's damage to make it pop. Larry drew his Arrow Eclipse next.

-RD 14-
VNC: tLAR/r2-05. move to r3. VNC ImRec LAR bal27 ehd20 /40/83/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-03. LAR MES VNC mkm32 ehd23 /75/35/miss. LAR CLOAKS.
VNC/LAR +1GUN
 
-RD 15-
VNC: tVNC/r5-05. move to r2. VNC DF LAR bal27 ehd00 /90/49/48/02/miss. ImRec ehd00 /85/12/miss.
LAR: tLAR/rR-02. standsby.
VNC/LAR +1GUN
 
-RD 16-
VNC: tLAR/r1-09. standsby. ImRec ehd00 /88/03/miss, expended.
LAR: tVNC/rR-09. standsby.
VNC +1 GUN
 
-RD 17-
VNC: tLAR/r2-09. hail "You can learn a lot from a dummy."
LAR: tVNC/rR-09. hail "Buckle your safety belt."
VNC +1 GUN
 
-RD 18-
VNC: tLAR/r1-04. move to r2. VNC NEU LAR mkm32 ehd00 /26/98/CRITM=310. VNC AHP=5186, -1NEU
LAR: tVNC/rR-02. LAR DECLOAKS. LAR MES VNC mkm32 ehd26 /25/82/1MESx4=1280. VNC SHP=1520
VNC/LAR +1GUN, VNC +722SHP (2242)
 
-RD19-
VNC: tLAR/r1-06. ab to r3, -1LAS. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd20 /68/54/66/41/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-03. LAR L VNC bal27 ehd 11 /18/miss. LAR CLOAKS.
VNC/LAR +1GUN, VNC +558SHP (full)
 
-RD20-
VNC: tLAR/r1-04. move to r2. VNC DF LAR bal27 ehd00 /69/88/34/24/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-02. LAR DECLOAKS. LAR MES VNC mkm32 ehd24 /54/34/miss.
VNC/LAR +1GUN.
 
-RD21-
VNC: tLAR/r1-01. move to r0. VNC DF LAR bal27 ehd23 /55/90/77/31/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-00. LAR DF VNC bal27 ehd26 /24/19/2HIT=6000 DMG. VNC AHP=1986. LAR CLOAKS.
VNC/LAR +1GUN, VNC+722 SHP (722)
 
-RD22-
VNC: tLAR/r5-02. move to r0. VNC DF LAR bal27 ehd00 /51/73/14/09/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-00. LAR DECLOAKS. LAR MES VNC mkm32 ehd26 /82/88/miss.
VNC/LAR +1GUN, VNC+722 SHP (1444)
 
-RD23-
VNC: tVNC/r1-07. VNC IMREC LAR bal27 ehd16 /18/20/miss.
LAR: tLAR/rR-07. hail "Only you can prevent forest fires." LAR CLOAKS.
VNC/LAR +1GUN, VNC +722 SHP (2166)
 
-RD24-
VNC: tLAR/r1-01. move to r0. VNC DF LAR bal27 ehd00 /75/27/77/33/miss. ImRec ehd00 /42/54/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-00. LAR DECLOAKS. LAR MES VNC mkm32 ehd26 /69/48.miss.
LAR +1GUN, VNC+634 SHP (FULL)
 
-RD25-
VNC: tVNC/r5-03. move to r1. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd24 /19/05/56/11/87/2IPCx1+2IPCx3+5LASx3=7020 DMG. LAR 224%Core ==LAR-ECLIPSE KILLED==
VNC +1GUN.
 
-RD26-
VNC +1GUN.
 
LAR-CAVALIER (7)
OOB: VNC/LAR

Whistler had mentioned running a cloaking evasion drill; that's what happened in this, the longest matchup. You can see the two ships exchanging fire, taking damage and communicating various PSAs all throughout. Despite knocking down Vince's shields twice, it's ultimately his Cavalier that triumphs over Larry's Arrow.

