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Alright guys, here is a much more extensive review of the rules and what a game setup would be like. I already have my table set up but I will still give a brief bit of info on everything I can think of. First off, keep in mind that this is the wet dream for many of us that grew up and watched Robotech as kids. Knowing that also keep in mind that the rules are made to be quick to play and easy to learn. I’ve played Battletech for many years and I tend to want more detail that what is here in some of the rules and that shows through as I was goofing off and making my own rules set a few months ago.

1. Table Set-Up and Terrain. Regardless of if your terrain is a bunch of rocks, trees, lava, or a swamp; there are 3 types of terrain: Open, Rough, and Deadly. Open is easily moved across such as plains, small brush, lighter woods, or shallow water. Rough can be heavy forest or severely rocky terrain that costs a unit more time and effort to cross. Deadly is impassible such as a raging river. Players place their terrain on the table and then determine what are the limits or boundaries of each piece of terrain. If players have a bunch of loose trees the players should agree on where the terrain starts and ends, the limits, before starting. Rough terrain costs 2 inches per inch moved. Deadly terrain cannot be walked through and is considered something like Lava. It can be flown over though. Cumbersome units like the Mac II treat Rough terrain as if it was Deadly terrain.

Personally I like more of a variety of terrain but as I’ve said I played Battletech where you have infantry and vehicles and they do not have the same mobility as a mechanized unit like a Regult. Regults can walk unhindered in water that would be prohibited for foot infantry or cyclones. This will have to wait till the next generations of stuff comes out or for some sort of Advanced rules book.

If you have some buildings it is also a good idea to decide which ones are which by using the descriptions in the book. I personally don’t plan on trying to track building damage and use buildings only as terrain features. If you want to blow some up it’d be a good idea to decide what buildings are what. I think using a small piece of a post-it with the building designation and sticking it on the roof works well. You can then write on the post-it how much damage the building has taken as you play. Other methods can get clunky.

2. Now that the table is set teams can pick their forces. In this game I’ve chosen a single Squadron for each side. The Zen player has an Attack Squadron and the UEDF use a single Veritech Squadron. An attack squadron consists of one Glaug/Officer’s Pod and 9 Regults/Battlepods. The UEDF Veritech squadron consists of one VF-1J and three VF-1A’s. These rules have remained the same as to what was in the KS Beta release a while back. One Squadron is required per 150 points in the game and you can choose two support cards and one special per Squadron. Some cards have built in upgrades; if you buy the upgrade all the units on that card get the upgrade. Some upgrades improve the squadron AND it’s supporting units. Here is a link to the Force Orgs that I have been using. The points may have changed slightly since then and the 2nd and 3rd gen Force Orgs are ones I made on my own messing around with the game.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0VSNzmthd1vRE1tM1BySzVwSHc&usp=sharing

3. My table is a bit large at 4 x 8 so I set the VF’s at one end in Fighter mode; you have to choose what mode they start in and all the units in the squadron start in the same mode. So if you have 4 Veritechs from the Squadron card and two more VF-1A’s from a support card and a VF-1S from a special card, you have to start them all on the edge of the table in the same mode. Of course when they are first activated they can change however they want and in any combination they want. The Zentraedi are set up on the opposite side of the table behind some light cover, some rough terrain with some trees on it.

Now there are 2 types of Cover, light and heavy. Light cover is like billboards, trees, something not completely solid. Heavy cover is something like a solid hill or building. You can mix and match. You can have rough terrain and light cover like some swampy terrain on Kashyyyk (That’s the Wookie homeworld for those that don’t know) and some good tree cover. This means you have rough terrain that provides light cover. You could also have open terrain with heavy cover like a city where you are hiding behind a building. Terrain effects movement, cover depends upon the thickness and type of cover your unit has.

