Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Combat: Hacking Variant?

Many years ago(2014), I put together a variant for MFZ:RA called ELP, Escape Location Prime. In it, I make some messy statements about station placement and team starting etc, but I lay down some serious rules about a "Hacking" system. Here's a link, but then an excerpt.
Here's the Google Doc.

Below I'm dropping the original, unedited part about how hacking works.
Hacking, in a nutshell, is a battle between your frame’s technology, and that of the station. A frame must complete three successful, uninterrupted rolls of its yellow dice, all of which being greater than or equal to a Wd6 rolled by anyone on behalf of the station. A team may not hack the central station unless they have control of at least one of the surrounding stations the entire time. If a frame is hit in any way while hacking, the hack resets and it must begin again, as well as the frame losing a system like it normally would have. Any number of teams may race to hack the station at once, but they can optionally designate a die roll (Before it is rolled) to be a counter-hack for another designated hacker, resetting them both(But still using only the station’s white die). Only one frame per team may hack the central station, and any interaction(For example having the hacking frame get hit while being used as cover, or if a friendly frame exchanges a system with the hacker) will break the hacker’s focus and reset the hack. The device being hacked will roll a single Wd6 in defense to whatever the hacking frame has for Yellow Dice. The hacking frame’s roll MUST be, additively, equal to or greater than that of the device being hacked(The strength of the hacked device may increase to simulate security features), otherwise the hack is reset. Hacking may not be shared with or switched between any other frame subsequently, unless the hacking is reset and the original frame stops hacking.

 So, while this is a bit of a mouthful, I'd like to re-address it and tweak it, since honestly when I wrote that I had never played a full game of MFZ.

The variant's win condition had nothing to do with asset points. While they are still involved in turn order, they play no role in victory. The only way to win a game of ELP was to hack the central station first, which made an instant game over. I think I would like to essentially drop the rest of the variant and turn this into just a "Hackable Station Variant." Basically, most things will function the same way as a normal game, but with the addition of a particular station (Always neutral and potentially worth extra points) being only claimable by hacking. I think I made hacking the win condition in the original gametype because I wanted to make sure that it was worth their time and the risk to waste entire turns on singular die rolls. Also, I didn't state it clearly in the original text, but I think white dice and yellow dice are all viable for the hacking roll. I used the word additively, which makes me think that I wanted to originally add all yellow dice into a single value, but I think that the standard system of just choosing the highest roll would be appropriate. In order to address the risks of hacking, and essentially throwing away three straight turns just for a station, there would definitely need to be a strong incentive for a player to do so.
Here are some ideas.

-Once a station is hacked, it can repair one of your frames by one system or dice(Fun fact, I had originally made this word "Die," but I can see how it may be misunderstood as "DO THIS OR DIE"). This makes hacked stations extremely lucrative later in the game, as well as being tactically useful.

-Hacked stations are worth double points. This way, even if you're the primary attacker, you will get strong point value from taking the time to hack it. Optionally, perhaps owning a hacked station universally raises your asset value or increases the value of all other friendly stations?

-A hacked station lets you affect the doomsday clock. This one may be a bit more controversial, but give the player who owns the hacked station the ability to either move the clock down two each turn, or turn it back by one. This is probably a bad idea and will need tons of testing before I'd be willing to use it, but I think it would be a fun reward for the dedicated hacker. It also makes more sense in the lore, with the theme that you are communicating with a fleet ready to bombard the planet.


Now, I'm sure that if someone brought this up before a game, someone would make a frame designated for hacking. As such, let's clear up and retcon some of the things I said. In the original post, I said that "Any interaction(For example having the hacking frame get hit while being used as cover, or if a friendly frame exchanges a system with the hacker[Which in retrospect what the heck is that? Can you hand systems between frames???]) will break the hacker’s focus and reset the hack." Looking at it now, it seems a bit too harsh, so here are some changes I want to propose. First, if you have two defensive systems and are being used as cover, you may continue to hack uninterrupted. If you get shot at but do not take any damage, You may continue to hack. If you move a single step but stay in range of the station, you are reset and must restart the hack.

Bigger changes: Resetting. In the post, I was quite harsh about hacks being reset. Three successful sequential d6 rolls seem a bit extreme to me, so here's how I want to change that. Every round you spend hacking, (And yes moving into a spot and beginning the hack in the same turn is allowed) you take whatever spot rolls and remaining white rolls to function as your hack. If you fail, you may try again the next round. If you succeed, you get 1/3 hacking points, and must continue next round if you wish to keep them (You are permitted to instead move or fight, but that resets whatever points you have. You may also shoot then start hacking again, since it takes the place of your spot round, but your score will be reset if you spend any other dice/perform any action that is not hacking.). If you, for example, get one point in the hack, but fail your second roll, instead of being reset like my original post explained, I think it should instead just deny you a point and you remain at 1/3. This way, it's not about luck, as much as it is about persistence.

I stated in the original post that a random player would roll a white die to function as the device being hacked, but I think I would like to be more specific. Due to my grasp on how scores and turn order work, I am proposing that the hacked station's die roll should be performed by the player that is next in the turn order. This is a bit arbitrary but I think it sits better with me from a gameplay standpoint. Also, maybe you can fish out that player's luck rolls and do more to them next round.

I made a quick statement about counter-hacking, so let's go into detail. If two frames are both hacking the same station, one player may announce before they roll their dice for that frame that they intend to counter-hack instead. A successful counter-hack will reset the hack points of everyone currently trying to hack the station, including the counter-hacker. This gives more flexibility to the player, allowing them to decide if their luck will allow them to catch up to others, or if they are willing to sacrifice their rolls to keep the station away from their opponents. Counter-hacks are subjected to the exact same system of yellow and white dice versus the station's roll.

In the original gametype variant, I included a clause about being in control of a smaller "substation" that surrounded the main hackable station in each direction. I think that this should be changed to state that in order to complete a hack, you must control any station. Most of the time, this shouldn't be too hard, but if you are playing a losing game and trying to hail mary your hack, you'll have to claim a station before you can claim the hack. If you don't own a station, you can still perform the hacking, but you may end up sitting at 3/3 hacks (At which point you do not need to roll but your frame can still not perform any other action) until you reclaim a station.

Since the original game ended as soon as the station was hacked, I didn't have any information about taking the station form another player. To put it simply, once a player successfully hacks a station, they claim it just like a normal station and all hacks currently in process are reset. From this point, all rolls performed by the station are physically rolled by the station owner. The station owner may attempt counter-hacks on their own station to disrupt other players, but they must roll the station's dice seperately. Also, to clarify, The station only rolls its die once per turn, and the roll persists until dice are cleared at the end of the round. If the station gets a six, then you may want to shift focus until the next round. You gain a point on the station being hacked if your roll is EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN the station's roll, so it is still possible to get hacking points when the station rolls a six.

Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, you still may roll your defensive dice and apply it to your frame, for cases in which your hacking frame comes under attack.

If you've bothered to read this far, I want to both thank you, and let you know that I'm working on a concise version of this as a new google doc, release TBD. (I'll post a link whenever I'm done)

Otherwise, be sure to drop a comment or let me know what you think. You can comment here, or send me messages through my flickr, deviantart, twitter, or instagram, all @malde37.

You can always get my designs off of my baseplate on bricklink, links are in the factory posts.

Dismissed.

No comments:

Post a Comment