Author Topic: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)  (Read 4500 times)

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Offline General Battuta

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Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Here's our dumb ass IRC conversation turned into some vomit draft rules. What do YOU THINK!

ADMIRALTY BLUE: THE BLUE PLANET GAME OF THEATER-LEVEL WAR!

You're in command! Build a fleet of customized warships. Assemble the strategic and political resources you need for your war effort. Choose your objectives carefully and deploy your forces to engage the enemy. As the battle shifts, consolidate your gains, repair your losses, and push towards final victory!



GAME COMPONENTS

Quote
You play the game with tokens and cards.

Tokens represent effects like damage, fatigue, or sabotage.

Cards represent the technologies, intrigues, and maneuvers of war. Some cards discard themselves when played, while other cards remain in play. Some cards are assets — ships and stations which exist permanently in the game area.

Each player's game area is divided into four zones: your deck, your hand, your discard, and your theater. There's a zone between each player's game area. This is the battlefield, where Engagements happen. There's a sixth zone, the Noosphere. This is where tokens and extra cards wait to enter the game, and where cards go when they're vanished (removed from the game).

Before the game begins, each player chooses a commander. Your commander lists a deck size (usually 30) and a starting battle group size (usually 5). Assemble a deck of cards no smaller than your commander's deck size, and a battle group of assets exactly equal to your commander's starting battle group size.

Choose three objectives. These will be your goals in the game. Place them next to your commander in your Theater.

You'll also need a supply of Scandal, Glitch, and Shortage cards. Place these in the Noosphere.



THE GOAL OF THE GAME

Quote
You win the game when you complete one of your objectives. It's possible for both players to win, or for neither to win.

The game ends immediately after the first turn in which an objective is scored. Note that the game doesn't end immediately when an objective's scored!

WHAT'S A CARD OR A TOKEN LOOK LIKE?

Quote
Here's a quick example of each type of card in Admiralty Blue.

A token has a name and a rules effect. For example,

Quote
FATIGUE: A card with Fatigue on it can't enter an Engagement.

STRESS: A card with Stress on it can't do anything that gives it a Stress.

A card has a name, a (Pull Cost), a set of Keywords, and game text.

Quote
UBUNTU ETHICS (1): Policy. White Ops.
Play this card in your Theater. At the beginning of each turn, your opponent shows you a secret card of your choice. If they do, you must show your opponent a secret card of your choice. If you cannot, draw a card.

Assets are a type of card. An asset is a card, so it has a name, a (Pull Cost), a set of Keywords, and game text. It also has an Attack and a Defense. For example.

Quote
EREBUS (8): 6/6
Asset. Destroyer. TEI.
EWAR 3. Shock 3. Threshold 2. Network. ETS. Sprint.
When Erebus enters the Theater, gain a Glitch and a Scandal.

Commanders are a type of card. Because they're a card, they have a name, a (Pull Cost),  a set of Keywords, and game text. However, their Pull Costs are usually positive (+), meaning they grant rather than cost Pull.

You can't put commanders in your deck.

Many commanders have Abilities.

Quote
ADMIRAL ONYEKACHI TUWILE STEELE  (+10)
Admiral. TEI. P-sensitive. 30 min/5 start
>(1) Search your deck for a Tactic card and add it to your hand.
>(1) Stress an asset. If you do, that asset gains Shock (x), where (x) is its Attack.
>(2) Vanish a card from your hand.
>(0): The next time an Engagement enters the Depart/Destroy step, return all Engaged assets to their owners' Theaters. Remove all tokens from these assets. Gain a Scandal or a Glitch. Use this


WHAT'S AN ABILITY?

Quote
A line of game text that begins with > is an ability. Most abilities have a (cost), which is always listed inside parentheses. If you can't pay the cost, you can't use the ability.

An ability can be used whenever there's an ability window. Ability windows are described in GAME STRUCTURE Below.


IN SECRET versus ON THE PLOT

Quote
When a card is IN SECRET, it's face-down. Only the card's owner can look at it at any time. When a card is ON THE PLOT, it's face-up. Anyone can look at it at any time.

A secret card can be put on the plot whenever it could use an ability.

