This issue is related to a concept from our massive universe. SFB is certainly the largest and most complex game ever made. And it was designed by a professional engineer. But there is a big difference between how Steve Cole did it, and modern "programmer game design". "Programmer game design" revels in mathematics. Coole tricks of advanced mathematics that do this, and have that effect... really cool stuff!!! If you are among the 5% of the population that understands math at that level. But even if you don't... it adds "imperceptible depth" even for those who don't understand the math, because it's there, and it's science, nature, so the player senses that depth even if they don't understand it!!! Yes, they do, but still... the DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. "Situational Awareness" trumps "imperceptible depth".
Steve Cole has always understood this. He knows that math, he even designs his game by it... then he goes out of his way to "translate it all back" to either 1 or 2 six sided dice. SFB is more complex than any game you have ever played... and IS based on very complex math. But, in the end, math wise... can you understand either 1 or 2 six sided dice? Because, if you can, math will not be a barrier to your learning and FULLY UNDERSTANDING SFB. It is a very complex GAME, not a very complex math problem.
The #1 piece of advice I would give modern game makers, if they wanted it, would be to translate it back to dice in the end, just like SVC does, so that the player can FULLY understand the game and make FULLY informed decisions no matter how complex the actual game is. Players will always, 100% of the time, like the game they fully understand the function of better than the "mysterious imperceptible depth" game.
"Programmer math is bad" - Me:-)
Here's a single little example of Avalon Hill's mastery of the dice to show the kinds of things you can do with 2 six sided dice. How cool, intricate, and complex it can be while still being FULLY understandable to anyone who understands 6th grade level math. And I'll use that handy Stardock NDA again and even use the land combat system from my Cold War game "Territories" as an example... cause I have to admit, I even surprised myself with the coolness of how this worked out in the end:-)
"Us old board game guys really know a lot of "tricks" that can be used with 2 six-sided dice. Kind of like this. To resolve land combat, air combat first happens by itself as part of generating damage points. The planes, if both are present, duel, then any survivors are fired at by the AA Vehicle if it is present (which also gets to fire in land combat). Fighters are the most often used military unit of the superpowers and any fighters will almost always be lent superpower fighters (often the attacker with no enemy fighter, but sometimes the other power may have placed one ahead of time and an attacker still thinks they can win without their own Fighter), and they take a lot of AA fire. The superpowers lose and replace a lot of Fighters over the course of the game, they are their primary military tool in this game. After air combat had already resolved itself, along with the most of the combat, the player winds up seeing the forces that remain at this point and how many damage points have been generated as the first thing as the screen appears. Several things may have happened when these die rolls were made other than just having generated these damage points. Two dice are rolled for land combat, one blue and one red. This makes any die roll modifiers have less impact, for one thing. Infantry hits on 10 or better, MechInfantry hits on 9 or better, Tank hits on 8 or better, AA hits on 7 or better, Artillery hits on 8 or better, Fighter hits on a 6* or better. Non-superpower forces suffer a -1 die roll modifier if not "aided and advised" by a superpower. If doubles are rolled for a specific unit that also hits, the damage of that unit is doubled for purposes of Directed Damage exactly as Artillery damage always is. If Artillery rolls doubles it generates 3 doubled damage points instead of 2. For every red die that is a 1 the Relationship Level of the nation hosting the war moves one level in Warsaw Pact's direction, it moves one level in NATO's direction for each blue die that rolls a 1. If the "NATO blue" dice roll (one for each unit) is a 6 the US gets $100, 2 gets $200, 3 6s is $400, 4 6s is $800 million, and all 5 sixes (from the Fighter) are $2 billion. Warsaw Pact gets the same for the red dice. Notice that a roll of 1 probably means no damage was done, and so the population is rewarding your restraint of firepower within their borders. A roll of 6 probably means you did damage, which probably means a higher intensity of combat, so more things were broken and consumed... things the minor nation cannot produce itself and must buy from you. These effects are not in the game just because they are cool, they are both accurately representing real non-combat aspects of the battle. War is good business for the superpowers... and you sure can do a lot more with 2 dice than you can with a programmer's 0-100% rating, can't you? Even fractional accounting wouldn't help you here, would it? Not as primitive as you believe they were..."
Try it this way, the gamers like this kind of thing a lot more than your "programmer math" and any "imperceptible depth" it may have doesn't hold a candle to, in this particular example... about a 50/50 tag-team effort of both Steve Cole and I employinh Avalon Hill's mastery of the dice:-)
StarControl Forums