-RD27-
VNC: tLAR/r2-07 move to r5. VNC IMREC LAR bal27 ehd21 /31/69/miss.
LAR: tVNC/rR-05 move to r3. LAR FG VNC mkm32 ehd23 /16/29/19/03/33/05/2IPCx3+1LASx1+CRITH-5LASx4x2+2NEUx4=12,580 DMG. vnc=866%Core ==VNC-CAVALIER KILLED==
LAR +1GUN
 
-RD28-
LAR +1 GUN
 
VNC-VANGUARD (12)
OOB: VNC LAR

You want to kill something, pick the same ship, apparently. Vince drew his Vanguard next...

-RD29-
VNC: tLAR/r2-09. ab to r2, -1LAS. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd23 /35/37/23/65/66/2NEUx8 = 9920 DMG. LAR=10%Core ==LAR-CAVALIER KILLED==
VNC +4GUN
 
-RD30-
VNC +2GUN
 
LAR-SCOUT (7)
OOB: VNC LAR

...and promptly killed Larry's Cavalier. Larry was down to his Scout and Blade, and drew the Scout next.

-RD31-
VNC: tLAR/r2-17. hail "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. This is your brain on drugs with a side of bacon, only $3.99 now at Denny's."
LAR: tVNC/rR-17. hail "Friends don't let friends drive drunk."
(no recharge)
 
-RD32-
VNC: tLAR/r2-08. ab to r1, -1LAS. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd20/06/88/39/68/79/6LASx3=3240 DMG. LAR=1168 AHP.
LAR: tVNC/rR-01. move to r0. LAR DF VNC bal27 ehd24 /71/25/miss.
VNC +4GUN, LAR +242 SHP (242)
 
-RD33-
VNC: tVNC/r1-03. move to r0. VNC 2LAS/2NEU LAR mkm32 ehd21 /28/11/9/73/5LASx5 + 3NEUx4 = 11,940 DMG. LAR=1053%Core ==LAR-SCOUT KILLED==
VNC +4GUN.
 
-RD34-
VNC +2GUN.
 
LAR-BLADE (0)
OOB: VNC LAR

After more PSAs, Vince gave the little Arrow enough of a shellacking to destroy it ten times over. Larry switched to his last ship, the Blade, and got a crummy Initiative roll...

-RD35-
VNC: tLAR/r2-09. ab to r2, -1LAS. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd20 /13/66/72/82/87/4LASx4=2880 DMG. LAR=4072 AHP
LAR: tVNC/rR-02. move to r0. LAR mkm32 ehd25 /64/18/10/12/3MESx3+3TACx1+3TACx1=5880 DMG. VNC=1412 AHP
VNC/LAR +4GUN, VNC+252SHP(252), LAR+582SHP(582)
 
-RD36-
VNC: tLAR/r1-05. move to r2. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd20 /79/90/43/61/miss
LAR: tVNC/rR-02. move to r0. LAR FG VNC mkm32 ehd25 /46/73/63/82/miss
VNC/LAR +4GUN, VNC+252SHP(504), LAR+582SHP(1164)
 
-RD37-
VNC: tLAR/r1-09. ab to r2, -1NEU. VNC NEU LAR mkm32 ehd20 /06/44/81/3NEUx2=3720 DMG. LAR=1516 AHP
LAR: tVNC/rR-02 move to r0. LAR FG VNC mkm32 ehd25 /54/45/45/97/CRITM-TAC=250 dmg. LAR=1266 AHP
LAR +3GUN, VNC +4GUN, VNC+252SHP(756), LAR+582SHP(582)
 
-RD38-
VNC: tLAR/r2-12. hail "Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend."
LAR: tVNC/rR-12. hail "I have always thought that it's a crime so I will ask you once again."
VNC +2GUN, VNC+252SHP(1008), LAR+582SHP(1164)
 
-RD39-
VNC: tLAR/r2-09. ab to r2, -1LAS. VNC FG LAR mkm32 ehd20 /95/82/16/26/42/CRITM-LAS + 3NEUx5=9300 DMG. LAR=763%Core ==LAR-BLADE KILLED==. VNC=1322 AHP, -1LAS.
***VINCE WINS, SIX KILLS TO FOUR.***

The two ships exchanged fire and Beetles lyrics, with Larry taking critical misses. In the end, Vince nailed his Blade with 15 Neutron Gun hits, ending the match.


