Annoying Game Questions You Want Answered
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Whipstitch
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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Is it a magical or fairytale goat? Are magical or fairytale goats allowed in your setting? If yes to both, it's very neat. Otherwise, I'm wondering why the astonishing speed of big goats hasn't reshaped all of society.
A talking cat tries to sell your party magic beans (he's lying, they're just beans). Do we need an explanation for why there's a talking cat? If the answer is "No," you can have one-off super goat transit.
A talking cat tries to sell your party magic beans (he's lying, they're just beans). Do we need an explanation for why there's a talking cat? If the answer is "No," you can have one-off super goat transit.
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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OgreBattle
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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I need some help hashing out a subsystem my players and I have been using for the past couple of years.
So in this Pokemon game I run, you can give all your pokemon experience and all-day buffs by training them in the morning. Because I'm an asshole, we run a hex crawl that demands a small amount of resource management each night before the party goes to bed. These are basically just bookkeeping, but they bookend each day well.
My inventor PC asked me, "Can I try to invent something new?"
"Like what?" I asked.
"I dunno, can I make these ink sacs we got from the Tentacools into throwable balls that blind people?"
So I said sure, but he would need to make an extended tech check to do it. I set a DC of 50 and each morning and night, she would roll technology and count it towards the DC until she finished it - it only took a couple days. Naturally, my other PCs asked me if they could do other shit, like learn how to see ghosts, forage better, and all sorts of random shit that wasn't anywhere in the actual rules. Now, I like this a lot - having players organically homebrew shit in-game is what I'm all about.
But it's been a lot of MTP up until this point - I mostly set the DC based on how long I figure it should take them and how hard the task should be. One of the players wanted to learn how to see the Astral Realm and shit, so since that was a pretty gnarly power I set his DC at 250, and that took him about a week and a half (which is anywhere from 4-10 sessions for us).
I come to the Den to ask: How the fuck do I make this less MTP without infringing on my player's creativity? The whole point of the mechanic is for the players to make up shit that would suit their character, but having rules for in-game homebrewing seems like a circle that can't be squared. I'd like to write up the mechanic for other people to use, but I've been told that they aren't sure how to set the DCs, even with the guidelines I've written out already.
So in this Pokemon game I run, you can give all your pokemon experience and all-day buffs by training them in the morning. Because I'm an asshole, we run a hex crawl that demands a small amount of resource management each night before the party goes to bed. These are basically just bookkeeping, but they bookend each day well.
My inventor PC asked me, "Can I try to invent something new?"
"Like what?" I asked.
"I dunno, can I make these ink sacs we got from the Tentacools into throwable balls that blind people?"
So I said sure, but he would need to make an extended tech check to do it. I set a DC of 50 and each morning and night, she would roll technology and count it towards the DC until she finished it - it only took a couple days. Naturally, my other PCs asked me if they could do other shit, like learn how to see ghosts, forage better, and all sorts of random shit that wasn't anywhere in the actual rules. Now, I like this a lot - having players organically homebrew shit in-game is what I'm all about.
But it's been a lot of MTP up until this point - I mostly set the DC based on how long I figure it should take them and how hard the task should be. One of the players wanted to learn how to see the Astral Realm and shit, so since that was a pretty gnarly power I set his DC at 250, and that took him about a week and a half (which is anywhere from 4-10 sessions for us).
I come to the Den to ask: How the fuck do I make this less MTP without infringing on my player's creativity? The whole point of the mechanic is for the players to make up shit that would suit their character, but having rules for in-game homebrewing seems like a circle that can't be squared. I'd like to write up the mechanic for other people to use, but I've been told that they aren't sure how to set the DCs, even with the guidelines I've written out already.
The only difference between this and hard set rules is writing things down. If you write down that ink sacs take a dc 50 to turn into bombs then it’s no longer mtp when people do it. If you write the rules you’ve already come up with and perhaps even write things you think would be good to come up with in the future then you have a real system instead of mtp. It’s just a matter of people being able to predict what will happen. That’s all rules are.
DSMatticus wrote:Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I am filled with an unfathomable hatred.
