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In various rounds of playtesting, I've been trying to get the "right" amount of lethality into KOG light, and was wondering what people thought would be ideal.

KOG light is skirmish game of 5-10 mini-mecha (30mm tall on 30mm bases) per side.

In-universe, the mechs are 15 feet tall, or roughly 2.5x as tall as a healthy adult male. They are armored against small arms fire, armed with light anti-armor cannon and rockets. Effectively, walking MRAPs with roughly half the firepower of a Vietnam-era helo (20mm cannon & rocket pod).

In early rounds, I had a lot of rounds where Nothing Happened, and only Glancing damage occurred. Then, I amped up firepower, cut defense, and stuff died like in Infinity.

Currently, I'm rebalancing again, where everything has been standardized at 2 Hull, where the first hit Cripples, and the second Destroys.

A basic, unmodified attack results in:
. 20% Destroyed,
. 25% Crippled,
. 55% Nothing Happens.
At a high level, it's 45% damaged - 55% undamaged.

Cross-checking, do those results seem plausible?
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FYI, KOG light is here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/668519.page

8/31 - I've released Beta 4 rules while the unit stats are still WiP, pending the outcome and insight of this thread.

What lethality you want to achieve?

Infinity lethality sounds about right for what you describe as long as "realistic" is your goal at 55% survival you aim for a more prolonged combat were singling out and massing firepower will be the key in destroying enemy units.

What amount of units are you planning around?

For something around the amount of Infinity (10-20 per side, or whereabouts?) I'd say that an Infinity-level of lethality would be a plus, as it would not be dragging around too long.

OTOH, for something around the X-Wing level (1-8? more or less, I'd say) I'd amp a bit the survivavility.

What can you do in-game besides inflict lethal damage?

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
What lethality you want to achieve?

Infinity lethality sounds about right for what you describe as long as "realistic" is your goal at 55% survival you aim for a more prolonged combat were singling out and massing firepower will be the key in destroying enemy units.

After the initial playtest, I was targeting an average of 2 attackers being sufficient to take out 1 identical defender (i.e. 2:1 / 50% in the open; 3:1 / 35% in cover). I have a combined attack bonus, so, in theory, I'm already at my target level.

The question is whether that 2:1 / 50% rate made sense from a general wargaming gameplay standpoint and/or the in-game / real world analogues. Of that I just wasn't sure.

While I like the idea of something higher (70+%), I found out that it places a very strong requirement on having lots of terrain to provide cover and limit sight lines, volumes of terrain that I do not yet possess (and will have to develop as pop-up / DIY stuff). Without enough terrain to mitigate things, the play experience of "see it, kill it" isn't as good.
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 Albertorius wrote:
What amount of units are you planning around?

I'm targeting closer to 10 models per side. 20 might be possible, but very unlikely (because I don't have the models for it). It's supposed to play fast.
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Nomeny wrote:
What can you do in-game besides inflict lethal damage?

Run or grab objectives.

Grabbing an objective is an action, it's not a passive thing like in 40k.

So essentially nothing; you can prevent the enemy from acting by providing covering fire, affect their options for acting, or cause them to be unreliable.

If KOGs die as fast as infantry would to the same weapons, why spend the money to build KOGs?

I recommend increasing the survival ability and making massing of firepower and isolating targets important in your game.

However, it is up to you.

@Nomeny - I have yet to find a morale / suppression mechanic that I like (simple, compact, meaningful), so I ended up stripping that out of the game entirely. One may pretend that some amount of suppression fire occurs in the background, resulting in the Initiative shifting between Game Rounds.
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@Easy E - KOGs are much sturdier than infantry, in the same way that a modern MRAP is sturdier than an infantryman today. They are immune to small arms that would shred a squad of infantrymen. However, they are highly vulnerable to the heavier weapons that other KOGs carry, in the same way that a modern MBT is vulnerable to the weapons carried by other MBTs.

Isolating targets is (now) a core part of the game, something I specifically added to the game mechanics. If someone lines up a good shot on a target in the open, it's OK.

Okay, so how do you win a game?

Take and hold the enemy Objective over consecutive turns (Major Victory).

If you can't do that, Destroy or Cripple everything (minor victory).


(by default, it's a Paintball / Airsoft game of Capture the Flag)

Latest release (Beta 4) is here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/2016/9/KOG_light_rules_B4-20160831r-01152322.pdf It's 8 pages total (only 4 pages of rules), so check it out!
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As there isn't any obvious consensus to change the lethality / survivability baseline, I think I'll leave things where they are at the moment, and just see what happens. If warranted, I'll revisit and revise as playtesting continues.