I'm thinking perhaps that 10x might've been overdoing it for the Arena craft. Granted, this match was still fairly long given the rules I set up for it, but I noticed a lot of the individual matchups were short. Bloody too - there was only a single instance where the pilot might've been able to eject had his ejection system not been fried in the same turn. I'm thinking maybe of going the same route as the P2 ships, and use a 5x uprating.

I guess from here I should go back and redo the WC3 fight; I never actually finished that one...

 

[capi3101]

Finished the 5x uprated dogfight from the WC3 Novelization; things turned out a bit differently:

======NAV 2======
OOB: MAV HOB SS1 SS2 SS3
 
-RD1-
MAV: tSS1/r2-04. move to r1. MAV FG SS1 mkm42 ehd49 /75/02/59/56/CRITH-6LASx5=6000 DMG, SS1=372%Core ==SS1 KILLED==
HOB: tSS2/r2-11. hail "I am tiger, hear me kick your ass."
SS2: tMAV/r2-06. ab to r13, withdraws.
SS3: tMAV/r2-02. ab to r9, withdraws.
 
-PURSUIT FOR TEN ROUNDS-

Alright, so I had Maverick and Goose...er...Hobbes...in Hellcats fighting against Star Shredder and Deathclaw from Enyo, with Deathclaw representing the "veteran pilot" Blair comes up against when he's ambushed. The Cats are all in Dralthi-IVs and their stats were adjusted to be period specific.

Maverick drew first spot on the order of battle and proceeded to utterly smoke the dipshit who moved to challenge. I have to apologize for Hobbes' dialogue throughout this run; I didn't have my copy of Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander III in front of me when I was doing it, but the end result was the same: the other Dralthis disengaged and headed for a large asteroid with Blair in pursuit. What was supposed to happen was that Hobbes would continue fighting until he killed his target while Blair peeled off after the stragglers. In this case, their flight remained together.

OOB: MAV HOB SS5 DCW SS2 SS3 SS4
 
-RD12-
MAV: tSS5/r2-09. ab to r2. MAV FG SS4 mkm42 ehd48 /52/05/03/52/6LASx5+CRITH-4IONx1=3960 DMG, SS5=187%Core ==SS5 KILLED==. vep99/38/ok.
HOB: tDCW/r2-17. hail "Here kitty kitty kitty" (reply: "No, dummy dummy dummy..."). target engine tar54/73/fail. vep86/20/ok.
DCW: tMAV/r2-14. ab to r7. DCW 2xImRec MAV bal20 ehd19 /33/27/miss. vep68/74/hits rock, 14d10x10=860dmg. DCW=340 SHP.
SS2: tMAV/r2-07. ab to r0. SS2 FG MAV mkm17 ehd11 /21/88/28/miss. vep50/10/ok.
SS3: tMAV/r2-10. ab to r3. SS3 FG MAV mkm17 ehd08 /76/33/84/miss. vep50/48/ok.
SS4: tMAV/r2-10. ab to r3. SS4 FG MAV mkm17 ehd08 /36/08/65/2MESx2=560 DMG, MAV=1640SHP. vep50/38/ok.
SS2/SS3/SS4 +3GUN, MAV +4GUN, DCW +140SHP (480), MAV+245SHP (1885)

I decided that rather than have a large asteroid nearby that this would be a good opportunity to test out the current rules for combat in Asteroid Fields, something we haven't done to this point yet. Maverick gets lucky again with his shooting, killing Star Shredder 5 while all the cats target him. Deathclaw runs into an asteroid in his haste to get to Blair. Star Shredder 4 lands a few hits on the mighty Heart of the Chicken, though not enough to cause any permanent damage. Hobbes makes a Garfield quote.

