An Update on Dystopian Age with Warcradle (Beasts of War)

[Ruckdog]

BoW put up a video on YouTube today with an interview from Stuart!

https://youtu.be/yLDLRx2atLQ

The Dystopian Wars discussion starts right around the 18 min mark.

Highlights:

-WC is looking to keep the core gameplay of DW the same, but is working to streamline "maths" where possible. The specific example that was given is that weapon stat profiles will now list a number in parenthesis next to their base AD number, which indicates how many dice that weapon contributes to a link pool. This number would nominally be half of the base number, but doesn't have to be; Stuart mentioned that the number in parenthesis could be larger for certain weapons and/or certain factions to reflect that certain weapon types are better at linking.

-Public Beta for DW 3.0 was re-confirmed for "Summer 2018," and was discussed as being a few months away.

- The plane designs that were shown at salute were mentioned to be for Armored Clash.

-Stuart stated that the rules for the eventual re-release for Dystopian Legions will be compatible with WWX. While the games will be narratively separate, WC's plan is that armies from WWX will be able to face armies from Dystopian Legions with no issues. Sounds like a Warmachine/Hordes situation to me!

[Covertwalrus]

BoW put up a video on YouTube today with an interview from Stuart!

https://youtu.be/yLDLRx2atLQ

The Dystopian Wars discussion starts right around the 18 min mark.
 

 Thanks for that, Ruckdog

Highlights:

-WC is looking to keep the core gameplay of DW the same, but is working to streamline "maths" where possible. The specific example that was given is that weapon stat profiles will now list a number in parenthesis next to their base AD number, which indicates how many dice that weapon contributes to a link pool. This number would nominally be half of the base number, but doesn't have to be; Stuart mentioned that the number in parenthesis could be larger for certain weapons and/or certain factions to reflect that certain weapon types are better at linking.

Well, now thatis a good idea! I'm not a great fan of simplifying most math as it's one of the features of gaming that keeps the mind supple and adds educational value as they used to say, however it would make it a faster play and sounds reasonable.

-Public Beta for DW 3.0 was re-confirmed for "Summer 2018," and was discussed as being a few months away.

 Yeah, well . . . . Wait and see on that.

- The plane designs that were shown at salute were mentioned to be for Armored Clash.

 Thought so. Not a problem for me, though and frankly, anything that encourages people to want the smaller ones for DW is a good thing

-Stuart stated that the rules for the eventual re-release for Dystopian Legions will be compatible with WWX. While the games will be narratively separate, WC's plan is that armies from WWX will be able to face armies from Dystopian Legions with no issues. Sounds like a Warmachine/Hordes situation to me!

 . . . That's going to be a bit of a thorn in some people's sides, TBH.

 As for the Covenant situation, I and a few others are not thrilled at all. Apart from that, it seems pretty positive progress is being made

[RuleBritannia]

I find these interviews hard to watch.  Could someone detail the Covenant situation?

[Sebenko]

I find these interviews hard to watch.  Could someone detail the Covenant situation?

Agreed. Is Stuart just using a rubbish mic or is the audio being relayed into the studio and re-recorded there? Dislike how there is no structure to find the bits I'm interested in, too.

As for the Covenant situation, the CoA has been replaced with the "Covenant of the Enlightened", seemingly for no reason, because the different branches of the Enlightened don't apparently interact much (Known branches being the Antarcticans, a group called the Troika in Russia and the WWX Enlightened). It seems like they're part of the same faction just so that DW has the Enlightened in it. More dissapointingly, Sturgeon is now an arrogant empire builder, instead of the slightly misguided but well meaning UN/ World Police. Even wierder, apparently WWX's glowing numerically-named rock, RJ-1337 or whatever, came first and was used to find E270 in Antarctica- which totally screws the background of DW being revolutionised by the discovery of a wonder material (And cuts out the role of E270 and its technology as a metaphor/mirror for pre-WWI rapid technological advancement and the results of that when meeting old approaches to warfare, but I think I might be the only one that reads that much into DW).

Also, wow, Warcradle's forums are deeeeead. No-one's even bothered to start a discussion on this.