Even when a card's in secret, it has to be clearly tracked. Your opponent can't ask 'what card is that', but they can ask 'is that the same card you played from your hand last turn?'


GAME SETUP

Quote
BEGINNING THE GAME

Determine the First Player by revealing Pull tokens in a closed fist. The high bid wins the right to choose First or Second Player. Both players must subtract their Bid from their starting Pull.

Place your commander and your three objectives in your theater. Add Pull Tokens to your Theater equal to your commander's starting Pull.

Shuffle your deck. Place it in your deck area.

Gather your battle group in your hand. Spend Pull Tokens from your Theater until you've played as many assets from your starting battlegroup as you wish.

Shuffle any unplayed assets from your battle group into your deck and draw five cards.
 

GAME STRUCTURE


Each turn consists of a few phases:
Admiralty
Battle Plan
Combat
Disengage
End

Remember, ABCDE.

There's an ability window at the start of each phase. Ability windows are a chance to use >abilities.

In each window, the first player activates as many abilities as they want. Then they pass to the second player to do the same. When both players pass in a row, the ability window closes.

ADMIRALTY
Quote
The first player conducts Admiralty, then the second player.

During the Admiralty phase, you play cards. Some cards will grant you (pull), such as

Quote
GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES BUDGET (+3)
Event. Economic.
Gain +3. Discard this card.

Whenever you gain (pull), add (pull) tokens to your theater to keep track.

Spend (pull) to play cards from your hand. When you play a card on the plot (face up), pay its (pull) cost. When you play a card in secret, place any number of (pull) tokens on that card from your theater. When you later put that card on the plot (turn it face up), remove pull tokens from it until you've matched its cost. This is called PAYING UP. If there are pull tokens leftover after paying up, return them to your theater.

If you can't pay up, spend pull tokens from your theater until you've matched its cost.

If you can't, immediately discard the card.

There's no limit to how many cards you can play during Admiralty, as long as you have the Pull to pay for them.

Remember that there's an ability window before each phase.

BATTLE PLAN:
Quote
Beginning with the first player, players take turns declaring Engagements.

An engagement is a fight over an objective. In the Battle Plan phase, attacking ships are deployed to strike objectives, creating separate engagements in the Battlefield. These engagements don't resolve until the Combat phase.

To declare an engagement, execute the following steps:

Declare a target. You can target an enemy asset, the enemy's hand, the enemy's deck, or the enemy's discard.

Declare your attackers. Attackers must be ship assets. Attackers can be secret (face down) or on the plot (face up).

The engagement is now declared. Set aside the attackers to wait for the Combat phase. If the target's an enemy asset, set it aside too (even if it's not a ship). If the target's the enemy hand, deck, or discard pile, find a clear way to indicate this. These cards together form the Engagement.

The second player now has a chance to declare an Engagement.

After they're done, the first player can do so again.

There's no limit to the number of Engagements that can be declared, but no single target can be part of more than one Engagement.

If you commit all your ships to Engagements, be aware that you won't have any left to respond in the Combat phase!

Remember, there's another ability window before Combat!

COMBAT

Quote
The second player chooses which Engagement to resolve first.

As soon as an Engagement is chosen to resolve, the defending player may deploy ships from their Theater to join the Engagement. These are ships answering the reports of an attack. These ships are Responders.

All assets in the engagement MUST go on the plot (flip face up) if they have not already. Resolve this before proceeding.

In an engagement, engaged assets attack (A), suffer battle damage (B), check for destruction (C), and then depart (D) if still alive. Both sides of the engagement conduct each step simultaneously.

As in the larger turn structure, there is a chance to use abilities before each step of the engagement, obeying the usual first player->second player cycle.

Attack: Total up the Attack value of each side. Place Attack tokens into the engagement to keep count.

Battle Damage: The first player distributes the second player's Attack tokens across the first player's assets. Then the second player distributes the first player's Attack tokens across their assets. Each player is thematically maneuvering their ships to spread out damage and protect their vital assets.

Check for Destruction:: Assets whose Attack token count meets or exceeds their Defense are immediately discarded.  Assets whose Attack token counts do not exceed their Defense retain those attack tokens as permanent damage.

