Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - A name for builds that achieve goals in a way that is opposite of straightforward?

vicky_molokh · 08-02-2017, 01:38 AM

Greetings, all!

Does anybody of you have a unifying name for the sorts of builds that achieve the goal in a way that is opposite of straightforward.
Examples:

Getting good overland travel speed by largely ignoring Basic Move, but getting HT14 + Very Fit and sprinting all the way.
When building a space cowboy of sorts, foregoing DX and Freefall, and instead getting a Very Fine gun and a very limited version of Gunslinger that covers the relevant gun type.
Building a social character? Get a LAI (which has Low Empathy and Enhanced Time Sense), and use its boosts to Body Language to sidestep empathic penalties, and have an interaction strategy centred around Reaction Rolls (with stacked modifiers) instead of the fussy Influence Skills.
Building a cinematically omnidisciplinary mechanic/engineer? Forego high IQ, forego Talent, forego Wildcards; get one Engineering skill through the sky, and one point in some of its defaults (due to the double-default rule).
The Vaygr ship type rock-paper-scissors from Homeworld 2: normally, small bombers are used against capital ships, but otherwise a frigate beats a fighter, a destroyer beats a frigate etc., but Vaygr have their RPS cycle reversed for at least some ship type (anti-frigate lancers, anti-capital destroyers etc.).
Necrons in the WH40K:Soulstorm computer strategy game. All of their buildings don't have a requisition cost, instead only costing energy to build . . . but the more power plants you build, the slower the the construction process becomes.

So far I've been internally classifying them as 'bullpup designs', by closest and perhaps most famous real-world analogy. But is there a more precise term, especially one specific to gaming?

Thanks in advance!

08-02-2017, 01:38 AM	#1
vicky_molokh GURPS FAQ Keeper Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kyïv, Ukraine	A name for builds that achieve goals in a way that is opposite of straightforward? Greetings, all! Does anybody of you have a unifying name for the sorts of builds that achieve the goal in a way that is opposite of straightforward. Examples: Getting good overland travel speed by largely ignoring Basic Move, but getting HT14 + Very Fit and sprinting all the way. When building a space cowboy of sorts, foregoing DX and Freefall, and instead getting a Very Fine gun and a very limited version of Gunslinger that covers the relevant gun type. Building a social character? Get a LAI (which has Low Empathy and Enhanced Time Sense), and use its boosts to Body Language to sidestep empathic penalties, and have an interaction strategy centred around Reaction Rolls (with stacked modifiers) instead of the fussy Influence Skills. Building a cinematically omnidisciplinary mechanic/engineer? Forego high IQ, forego Talent, forego Wildcards; get one Engineering skill through the sky, and one point in some of its defaults (due to the double-default rule). The Vaygr ship type rock-paper-scissors from Homeworld 2: normally, small bombers are used against capital ships, but otherwise a frigate beats a fighter, a destroyer beats a frigate etc., but Vaygr have their RPS cycle reversed for at least some ship type (anti-frigate lancers, anti-capital destroyers etc.). Necrons in the WH40K:Soulstorm computer strategy game. All of their buildings don't have a requisition cost, instead only costing energy to build . . . but the more power plants you build, the slower the the construction process becomes. So far I've been internally classifying them as 'bullpup designs', by closest and perhaps most famous real-world analogy. But is there a more precise term, especially one specific to gaming? Thanks in advance! __________________ Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper