May 7, 2013

Thoughts on OPF (One Page Fleets)

This little rule set is made for space combat with the aim of being simple and fun, both of which it manages to achieve. There are a few observations though which I'd like to share, had anyone got the idea to use them.

Here's a link to the rules in PDF. Written down they really take only one page. 

Dice beating highest. When rolling an obviously higher die (example: 7 on d8 against a d6), it saves some time to apply the damage directly instead of triggering an opposed roll.
Flanking speed& Aft shields critical save. When a unit's die is d4 on DV and is shot in the rear 90° of its perimeter or performed a flanking move (and according to the situation it would be interpreted as d0 - a single hit, no matter what the defensive roll is, would destroy these units, which is really unfair), no attack die is rolled, but the unit being attacked rolls 1d4 and remains on the table if scores a 4.

Above, a photo of the first test game with various ships engaging each other.

While I am used to play with an I go, you go mechanism (where one player is the agressor and by winning initiative is able to move all his troops at once, and the other player may only react to these) the movement sequence used by OPF is alternating movement between single units or fighter squadrons of each player which sort of defines the whole gameplay and requires more situational awareness (as it really matters which unit a player chooses and where that unit is moved on the table). It also, surprisingly, doesn't give such a good flow of events as the games in which one entire army is moved then the other one follows. Combat is more fragmented.

Here's a shoutout to two new readers, Geordie an Exiled Fog (blog here) and j.d. (blog here). Welcome aboard guys!


23 comments:

  1. I go for simple and fun over complicated and boring any day!

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    1. Playing this is simple and fun but in a different way I'm used to.

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    1. I am simple. Great minds think alike, Gentlemen!

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    2. O well it is true good Sir. Grab some ships and try the rules!

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  3. My friends and I are going to be Test Driving the OPF Ruleset out this weekend - with THIS modification.

    The rules as written, allow a ship to take damage in a "general" way, in which they lose both FP (FirePower) and DV (DefenseValue) equally, with the ship being destroyed once it's lost its last DV.
    This means that a Fighter/Bomber is taken out with ONE successful hit, and that a Battleship is lost when it takes FOUR hits. Seeing that a Battleship is the strongest ship that can be fielded, I'm afraid this would make the games woefully short, and/or leave some players out of a credible fighting force, far too soon.
    Additionally, it makes for a lack of variety on the field, seeing as a ship will lose BOTH its FP and DV equally, making for a less exciting game, than those in which some of your ships are losing Armor, and others are losing Weaponry, and/or Movement.
    Therefore I propose that we modify the damage allocation to a Random System, in which when a ship takes damage, we roll 1D6, and apply damage as follows:
    1-2 = Lose 1 FP Die Value
    3-4 = Lose 1 DV Die Value (if DV is already 1d4, then the ship is destroyed)
    5-6 = Lost 1 MV Die Value (and Inches of Move)
    [If the Weapon or Movement System is already at Zero, any additional damage passes through into the Cockpit/Bridge, eliminating the ship. Outposts, Starbases, and Planets are immune to MV Damage.]
    We've enough Red, Blue, and Green dice to track this damage on our Ship Cards, so I don't see this making the game that much more complex to track.
    Let me know what you think - I've got some other ideas regarding Movement, that will make the game seem more "Spacey" - but want to play the game as written regarding movement, to see if it's worth the additional complexity.

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    1. It has been a while since I last played OPF, in fact I have started designing a more complex space combat game.
      Your concept is rather interesting: I think the goal of reducing all attributes with a single unsaved hit in the original rules was to streamline the game - it's intended to be simple after all. If you feel this extra layer of complexity will yield a better player experience, go for it.
      Another thought: IIRC battleships are also very easily immobilised, which makes stern raking them a lot easier, so I would implement some sort of fail safe mechanism to prevent an enemy making a huge chunk of one's fleet stand idle throughout the battle as a result of the damage allocation you described.
      On the other end of the spectrum, I have designed 'Easy Sci-Fi' (accessible from the Rules page of this blog) around OPF's core mechanisms, where units take hits but do not reduce their dice values, instead they are 'killed' when a certain amount of unsaved hits occur, but this is perhaps less desirable when individual fighting ships are taken into consideration.
      One thing's sure though, the original rules are great to tinker with.