Depart: Ships which remain return to the owner's Theater. If a ship returns to its owner's Theater, place a Fatigue token on it. This is very important! If you skip this step, your ships will be able to respond to the next engagement! Remember, a Fatigue token prevents an asset from entering an Engagement.

If any defending assets returned to the Theater, the defender wins the engagement. If no defending assets returned to the Theater, the attacker wins the engagement. Immediately resolve the following effects:

—If the target of the engagement was an asset, there is no further effect (although the asset has presumably been destroyed).
—If the target of the engagement was your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile, resolve the related effect on your Objective cards, if any. This may include killing cards or gaining cards to your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile.


Continue resolving Engagements until all Engagements are resolved. Ships in the Theater which participated in a previous engagement can be deployed as Responders unless a token or card prevents it. (Note that Fatigue tokens prevent ships from entering an engagement). No new engagements can be declared, so while it is possible for a ship that does not normally gain Fatigue (for example, the GTD Atreus) to participate in every declared engagement, it cannot then declare a new engagement.

Remember, there's another ability window before Disengage!

DISENGAGE

Quote
This phase proceeds exactly as Admiralty, except that Pull sources do not generate new pull. This phase is a chance to use abilities that repair or renew your forces, and to make preparations for next turn (in particular if your Objectives allowed you to draw more cards).

Remember, there's another ability window before End!

END

Quote
Remove all Fatigue tokens in play.

Remove all Pull tokens in play (you cannot bank money between turns).

Discard your entire hand.

Draw until you have five cards in hand.

Note that Attack tokens are not removed from damaged assets.



MISCELLANEOUS RULES



GAINING A CARD

You may gain cards during the course of a game. Gained cards are added to your deck (typically from the Noosphere). If a gained card does not specify 'gained to hand', 'gained to deck', or 'gained to discard', it is gained to your discard pile (and it will be shuffled back into your deck when your discard pile becomes your new deck).

Every card that you gain to your deck must be considered carefully. Since you will cycle through your deck many times over the course of the game, you want to draw your best cards as much as possible. For this reason, cards that can vanish other cards are very powerful — they can slim your deck down to the vital cards.



VANISHING CARDS

Vanished cards go to the Noosphere instead of the discard pile. Maintain a separate pile for each player's vanished cards.



NO MORE CARDS TO DRAW

If you ever attempt to draw a card, and cannot, immediately shuffle your entire discard pile into your deck.



CARDS YOU DON'T WANT

GLITCHES
Glitch is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Glitch reads,
Quote
GLITCH (0): >(0), [Engagement only]: Target ship you control gets -1/-1 and loses all keywords. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Glitch.

SCANDALS
Scandal is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Scandal reads,
Quote
SCANDAL (0): >(0), [Admiralty or Disengage]: Spend a Pull token. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Scandal.


SHORTAGES
Shortage is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Shortage reads,
Quote
SHORTAGE (0): >(0), [Disengage]: Attach this card to a ship. When you would remove a Fatigue token from this ship, instead discard a Shortage card attached to this ship. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Shortage.



KEYWORDS:

These keywords appear on cards. If a keyword appears on a card, but isn't included in this list, it has no effect unless specified by a card.

Quote
EWAR X:
During the ability window before an engagement, add X EWAR tokens to your EWAR pool.
During the Attack phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent to cancel the enemy's EWAR tokens.
During the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent on a one-for-one basis to cancel Attack tokens.
During the ability window before the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens can be spent on your own Attack tokens to convert them into Point Attack tokens. Your opponent does not allocate Point Attack tokens to their assets. You  allocate Point Attack tokens among the enemy's assets.

Quote
SHOCK X:
If any asset in an engagement possesses the SHOCK keyword, conduct an extra Attack, Battle Damage, and Check for Destruction step before the normal Attack Weapons step. These are called the Shock Attack, Shock Damage, and Shock Destruction steps. Only units with the Shock keyword may generate Attack Tokens during Shock steps. Only up to X Attack Tokens may be generated per asset, where X is in SHOCK X.

Quote
THRESHOLD X:
During the Battle Damage phase, the card vanishes the first X damage tokens assigned to it.

Quote
NETWORK:
I don't know what this does but it'll be cool.