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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Pokemon Tabletop United. I've been meaning to make a thread to go into how it works, but there have been a lot of OSSRs and other reviews lately, and I don't want to muddy the waters. Plus I've never really done it before, but I think it's a system that could be refined into something pretty good. I'm not sure how much more information you need to help yourself out here, but it's a free system so I suppose you could go skim it or something. I can always try and answer any questions about it. I guess I could link to the actual stuff I've written up, too.erik wrote:I have no idea what system you are using here as a baseline.
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Foxwarrior
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Coming up with DCs and costs and such for things is the game design balance process, which is more of an art than a science. A formula is just a way to compress a list with a spectrum of entries using math, ultimately people just decompress your list again and pick the best options from it (putting the right flaws and upgrades on a champions power or shadowrun spell or weapon is a mostly solved process, and whatever you write will be solved too if you can find an interested enough player)
So if you really want players to be able to come up with anything and get a DC for it from the DM, the best you can do is give the DM a basic how-to guide on being a content designer for games. Having a list of examples does help set expectations though.
So if you really want players to be able to come up with anything and get a DC for it from the DM, the best you can do is give the DM a basic how-to guide on being a content designer for games. Having a list of examples does help set expectations though.
We just started Gloomhaven. We're playing as a Brute, Scoundrel, and Tinker. We played twice and fatigued out at the end of the second room both times. The first time was because we mistakenly played at level 3 instead of 1, the second time maybe we were just bad at positioning.
Either way, it feels like we're taking too long to kill things. We all needed a long rest before we left the first room, then couldn't finish the second room before the death spiral got to us.
What can we do to get through faster? Other than pulling fewer -1 cards.
I may also be taking too much damage because the other players hide behind me. I needed my heal and the armor loss card to make it through the first room, and the Tinker used a big heal to keep me up.
Edit: I did manage to use the pushes to throw enemies into traps, so at least that's some damage and also getting rid of traps.
Either way, it feels like we're taking too long to kill things. We all needed a long rest before we left the first room, then couldn't finish the second room before the death spiral got to us.
What can we do to get through faster? Other than pulling fewer -1 cards.
I may also be taking too much damage because the other players hide behind me. I needed my heal and the armor loss card to make it through the first room, and the Tinker used a big heal to keep me up.
Edit: I did manage to use the pushes to throw enemies into traps, so at least that's some damage and also getting rid of traps.
Last edited by Iduno on Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
brute and scoundrel have good damage output, you might be playing something wrong if you are having trouble killing stuff. the tinkerer is considered weak by many, but certainly playable. in gloomhaven most of the time offense is the best defense, which makes the tinkerer weak in the beginning, cause their non-loss attacks are quite weak.
are you utilising the scoundrel's positioning-bonuses? their single target damage is impressive if you do and with their awesome ini the enemy is often dead before they can act.
don't use one character to tank, that's rarely the most efficient way to play. everyone should try to avoid being hit by positioning yourself according to the enemies actions and if you can't evade the damage share it amongst the group. a character that's focused by most of the monsters attacks can die very quickly.
be careful how and when you use your losscards. using them too early means you lose several turns for the mission. i think that might be happening to you if you fatigue so early. the first room is very often the hardest and needing a long rest after finishing it is no big deal. many missions become cakewalks after the first batch of enemies. if you use too many loss cards early on though (or worse, if have to drop cards to avoid damage), you will run out of steam eventually. especially the scoundrel, who has very few cards to begin with. they should only play loss cards at the end of the mission.
unless you are set on the tinkerer you might want to consider using the cragheart instead. it's a jack of all trades-class and can heal surprisingly well at the beginning if you are worries about playing without a strong healer. it's damage output should be higher than the tinkerer's though and it can also place obstacles, which makes avoiding attacks much easier.
are you utilising the scoundrel's positioning-bonuses? their single target damage is impressive if you do and with their awesome ini the enemy is often dead before they can act.
don't use one character to tank, that's rarely the most efficient way to play. everyone should try to avoid being hit by positioning yourself according to the enemies actions and if you can't evade the damage share it amongst the group. a character that's focused by most of the monsters attacks can die very quickly.