Note: Open terrain in Tactics is not just like plains or roads in most games, Open terrain can include water that is not really deep and woods and even jungle or asteroids. The difference is that mecha are tough enough that they can pass through that terrain without a care. You can be in some woods that are considered open terrain and still get light cover from the woods you are in. In games like Battletech the terrain type and what cover it gives you are linked but you also have an entire page of what you can or cannot do in any specific type of terrain. In Tactics you have Open, Rough and Deadly terrain and No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy cover. Each terrain piece will be have what type of terrain it is AND what kind of cover it provides while in it. So it is in a way much simpler than many games. Also take note that Deadly terrain cannot be moved through on purpose but it is not an instant kill for units inside it. Units take damage each turn they are in Deadly terrain until they manage to get back out of it.

4. Step 1 - Now each player will get look at his Force Cards and what units he has on the table and determine the number of Command Points (CPs) that he has. Command Points = Life. Players use them to Dodge attacks, Roll with and Attack, and many other things. They are actions or attacks per melee from the RPG. Having one Squadron the UEDF player gets one CP per fighter for a total of 4 AND 2 more for the VF-1J that has a Leadership of 2 for a total of 6 Command Points. The Zentraedi player has one Glaug, this will give him 5 Command Points; one for the Glaug itself and 4 more because a Glaug has a Leadership of 4. Regults have the Life is Cheap ability and do not generate Command Points. This is the Command Phase and it is the very first thing players will do each and every turn.

5. Step 2 - Now the next part of the Command Phase involve deciding who moves first. Both sides roll 2D6. The highest roll wins, if the roll is a tie the player with the unit with the highest Leadership ability wins, in this case the Glaug has a Leadership of 4 so the Zentraedi will win ties until the Glaug is destroyed. If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes first this turn. The player that wins initiative can opt to allow the opponent the first activation. In this case the UEDF rolls a 10 and the Zentraedi a 6 but since everyone will still be out of range to each other, it really won’t matter who goes first on the first turn.

6. Step 3 – This is where if you have wind, poor visibility, special rules like bombardments or aerial drops, all of those are taken into account.

7. Now that the Command Phase is done the players now get on to the action…
I’ll add some meat to this once I get home and start rolling the dice and taking pictures.

8. Before that let’s talk real quick about what stats a unit has. There are 4 main attributes, some abilities, and how much damage a unit can take. Speed (SPD) is the amount of inches a unit can move. Piloting (PIL) tell you how maneuverable the unit is and how good of a pilot it has. Gunnery (GN) is how well you can shoot. Defense (DF) is a combination of how quick the unit is, how hard it is to hit, and how thick or hard its armor is. There are silhouettes of each unit on the Force Cards. These have a number of dots that you can fill in that determine how much the unit can take before it’s destroyed. There are a number of abilities that change how you move. I will explain a few since these are units I am using in this demo. Flight, units with flight may ignore any underlying terrain as they move. Aircraft on the other hand limits the units as they are flying. Aircraft can make up to a 90 degree turn before they move and then must move up to half their movement in a straight line forward. Afterburner allows the unit to make a second move after they have fired weapons. This seems strange to have three traits but it is needed and becomes easy to understand. Some units like Armored VT’s and Queadluun-Rau (Female Power Armor) should not have any restrictions when turning and can obviously fly. Veritechs in fighter mode can’t turn on a dime and are considered aircraft. They are also much faster and so they have Afterburner-allowing them in essence to move 6-12 inches and then attack and then move another 12 inches. Afterburner requires that you move your full SPD on the second move. Hover allows the units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it and also give the unit a boost in defense by giving it a -1 to be hit as it can slide and juke readily when shot at. Leap is the last one, since I’m using a Glaug and some Battlepods. Leap allows a unit to move a fraction of its movement and the “Leap” up to its SPD ignoring underlying terrain such as Rough Terrain or Buildings, and then move the rest of its SPD normally. This means that the Battlepods with a SPD of 5 essentially move 10 inches in a turn as long as they are on open terrain.