Quote
ETS:
An asset with ETS may, as an ability, subtract N from any number or group of numbers on its card and add N to any other single number.
Read this as ETS: >(N points of Attack, Defense, and/or keyword abilities): Add N to this asset's Attack, Defense, or a single keyword ability.
This is probably ****ed up and game breaking.

Quote
SPRINT: An asset with Sprint does not gain a Fatigue token after departing an engagement.



OBJECTIVES

I'll make up some more objectives later. Here are a couple I pulled out of my ass:


THE WAR IN SOL
Quote
When you win an engagement with your opponent's hand, they gain a Shortage to their hand.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's deck, they gain a Scandal to their deck.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's discard, they gain a Glitch to their discard.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's asset (and that asset is destroyed), gain a pull token and draw a card.

When your opponent resigns in irritation, this objective is complete (lol i'll make this better later lads)

CONTINGENCY HESTIA
Quote
When you win an engagement with your opponent's hand, vanish a card from their hand. When you win an engagement with your opponent's deck or discard, vanish the top card of their deck or discard.

For each card you vanish in these ways, put a victory token on Contingency Hestia.

When you have ten victory tokens on Contingency Hestia, this objective is complete.

>(1 victory token): Draw a card or gain 1 pull.

NEGOTIATED TRUCE
Quote
Whenever your opponent discards an asset during an engagement, place one victory token on Negotiated Truce.

Whenever your opponent gains a Scandal, place one victory token on Negotiated Truce.

Whenever you win an engagement as a defender, place a Pull token on Negotiated Truce. 

When you have fifteen victory tokens on Negotiated Truce, this objective is complete.

>(1 victory token): Draw a card or gain 1 pull.

>(1 pull token from this card): Give your opponent a -1 pull token.



SOME MORE EXAMPLE CARDS SO IT'S LESS WTF


A thirty-card Steele deck:

COMMANDER:
Quote
ADMIRAL ONYEKACHI TUWILE STEELE  (+10)
Admiral. TEI. P-sensitive. 30 min/5 start
>(1) Search your deck for a Tactic card and add it to your hand.
>(1) Stress an asset. If you do, that asset gains Shock (x), where (x) is its Attack.
>(2) Vanish a card from your hand.
>(0): The next time an Engagement enters the Depart/Destroy step, return all Engaged assets to their owners' Theaters. Remove all tokens from these assets. Gain a Scandal or a Glitch. Use this

OBJECTIVES:
The War in Sol x1
Contingency Hestia x1
Screw the rules, I have beams x1

5 CARD BATTLE GROUP:

Quote
EREBUS (8): 6/6
Asset. Destroyer. TEI.
EWAR 3. Shock 3. Threshold 2. Network. ETS. Sprint.
When Erebus enters the Theater, gain a Glitch and a Scandal.

x2
Quote
PERSEUS SQUADRON (1): 1/1
Asset. Fighter. Capella.
Point Attack 1: This asset's attack is a point attack.
Screen 1: Fatigue this unit. If you do, cancel one attack token.

x2
Quote
NYX SQUADRON (3): 1/1
Asset. Fighter. TEI.
EWAR 1. ETS.
Point Attack 1: This asset's attack is a point attack.
Screen 2: Fatigue this unit. If you do, cancel two attack tokens.

Quote
DEIMOS BATTLETEAM (3): 2/3
Asset. Corvette. Capella.
Threshold 1.
When Deimos Battleteam would be discarded from an engagement, it returns to its owner's hand.

Quote
CHARYBDIS AWACS (1): 0/1
Asset. AWACS. Capella.
EWAR 4. Network.
After a defender Responds to an engagement, if you are the attacker, you may Respond.

30 CARD STARTING DECK:

6x
Quote
GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES BUDGET (+3)
Event. Economic.
Gain +3. Discard this card.

4x
Quote
SECURITY COUNCIL PRESSURE (+2)
Event. Economic.
Gain +1. Draw a card. Discard this card.

4x
Quote
FORWARD DEPLOYED GANYMEDE (2)
Asset. Logistics.
>(1): Remove a stress token from a friendly asset. Use this ability only during the Disengage phase.
>(N): Remove N attack tokens from a friendly asset. Use this ability only during the Disengage phase.
>(Discard this card): Remove all tokens from a friendly asset.

