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“Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.” ~Gen. Thomas Power, U.S. Strategic Air Command 1957-1964 19XX: The unthinkable finally happens. The world is scoured clean in nuclear fire. The oceans are poisoned for generations to come. Only one last patch of habitable land remains: Antarctica. The remnants of humanity huddle together in a fragile patchwork of research stations and refugee ships. But even here, the Cold War survives. And your civilization may not.  MELTWATER (working title) is a two-player board game of tactical starvation and mutually assured destruction at the end of the earth, currently under development by Erin Newburn-Escobedo, aka me, Gutter Owl! The game is currently in closed beta for Rules Version 0.52. This thread will be a playtest game for Mister Sinewave (US) vs Tricky (USSR). Both players are expected to have read and understood the rules as currently posted. I'd like this to be as blind a run as possible, so I'll try to refrain from commenting, other than updating the map and piece counts. But if you have a rules question, feel free to post in the thread, or PM me if you want to keep your super secret strategic advantage or the like. And while I'd like to keep the rules version consistent for this playtest, I reserve the right to drop in a hot fix if something is clearly Broke In Half. REFERENCES RULES * BLANK MAP AND CARDSHEETS Turn Sequence posted:STARVATION PHASE Radiation and Support posted:Dead: 0 pieces, no matter what Action Reference posted:MOVE (1A) Important Reminders posted:
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May 16, 2016 20:14
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:08 |
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Reserved
gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 08:35 on May 21, 2016 |
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May 16, 2016 20:16
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Alright, let's start with setup. Pieces are placed matching the dots. Starting with the USSR player (Tricky), you'll take turns placing a single piece on the board, on or next to one of your starting points (the colored dots). As a reminder: --You don't need to worry about starvation on each player's first turn. --You can't place a piece on a hex with an enemy piece. Neutrals are fine. --You don't own a supply depot unless you have other pieces stacked with it. TRICKY, what will you place first, and where? gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 16, 2016 |
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May 16, 2016 20:20
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...dammit, yes you do. I thought I checked that map. EDIT: Fixed. gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 16, 2016 |
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May 16, 2016 21:39
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 SINEWAVE, your placement.
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May 16, 2016 21:59
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Mister Sinewave posted:* Under THREATEN and PRESSGANG, you move one enemy civvie if you outnumber them, and you can move one more if at least one of your units is a soldier, correct? (As in, there is no additional effect for having more than one soldier doing the shoving and yelling, it's just an effect if you have at least one yeller & shover.) Yes. One civie for outnumbering, one civie for having soldier(s), for a max of two.  TRICKY, your placement. (Also, are the icons clear enough as to what is what?)
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May 17, 2016 07:01
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May 17, 2016 20:25
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May 18, 2016 01:38
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 (Ignore the green schmutz. It's an artifact of working in Roll20 that I've been editing out in GIMP, but it's faster to just ignore.)
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May 18, 2016 08:09
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So folks, heads up. We just got started, and some real life playtesting with a designer friend has given me a huge insight. So unless there's a major protest, I'd like to update the rules with a new fix. It's just one small rule change, but it has a huge impact on the swingiest part of the game: You can see the next two Doomsday Cards during your turn, rather than just one. Shouldn't impact any moves made thusfar.
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May 18, 2016 18:35
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Tricky posted:Civilian H4. H4 is not a legal placement. Setup pieces must all be on or adjacent to the starting positions (colored circles). Mister Sinewave posted:Civvie F3. Ignoring this. Once Tricky corrects his move, I'll confirm this placement.
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May 19, 2016 04:16
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May 19, 2016 05:11
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May 19, 2016 06:08
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Tricky posted:Civilian H3. Not legal, not next to a red circle.  (Updated as of Sine's last placement.) Mister Sinewave posted:Hey the green crap disappeared (don't edit it out on my account, I was kidding it's perfectly ignorable) So the green crap is the corner of the default player avatar on Roll20. I couldn't figure out how to get a clean shot of the board without the avatar overlapping. So I had a "duh" moment and changed my avatar to a blue field to match the ocean, and voila.
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May 19, 2016 21:10
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May 19, 2016 22:43
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May 20, 2016 00:27
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May 20, 2016 05:21
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 Setup complete! I've hidden the starting dots for ease of reading the PBP map. They're not used for anything else. Active Card (resolves this turn): Radiation C5 & K2 Next Card (resolves next turn): Radiation B4 & K7 Sinewave, it's your turn. STARVATION: Ignored on each player's first turn. ACTION: Sinewave, please take 4 actions!
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May 20, 2016 20:49
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 Active Card: B4 & K7 Next Card: H8 & L4, plus Refugee J1 USSR STARVATION: Ignored on each player's first turn. ACTION: Tricky, how will you answer this capitalist aggression?
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May 20, 2016 22:09
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 Active Card: H8 & L4, plus Refugee J1 Next Card: G1 & K4, plus Refugee J1 US STARVATION: Red Civ G1 flees to G2. White Civ K7 starves. White Civ K2 defects to either J2 or K3. Sinewave, what happens to the civ at K2, and what actions do you then take?
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May 21, 2016 06:31
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 Radiation advances, refugee shows up. ACTIVE CARD: G1 & K4, plus Refugee J1 NEXT CARD: D7 & K3 STARVATION: New refugee at J1 immediately starves. Red civ L4 starves. ACTION: Tricky, your moves.