Weapons on the other hand have essentially 2 values to worry about and then any special traits. Range (RNG) is how many inches you can shoot. There are no short, medium, long or extreme ranges like some games. One value and that is it. Mega-Damage (MD) is the other value. Essentially how much damage the weapon do. There are also numerous Special abilities that enhance and modify the effects of a weapon. As they come up I will explain them in more detail.

So far everything is pretty simple and straight forward. Terrain is an adjustment since I would think woods and heavy woods from my Batteltech days would be considered rough but in this game, light woods are more like Open since it does not really hinder significantly the movement of a Mecha and heavy woods that DO hinder some are considered rough. It’s an adjustment and will and has caused a bit of confusion. One just needs to understand what it meant by Open in Robotech Tactics is not just some open plain or hill. It could still be some woods or a river or lake that is not deep enough to be a problem to a 40 foot tall giant robot. I was confused a bit at first and had to re-read that part since I was making assumptions based off of past Battletech game experience.

Just dropping in.
I will be demo-ing the Robotech RPG Tactics game with the full rules at The Gamer's Realm (1750 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08619) on May 17th after 2pm.. looking to have several players on each side with multiple units per side. Looking to have people run units or multiple units depending on turnout. Things are still being reviewed and I'm still in discussion with PB to get the latest rules and possible demo figures. The rules will not be the demo rules from Gencon. More information will be forthcoming on facebook.
Please don't feed the trolls..
Also nice write up Mike...

Tom
Reddukegames.com

"Please don't feed the trolls.."

Man, start from page 1 and read through.

Not many trolls here (well, aside from me), but this might as well be the lion's den.

Also, I totally posted that last page.

And because that's a big wall of text, I've done a quick glance comparison (paragraphs identical sizes? Trimmed!) and here seem to be the parts that have either been altered or are new in Mike's post above:

Note: Open terrain in Tactics is not just like plains or roads in most games, Open terrain can include water that is not really deep and woods and even jungle or asteroids. The difference is that mecha are tough enough that they can pass through that terrain without a care. You can be in some woods that are considered open terrain and still get light cover from the woods you are in. In games like Battletech the terrain type and what cover it gives you are linked but you also have an entire page of what you can or cannot do in any specific type of terrain. In Tactics you have Open, Rough and Deadly terrain and No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy cover. Each terrain piece will be have what type of terrain it is AND what kind of cover it provides while in it. So it is in a way much simpler than many games. Also take note that Deadly terrain cannot be moved through on purpose but it is not an instant kill for units inside it. Units take damage each turn they are in Deadly terrain until they manage to get back out of it.

5. Step 2 - Now the next part of the Command Phase involve deciding who moves first. Both sides roll 2D6. The highest roll wins, if the roll is a tie the player with the unit with the highest Leadership ability wins, in this case the Glaug has a Leadership of 4 so the Zentraedi will win ties until the Glaug is destroyed. If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes first this turn. The player that wins initiative can opt to allow the opponent the first activation. In this case the UEDF rolls a 10 and the Zentraedi a 6 but since everyone will still be out of range to each other, it really won’t matter who goes first on the first turn.