[RuleBritannia]

There is space there, the Troika is obviously meant to be Markov and mates, Carapathian and his alien blood hasn't entirely supplanted Sturginium.  I'm sure there is tweaking to be done, so Team Sturgeon world police can be back, and at least the fluff is hinting that these are different science teams.  So plus points.  And yes I too miss the rush to WW1 feel I would like to see back... but I fear the multi-polar politics of the WWX version makes that unlikely.

I do miss blogposts.  Writing forces a consideration of topics, allows thoughts to be conveyed faster and more efficiently, and information can't be vague or wafflely in a way a chat can be.  Maybe its just too early.

[Sebenko]

Markov, arch-traitor, and Sturgeon, being in the same faction? That's second only to the idea of Werewolves being in DW in levels of "You're kidding, right?".
Sure, have the Enlightened, but they really shouldn't be under the same umbrella as the Covenant. Now if the CoA remained a separate faction that showed up occasionally to provide a lecture to the Enlightened about their unauthorised and unethical research, that would be a fun interaction I could get behind.

I do feel that a setting should really only have one glowy wonder rock, especially one so intertwined with the backstory as Sturginium.

[RuleBritannia]

I would argue that it is possible the boats are the same, the factions are technically different.  Like Royal and Free Aussies.

[Sebenko]

The WWX Enlightened won't have boats, if I understood correctly (The interview mentioned some factions that would and wouldn't cross over between WWX and DW e.g. Union would appear in DW, Warrior Nation won't).

I certaintly hope Markov doesn't start using CoA ships, he already has a nation- the RC.

[RuleBritannia]

I would love some Markov pattern CoA style vessels.  Like the Russian Medium flier, basically an Icarus made of sheet metal by peasants, so having a Markovite fleet of super science constructed by Russians as an elite fleet in support of Russia would be cool, just as a Carpathian elite Union allied fleet might be interesting.

[Sebenko]

I was meaning I'd hate to see Markov directly using CoA ships. RC already has some CoA inspired vessels, such as their large flyer, which looks a lot like the poor old Daedalus.

But that still suggests that they should be separate factions, really.

[Victor]

As long as the gaming system is properly done and good the weird fluff can be tolerated.

[Asuo]

Stuart did say that the Warrior Nations wont cross over well to the DW, they might to AC though, time will tell.

The Rj is a fuel source from the fluff, so sturgeons airship or what ever was powerrd by that, Sturginium is a ultralight super conductor so quite differrnt things. As for Sturgeons role in the greater world we'll have to wait and see.

[RuleBritannia]

So RJ is the stuff used by Carpathian, which is derived from mind controlling Alien blood?  I can see arguments for it happening the other way round, so Sturginium, and Sturgeon's positive 'Science to help Mankind' set up, from which both Markov and Carpathian quit, Carpathian as a secret agent of the Alien hivemind, using his new knowledge to turn the tables and go all out on weaponry to make sure mankind is ready to fight the aliens at any cost, to contrast with Markov as a traitor for the old fashioned reasons of gold and nationalism.  Gives three sources of escalation, Sturgeon's gifts to the world twisted into weapons, Markov's arming of the Russian Coalition, turning it from backwater into a modern superpower, and Carpathian's arming of the ACW for the purpose of creating ever more destructive weapons for his private war on alien eggs, but one that threatens the stability of the world. 

[Sebenko]

The Rj is a fuel source from the fluff, so sturgeons airship or what ever was powerrd by that, Sturginium is a ultralight super conductor so quite differrnt things.

Sturginium also works as a power source, either infused in coal, or as something like a nuclear reactor.

arpathian as a secret agent of the Alien hivemind, using his new knowledge to turn the tables and go all out on weaponry to make sure mankind is ready to fight the aliens at any cost... Carpathian's arming of the ACW for the purpose of creating ever more destructive weapons for his private war on alien eggs, but one that threatens the stability of the world. 

I hope that stays out of DW. The more I learn, the more I think merging them is a bad idea. What's wrong with separate backstories anyway?

[Asuo]

Im not sure its blood, more like sap from a tree. Carpathian was never under the control of the hive mind he duped it long enough to steal the seed and take it to the union, there hes working on exploiting it for his purpose, in not read all the fluff yep but i believe hed trying to gain immortality or return a loved one.