Posts from 2018-09-23

September 2018 update and changelog notes

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well! We've got a nice update for the scifi system, but nothing for the fantasy manuals for once! This will probably be the last update for the year as we had a game today and only a couple of things needed tweaking, so the scifi system is running really well and I don't see the need for any other major changes after today. Plus, I'm now officially working very hard on my novels so I don't really have the time for sabre anymore, at least for now. I'm pleased to leave it in a stable state for the future though, and I'll probably tweak it a little from time to time. We're still playing it every week though!

Here's a shot of the finale to my grand space epic. The long grey ship on the left is the players, the TNS Pegasus, and the grey ships on the right are the rest of their rag-tag fleet, coming to assist. All the funky purple ships are the high-advanced enemies. It was a spectacular finale and the party's ship and crew even survived! Clearly I wasn't brutal enough ;) The background grid is something I put together from space images and had printed out in time for the last fight, so they went out with a bang. Every square is 100km.

So, here's what's shakin' this time around:

Perforate

Representing armour-piercing weapons by halving all AP on the target sounded like a good idea at the time, but in practice it's too math intensive. The party's poor defence operator was having a meltdown trying to keep up, so I've changed Perforate to bypass all non-energy armour on a critical hit. This way is much easier to use, and if you get a crit with a gauss weapon or missile, the target certainly knows about it! This can result in one-hit kills, but you can use a Luck Point to remove the crtical effect so it balances out nicely. Works a lot like real armour-piercing rounds too, where most hits deflect or do superficial damage, but a spot on hit will penetrate armour and do a ton of damage. The new version is working really well.

Drone Improvements

Something we didn't use a lot during the big space campaign was drones, which we found were a bit weak and tricky to use, so they've had a big overhaul in this update. They pack more of a punch, able to mount railguns and plasma cannons, and they're more agile, but have lost some armour. The rules are clearer on how they operate outside of ship sensor range (where they go autonomous) and defence console operators can take a talent to specialise in having multiple attacks to take out drone swarms. It's a much more energetic battle now!

Worn Out

The first campaign I ran with scifi was a post-apocalyptic setting where a lot of the old technology they found was run-down or worn-out. The mechanics of it were a bit uneven so I eventually eliminated most of those, but I've put Worn-Out back in under specific conditions, as I missed having the option to get old junky gear and either use it til it breaks, or rebuild it into a new weapon. 

Starship Command Abilities

Since the starship system was put together, I kept thinking of new ways for a commander to have input on a space battle in a way that doesn't use the ship's capacitor. I've now come up with a series of cool actions a leader can take to boost one of the bridge crew's abilities for that round. We've used them in a couple of sessions now and they're fantastic, you have to make a real choice on who gets the bonus :)

Nanomeds

After the update to the new medicine/narcotic system (which is also working out really well), I felt nanotechnology as it's currently represented in Sabre really functions as advanced medicine, so I moved it over to the Medicine skill at 90%, the next step after mastering regular meds. Many of the treatments have been brought into line with medicines and narcotics, so it all fits together beautifully. 

And of course there's a bunch of other smaller fixes, additons and tweaks, so check out the changelog to see what's what. Thanks for playing, and although I'm not sure when the next update will be, I'll be keeping an eye out for improvements to make during each game and I'll make sure its a worthwhile update. It'll probably be in the new year unless something major needs doing. Fly safe (or dangerous, if you prefer!)

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v1.04 Sabre Scifi manual

* Lasers blind only if the critical hit causes the target to lose any Hit Points.

* Drones now use the telemetry operator's Robotics skill for all checks when within ship sensor range, and their own skills outside of sensor range.

* Robots and saerid with 4 arms can make a second action at a starship console if it uses the computers, heavy weapons or science skill.

* Added 'Neural Programming' robotics talent.

* Added 'Worn-Out' vehicle and item condition for extremely old or neglected items.

* Updated the Item Condition section with current mechanics. Removed the 'Run-Down' condition and modified 'Worn-Out', simplifying the system. This affects second-hand equipment too.