8. Before that let’s talk real quick about what stats a unit has. There are 4 main attributes, some abilities, and how much damage a unit can take. Speed (SPD) is the amount of inches a unit can move. Piloting (PIL) tell you how maneuverable the unit is and how good of a pilot it has. Gunnery (GN) is how well you can shoot. Defense (DF) is a combination of how quick the unit is, how hard it is to hit, and how thick or hard its armor is. There are silhouettes of each unit on the Force Cards. These have a number of dots that you can fill in that determine how much the unit can take before it’s destroyed. There are a number of abilities that change how you move. I will explain a few since these are units I am using in this demo. Flight, units with flight may ignore any underlying terrain as they move. Aircraft on the other hand limits the units as they are flying. Aircraft can make up to a 90 degree turn before they move and then must move up to half their movement in a straight line forward. Afterburner allows the unit to make a second move after they have fired weapons. This seems strange to have three traits but it is needed and becomes easy to understand. Some units like Armored VT’s and Queadluun-Rau (Female Power Armor) should not have any restrictions when turning and can obviously fly. Veritechs in fighter mode can’t turn on a dime and are considered aircraft. They are also much faster and so they have Afterburner-allowing them in essence to move 6-12 inches and then attack and then move another 12 inches. Afterburner requires that you move your full SPD on the second move. Hover allows the units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it and also give the unit a boost in defense by giving it a -1 to be hit as it can slide and juke readily when shot at. Leap is the last one, since I’m using a Glaug and some Battlepods. Leap allows a unit to move a fraction of its movement and the “Leap” up to its SPD ignoring underlying terrain such as Rough Terrain or Buildings, and then move the rest of its SPD normally. This means that the Battlepods with a SPD of 5 essentially move 10 inches in a turn as long as they are on open terrain.

Weapons on the other hand have essentially 2 values to worry about and then any special traits. Range (RNG) is how many inches you can shoot. There are no short, medium, long or extreme ranges like some games. One value and that is it. Mega-Damage (MD) is the other value. Essentially how much damage the weapon do. There are also numerous Special abilities that enhance and modify the effects of a weapon. As they come up I will explain them in more detail.

So far everything is pretty simple and straight forward. Terrain is an adjustment since I would think woods and heavy woods from my Batteltech days would be considered rough but in this game, light woods are more like Open since it does not really hinder significantly the movement of a Mecha and heavy woods that DO hinder some are considered rough. It’s an adjustment and will and has caused a bit of confusion. One just needs to understand what it meant by Open in Robotech Tactics is not just some open plain or hill. It could still be some woods or a river or lake that is not deep enough to be a problem to a 40 foot tall giant robot. I was confused a bit at first and had to re-read that part since I was making assumptions based off of past Battletech game experience.

Everything else seemed to be the same as the Big Block of Text from last page.

Trimmed for ease of reading specifically for new material.

" If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes first this turn. "

This is HUGE. "Back to back activations" are an immense advantage. Being able to dart in, hit a target, and then continue to pound the crap out of the (presumably weakened) target is not something to take lightly. If anything, given the "alternating activations" aspect of the game, I'd say that the player who didn't activate last should go first.

WilhelmRochRedDuke wrote:
Just dropping in.
I will be demo-ing the Robotech RPG Tactics game with the full rules at The Gamer's Realm (1750 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08619) on May 17th after 2pm.. looking to have several players on each side with multiple units per side. Looking to have people run units or multiple units depending on turnout. Things are still being reviewed and I'm still in discussion with PB to get the latest rules and possible demo figures. The rules will not be the demo rules from Gencon. More information will be forthcoming on facebook.
Please don't feed the trolls..
Also nice write up Mike...

Tom
Reddukegames.com

Wow...good job lowering expectations by poking the locals with a stick instead. You do realize poor comments like that have the opposite effect, right?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
@mike: so do the qraus have both flight and hover? Or dual modes to use them in? It seems like the insane mobility seen in the show would need both to emulate it properly on the tabletop. I assume they dont have afterburner though with the drop in top speed they got this RPG edition compared with the last.

 Forar wrote:
And because that's a big wall of text, I've done a quick glance comparison (paragraphs identical sizes? Trimmed!) and here seem to be the parts that have either been altered or are new in Mike's post above:

Note: Open terrain in Tactics is not just like plains or roads in most games, Open terrain can include water that is not really deep and woods and even jungle or asteroids. The difference is that mecha are tough enough that they can pass through that terrain without a care. You can be in some woods that are considered open terrain and still get light cover from the woods you are in. In games like Battletech the terrain type and what cover it gives you are linked but you also have an entire page of what you can or cannot do in any specific type of terrain. In Tactics you have Open, Rough and Deadly terrain and No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy cover. Each terrain piece will be have what type of terrain it is AND what kind of cover it provides while in it. So it is in a way much simpler than many games. Also take note that Deadly terrain cannot be moved through on purpose but it is not an instant kill for units inside it. Units take damage each turn they are in Deadly terrain until they manage to get back out of it.