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    2. I see what you mean about ships being too easily immobilized, and it's some of what I hoped to accomplish with breaking up the damage somewhat.

      My playgroup is rarely less than four players, and frequently totals six or seven players, so we envisioned playing with Fleet ratings of 20-25 points per player.

      I'll let you know how our first game goes, and link my group to your campaign rules, to see if it would be a good way to expand our games.

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    3. And coincidentally, or not - our Fleets are also being constructed from LEGO.

      https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNXWondsae1srd0axvoOQn3FVVwEvd5e2yrraDQ

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    4. The link gives an Error 404 to me, perhaps you did not set the album to be visible to everyone? Lego is really fun, and you made me curious about this.

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    5. This link should work better:
      https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPMTLYKMOLPvXN5fgBP34_3xH8HCHuEEK_1u5ZLaNEd7FxKOb8xtn5JvKeYU1XuiA?key=cEl2aVpPeDRILWRLUTJvNjhaQlJmZHZacWxQbXJB

      ... and - it's only the last two I built. The collective "Fleet" that I'm using for our playgroup is up to around 2 dozen ships and squadrons.

      I'll post pics from the game, after this weekend.

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    6. Cool! If I started now, I would build small models like these.

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  5. I've updated the Image Pool at the link above if you're curious. The total Fleet count now is up to 30+ Ships, with quite a few Fighters/Bombers.

    We've scheduled a 4+ Player game for Saturday, where I plan on taking pictures of a full table.

    I'll let you know, what the players think of the rules, and modifications.

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    1. Thanks! I'm definitely considering giving them a bath before taking another set of pics.

      Part of the attraction to the ruleset, (and the MFZ rules we had played earlier) - was the LEGO construction of the units.

      I've got two grown children, now in their mid to late 20's, but we'd managed to save all of their LEGOS, in the hopes of recycling them, down-stream.

      When I saw the rulesets, I was like:
      "A chance to play with LEGOs again? Count me in!"

      Can't wait to see the table filled.

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    2. Well my brothers and I don't play with Lego anymore, but we have also got tons of it... I tried to involve them in an 'Easy Sci-Fi' tournament recently, but it did not kick off.

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  6. Players REALLY liked the game, and are excited to add some Advanced Movement and Maneuvers into the mix, in order to make it more "cinematic", with risking more interaction with the Asteroids.

    Six Player game, with 30 points per player, we had around 30 ships in the Battle, with Fighters, Scouts and Cruisers taking the brunt of the damage, as designed. A couple of the Battleships started looking ragged by the time we finished. All players agree, that this game has very good replay potential, with several designing new Fleet loadouts by the end of the game, and at least ONE player getting out the LEGO, and designing a Destroyer.

    Picture update of the Battle, to follow.

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    1. Great news then, I find it more and more tempting to do something similar!

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  7. As promised, an update, and some pics.

    Check later this week, for more close-ups - and additional commentary:

    http://orionpointfirefights.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks! I've been working on some rules tweaks as well, I can send them to you if you are interested.

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    2. I'm very interested. We've already tweaked the Movement a bit, so that it "costs" an inch of MV to turn up to 45° (with some limits on the number of turns a Ship can execute).

      And - in addition to the Damage modifier mentioned above, we've allowed Ships to fly into the Asteroid clusters, choosing to defend against its d6 attack, with either a DV or an MV roll, simulating a more agile ship's ability to dodge the debris.

      Let us know what you came up with, and perhaps we can incorporate it too!

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    3. I've uploaded the rules to google drive, here's the link !
      It complicates the game a little, but I tried it and it works OK.

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