Infinite Range FTW!

[Sam Mitschke]

VROOM VROOM PEW PEW

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by Sam Mitschke

@43Supporter
I tend to agree, but in the face of "this whole thing is an abstraction, anyway," re-rolls provide some interesting decisions and a sense of agency over the total chaos of a dice throw.

Hm -- I come at the notion of "agency" from a different direction.

Part of the problem I have with "rerolls" is: The player can use them when he *knows* things are going against him; that's not how the universe works. (Oddly, it's also why I hate universes with Time-Travel: Ain't no "take-backs" in Reality.) One has to guess at what's coming; then, when it does happen, one has to deal with it using what one has, rather than what one wishes one had. "Improvise; Adapt; Overcome", as the saying goes. (I'm looking at my bookshelf right now; one of the books there is _Why The German Lose At War_. One of the big reasons they lose is: They are great at Planning; they *CANNOT* improvise worth a darn.)

For ex.: I used Recoilless Rifles extensively in the lower Division of OG CW. RRs had HESH, and HEAT, ammo; the former was better for dealing with Metal armor, the latter for Plastic. Not knowing for certain who might be bringing Metal, or who might be bringing Plastic, I had to guess as to how many rounds of each I should load, and in what order (or do I spend $250-750 on Mag Switches, and short something else). If I guess incorrectly, and don't have the right materials, then I have to get creative; and that creativity was what won me so many duels in NOVA.

Anyway, that's the view from this chair. :)

[Sam Mitschke]

I see (initial roll + re-rolls) as a set of actions that combine to represent a single event, rather than re-rolls serving as revisions to an outcome after the fact. Given the necessary abstraction of “tabletop game,” the actions must be executed sequentially, but their combined results represent an instant in time. Re-roll opportunities are generated as a reward for actions taken, and the fact that they can be used as needed is the big-picture conceit that a player’s overall odds have improved as a direct result of their prior actions.

[kjamma4]

Originally Posted by 43Supporter

Part of the problem I have with "rerolls" is: The player can use them when he *knows* things are going against him; that's not how the universe works.....One has to guess at what's coming; then, when it does happen, one has to deal with it using what one has, rather than what one wishes one had.

Yes, you have to guess what is coming. Increasing your speed to have a better chance of mitigating your opponents' dice rolls IS a guess as to what's coming.

I think I'm going to be hit by a weapon that theoretically can do X amount of damage so I guess I'll increase my speed to have more dice to offset as much as I can.

I've also used some of my limited amount of points to give me crew/items that help mitigate dice rolls.

I get that your PREFERENCE is to not do rerolls but if you take them away from the game as it stands, you would have to modify almost EVERY weapon and many of the non weapons to account for this change.

[Sam Mitschke]

Either is a valid approach, but allowing for re-rolls gave us more granular control, which we needed in order to provide a wider variety of cards.

[ianargent]

Statistical rule of thumb, rerolls are pretty close to being "another die" of the type rerolled (for single rerolls); but the total results are capped by the original # of dice.
Single dice rerolls are physically complex, but mathematically elegant

[Jumpster]

Originally Posted by ianargent

Statistical rule of thumb, rerolls are pretty close to being "another die" of the type rerolled (for single rerolls); but the total results are capped by the original # of dice.
Single dice rerolls are physically complex, but mathematically elegant

Yes but when you're out of control, you get no dice to roll, so it's dramatically different statistically :D

[ianargent]

Originally Posted by ianargent

Statistical rule of thumb, rerolls are pretty close to being "another die" of the type rerolled (for single rerolls); but the total results are capped by the original # of dice.
Single dice rerolls are physically complex, but mathematically elegant

Originally Posted by Jumpster

Yes but when you're out of control, you get no dice to roll, so it's dramatically different statistically :D

That's specifically why I mentioned the total results are capped. a cap of 0 means no success possible.

Looking at the dice - a blue die is statistically better than a yellow one for defense. In fact, it's one of the two best dice for defense; so "Add a blue die to the pool" is usually better than a re-roll and never worse. So, regardless of the success cap, a blue die is going to be better than rerolling yellow anyway

[Sam Mitschke]

The value of re-rolls varies based on your intent (though it's not usually a big swing). On defense, a blue die is almost always the better option over a re-roll...for now. In the future, I hope to introduce more non-weapon, and particularly defensive, items that use wrenches — as soon as wrenches become an also-desired result, more meaningful decisions arise.

[kjamma4]

Originally Posted by ianargent

In fact, it's one of the two best dice for defense

Shouldn't that be one of the three best dice (red, blue, white)?

And in certain situations, a white die might be better than a red or blue since you can get two shields on a white die.