Quote:
Originally Posted by GranitePenguin
So an interesting quirk of this attempt... Marsh becomes the only terrain type that can cause a disable roll, but does not stop movement for the turn. That doesn't sound like a good idea. GEVs are very fragile and have to stop all the time when entering just about every terrain on the map. Why should Marsh be any different?
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That was something I was worried about a couple posts ago, yeah...cut that particular brain-dump in proofreading because it meandered way too much. My concern is a balance one...striving to keep it to where it serves its purpose mechanically, serves its purpose conceptually, without being way too powerful. I'm not sure I like any of the ways of handling it, to be honest.
My concern with removing the roll entirely means the GEVs...even though their movement is reduced to 2-1...are getting a lot of free shots every time a pursuing non-GEV ends up disabled by terrain. For a small pocket of marsh/swamp where the pursuer can go around, or hang out at the edges taking potshots, that's not a big deal, but for maps that use them as their main feature...NAC protecting a refinery in the Louisiana Bayou, Nihon marching through the Monsoon-soaked islands of the Pacific Rim, or the savage fighting in the general yuck of the Amazon Combat Zone...that could prove scenario-breaking to the point players would be literally playing GEV(s only). Maybe I'm not giving light tracked units enough credit, and my concerns are moot enough that we can say "GEVs are not required to make 'Disabled by Terrain' rolls in a Marsh" and leave it at that, but that's why I'm leery enough to suggest what I did with the artifact it has.
My concern with keeping the roll and the stop penalty is that it ceases to be distinct enough to justify its existence. At that point it's better served as a hexside, which we've already ruled out as being too fiddly in a real-world logistical sense.
At that point, that really only leaves two options: Doing something other than "Remove the roll entirely" to make it worthwhile as a full hex (unless killing the roll entirely pans out in playtesting, at which point go with it because consistent rules are awesome), or resign ourselves to leaving the potential for interesting scenarios/engagements on the table.
Picture a battle where a pack of GEVs have lured a pursuing force into the sweet spot where the armor chasing them can get bogged down, but their own mobility hasn't been completely hindered...ducking and weaving through a flood plain at half throttle, picking off the mired-down stragglers of a force desperately trying to forge into the yuck to get an objective deep in the heart of the awful, soggy blech...right up until one of the GEVs finds a spot shallow enough to throw a GEV into the air, disorienting its crew and allowing the armor to pounce...that's what I'm trying to enable by sticking with it.
It's probably a fool's errand, and may never reach the point where it's distinct enough to justify its existence and refined enough to be playable, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying getting to exercise my brain.
Am I not giving light tracked armor enough credit?