-RD13-
MAV: tDCW/r2-15. hail HOB "Help me out here!" HOB WSV45/36/ "Negative, Colonel". ready guns. vep99/92/ok.
HOB: tDCW/r2-09. ab to r2. HOB FG DCW mkm54 ehd49 /13/68/19/35/6LASx1+4IONx3+4IONx5=4440 DMG, DCW=296%Core ==DCW KILLED==. vep86/41/ok.
SS2: tMAV/r1-08. ab to r1. SS2 FG MAV -- MAV FG SS2 mkm42 ehd49 /73/30/40/51/3LASx2+1IONx2=840DMG, SS2=360SHP --mkm17 ehd10 /26/56/44/miss. vep50/61/hits rock, 16d10x10=920dmg. SS2=140AHP.
SS3: tMAV/r1-00. SS3 FG MAV mkm17 ehd11 /46/51/37/miss. SS3 SALVO MAV bal12 ehd11 /01/94/45/74/CRITH=2500DMG, MAV AHP=285/16%LSS. CRIT-M=625 DMG, SS3=75 AHP(FULL SHP). vep50/34/ok.
SS4: tMAV/r1-05. move to r2. SS4 FG MAV mkm17 ehd09 /66/15/27/miss. vep50/47/ok.
MAV/HOB +4GUN, SS2/SS3/SS4 +3GUN, SS2 +133SHP(133), MAV+245SHP(245)

Continuing his un-Hobbes-like behavior, Hobbes refuses Blair's request for aide (Hobbes has a high Willpower Save score - this only matters because this was an automated fight, I imagine if a player had actually been controlling Hoobes he would've come to Blair's rescue. Anyway, Hobbes engages Deathclaw and puts a smackdown on him. Blair readies his guns to shoot after the first stooge that comes his way, which happens to be Star Shredder 2. The two exchange fire, Blair hits while Star Shredder 2 misses and the Cat hits a rock as he's pulling away. Star Shredder 3 gets close enough to unleash both guns and missiles; his guns miss but he scores a critical on Blair with the missile, causing minor Life Support System damage.

-RD14-
MAV: tSS2/r2-01. dmc99/27/LSS-OK. move to r0. MAV FG SS2 mkm42 ehd50 /47/98/67/13/1LASx4+4IONx1=880DMG, SS2=47%Core,DC53/89/ ==SS2 KILLED== CRIT-MLAS=50 DMG, MAV=235 AHP (245SHP), -1LAS. vep99/73/ok.
HOB: tSS3/r2-13. ab to r6. HOB 4xImRec SS3 bal54 ehd56 /52/00/16/72/2hit+1CRITH=5000 DMG, SS3=338%Core ==SS3 KILLED== vep 86/79/ok.
SS4: tMAV/r1-07. ab to r0. SS4 FG MAV mkm17 ehd11 /20/53/99/CRIT-M99-PAR /61/1xDMG=215. SS4=985SHP. vep50 /34/ok.
MAV/SS4 +3GUN, SS4+133SHP (1118), MAV+245SHP(490)
 
-RD15-
MAV: tSS4/r2-09.  dmc99/31/LSS-OK. ab to r2. MAV FG SS4 mkm42 ehd48 /65/34/94/2IONx4=480DMG, SS4=638SHP. CRIT-M-ION=60DMG, MAV=175AHP (490 SHP; -1 ION). vep99/93/ok.
HOB: tSS4/r2-09. ab to r2. HOB FG SS4 mkm54 ehd60 /23/23/34/52/6LASX5+6LASX1+4IONx2+1IONx5=5160 DMG, SS4=347%Core, ==SS4 KILLED==
 
EISEN: "Excellent work, Colonel. I can see now that your reputation is well deserved."
ROLLINS: "You're cleared for landing, Colonel."

Didn't say anything about not having the WC3 script in front of me...

The rest of the fight went pretty quickly. Both Blair and Hobbes wailed on their respective targets in Round 14, killing them both despite Maverick getting a critical miss. Star Shredder 4 likewise got a critical miss, Blair did some damage to Star Shedder 4 in Round 15 and then Hobbes fragged him. All the kitty's having gone boom, the dynamic duo completes the patrol and we get a scripted reading from Jason Bernard and Courtney Gains.

I think the 5x went well; that seems to be the trend, so that'll be what I go with, I think. I think the asteroid rules are alright as they are; they cause fairly substantial damage here so they'd probably be a real threat to earlier ships. Might be worth trying out something that incorporates them in an earlier time period. I do have something in mind already...

 

[capi3101]

Whistler, do you have any other observations from your playtesting? We're just about out of time to make any more tweaks.

I've got this crazy notion to do all of WC1 as a WCRPG campaign; not to actually build a campaign guide, mind you, but to play it out and see how it goes...