* Encounters manual now features a generic loot table free from game breaking loot finds. It has also been updated with correct data on templates, including the range of fusion vehicles.

* Divided robot upgrades into eras.

* Ship AI's computer skill (as part of Positronic Brain upgrade) starts at 50%.

* Mentioned under the Computers professional skill that large AI systems can operate turrets, robots and drones based on the level of Computers skill.

* 'Crystal Alchemy' effects now only take 1 action to use instead of 1 minute. Adjusted stats for Onyx, Zircon, White Pearl & Flawed Diamond to bring it in to line with medicine/narcotic system.

* Added a section in Ship Combat describing target locking and electronic warfare.

* Adjusted the starship hull tables to include Ram Damage.

* Updated the GM reference sheets with current herb/medicine info and salvage info.

* Corvids cannot use Powered Armour.

* Added 'Tiny Thrusters' mini-drone invention upgrade.

* 'Nanobot Gun' is now called 'Medical Gun', can shoot medicines, narcotics and nanomeds.

* Human species hull varient ships now gain +10 slots per hull class.

* 'Cutting Beam' laser modification now allows a starship to hit two subsystems instead of one.

* 'Drone Bay' is now 'Drone Control System', more compact and only contains electronics for controling a ship's drones. Drones contained in new version of 'Drone Bay' upgrade.

* Added 'Drone Slaving' drone upgrade.

* Ship-mounted gauss weaponry now use capacitor (Mass driver always did, others now comply).

* Flamethrowers now use a d12 as their base damage dice.

* Added a table for easier viewing of all modern & high-tech weapon mods. Altered skill requirements for some mods, mostly downward.

* Added 'Improvised Laser' electronics invention.

* 'Starship Control' robot upgrade now only requires 50% skill, and allows the robot to control multiple console functions during the same turn (dodge, block with shields, coax reactor etc). Robot doesn't gain console bonus, and cannot share a console's functions with a crew member during the same turn. Ship's AI (Positronic Brain upgrade) now shares this same functionality.

* 'Industrial Bot' background now grants the Sealed Body upgrade.

* 'Psi Amp' invention is now fitted to a silksteel helm which allows psychic abilities to be used. Its upgrade option now requires a Halo device.

* Graphene helm AP has gone from +3 to +4.

* Torpedoes and Recoilless Rifles have gained the 'Perforate' trait.

* Only high-tech weapons with the 'Impact' trait damage high-tech armour. 

* Nudged the damage numbers for gauss and plasma pistols and rifles a little higher.

* Modern ranged weapons can no longer damage high-tech armour on penetration.

* Silksteel vest AP has been increased from +4 to +5.

* Added prices for trap kits to the toolkits section.

* Subsystems on ships and vehicles now have Hit Points instead of Armour Points, to simplify the calculation. Also, on targeted hits, subsystem HP replaces hull/body HP so this works a lot more intuitively).

* Perforate weapons no longer halve armour. Too much math involved! Instead, they bypass non-energy AP on a critical hit. Thus, perforate missiles bypass all AP on a critical hit. 

* Adjusted damage numbers for perforate weapons. 

* Removed outdated 'fast' trait for shields.

* Removed the restriction on spending career skill points on species skills. 

* Masers now ignore Partial Block effects.

* Multitasking talent now strictly allows vehicle or starship drivers and pilots to fire forward-mounted weaponry without penalty.

* 'Gauss Specialist' gives ship gauss weapons expanded critical.

* Auldsteel no longer protects against effects that bypass half armour (such as old Perforate).

* Reduced baseline armour on drones.

* Added 'Weapon Mount, Compact' for drones.

* The Point Defence System defence result bonus now also applies when shooting at drones.

* Added 'Drone Slayer' defensive systems talent.

* Improved the description of 'Reckless Flying' starship pilot manoeuevre.

* 'Cloaking Expert' talent now allows a ship to move at full speed while cloaked.

