Ask the Mormon

[ArcticFox]

Yeah some of the Blood Angels stuff is a bit broketastic.

...like Deep Striking Land Raiders.... srsly?

My favorite Black Templars units, in the past, have been my Crusader squads armed with bolt pistol and chainswords, deployed form a Drop Pod. Just picture 10 angry marines getting 3 attacks each (1A on the profile, +1 attack from the second hand weapon, +1 attack for assaulting) and re-rolling all misses (due to the Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds vow).

There's no greater thrill than holding a clump of 30 dice and dropping them all on the table at once. "Oh, my... I seem to have missed with 11 of those. (opponent smiles) Let me just roll those again... (opponent looks crestfallen) there we go, now I only missed 4 times. So that's 26 hits at Strength 4... what's your toughness?"

Going forward I suspect my favorite will be my newly formed Sword Brethren Terminator Assault Squad. I acquired 5 Lightning Claw armed Terminators in a trade. So that's 2A each, + 1 attack for the second Lightning Claw, +1 attack when they assault. Not as many attacks as the Crusader squad (only 20), but these will also re-roll failed rolls to wound, and they count as power weapons, so no armor save. I can also give that squad the Furious Charge special rule...

[Chozon1]

Blood Angels may be broked, but they're broked in awesome ways. XD At least until they slaughter you. O_o

That said, dear sweet monkey fudge. The sword Brethren Terminator assault squad sounds terrifyingly awesome. XD Especially if the units had no invulnerable save. O_o Have your opponents visibly been shaken when you told them that?

Crusader squads sound cool too, but 20 power attacks is crazy.

[ArcticFox]

Heh yeah when I first negotiated that trade with my friend, upon reaching an agreement I said "All right! Now I have a REAL close combat squad!" And my son, overhearing this, looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. (Having been on the receiving end of those Crusader squads a few times. He plays Eldar, which are very squishy in close combat to begin with.)

[Deepfreeze32]

So I'm working on a project and I have two questions.

To the computer scientist side of you, what's the average software development cycle like? I'm attempting to code an RPG engine, and I'm struggling to make a design document I feel comfortable with. Is having a complete design document prior to code a good idea, or merely the "Right" way to do it?

To the RPG gamer in you, do you know of any non-licensed (I.E. D20) systems that work pretty well? I want to design a system that can heuristically guess what stats are feasible for characters of X level and Y equipment to face, and a system to auto-balance loot distribution according to user preference. Crazy? yeah...

Any systems or such come to mind that are pretty well balanced?

[ArcticFox]

So I'm working on a project and I have two questions.

To the computer scientist side of you, what's the average software development cycle like? I'm attempting to code an RPG engine, and I'm struggling to make a design document I feel comfortable with. Is having a complete design document prior to code a good idea, or merely the "Right" way to do it?

Ideally, the actual design work starts with a crystal clear set of expectations and features the software will have. The "right" way says to pseudo-code everything first and then write the program.

In reality, it doesn't work that way. The effort expended in writing pseudo-code can just as easily be spent writing actual code that can be tested at each step. When I write something like, say, a portlet, I start by getting a working basic interface, then I add features one at a time, testing as I go, until the project is finished. The benefit to this approach is that every step is a proof of concept, and at our weekly progress meetings I can show the boss what I've accomplished and if he decides to change something, I can make adjustments as I go before too much other code relies on what's already done. If you've ever heard of "agile development" it's very similar to the scrum approach.

To the RPG gamer in you, do you know of any non-licensed (I.E. D20) systems that work pretty well? I want to design a system that can heuristically guess what stats are feasible for characters of X level and Y equipment to face, and a system to auto-balance loot distribution according to user preference. Crazy? yeah...

Any systems or such come to mind that are pretty well balanced?

Go d20. It's been around since 2000 so it's been abused and exercised, and it's flexible enough to be applicable to any genre of RPG. The Pathfinder game is basically Dungeons & Dragons 3 with different names and terms, so it's been around awhile. It also has a pretty well defined CR (Challenge Rating) mechanic for helping GMs balance combat encounters. That might be a useful starting point for your algorithm.

[Chozon1]

Heh yeah when I first negotiated that trade with my friend, upon reaching an agreement I said "All right! Now I have a REAL close combat squad!" And my son, overhearing this, looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. (Having been on the receiving end of those Crusader squads a few times. He plays Eldar, which are very squishy in close combat to begin with.)

Ah Eldar. I like them, actually. It was the problematic close combat stuff that made me stop looking at them. But...XD Nice. Have you fielded the Terminators yet to test them out?

Also, in a twitchy moment earlier, I was pondering this (and it may sound crazy, but I want your input to alleviate suspicions before I step any deeper into the Warhammer universe), but the Emporer isn't supposed to be the Antichrist, is he?

Yeah, I know. I haven't been hanging out on any of 'those' forums, but I started mechanicating things in my head earlier and want to make sure I'm just crazy. XD

[ArcticFox]

I've primed the Terminators and modified them so now they're sporting Black Templars iconography (Instead of the Dark Angels they had when I got them) but I haven't painted them yet or tried them on the table.

Soon...

Nah the Emperor isn't meant to be the Antichrist or anything like that. Theories about as to what the Emperor's true nature is, but Antichrist hasn't made it onto any list I've ever seen.

In the Horus Heresy novel series, which begins before the Heresy began, the Emperor is leading humanity on a crusade to conquer the galaxy in the name of things like science and reason. if anything, he's against religion in all forms. The reason for this is to set up the irony that, now that he's incapacitated, people think of him as a deity. If the Emperor were to wake up right now, he'd probably crawl into a corner and weep.

Rumors about where the fluff is going in the "current" era in-game suggest the Emperor may actually be dying, and if he dies.... Humanity is utterly screwed.

[Chozon1]

Ah. Well, gewd. I figured I'd make sure I was crazy now than when I'm $400 and two years in to the sport.

Actually, I thought the Emperor was dying already, just really slowly, and more of a figure head than an actual ruler. That's what I get for not paying attention when I read my codex. XD

Why would it be an issue if the emperor were to die?

[ArcticFox]

The Emperor is the most powerful psyker there is. His psychic energy is such that it acts as a navigation beacon for all the Imperium's human psyker navigators. If he dies, and that beacon goes away... Goodbye FTL travel for humanity.

[Chozon1]

Tricky. Tricky tricky tricky...How do the Eldar, Tau, ETC travel FTL then?

Pretty sure I can guess how Chaos does it. >_>

[ArcticFox]

I have no idea... I asked my son since he plays Eldar... He says he doesn't recall the fluff ever explaining that. If i had to guess I'd say they have their own psychic navigators and some kind of beacons, like maybe a craftworld...

[Chozon1]

Numphle. Only word for it.

What are your thoughts on flamers?

Also, are the White Templars any sort of close relation to Black Templars?

I was reading mah codex the other day and went 'wut'. XD

[ArcticFox]

I don't really use flamers. Some people swear by them, and I guess they're really good against squishy infantry.

White Templars aren't related by fluff to the Black Templars, other than maybe having the same parent legion. I think there's Red Templars mentioned in that book too and they're all just regular "vanilla" Space Marine chapters. I have heard of people using the Black Templars Codex to play other marine chapters but that's different.

[Chozon1]

Weird. I actually found the red templars mentioned after I posted that. XD

What are your thoughts on plasma guns?

[ArcticFox]

I use 'em. I like the high strength, which is very useful in an army that doesn't have many high strength ranged weapons. There's a little risk, yes... but at least the armor save is unmodified.