House Rules Proposal

[Landlubber]

So, in the interest of adding a little levity and variety to our Firestorm games, I'd like to propose an idea.

I think it would be interesting if we each brewed up a couple of faction-specific house rules for the factions we play--one that has a positive effect on our fleets, and one that has a negative effect. Nothing crazy that would break the game, just something fun or funny--and if you can write up a short justification of the rule (be creative!), that would be great too. My thoughts are that the players would both have to agree to use these rules for their respective factions, and you would have to put both the positive AND negative effects into play for your fleet.

For example, here are the two I've thought up for the RSN:

Purge the Aliens and Traitors (positive): The RSN are vehemently anti-alien, and they hate humans who ally with aliens even more. Each turn, the RSN player roles 1D6; on a 4,5, or 6, all RSN capital ships add one AD to their dice pool for the whole turn when targeting alien capital-class vessels with any weapons systems. All RSN capital ships add two AD when targeting human vessels if they are part of an alien fleet.

Overly Zealous (negative): Sometimes the RSN's desire to purge the aliens and traitors gets the better of them, and they have trouble focusing due to their hatred. Each turn, the RSN player rolls 1D6; on a 4,5, or 6, all RSN capital ships drop one AD off their attack dice pool from all weapon systems when targeting alien capital-class vessels or human capital-class vessels deployed with alien allies.

So in the case of these rules, the trigger is the presence of alien vessels on the board. If my RSN were facing a pure Terran fleet, or Dindrenzi, or Directorate, these wouldn't apply. But if the Terrans have brought, say, their Goat (Ryushi) allies, it's on.

Just an idea. What do you guys think?

[Stephan]

Sooooo, for the RSN, you' roll twice, with the chance that the two rolls may cancel each other out?

I'll have to think for my fleets.

[Landlubber]

Sooooo, for the RSN, you' roll twice, with the chance that the two rolls may cancel each other out?

I'll have to think for my fleets.

Yeah, I caught that after I posted it.  I spent most of today driving, so my brain was a bit mushed when I made that post. Needs tweaking, but hopefully the general feel came through.

Like Quickdraw's comment about the Ryushi and the grass planet, which almost made me blow Mountain Dew out of my nose last Saturday.

[Andrewchristlieb]

As more commanders continue to come out we'll be seeing more interesting twists with the fleets like these. I would try to limit the amount of extra rolling for your ideas though, streamlining the game should still be a priority. For your RSN I would propose adjusting the benefit so it just added a flat bonus so you don't run into an issue with your opponent bringing a fleet that causes the effect to not go off. So maybe something like...

RSN commanders are ruthless in their persecution of aliens or humans suspected of alien influence working against the league. Their desire to destroy such influence though can often blind them to the most prudent course of action.
"Once per game, instead of playing a TAC, the RSN player can nominate one enemy squadron. All RSN squadrons will receive a +1 on all 'to hit' rolls against the nominated target, but the RSN fleet will automatically lose the initiative for this turn."