5. Step 2 - Now the next part of the Command Phase involve deciding who moves first. Both sides roll 2D6. The highest roll wins, if the roll is a tie the player with the unit with the highest Leadership ability wins, in this case the Glaug has a Leadership of 4 so the Zentraedi will win ties until the Glaug is destroyed. If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes first this turn. The player that wins initiative can opt to allow the opponent the first activation. In this case the UEDF rolls a 10 and the Zentraedi a 6 but since everyone will still be out of range to each other, it really won’t matter who goes first on the first turn.

8. Before that let’s talk real quick about what stats a unit has. There are 4 main attributes, some abilities, and how much damage a unit can take. Speed (SPD) is the amount of inches a unit can move. Piloting (PIL) tell you how maneuverable the unit is and how good of a pilot it has. Gunnery (GN) is how well you can shoot. Defense (DF) is a combination of how quick the unit is, how hard it is to hit, and how thick or hard its armor is. There are silhouettes of each unit on the Force Cards. These have a number of dots that you can fill in that determine how much the unit can take before it’s destroyed. There are a number of abilities that change how you move. I will explain a few since these are units I am using in this demo. Flight, units with flight may ignore any underlying terrain as they move. Aircraft on the other hand limits the units as they are flying. Aircraft can make up to a 90 degree turn before they move and then must move up to half their movement in a straight line forward. Afterburner allows the unit to make a second move after they have fired weapons. This seems strange to have three traits but it is needed and becomes easy to understand. Some units like Armored VT’s and Queadluun-Rau (Female Power Armor) should not have any restrictions when turning and can obviously fly. Veritechs in fighter mode can’t turn on a dime and are considered aircraft. They are also much faster and so they have Afterburner-allowing them in essence to move 6-12 inches and then attack and then move another 12 inches. Afterburner requires that you move your full SPD on the second move. Hover allows the units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it and also give the unit a boost in defense by giving it a -1 to be hit as it can slide and juke readily when shot at. Leap is the last one, since I’m using a Glaug and some Battlepods. Leap allows a unit to move a fraction of its movement and the “Leap” up to its SPD ignoring underlying terrain such as Rough Terrain or Buildings, and then move the rest of its SPD normally. This means that the Battlepods with a SPD of 5 essentially move 10 inches in a turn as long as they are on open terrain.

Weapons on the other hand have essentially 2 values to worry about and then any special traits. Range (RNG) is how many inches you can shoot. There are no short, medium, long or extreme ranges like some games. One value and that is it. Mega-Damage (MD) is the other value. Essentially how much damage the weapon do. There are also numerous Special abilities that enhance and modify the effects of a weapon. As they come up I will explain them in more detail.

So far everything is pretty simple and straight forward. Terrain is an adjustment since I would think woods and heavy woods from my Batteltech days would be considered rough but in this game, light woods are more like Open since it does not really hinder significantly the movement of a Mecha and heavy woods that DO hinder some are considered rough. It’s an adjustment and will and has caused a bit of confusion. One just needs to understand what it meant by Open in Robotech Tactics is not just some open plain or hill. It could still be some woods or a river or lake that is not deep enough to be a problem to a 40 foot tall giant robot. I was confused a bit at first and had to re-read that part since I was making assumptions based off of past Battletech game experience.

Everything else seemed to be the same as the Big Block of Text from last page.

Trimmed for ease of reading specifically for new material.

" If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes first this turn. "

This is HUGE. "Back to back activations" are an immense advantage. Being able to dart in, hit a target, and then continue to pound the crap out of the (presumably weakened) target is not something to take lightly. If anything, given the "alternating activations" aspect of the game, I'd say that the player who didn't activate last should go first.

