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Aberrant: Quantum Zero - QZ - game mechanics

Asbjørn

By Asbjørn,
in Quantum Zero

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ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

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... if you might allow my character as is to compete in the red circle, where powers are more diverse and exotic.

That doesn't really solve the base problem. If you place a bunch of Clones in a Circle where they can't actually hurt the other guy, then it's still a one-sided white-wash. Plus, as you indicate, after XP & the like you realise you've only delayed, not solved, the problem.

For those who follow the Elites thread, OMA is still a good example. With access to BFGs & the like he's a viable threat to guys like Alloy & the DMD; unarmed he's the red mist he so often seems to become (especially when standing near Alloy... ::wink ). Turned on its head though, would a lone Silver Circle fighter really want to go toe to toe with seven or eight OMA Clones in a bare-knuckle fight?

Take a hypothetical XWF fight, Johnny Multiple (the Clone using guy) Vs... well, anyone else:

The two fighters enter the Combat Zone, they have a few turns to pose & whatnot before the bell rings. Johnny creates 6 Clones (his maximum at any one time - he only bothered to pay 3 NP to take a single dot of Tainted Clone). The bell rings. Johnny's opponent is now facing 7 Novas. At the very least the opponent needs to have Quickness brought 6 times to match the raw dice pools being generated by the other side - but that's still taking 6 QP per turn to power, as opposed to Johnny's 6 QP for the entire match (plus it cost him 18 Nova Points to buy... 12 if he was willing to take a hit of 6 Taint). Even if the opponent had, say Temporal Manipulation at 5 dots & used the Accelerate Time technique, he'd still only have 6 full dice pools to Johnny's 7 - plus his speed boost only lasts for 30 seconds (& he's paid 15 NP to buy those 5 dots of Tainted Temporal Manipulation).

Now, Johnny's opponent may have an Area or MIRV attack... but this still doesn't even the odds - why? Because Circle placement means that Johnny's Soak (& that of his 'boys') should be pretty close to his opponent's maximum damage - even if the opponent wins initiative & hits Johhny's army with such an attack he won't down any of them in one hit (if he could down them in one hit, then someone's in the wrong Circle) - as soon as Johnny's turn comes round, then it's game over (man, game over!). Any way you look at it, unless it's Cloner Vs Cloner, then such fights are going to be one-sided. (If there were enough Cloners in the XWF you could have a seperate division... there aren't).

[Thankfully I seem to have missed the worse of the 'flaming'... time zones work out for the best once in a while... ::wink ::biggrin ]

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phoenix Elite

phoenix

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Thankfully I seem to have missed the worse of the 'flaming'... time zones work out for the best once in a while...

Now for a QZ: Elites in-joke:

And if that had happened to Asbjorn four years ago, Vinnie and Andy might still be friends... ::wink ::blush

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Alex Green Legendary

Alex Green

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Alex holds his hand up inviting public ridicule and says, "And here I thought most of those power-problems were talking about me."

So far in the last week or so I've had Kenshi get totally shot down once and an alternative XWF guy get shot down as well. I also built and then abandoned before submission two or three others (not fun or not effective), and attempted but gave up on maybe twice that (unworkable with the available points).

:Shrug: Not the first time. It won't be the last either.

My only advise is to submit a rough draft before totally fleshing out a character.

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Asbjørn Mentor

Asbjørn

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Now for a QZ: Elites in-joke:

And if that had happened to Asbjorn four years ago, Vinnie and Andy might still be friends... ::wink ::blush

Hehe... You never know, stranger things have happened. Although I don't quite recall how timezones entered into that situation...

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ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

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I missed the flaming too so it must've been a pretty quick conflagration ::wink

For the record, Skylion also edited his original post, just so you all know what I was or wasn't reacting to.

Back to the games...Looking forward to seeing what happens to Alex! (My theory is Alex has been saving up since the beginning and he just bought 6 Quantum, i.e. Mini-erupt ::blink )

Course, I hope I'm wrong. ::tongue

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ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

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*suddenly wants to build a Clone character for Truth and Justice once he gets back in touch with his Aberrant books*

Hah! ::tongue

The big problem with Clone in Aberrant is that in the comics guys with that ability (i.e. the power to create duplicates of themselves) are either utter omnipotent god characters who can Clone (or do anything else) as an afterthought, or they're guys who can Clone but don't have any other powers. Being able to turn into an army of baselines isn't such a big issue if you're fighting the DMD... Being able to turn into an army of DMDs, on the other hand, screws with game balance big time.

Most supers RPGs I've played handle this by making the player pay big time to create a character with a duplication ability - you can have one powerful character, or a guy half as powerful who can create one duplicate, or a guy who's essentially just a normal guy who can create a whole load of duplicates.

Of course, Clone isn't the only unbalanced power in Aberrant (by a long shot), but it does seem to be one of the most popular (heck, I even created a Cloner myself for a game on this site... bat-winged fetish-freak that he was... ::devil ).

Clone can also be a b!tch for the ST in a game (universe) like this one too - you know how the various game time-lines get all out of whack on a semi-regular basis? If one guy has a Clone in each timeline that presents a real problem (after all, no one in game 'a' wants to wait six months for the guys in game 'b' to finish a fight they're in, just 'cos Johnny Multiple has a Clone in both groups...).

What's more, the fact that Clone requires Quantum 5 minimum means that players are going to be looking at other high-end powers for that character too - after all, if you've shelled out for the Quantum, then why not take advantage of it? An army of supermen at your control... Bwahahahahah! ::laugh ::devil it's just to tempting to ignore...