6x
Quote
UNSUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS TEMPO (0)
Event. Strategy.
Choose one: Draw two cards, or gain +4, or draw a card and gain +2.
Gain a Glitch.

5x
Quote
SOC LOYALTY SWEEP (1)
Event. Black Ops.
Vanish a card from your hand.
Draw a card.

4x
Quote
CONTINGENCY PLAN (0)
Event. Tactics. TEI.
Pick one: Target unit gains EWAR 2, or target unit gains +1/+1, or target unit gets -1/-1, or target friendly unit returns to its owner's hand.

Play as an ability. Play only during an engagement.

1x
Quote
TIERED CONTINGENCY PLAN (5)
Event. Tactics. TEI.
Trash a card to play a Tactics event from your hand or discard pile (ignoring all costs).

Play as an ability. Play only during an engagement.

I forgot to do anything at all about ship customization which was supposed to be pretty central, lol. Whatever! Vomit draft!
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 10:24:57 pm by General Battuta »

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Note to self: current deck design isn't enough, steer towards Dominion kingdoms: need cards that don't start in your deck but which you buy in, making your deck cooler.

 
Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
[NETWORK] could be a way to give a keyword to an asset that wouldn't normally have it. Just a thought. [NETWORK] a Deimos Battleteam to give it ETS or EWAR, for example.
What is an "old nazi plate"?

One puts food on it then goebbels it up.

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
[NETWORK] could be a way to give a keyword to an asset that wouldn't normally have it. Just a thought. [NETWORK] a Deimos Battleteam to give it ETS or EWAR, for example.
...You think EWAR isn't quite powerful enough, so you want it to be able to spread to extra ships?
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline The E

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Here's some general comments:

Quote
ADMIRALTY
Quote

Spend (pull) to play cards from your hand. When you play a card on the plot (face up), pay its (pull) cost. When you play a card in secret, place any number of (pull) tokens on that card from your theater. When you later put that card on the plot (turn it face up), remove pull tokens from it until you've matched its cost. This is called PAYING UP. If there are pull tokens leftover after paying up, return them to your theater.

If you can't pay up, spend pull tokens from your theater until you've matched its cost.

If you can't, immediately discard the card.

There's no limit to how many cards you can play during Admiralty, as long as you have the Pull to pay for them.

Remember that there's an ability window before each phase.
[/quote]

I think this is overly complex. I would suggest an alternate wording:
Quote
During the Admiralty phase, you may play cards from your hand face-up by paying their pull cost. Resolve any effects printed on the card. Assets played this way are referred to as being "On the Plot".
You may also play Assets face-down from your hand at no cost. These are referred to as being "In Secret", and have no effects or abilities. You may place any number of pull tokens on these cards. These tokens are not removed during the end-of-turn cleanup step. You may turn face-down cards face-up at any time by paying a number of pull tokens equal to their pull cost from your theater or pull tokens placed on them. Any pull tokens banked on a card not expended this way are returned to your theater.

I am not sure why you included the "if you can't...." clause here. IMHO, it should not be possible to interrupt the spending of pull tokens, or suffer ill effects from making play mistakes like this (For a very long time, MTG had a concept called "mana burn", which caused excessive mana you tapped while casting a spell to deal damage to you; they got rid of this concept when everybody realized that this rule didn't actually make the game better, and more often than not ended up screwing over less experienced players).

Quote
COMBAT

Quote
If any defending assets returned to the Theater, the defender wins the engagement. If no defending assets returned to the Theater, the attacker wins the engagement. Immediately resolve the following effects:

—If the target of the engagement was an asset, there is no further effect (although the asset has presumably been destroyed).
—If the target of the engagement was your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile, resolve the related effect on your Objective cards, if any. This may include killing cards or gaining cards to your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile.

Assets that have been successfully attacked should be discarded, otherwise there's no incentive to attack them.

Quote
Remove all Pull tokens in play (you cannot bank money between turns).

I do think that being able to bank pull tokens on assets deployed in secret should be a thing. This opens up some planning space and possibilities for interactions (i.e. cards or actions that hinder or accelerate banking).


