Hi there! As promised, I’m going to talk about some other things that will be rebalanced for v0.2: Frame Damage and (a handful of) Tags. Some of these were revelations I had while testing, but others were a function of considering how things came together more closely.

Frame Damage

Frame Damage is the consequence of losing all of your Vigor. It’s intended to show wear and tear on a Frame that’s taken significant punishment and raise stakes in combat. However, it’s designed to avoid “death spirals”: this is why Vigor and Tension are restored to full and max Tension goes up. It also provides a nice arc in combat, in which a Frame that’s been taken out can come back restored and ready. 

That said, it needs to have some teeth to work. Unfortunately, the first 3 potential rolls (-1 Drive, -1 Speed, and -1 Control) are lacking in consequences compared to the last 3 (reduce Harm of an Armament, require a roll for a Modular System, same but for Integral). With how Attributes work, there’s a very good chance that the Attribute reduction isn’t going to mean much in the moment. Each of them needs something a little stronger. So they will be changed to something like:

1. Superstructure Damage: -2 Max Vigor. All non-Armament Drive rolls have -1 die.
2. Leg Damage: Move and Sprint actions require an Attribute roll. All non-Armament Speed rolls have -1 die.
   
3. Sensor Damage: Armament Attribute rolls have -1 die. All non-Armament Control rolls have -1 die.

This has effects that correspond to the feel of the given types of Frame Damage while being meaningful in their own right.

With regard to Armament Harm reduction, it doesn’t feel meaningful enough. That option will likely replace the Armament with a backup weapon (probably a 1 Harm weapon with Close, Near, or Far - the Armored Core backup weapons come to mind as good inspirations).

Tags