I was considering giving CivWorld but after reading Wilhelm’s review and seeing the screenshots, I no longer have any interest. This screenshot really says it all. Playing a stupid mini-game to gain culture and make trade routes? Now, I’m a fan of dog’s playing poker (it’s a fun picture concept) Read more…
Well, the robots don’t have lightsabers…..yet….but thanks to the guys at Stanford, they will know how to fight with them. So when your arm is cut off by a Terminator (after Google becomes self-aware), thank these Stanford students.
Well, Borders is closing. As a hopeful author, having a book store close isn’t a good thing. I’m not particularly partial to Borders. I split my time between them and Barnes and Nobles equally. I like the physical store of our local Borders better though. It’s made me start thinking Read more…
We saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 yesterday. I’m a huge fan of the books, less so the movies. I didn’t discover them until college, shortly before book 5 came out. I remember skipping class one spring semester to read more of book 4. They’re not the Read more…
Here’s a fun little tool that lets you decide how to pay the US Governments bills with only 44% of the money required. Come August 2nd the US can’t borrow more money, these are decisions someone is going to have to make. Which, sadly, is exactly what the Teaparty wants. Read more…
I recently started reading the web comic Questionable Content. One comic in particular got me thinking about business. The comic has the characters at work at a coffee shop. And they’ve having fun. It’s completely unlike anyplace I’ve ever worked. Sure, it’s a little odd and you rarely see them Read more…
I’m starting a new Star Wars Saga Edition RPG today. For a change I won’t be the GM which should be fun. But as I was making my character, I kept thinking about the disparity in the game. The gain in Reflex Defense far outways the gain in ability to hit anything.
I’m going to run through some number, looking at attack bonus versus reflex defense at various levels. The character set up I’m using will be at the end if you’re curious.
Level 5 combat character (Att +9/RefDef 24)
Level 5 support character (Att +6/RefDef 19)
Level 10 combat character (Att +16/RefDef 33)
Level 10 support character (Att +10/RefDef 24)
Level 15 combat character (Att +23/RefDef 40)
Level 15 support character (Att +15/RefDef 31)
Same Level Matches
CL5 Combat vs CL 5 Support
CL 5 Combat vs CL 5 Combat
CL 10 Combat vs CL 10 Support
CL 10 Combat vs CL 10 Combat
CL 15 Combat vs CL 15 Support
CL 15 Combat vs CL 15 Combat
Various Level Matches
CL 5 Combat vs CL 10 Support
CL 10 Combat vs CL 15 Support
CL 5 Combat vs CL 10 Combat
As you can see, fully tricked out combat characters versus other fully tricked out combat characters of the same level hit each other only 20-25% of the time. Support versus Combat, at the same level start out at only a 15% chance to hit and it drops to requiring Crits only very quickly. Characters, especially combat characters, Reflex defense gets so high, it can really make combat all about the crits.
Now, out of curiosity, I wondered what it would look like if Reflex Defense bonus only went up at Half Your Level, instead of full level, like it does for skills.
Level 5 combat character (Att +9/RefDef 24)
Level 5 support character (Att +6/RefDef 16)
Level 10 combat character (Att +16/RefDef 28)
Level 10 support character (Att +10/RefDef 19)
Level 15 combat character (Att +23/RefDef 32)
Level 15 support character (Att +15/RefDef 23)
Same Level Matches Version 2
CL5 Combat vs CL 5 Support
CL 5 Combat vs CL 5 Combat
CL 10 Combat vs CL 10 Support
CL 10 Combat vs CL 10 Combat
CL 15 Combat vs CL 15 Support
CL 15 Combat vs CL 15 Combat
Various Level Matches
CL 5 Combat vs CL 10 Support
CL 10 Combat vs CL 15 Support
CL 5 Combat vs CL 10 Combat
Now, in one sense, this is better. There are no Crit Only hit chances. However, squishy support characters are more squishy, even getting so high as almost guaranteed hits at same level. Combat would certainly go faster that way. It might be worth trying a one shot game with mid to high level characters, just to see. It still doesn’t address one problem I have, that low levels, even in greater numbers, have a poor to no chance against high levels. That makes it boring for high levels to always wade through weaker guys and never get hit or fear them. Hard not to meta-game that.
I wonder how it would work if Base Attack Bonus scaled differently as well. Say, combat classes (soldier/jedi) only increased at 3/4 and support at half. So soldiers increase at levels 2,3,4 but no bonus at 1 or 5 and scoundrels got BAB every even level. Or maybe ALL BAB increase at 3/4’s, just combatants gain at levels 1,2,3 but not 4.
I don’t feel like doing anymore math so I’ll just leave that to speculation for now.
I recently did a trial of CLEAR Wireless Internet. I’m not super happy with Comcast and we were experiencing a lot of slowdowns and repeated internet loss. The pitch from Clear was that, while it was slower than Comcast, it was a dedicated amount of bandwidth that was a consistent Read more…
I’ve been writing stories since we got our first computer when I was 9 or 10. As a kid, I was inspired by Doogie Howser writing a journal on his computer. That process didn’t last long but it did lead to me writing stories on the computer (you could say Read more…