Quote
CARDS YOU DON'T WANT

GLITCHES
Glitch is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Glitch reads,
Quote
GLITCH (0): >(0), [Engagement only]: Target ship you control gets -1/-1 and loses all keywords. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Glitch.

SCANDALS
Scandal is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Scandal reads,
Quote
SCANDAL (0): >(0), [Admiralty or Disengage]: Spend a Pull token. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Scandal.


SHORTAGES
Shortage is a special card that can be gained to your deck, hand, or discard pile. Shortage reads,
Quote
SHORTAGE (0): >(0), [Disengage]: Attach this card to a ship. When you would remove a Fatigue token from this ship, instead discard a Shortage card attached to this ship. If you discard this card from your hand during the End phase, gain a Shortage.

I think it's worth explaining at this point that the concept here is that Glitches, Scandals and Shortages are things that you have to deal with pretty fast unless you want them to accumulate (which you don't).


Quote
EWAR X:
During the ability window before an engagement, add X EWAR tokens to your EWAR pool.
During the Attack phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent to cancel the enemy's EWAR tokens.
During the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent on a one-for-one basis to cancel Attack tokens.
During the ability window before the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens can be spent on your own Attack tokens to convert them into Point Attack tokens. Your opponent does not allocate Point Attack tokens to their assets. You  allocate Point Attack tokens among the enemy's assets.

This can be simplified. Instead of having a new kind of token, the last rule can just read:
"During the ability window before the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, you can spend EWAR tokens to move one of your Attack tokens to a target of your choice in the same engagement for each EWAR token spent this way."

Quote
THRESHOLD X:
During the Battle Damage phase, the card vanishes the first X damage tokens assigned to it.

This should read:
"Before the Check for Destruction phase, remove X attack tokens from this Asset where X is the Threshold number."

Quote
NETWORK:
I don't know what this does but it'll be cool.

Should be something that makes assets more effective when they're deployed in an engagement together?

Quote
ETS:
An asset with ETS may, as an ability, subtract N from any number or group of numbers on its card and add N to any other single number.
Read this as ETS: >(N points of Attack, Defense, and/or keyword abilities): Add N to this asset's Attack, Defense, or a single keyword ability.
This is probably ****ed up and game breaking.

It definitely is. At the very least, it needs to be an ability that has inherent limits on how many points can be redistributed.

Quote
THE WAR IN SOL
Quote
When you win an engagement with your opponent's hand, they gain a Shortage to their hand.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's deck, they gain a Scandal to their deck.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's discard, they gain a Glitch to their discard.

When you win an engagement with your opponent's asset (and that asset is destroyed), gain a pull token and draw a card.

When your opponent resigns in irritation, this objective is complete (lol i'll make this better later lads)

Maybe the victory condition is something like gain a VP for every engagement won, lose one for every Asset lost, win at X VP?
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline The E

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
[NETWORK] could be a way to give a keyword to an asset that wouldn't normally have it. Just a thought. [NETWORK] a Deimos Battleteam to give it ETS or EWAR, for example.

I think Network should be something that allows you to redistribute n attack counters on your opponent's ships (or cancel n attack counters on yours) where n is the number of ships you've deployed to the engagement minus 1.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
I am not sure why you included the "if you can't...." clause here. IMHO, it should not be possible to interrupt the spending of pull tokens, or suffer ill effects from making play mistakes like this (For a very long time, MTG had a concept called "mana burn", which caused excessive mana you tapped while casting a spell to deal damage to you; they got rid of this concept when everybody realized that this rule didn't actually make the game better, and more often than not ended up screwing over less experienced players).
Okay, but then what do you do if the player does not actually have enough Pull to pay for it? Discarding seems like the only option to me.

Quote
COMBAT

Quote
If any defending assets returned to the Theater, the defender wins the engagement. If no defending assets returned to the Theater, the attacker wins the engagement. Immediately resolve the following effects:

—If the target of the engagement was an asset, there is no further effect (although the asset has presumably been destroyed).
—If the target of the engagement was your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile, resolve the related effect on your Objective cards, if any. This may include killing cards or gaining cards to your opponent's hand, deck, or discard pile.
Assets that have been successfully attacked should be discarded, otherwise there's no incentive to attack them.
It's implicit that it will be discarded because otherwise (if it didn't take enough damage to be destroyed), the attack wasn't successful.