* Renamed 'Ramming Speed' to 'Targeted Ram' to avoid confusion.

* When ship life support systems stop functioning, crew members requiring air will start to suffocate immediately, 1 fatigue level per round.

* Reduced the bonus from point defence systems a little.

* Added 'Empower PDS' defence manoeuvre.

* 'Empower Weapon' starship manoeuvre now grants weapon the Impact trait.

* Added 'AI Construct', 'Unknown Origin', 'War Machine' and 'Bionic Man/Woman' modern era backgrounds.

* Added 'Radioisotope Thermal Generator' nuclear science invention.

* Modified 'Analyse Tactics', 'Brace for Impact', 'Focus Fire'(now called 'Concentrate Fire) and 'Decisive Command' starship commander actions/reactions.

* Added 'Vigilant Defence', 'Emergency Power' and 'Flank Speed' starship commander actions.

* Added 'Cybernetic Hacking' computers talent.

* Clarified 'Impact' trait that each hit from a burst, gatling or suppression attack reduces AP by one each time.

* Fixed the definition of 'Impact' trait for ranged weapons.

* Added 'Alpha Strike' powered armour upgrade.

* High-tech shields are now made of steel by default, adjusted their stats accordingly. This makes it easier to craft them from exotic materials.

* Added 'Hardlight Shield' electronics invention.

* Nanomedicine is now under the Medicine skill, starting at 90%. Removed the Xarani ability to use Medince in place of Electronics for this ability.

* Removed the % skill requirement from nanotech - all are available at 90% skill.

* Removed the 'Enhanced Constitution' nanomed, rolled its function into 'Adrenal Overload'.

* 'Adrenal Overload' now gives +3 DM and +20 Hit Points.

* 'Enhanced Speed' now gives 3 fatigue levels upon ending.

* Using 'Fiery Wreath's' flame blast ability ends the duration of the nanomed.

* Increased the circuit cost of 'Reanimate Dead', 'Reverse Aging' and 'Adrenal Overload'.

* 'Repair Bots' do their thing at the start of the subject's next turn.

* All nanomeds require 1 action to use.

* Tweaked (corrected and clarified) the wording on Matter Alignment psi power.

* Starship drones now use weapons of 1, 2, 3 and 4 slots in size for small, medium and large drones. This means plasma cannons, railguns etc.

* Removed MLRS from the starship weapons table (was replaced by mini-missile pod earlier, forgot to remove).

* Made mention in all longarm and heavy weapon talents that these abilities only apply to those weapons when used as hand-held. 

* 'Mounted Weaponry' talent now clarifies a little more about how weapons are used.

* Changed 'Gauss Specialist' starship weapons talent to instead grant Impact to ship mounted perforate weapons (that aren't missiles).

* 'Naval Gunnery' talent now also reduces clip change time for ship weapons to 1 round.

* 'Laser Attunement' now applies to lasers, masers and disruptors.

* Increased the agility bonus of drones by +10% each.

* Added 'Repair Bot Injector' robot upgrade.

* 'Sky' narcotic now imposes a penalty on use of the Psychic skill.

* 'Short Jump' starship manoevure requires 1 round to spin up, and 1 round to cool down afterward.

Nanomed balance (to bring it in to line between medicine and cybernetics).

* Corrected price and circuit requirements for nanomeds.

* 'Adrenal overload' grants +2 Damage Modifier instead of +5, but also grants +5 Hit Points. Androids lose Spirit at the instant of using this nanomed.

* 'Attuned protection' grants +5 DR not +10.

* 'Enhanced Speed' is now Quick to use but lasts for 1 minute.

* 'Forcefield' now grants +5 AP instead of +10, useful against all ranged attacks for 1 round.

* 'Latent Power' can increase the damage output of its psychic attack by spending more spirit points, and can now also probe minds. 

* 'Refractive Skin' now lasts 1 hour.

* 'Radiation Protection' now provides +5 AP vs radiation.

* 'Mental Resilience' is now correctly named in the nanomeds table (instead of Instil Courage).