Aberrant D20 (naff though it is) does Clone differently, making it a suite power with a varity of techniques - so you can either have, say, one full-power duplicate, or an army of Extras, depending on what you're looking for - you can't have an army of full powered 'you' running about at once.

When you think that you can create 6 Clones for the measley cost of 3 NP & 1 Taint at chargen... ::shakes head & sighs:: ... game balance never was Aberrant's strong point... ::rolleyes

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SkyLion Legendary

SkyLion

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For an excellent example of a god-like Cloner, my favorite would be the sexy Engineer from The Authority.

,,

And may I suggest you keep growth with your Clone, Phoenix! ::devil

,,,,
Take a hypothetical XWF fight, Johnny Multiple (the Clone using guy) Vs... well, anyone else..........
,,

Thats what I get for being a tactically minded player...some strategies just work too well I guess. ::rolleyes

,,

I'm having trouble coming up with something that will be as effective (and fun!) to play, but Im workin' on it...

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knave Veteran

knave

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For an excellent example of a god-like Cloner, my favorite would be the sexy Engineer from The Authority.

,,

And may I suggest you keep growth with your Clone, Phoenix! ::devil

,,,,,,

Thats what I get for being a tactically minded player...some strategies just work too well I guess. ::rolleyes

,,

I'm having trouble coming up with something that will be as effective (and fun!) to play, but Im workin' on it...

How about Illusionary clones?

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archer Experienced

archer

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For T&J, I just want everyone to know that I posted that way to give everyone else a chance to post anything that might happen before the group heads to Bosnia. I wasn't sure I made that clear in the post, plus, I didn't want to just jump the gun on Prof and say, "Okay, here we go!" ::happy

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archer Experienced

archer

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Ooh... you could hear a pin drop... ::unsure

::laugh

::biggrin

Oh, and regarding this:

'Why yes, darling' Narcosis's voice was as compelling as her beauty, 'of course I'm interested in the Fabry boy... No, I dont think he's contracted to Masters - just that one film... Maybe not at first, but set up a face to face & I'll see what I can do to convince him...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

::scared

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ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

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::biggrin

Oh, and regarding this:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

::scared

::biggrin

I can't wait for Janet to learn about it... ::nuclear ::irate ::nuclear

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SkyLion Legendary

SkyLion

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Yo PoB, nice posts!

Remember to post up about your XWF fighter here.

Also thought I should mention that Saadet is only second in beauty to Ausrine...and she is probably one of only a few novas with Mega App 5. Maaaybe there is one of the Q6 crowd with M app of 6 but its a long shot...we probably would have heard of them by now...

Im guessing Saadet has M Appearance 3? Arielle has only 1 with a base attribute of 3. I was going for Mega-cute since I didn't even feel like stepping to Cottus well-endowed might. Of the others I think maybe Herald has a couple of dots and maybe a dot for Dr. Beckett but everyone else is unaugmented appearance wise.

Saadet therefore is anything but average. Of course that doesn't mean she doesn't feel that way...Sheesh..any girl sitting next to Lori is going to feel downright homely-if-not-wretched.

Anyways, good posts...just wanted to make sure you knew she were at least the second hottest (and maybe first depending on ones personal preferences...I for one love meditteranean girls! ::biggrin ) in the room and nothing to sneeze at.

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Centimane Experienced

Centimane

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::blink ::indifferent

In case anyone was wondering, yes, I am paying SkyLion to engage in his relentless PR campaign on Lorena's behalf. But it's not cheap, let me tell ya.... ::glare ::indifferent

(Jeez Sky, first you sign me up to get killed by some elites, now you're anglin' to start a beauty contest! Don't do me any favors or nothin', yanno? ::glare )

*sigh* ::rolleyes

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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My internet access is limited right now, due to mysterious technical issues at home; thankfully, I can still post at work, so unless I make it to the library today (I'm payin' by the minute at Kinko's right now), I probably won't be able to post until tomorrow, which is killing me!

And just how many super-hot women can one nova have in his life? John, you dog , you!

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ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

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Yup, Sky's right: it may be 'recorded' - but that's just a trick so that we can logically play out several matches at the same time, instead of going through them one by one. Since it's (highly) unlikely anyone's going to die or anything that drastic, then the results will just be fitted seamlessly (::cough::) into the ongoing history / continuity of the game...

... & yes, with the 'heat' Mister F just generated (as the kids are saying these days), The Staff should feel righteous indeed as he (attempts to) pound his opponent into the ground! ::sly

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Hey Potts...I didn't realiz i had already been through "training" already...I thought we were all just now meeting for the first time. So, um Im going to go ahead and edit my post then since she already has her uniform...

Just to clarify, we are all meeting for the first time, but we have all been through training at various Rashoud facilities in different locations.

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ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

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::brick

Right - in case anyone didn't realise this, I generally do not allow 'retroactive posting' after I've responded with an ST post: it screws everything up badly, & quickly leads to 'revisionist wars'.

Hey Potts...I didn't realiz i had already been through "training" already...I thought we were all just now meeting for the first time. So, um Im going to go ahead and edit my post then since she already has her uniform...

This is why it's important to actually read all the game-related stuff I put up there - it's not done for my health, it contains relevant game info. I don't think that's too much for me to be asking here. ::rolleyes

In this case I'll go edit my post, but in the future you're gonna' have to live with the consequences if this sort of stuff happens - I just can't go distrupting the game like that.

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