Quote
Remove all Pull tokens in play (you cannot bank money between turns).

I do think that being able to bank pull tokens on assets deployed in secret should be a thing. This opens up some planning space and possibilities for interactions (i.e. cards or actions that hinder or accelerate banking).
Seconded, but I'm pretty sure the earlier text (talking about banking pull tokens on assets deployed in secret) was bolted on after this.

Quote
EWAR X:
During the ability window before an engagement, add X EWAR tokens to your EWAR pool.
During the Attack phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent to cancel the enemy's EWAR tokens.
During the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens may be spent on a one-for-one basis to cancel Attack tokens.
During the ability window before the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, EWAR tokens can be spent on your own Attack tokens to convert them into Point Attack tokens. Your opponent does not allocate Point Attack tokens to their assets. You  allocate Point Attack tokens among the enemy's assets.

This can be simplified. Instead of having a new kind of token, the last rule can just read:
"During the ability window before the Battle Damage phase of the engagement, you can spend EWAR tokens to move one of your Attack tokens to a target of your choice in the same engagement for each EWAR token spent this way."
Except that stops other abilities from being able to reuse Point Attack tokens (e.g. the Perseus and Nyx Squadron example cards).

Quote
THRESHOLD X:
During the Battle Damage phase, the card vanishes the first X damage tokens assigned to it.

This should read:
"Before the Check for Destruction phase, remove X attack tokens from this Asset where X is the Threshold number."
No it shouldn't, because that would allow it to repair itself if it receives less than X damage.
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schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline The E

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Okay, but then what do you do if the player does not actually have enough Pull to pay for it? Discarding seems like the only option to me.

Apparently, my brain refused to register the "all assets in secret must be flipped when combat starts" rule.
Now that it has, I am not convinced it's a good idea; it reduces the relevance of secrets to something that only has relevance over the course of a single turn. I would imagine that at the very least, you should be able to play cards in secret during the Disengage phase.

The point is, if it is allowed to bank pull on an asset, the decision to put them on the plot should be something the player has to make, not something that the rules force on you.

Quote
Except that stops other abilities from being able to reuse Point Attack tokens (e.g. the Perseus and Nyx Squadron example cards).

...

No it shouldn't, because that would allow it to repair itself if it receives less than X damage.


These are good points that I hadn't considered. I'll withdraw my suggestions for now.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
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Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Okay, but then what do you do if the player does not actually have enough Pull to pay for it? Discarding seems like the only option to me.

Apparently, my brain refused to register the "all assets in secret must be flipped when combat starts" rule.
Now that it has, I am not convinced it's a good idea; it reduces the relevance of secrets to something that only has relevance over the course of a single turn. I would imagine that at the very least, you should be able to play cards in secret during the Disengage phase.

The point is, if it is allowed to bank pull on an asset, the decision to put them on the plot should be something the player has to make, not something that the rules force on you.
Not every asset; just assets involved in an engagement. If a secret asset is never deployed nor attacked, it can stay secret.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline The E

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Not every asset; just assets involved in an engagement. If a secret asset is never deployed nor attacked, it can stay secret.

Okay, I apparently really need to work on my reading comprehension.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 
Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
Long time, no update. I think this could be AWSOME. And I may be of help in the wording if you would like.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
I like rereading this but I suspect it needs about 40 drafts to pull the interesting ideas to the front and make it less of a monster mash. The objectives as win conditions are interesting for the same reason they’re a nightmare: you basically play a totally different game depending on which one you select.

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
I think I missed this the first time around......are there "joker" cards?  Like using "flirt" to temporarily stun an enemy strike fighter wing?
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

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Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
One should FRED this card game and include it in Act 4 as freetime activity. ;)
« Last Edit: May 31, 2019, 12:54:34 pm by Nightmare »

 
Re: Blue Planet: the Card Game! (Help me write better rules!)
i distinctly recall battuta implementing rock paper scissors AI for a scene where you waste time with wingmates in act 4
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.