be careful how and when you use your losscards. using them too early means you lose several turns for the mission. i think that might be happening to you if you fatigue so early. the first room is very often the hardest and needing a long rest after finishing it is no big deal. many missions become cakewalks after the first batch of enemies. if you use too many loss cards early on though (or worse, if have to drop cards to avoid damage), you will run out of steam eventually. especially the scoundrel, who has very few cards to begin with. they should only play loss cards at the end of the mission.
unless you are set on the tinkerer you might want to consider using the cragheart instead. it's a jack of all trades-class and can heal surprisingly well at the beginning if you are worries about playing without a strong healer. it's damage output should be higher than the tinkerer's though and it can also place obstacles, which makes avoiding attacks much easier.
The guy who owns the game wanted to play tinker, so...shlominus wrote:brute and scoundrel have good damage output, you might be playing something wrong if you are having trouble killing stuff. the tinkerer is considered weak by many, but certainly playable. in gloomhaven most of the time offense is the best defense, which makes the tinkerer weak in the beginning, cause their non-loss attacks are quite weak.
are you utilising the scoundrel's positioning-bonuses? their single target damage is impressive if you do and with their awesome ini the enemy is often dead before they can act.
don't use one character to tank, that's rarely the most efficient way to play. everyone should try to avoid being hit by positioning yourself according to the enemies actions and if you can't evade the damage share it amongst the group. a character that's focused by most of the monsters attacks can die very quickly.
be careful how and when you use your losscards. using them too early means you lose several turns for the mission. i think that might be happening to you if you fatigue so early. the first room is very often the hardest and needing a long rest after finishing it is no big deal. many missions become cakewalks after the first batch of enemies. if you use too many loss cards early on though (or worse, if have to drop cards to avoid damage), you will run out of steam eventually. especially the scoundrel, who has very few cards to begin with. they should only play loss cards at the end of the mission.
unless you are set on the tinkerer you might want to consider using the cragheart instead. it's a jack of all trades-class and can heal surprisingly well at the beginning if you are worries about playing without a strong healer. it's damage output should be higher than the tinkerer's though and it can also place obstacles, which makes avoiding attacks much easier.
We're adding the x cards in next time, which should help. I wouldn't mind trading out the "heal 2 damage, half of a hit from one enemy, in exchange for not moving" card for something more useful. At least the "do a pathetic 2 damage, in exchange for not moving" card might finish off an enemy and prevent damage, if I ever played it without using the top half of that card.
Also, we saved a puppy, and my idiot brute got bored and ate berries while the other 2 talked about whether or not we should eat them. We learned that "collect a piece of loot, ever, during the entire mission" is equal to "finish the mission with full health" and "never take a long rest" on those wall cards. Gain at least 8 (I think) xp in the mission is half as difficult as gaining 7 or fewer xp.
Almanac -
Does time actually have an existing cost in this system? Is there some resource I'm losing out on if it takes me a week to adapt Swords Dance to competitive ballroom dance instead of just a day?
If there's an existing cost, you can balance this system against that.
If there's no cost, you're actually giving your players something for free. This is fine, it just means it has to be something you were okay with them already having. The time cost is purely a sleight of hand to make them feel like they're not getting something for free (and it's a good slight of hand, I like your system). This means that you don't actually have to balance it against shit, you instead need to match the DC to how weighty of an accomplishment it feels like. If an NPC had this ability, how long would their backstory claim it took them to learn it? Multiply that by your player's average check and call it a day. Except actually aim it a little lower, because the secret is that these are all abilities you were fine with the players already having.
Does time actually have an existing cost in this system? Is there some resource I'm losing out on if it takes me a week to adapt Swords Dance to competitive ballroom dance instead of just a day?
If there's an existing cost, you can balance this system against that.
If there's no cost, you're actually giving your players something for free. This is fine, it just means it has to be something you were okay with them already having. The time cost is purely a sleight of hand to make them feel like they're not getting something for free (and it's a good slight of hand, I like your system). This means that you don't actually have to balance it against shit, you instead need to match the DC to how weighty of an accomplishment it feels like. If an NPC had this ability, how long would their backstory claim it took them to learn it? Multiply that by your player's average check and call it a day. Except actually aim it a little lower, because the secret is that these are all abilities you were fine with the players already having.
