Bay 12 Games Forum

1 design, where you make new stuff, 1 revision where you change old stuff, then the strat phase where you pick which two lanes you're pushing down. Expense is dirt simple, there are three resources, Oil, Ore, and Land(most organic materials).Cheap you have all the resources to make a thing, it is deployed to the limits of capability. Expensive One of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 1, rarer, 1 per squad typically. Very expensive One of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 2, very rare, 1 per battalion. National EffortOne of its resource costs exceeds your available amount of that resource by 3, you only get one, pick where to deploy it.

Stolen without shame from Happery, who stole it from NUKE9.13’s Battle for Aljadid, this game runs off two four sided dice, or “2d4”, which are rolled and compared to the below table to figure out how successful the design or revision in question was.

Roll (Probability): Result
2 (1/16): Utter failure. You get nothing except the knowledge of what not to do.
3 (1/8): Buggy mess. Whilst you managed to make something, it isn't really usable.
4 (3/16): Below average. It works. Not especially well, but it works.
5 (1/4): Average. You get what you asked for, more or less.
6 (3/16): Above average. It works, and somewhat better than might be expected. Not a lot better, mind.
7 (1/8): Superior craftsmanship. It does its job and it does it perfectly. Its performance is exceptional and it is as reliable as clockwork.
8 (1/16): Unexpected boon. Not only does it work, but it does things you never even expected it to. If no 'bonus features' make sense, then you just get experience with some related field.

As you can see, this system tends more towards the middle then the extremes, which, yes, means you are less likely to do super well and get something super cool, but also means you’re less likely to fail miserably, completely, and totally. And isn’t that worth some minor sacrifices?

As well, each attempted design or revision also has a Difficulty. These ratings assign a modifier (+/- #) to the roll, changing the effective result. The Difficulties in question are Trivial (+2, Requires no new knowledge at all and has no notable challenges involved), Easy (+1, Actions where some minor challenge is found but nothing really that hard), Normal (+0, Actions involving new concepts or technologies, or old technologies being made better, but nothing intentionally revolutionary), Hard (-1, Entirely new concepts or technologies not using what you already have, but already implied or based on what came before), Very Hard (-2, Actions involving entirely new stuff where you only have a tiny idea of what you are doing), and Ludicrous (-3, Ok, this time you have no idea what you are doing, but according to theory it’s at least possible. Maybe).

There is also the Impossible Difficulty, which means you flat out fail because whatever you are trying to do is impossible with your current understanding of the world. You’ll still get some experience though, as you bash your head against the invisible walls of science repeatedly, over and over again.  As well as a few headaches. But I'm sure most scientists would believe that is a small price for progress, especially the kinds of scientists found contributing to arms races.

Both sides start with 1 of each resource.
M1 Exoframe: A Humanoid Mech powered by spite and a very small combustion engine. Mostly intended for civilian use, and as such unarmed and underarmored. 1 Ore, 1 Oil.
Hunting rifle: A big Rifle for hunting deadly game, usable by Exoframes. Can punch through civilian exoframe armor and the tough hide of the animals which inhabit the lands of death. 1 Ore 1 land