Damn, thanks Forar, I wrote that last bit backwards

Unpaid game creator + unpaid editor = finished product faster than the 'professionals' are managing.

We'll have this thing ready for print in no time at this rate.

Along with the kickstarter Warboss and I are working on, an the one Merijeek and I are apparently working on, 2014 is going to be busy.

WilhelmRochRedDuke wrote:
Please don't feed the trolls..

Bring a rain coat to that event, some of us backers have pissing to do and we wouldn't want you to get wet.

Here's a post to get PB attention. Nothing scathing but a few YF-4 sprues would be nice.

http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=2780236#p2780236

 Cypher-xv wrote:
Here's a post to get PB attention. Nothing scathing but a few YF-4 sprues would be nice.

http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=2780236#p2780236

Am I reading too much into things, or do they really devolve into an argument about which customer segment is more abused by Palladium? It would seem to be smarter to direct the ire at the company causing the problems rather than lashing out at fellow customers enduring similar misery, but then again maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence level over there a tad.

The RPG folks that crowdfunded two massively delayed books feel slighted and rightfully so. The blame unfortunately has been laid at the feet of the Robotech KS despite Palladium's long history of piss poor project management and minimal output long before the kickstarter. They see the KS as taking up their project's valuable limited resources and I do feel for them but I think the reality is that Palladium simply didn't feel like prioritizing books that already had been paid for over stuff that is will generate more money for the same effort. Putting out the NG2 book will cost Palladium money in the short term so they've been putting it off for almost two years and desperately trying to alternately avoid the subject with platitude or silence and blaming anyone but themselves (we're so busy doing... stuff!).

Also, isn't Kevin doing the writing on that? With Jeff and Wayne on RRT duty?

If what they say is true, then there shouldn't be any (or much) conflict.

Oh, sure, they probably need to run some issues past him for final 98% absolute approval, but unless he were some sort of micromanaging, second guessing kinda guy with a need to be in absolute control...

Wait. Never mind. I see your point now.

Anyway, made it to Friday with no update (not surprising) and no weekly newsletter (a bit surprising).

Maybe one or both are simply mouth watering enough to need the extra time. Or they're laying low and praying people start forgetting about this stuff.

I know which I'd be putting money on, but I refuse to let this gak see another dime from me in any fashion whatsoever.

They also said Robotech wouldn't take up much of their own time or effort... and that it was 98% done. The truth is that we can't take anything they say at face value unfortunately. To quote the Gipper, trust but verify! The truth is that all roads at Palladium lead to Kevin's desk and he seemingly has the attention span and project management skills of an unsupervised toddler let loose in a toy store.

 warboss wrote:
@mike: so do the qraus have both flight and hover? Or dual modes to use them in? It seems like the insane mobility seen in the show would need both to emulate it properly on the tabletop. I assume they dont have afterburner though with the drop in top speed they got this RPG edition compared with the last.

I've been wondering about this. I can see Robotech's transformers (mainly the Veritechs for now, of course) being handled a couple different ways and I'm not sure which is right.

I could see 'free' transformation as a valid option as it makes them very fluid. The transformation stuff is essentially handwaved, and modes don't really matter with the possible exception of some weird restrictions. (Heavy Gear's been using something similar for SMS with badlands Rally and the Alpha stuff, and it does work.) This fits Robotech where VTs transform quickly and fluidly in combat (at least in some scenes) but could be unsatisfying to players as there's no emchanical difference and no 'feel' of controlling a transforming mecha. On the plus side, removes need for 3 minis per Veritech!

"Free per activation" has merit as well, and resembles the Field manual Heavy Gear rules. Pick your mode when activating a model. This seems like a middle ground and does simplify things, but makes cinematic-ish bits like flying up in Fighter then switching to Gerwalk to do something difficult.