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May 21, 2016 08:34
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Tricky posted:H5 -> Threaten G5, moving both civilians to G6. This play is not legal. You can only move two pieces if you have both a soldier AND numerical superiority, and you don't have numerical superiority. You have three pieces in H5 (soldier and 2 civs), Sine has three pieces in G5 (2 civs and the depot). You can still move two of his pieces, of course, but it'll take two separate Threaten actions.
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May 21, 2016 09:47
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Supply depot in G5 is uncontrolled. Radiation and refugees appear. ACTIVE CARD: D7 & K3 NEXT CARD: E6 & D3, refugee B3 STARVATION: J1 one neutral civ dies. G1 neutral civ dies. C6 one neutral defects* to depot G5 (depot now neutral). One blue civ defects to depot G5, becomes neutral. F2, G2, and K4 have multiple options.  Sinewave, how will you resolve the starvation at F2, G2, and K4? Then, what actions will you take? *This is a weird corner case I've never seen before, but it's technically a defection under the current rules. An unclaimed depot is not friends with any piece, so the neutral cannot Flee here. But can defect, and pieces which defect to unclaimed depots become neutral. Technically, two blue civs could defect here and become neutral, leaving a neutral and a blue behind in G6, but I figured I could assume Sine's decision here. I'll have to remember to add this to the FAQ. Or maybe just change it in v0.6? I don't know how I feel about this interaction.
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May 21, 2016 23:33
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Still waiting on Sine.
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May 24, 2016 01:38
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F2 can hold two pieces (dirty snow plus depot) and is holding three (soldier, civ, depot). Therefore it is starving. E2 is fine. It is dirty snow, but can support one additional blue piece due to the adjacent blue depot. It is not starving. This may need clarification, thanks for pointing it out.
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May 24, 2016 22:19
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Yeah, I'm noticing a lot of people forget that rule. Might mean I need to change it in the next pass.
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May 24, 2016 23:36
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Fourth action, or just passing?
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May 25, 2016 02:31
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Mister Sinewave posted:Oops. Moving to where?
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May 25, 2016 03:29
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To be fair, I am actively considering turning Pressgang into basically that in the next revision.
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May 25, 2016 03:40
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Done! Fresh new civilian for the US. DOOMSDAY Radiation in D7 and K3  ACTIVE CARD: E6 & D3, refugee B3 NEXT CARD: H8 & K2 STARVATION Two red civilians die in K3. ACTION Tricky, your four actions
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May 25, 2016 05:15
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Tricky posted:Soldier H5 -> Attack G4. G6 becomes dead. Incorrect. The closest dirty hex to H5 (the performing hex) is J4.
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May 25, 2016 07:44
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DOOMSDAY Radiation advances to E6 & D3, refugee appears B3.  ACTIVE CARD: H8 & K2 NEXT CARD: C6 E2 +refugee A2 STARVATION US civ flees from B3 to A2, driven away by the tide of refugees. Two US civs die at G6.  ACTION Sinewave, how will you respond to this attack? gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 00:04 on May 26, 2016 |
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May 25, 2016 09:05
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Radiation spreads! H8 is already dead. Radiation spreads to an adjacent hex. H7 is empty, so the radiation spreads to H7. K2 is already dead. Radiation spreads to an adjacent hex. No adjacent hexes are empty, so radiation can spread to an occupied hex. Sinewave, you can spread radiation to J1 or J2. (J2 kills more pieces, J1 gets you a defector.) Which do you choose?
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May 26, 2016 00:23
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 ACTIVE CARD: C6 & E2, +refugee A2 NEXT CARD: C6 & K4 STARVATION J2 - No flight. One red civ defects neutral to J3, claiming the supply depot. (This definitely feels wrong, needs fixed.) Remaining two starve.  ACTION Tricky, you must answer this aggression for the Motherland!
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May 26, 2016 00:52
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Radiation advances, and a refugee arrives at A2. (I forgot to put him on the map, but he's not long for this world anyway.) ACTIVE CARD: C6 & K4 NEXT CARD: D3 & J1, refugee H1 STARVATION --E2 neutral civ dies. --A2 neutral civ dies. (Sinewave could opt to starve a US civ instead, but I'm just gonna assume he won't.) ACTION Sinewave, which is stronger: radiation or patriotism?
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May 26, 2016 05:32
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Radiation spreads! C6 is occupied, radiation to D6. K4 is occupied, radiation in K5. ACTIVE: D3 & J1, refugee H1 NEXT: D7 & F1 STARVATION One red civ flees from H5 to J4.  ACTION Tricky, drop the hammer (and the sickle)!
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May 26, 2016 21:26
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Tricky posted:J4 -> Attack H4. Assuming J4 dies by virtue of being 0-hex distant? Correct! Radiation spreads to J4. DOOMSDAY Radiation appears in J1. Radiation spreads from D3. Tricky, do you want the new radiation in C3, D4, or E3?
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May 27, 2016 06:38
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 Active: D7 & F1 Next: A2 & K3, + refugee F1 STARVATION J1 - neutral civ dies G4 - one blue civ dies J4 - one red civ dies ACTION Sinewave, your moves!
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May 27, 2016 07:53
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Mister Sinewave posted:I can't threaten CIV + DEPOT with 2x CIV because I need to outnumber the "pieces" and supply depots count as pieces, right? Correct! (...for the v0.53 rules, which y'all are playing with. I'm actually working on a later revision of the rules with some massive overhauls, based on watching this game and others, and wow it's really hard to actually keep track of rules when you've got two entirely different rulesets in your head.) 
gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 17:40 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 17:37
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:08 |
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Also, heads up, modding is gonna be shaky over the next handful of days. I'm getting gay married on Sunday, and things are getting a tad hectic.
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May 27, 2016 17:42
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