[Epic] Net Epic - Movement and Initiative

From: Tony Christney <acc_at_...>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 21:51:15 -0800

Someone mentioned my idea for an alternating movement phase. I
really liked the idea when I came up with it, and I still think that
it would be the method which requires the least change in the current
system. I have played DS II, and I am not a complete fan of the idea
of activating an entire unit at once, ie. doing movement and shooting
at the same time. I am a big fan of the orders and phase system used
in Epic. I feel it requires more strategy and planning out what you
want each unit to perform in advance. I have other problems with the
DS II system, but this is not really the place to complain...

Anyway, here is my basic ideas for movement.

1. the movement phase would be divided up into three stages of movement;
chargers, advancers, and first firers.

        A. Units with charge orders are required to move first. The logic
being that these units are less concerned with enemy movements than with
either getting from point A to point B, or with getting into close combat.
This also prevents units with advance orders from running away, then opening
up on their would be attackers.

        B. Units with advance orders can move after all charging units
have moved. The logic here is that these units are advancing relatively
slowly, making use of cover and keeping track of where the enemy units are
moving. Hence they have the advantage of being able to move into position
to attack units which have just run headlong across the battlefield.

        C. First fire units that are capable of moving do so last. These
units are the most experienced troops (commanders), or have very sophisticated
fire control centers (Imperator, squat SHV, etc.). I also like the idea put
forth by Ryan P Arndt that command units should be able to move in any phase
if so desired. However, I don't think that the units that can move and first
fire that are not command units should have this option.

2. The movement phase would be done in an alternating style similar to
the combat phase. Alternately, we could lift an idea from DS II. The player
with the least number of units with a given order can choose to move first
or second. In addition, if a player has fewer unmoved units than his/her
opponent, then they may choose to force their opponent to move two units
at a time. This may be done consecutively until there are equal numbers of
unmoved units with the current order.

3. Initiative would still be rolled for, but only would affect who gets to
shoot first, which is much less of an advantage than the current system, IMO.

In addition, I support the idea of being able to interrupt an opponent's
unit during its move in order to take a shot. However, I think it would
be best to limit this to direct fire, ie non-artillery, units on first fire
orders. The difficulty of hitting a moving target with artillery weapons
is, IMO, to great to be easily overcome . Also, any unit that chooses to
snap fire at a unit may do nothing else that turn. If it is a command
unit, it forfiets its ability to move later in the turn. Also, there should
be something to differentiate between AA and regular troops on FF. Perhaps
that only AA may fire at aircraft, or have a 50cm (arbitrary!!!) limitation
on regular units snapfiring. The range limitation would prevent players
firing units on FF at transports and the like as they leave their deployment
zone. This would also allow AA to be much more effective at snap fire. A
third possibility would be having a modifier to hit, but I would tend to
reject this since it has too much of an effect on the statistics. A fourth
rule could be a modifier for long range and for fast moving vehicles. Of
course, this is more appropriately discussed at a later stage of Net EPIC.

I also am in support of redefining the vehicle type restrictions on moving
through terrain. Skimmer _bikes_ should be able to enter woods, however, I
am a little leery of allowing all skimmers to enter woods. I just have a
tough time seeing a Tempest skimming away through the trees! OTOH, there are
plenty of woods around where I live that would be impossible to drive anything
other that a mountain bike through (which I do at every opportunity!). It
really depends on how dense the trees are. Basically, I would allow for
eldar bikes, landspeeders, disc riders and gargoyles(?) to enter woods, but
not the remainder of the skimmer units. Of course, there should be no pop-ups
through the canopy!

Additionally, tracked vehicles should be able to move backwards at half rate.

Transport rules are ok as they are, as is the unit coherency (about the only
thing that would be a useful change would be discriminating between vehicle
and infantry unit coherency, but is unecessarily complicated).

Well, there are my thoughts on the movement thing, so comments would be
welcome. The initial response to my idea was non-existent, so I am suprised
someone mentioned it. To tell you the truth, I would have sent this anyway,
but thanks Ryan.

Tony Christney
acc_at_...
Received on Wed Feb 05 1997 - 05:51:15 UTC