04-09-2018, 08:04 AM | #1 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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[Basic] Debugging inventions
"Testing and Bugs" on p474 has rules for finding bugs in inventions, but I can't find anything on time, costs or skill rolls for fixing them. Have I missed something?
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04-09-2018, 08:25 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
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If you wanted rules for fixing the bugs, I'd probably call that another cycle of invention, requiring a new concept and prototype roll. You'd get the +5 for having a working model, but -1 per minor bug and -2 per major bug removed. To avoid introducing new bugs in a never-ending process, I'd say that regular inventors use Gadgeteer rules for bugs on these rolls (i.e., no bugs on a success by 3 or more), and Gadgeteers eliminate the bugs on any success. |
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04-09-2018, 09:14 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
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04-09-2018, 10:27 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
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Also, I tend to think that more bugs, and more serious bugs, should take a bit more effort to fix. Putting a penalty based on the number of bugs you're trying to fix means that there's a tactical choice for inventors to make: do they shoot the moon and try to invent something to fix all the bugs in one go? Or take it cautiously, doing one or two bugs at a time? (The fact that in my suggestion, correcting one major bug, or two minor ones, will net you a +3 bonus, just enough to reliably eliminate those bugs for a standard inventor, is not a coincidence.) |
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04-09-2018, 11:00 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
After checking, I'd misremembered. +5 is for actually making a copy of a working model, so penalising from that is the equivalent of the given +1-+5 for a variation of an existing model (i.e. it's a variant without bugs).
The problem I'd have with too many penalties is that it'll be even harder to make a version 2 than it was to make the version 1. This shouldn't be the case unless you're in Crit Failure land and chasing a misunderstood concept. Thus, instead of counting how many bugs there are, just replace the +5 with, say: +0-+2 if it contains major bugs +3-+5 if it contains minor bugs The problem though is that there aren't any suggestions for what characterises major or minor bugs. Oops, actually, the text says "Bugs that remain after testing..." Doesn't this imply that the testing process itself fixes the bugs?
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04-09-2018, 11:35 AM | #6 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
That fails a reality check. Quite a few things are invented or designed, and work at a basic level, but never become successful because of design problems.
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04-09-2018, 11:41 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: [Basic] Debugging inventions
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But, such optional rules could be more content for the ever-wished-for Powerups: Gadgets and Inventions.
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Tags |
basic, bug, debugging, invention |
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