"Pay to Transform" would not surprise me, even if I don't think it fits the canon well. Some sort of system where changing takes a number of action points or otherwise hinders doing other things. I feel this could lead to some unexpected behaviors as it may make sense in a game to move in a way that breaks realism, but conserves actions for 'useful' stuff like attacking.

It will be interesting to see how each mode players out when using the valks in 3 modes in play at the same time.

"That battloid is in gerwalk, that gerwalk is in Battloid, that fighter is in Battloid."

Won't be confusing at all.

 Cypher-xv wrote:
Here's a post to get PB attention. Nothing scathing but a few YF-4 sprues would be nice.

Hehehe, NO he is saving those for bribing people to help with packing the backer kits if not enough volunteers show up.

Well, for wave 2 maybe.

Bribing people in Wave 1 will be significantly more difficult, as we're getting piles and piles of that stuff. "More destroids and support pods? I've already got more than I need. Meh."

 Cypher-xv wrote:
It will be interesting to see how each mode players out when using the valks in 3 modes in play at the same time.

Yes. I've got a Robot team for Mantic's Dreadball and it's confusing enough. I've actually got the extra minis to have something like 3 minis for each of 8 players on a team (the 6 normal, plus two for a league setup) although only about half are painted.

update

I still think having Mega-Damage without having regular damage is a poor design philosophy.

Oh god, the last thing this system needs is two damage types.

Unless you mean the term in general.

As a "Palladiumism", I think we're stuck with it.

Though speaking for my own group, I imagine it'll just be abbreviated to "damage".

 Forar wrote:
Oh god, the last thing this system needs is two damage types.

Unless you mean the term in general.

As a "Palladiumism", I think we're stuck with it.

Though speaking for my own group, I imagine it'll just be abbreviated to "damage".

I mean the term in general.

It does not fill me with confidence that they're keeping stuff like this. (Then again, I'm not in the kickstarter, just a bystander.)

Man, that's nothing.

The need for each mech to have, like, 4-8 melee options is what kills me. Having A melee option would probably suffice. Two or three if one wanted to get out there (normal attack, 'heavy' attack, 'body block/ram' as a "GET AWAY FROM ME!" move) sure, but this punch/kick/power punch/power kick/etc/etc/etc is just obnoxious copying from the RPGs notes as though any of the wargamers playing will give a gak.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whelp, we got one.

Update #138 Apr 25 2014
What’s Been Going On

I know, I know. I didn't mean to wait two weeks between updates, but they have been an incredibly busy couple of weeks.

The Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Battle Foam bags have gone into production, and will ship with Wave One.

We sent what are hopefully our last round of corrections and adjustments for the Destroids and the Valkyries.

The Valkyrie prototypes, long believed to be on their way to us, turned out to have been waiting on those aforementioned corrections, so we really, really, should be getting them soon now, hopefully next week.



We saw and approved the Battle Dice, check ‘em out.



I finished layout of the color guide for the rulebook... only to then have it pointed out by Ninja Chris that we could improve it by listing hex color codes for each paint scheme. You can see the first one in this image. Jeff’s going to go through and add them over the next few days. I've still got a couple of rules clarifications to add elsewhere in the book, and hope to get that stuff done next week.

We did a lot of coordinating and going over everything, making sure all our T’s are dotted, etc. Production will begin in May, hopefully early May, so we’re doing all we can to make sure everything is ready and done right.



We just received an Artillery Pod frame today, pictured here. I’m not going to rush through putting this one together like I did with the prototypes (because that went well, right?), but I’ll take photos of the whole process and hopefully be able to post them next week. Ninja John also has one, and mentioned doing some painting tests, so we’ll see if we can get some photos from him, as well.



Got the blast template, too. Here’s one molded in clear plastic. The final version will be transparent blue, and the numbers, lines, and outer circle will be painted in white.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

It's driving me insane that they're including HEX color codes.. Why not corresponding paint codes of manufacturers? Not HTML codes.. ARG!!!

I think it's a relatively pointless but ultimately harmless step. If they don't have a deal in place with a minis paint manufacturer, they may not be able to use the names/colors. In the end, and ultimately most important, is the fact that early May production means that June is completely out as a delivery date and most likely so is July (a few weeks to manufacture, a few weeks to ship, a week or two in customs, and a few weeks to organize the packages and send them out to backers)... placing the earliest date into August which is screwed up for half the month due to Gencon... meaning that September is realistically the next window for most backers to get their stuff in their hands.

It will be interesting to watch the shifting timeline from now til Gencon, and what the pronouncement will be about selling boxes at Gencon...

WilhelmRochRedDuke wrote:
Just dropping in.
I will be demo-ing the Robotech RPG Tactics game with the full rules at The Gamer's Realm (1750 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08619) on May 17th after 2pm.. looking to have several players on each side with multiple units per side. Looking to have people run units or multiple units depending on turnout. Things are still being reviewed and I'm still in discussion with PB to get the latest rules and possible demo figures. The rules will not be the demo rules from Gencon. More information will be forthcoming on facebook.
Please don't feed the trolls..
Also nice write up Mike...

Tom
Reddukegames.com

Reading your posts leaves me with the feeling the biggest problem with RRT is the incredibly poor foundations it was built on, your contribution, no?

Joyboozer wrote:

WilhelmRochRedDuke wrote:
Just dropping in.
I will be demo-ing the Robotech RPG Tactics game with the full rules at The Gamer's Realm (1750 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08619) on May 17th after 2pm.. looking to have several players on each side with multiple units per side. Looking to have people run units or multiple units depending on turnout. Things are still being reviewed and I'm still in discussion with PB to get the latest rules and possible demo figures. The rules will not be the demo rules from Gencon. More information will be forthcoming on facebook.
Please don't feed the trolls..
Also nice write up Mike...

Tom
Reddukegames.com

Reading your posts leaves me with the feeling the biggest problem with RRT is the incredibly poor foundations it was built on, your contribution, no?

I wish I could Exalt this post over 9000 more times.

Joyboozer - you're my hero.

 Balance wrote:

 warboss wrote:
@mike: so do the qraus have both flight and hover? Or dual modes to use them in? It seems like the insane mobility seen in the show would need both to emulate it properly on the tabletop. I assume they dont have afterburner though with the drop in top speed they got this RPG edition compared with the last.

I've been wondering about this. I can see Robotech's transformers (mainly the Veritechs for now, of course) being handled a couple different ways and I'm not sure which is right.

I could see 'free' transformation as a valid option as it makes them very fluid. The transformation stuff is essentially handwaved, and modes don't really matter with the possible exception of some weird restrictions. (Heavy Gear's been using something similar for SMS with badlands Rally and the Alpha stuff, and it does work.) This fits Robotech where VTs transform quickly and fluidly in combat (at least in some scenes) but could be unsatisfying to players as there's no emchanical difference and no 'feel' of controlling a transforming mecha. On the plus side, removes need for 3 minis per Veritech!

"Free per activation" has merit as well, and resembles the Field manual Heavy Gear rules. Pick your mode when activating a model. This seems like a middle ground and does simplify things, but makes cinematic-ish bits like flying up in Fighter then switching to Gerwalk to do something difficult.

"Pay to Transform" would not surprise me, even if I don't think it fits the canon well. Some sort of system where changing takes a number of action points or otherwise hinders doing other things. I feel this could lead to some unexpected behaviors as it may make sense in a game to move in a way that breaks realism, but conserves actions for 'useful' stuff like attacking.

Sorry if I missed this earlier. FPA has Hover, Flight, and Focus Fire.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Balance wrote:
I still think having Mega-Damage without having regular damage is a poor design philosophy.

All damage is MD. I think it is a necessary evil to say that this is a crossover from the RPG and keep it under the umbrella of the PB license so that the game could get done.