Third Edition of Firestorm Armada

[Toxic_Rat]

As we know, Spartan attempted to bring to life a third edition of Firestorm Armada this past year.  Just reading between the lines on how Warcradle is looking at Dystopian Wars, I would guess that Firestorm has some significant changes in its future, even if that future is a long way off.  Assuming that the next edition will not be a simple tweak from second edition, what kinds of things would you guys like to see revised?

[Ruckdog]

Great question, and one I've been thinking about for a while.

The first thing that we should probably establish is how much of the previewed 3.0 beta rules on the old Spartan Forums we would like to see. Me, I'm not so sure some of the approaches taken in those rules were a good direction to head in, so I'd prefer the "tweaks to 2.0" approach.

A few of the big changes I'd like to see is:

-Overhauls to the mine system

-Better carrier/SRS rules

-Improved shooting profiles for ships (better dice spreads, less fixed firing arcs)

Just for starters!

[Fracas]

I would like to see a fluff overhaul. Based on planetfall there should be 3 humans and 3 aliens factions.

I like the human factions to have lineages to current (or even dystopian age alliances?) with one representing an interstellar human central government ala UN (using dindrenzi models as their hover tanks seems slightly more advanced than tread tanks) and two additional colonial forces: One based eastern cultures (using directorates models) and One based on western cultures (using Terran models).
I would like to see the other 3 alien races to have sub factions as well.


Game mechanics wise I would like to see consistent dice mechanics with active systems based on roll dice while passive conditions modifying the rolls. For instance shooting:
1. Determines # of attack dice to roll. This will be reduced based on range and any damages taken
2. The to hit value is determined by the target profile and intervening terrain
3. Success is reduced by defender rolling shield dice ( actively modulating its dynamic) and by a set value X to represent extra armor plating (passive defense)

I would also like combat space patrols (interceptors) to be allocated to ship rather than have an intercept range. Once assigned it increases PD value of the model it is escorting.

I would also like minesweeper if mines are playable as tabletop deployment.

I think mix ships squadron would be interesting as well.

[Brimat]

My hopes are, that army lists aren't changing. I have no intentions to buy more models only because the army building rules changed.

And i second a fluff overhaul, more precisly, a fluff extension based on the works of Spartan.

[Toxic_Rat]

How important is trying to reduce the amount of time needed to play a game?  I'd love to be able to play larger battles (1200+) in a more reasonable amount of time.

[Toxic_Rat]

There is a more lengthy post about it on the WC forums, but I've posted online a proposed rules document on my website at firestorm.pymapper.com if anyone is interested to review.

[Ruckdog]

Hmmm...I'm seeing links for your fleet builder, but not a proposed rules document at the link you posted. Am I missing it?

[Fracas]

I think the link was removed by moderator

[Toxic_Rat]

Had a snafu, need to make some edits.   Fortunately I have time off over the holidays.  Send me your email address if you want a copy once I have it ready to go.

[Ryjak]

For those that missed it, Alex Mann recently interviewed Stuart from Warcradle, and he answers a lot of the above speculation:

Episode 23: http://mannmomo.blogspot.com/p/the-hub-systems-podcast.html?m=1

Basically, there doing a true new version of the game, rebuilding everything from the ground up, and in this case, the foundation is the setting, and Warcradle is consulting a couple well-known, yeti disclosed, Sci-Fi authors to do it. I’m excited for the direction they’re taking, but disappointed it will be at least a year, if not more, before anything is released.

[Dakkar]

Basically, there doing a true new version of the game, rebuilding everything from the ground up, and in this case, the foundation is the setting, and Warcradle is consulting a couple well-known, yeti disclosed, Sci-Fi authors to do it. I’m excited for the direction they’re taking, but disappointed it will be at least a year, if not more, before anything is released.

Seeing as the original fluff never felt more than the barest Faction outlines to me, and the only "characterful" moment is Dramos, I'm fine with a revamp. Maybe this will actually include pictures of the races! :-)

[Stephan]

Hmmmm, I've dug my B5 stuff back out.  I'll fill the time between now and when the rules release by getting all the B5 Wars stats in Excel so I can come up with conversions more easily once the new edition of Firestorm comes out.

[RuleBritannia]

I wonder what exactly of the Spartan material will survive.  Rules discussion seems to involve dropping exploding D6s, and we can see with DWars no desire to retain previous models, and both there and here a full rewrite of the fluff. 

[zorper]

I wonder what exactly of the Spartan material will survive.  Rules discussion seems to involve dropping exploding D6s, and we can see with DWars no desire to retain previous models, and both there and here a full rewrite of the fluff.

Going by the treatment of Wild West Exodus I would expect a complete rules re-write.  I liked the pre-Warcradle WWX and knew it needed some tweaking, but WWX 2 is radically different.

On a personal note, I did not rage quit WWX.  Over the course of 6 months I played more than 10 WWX 2 games, continued to purchase models at a FLGS, and provided the best feedback that I could.  This month I accepted reality and quit the game.  Warcradle made some large design decisions and were very headstrong about them.  These decisions robbed the fun out of the system and killed my desire to play.

Sorry for the bad news.

[Covertwalrus]

Warcradle made some large design decisions and were very headstrong about them.  These decisions robbed the fun out of the system

 That's what a lot of people suspect will happen with DW as well, and given what has already happened with the background rewrite to align it with WWX, and the Armoured Clash thing, there is mounting evidence to suggest that is what will happen down the line.