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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Does time have a cost? Not in the system, no. Time is only touched on in one instance that I can recall: It takes 24 hours of not getting injured to recover from an Injury (you have a max of 10 before you fucking die). If you wear a bandage, this time is reduced to 6 hours. You can heal a maximum of 3 Injuries per day, barring class features. This means that a person on the brink of death with 9 Injuries will be completely healed with 3 days of bedrest.
Basically, we're operating on Anime Time. My players have gained 13 levels in two in-game months. This cannot even begin to make sense unless you throw your hands up and go "fuck it, we anime now". Which I do.
To give an example, it took my player who's good at Focusing his prana and shit a solid 10 days (give or take) to learn how to shove his prana into his eyes so he can see ghosts and talk to them and shit. That is fucking insane until you realize you are operating on Anime Time and that it would probably take 7 to 10 times as long to do something like that in a more coherent setting.
But nobody wants to spend 2 months rolling dice every day and not adventuring, so despite my tone I'm actually totally fine with Anime Time. The catch with that is that I MUST accept that NPCs are also operating on Anime Time and can do shit way faster than they would be able to in real life... and that's how you get giant disposable bandit armies showing up after a few months of preparation and badass future-cities built out of slave labor appearing almost overnight. And I'm kind of okay with that.
The thing is, PTU is also bad about giving out XP - by RAW, the only way to get it is through Milestones (ugh) or through filling out your Pokedex (double ugh). A player of mine actually thought of giving out XP for completing these Tasks, to really feel like you're advancing without relying on GM cocksucking or stupid Gotta Catch 'Em All bullshit - but then they're getting even more shit for free. I'm not really sure how time would have a cost on a systemic level. I can and do have shit going on in the world that will happen if the PCs don't intervene, but I don't think that's what you meant. The point of the system is that it's something you're doing while you're doing something else - your Pokemon are getting trained for an hour while you also work on your Task to train yourself, and at night you work on your Task while the party is eating and resting and shit.
It's totally unbalanced and free power for showing up to the session. I'd like to... make it better.
Basically, we're operating on Anime Time. My players have gained 13 levels in two in-game months. This cannot even begin to make sense unless you throw your hands up and go "fuck it, we anime now". Which I do.
The players already have... way too much magic loot, and it's a huge clutter on the character sheet. I figure with them doing training on their own time, I can afford to give out less swag and they won't really notice. People like getting sweet loot, but few people like the typical Christmas tree bullshit.jt wrote:If there's no cost, you're actually giving your players something for free. This is fine, it just means it has to be something you were okay with them already having.
To give an example, it took my player who's good at Focusing his prana and shit a solid 10 days (give or take) to learn how to shove his prana into his eyes so he can see ghosts and talk to them and shit. That is fucking insane until you realize you are operating on Anime Time and that it would probably take 7 to 10 times as long to do something like that in a more coherent setting.
But nobody wants to spend 2 months rolling dice every day and not adventuring, so despite my tone I'm actually totally fine with Anime Time. The catch with that is that I MUST accept that NPCs are also operating on Anime Time and can do shit way faster than they would be able to in real life... and that's how you get giant disposable bandit armies showing up after a few months of preparation and badass future-cities built out of slave labor appearing almost overnight. And I'm kind of okay with that.
The thing is, PTU is also bad about giving out XP - by RAW, the only way to get it is through Milestones (ugh) or through filling out your Pokedex (double ugh). A player of mine actually thought of giving out XP for completing these Tasks, to really feel like you're advancing without relying on GM cocksucking or stupid Gotta Catch 'Em All bullshit - but then they're getting even more shit for free. I'm not really sure how time would have a cost on a systemic level. I can and do have shit going on in the world that will happen if the PCs don't intervene, but I don't think that's what you meant. The point of the system is that it's something you're doing while you're doing something else - your Pokemon are getting trained for an hour while you also work on your Task to train yourself, and at night you work on your Task while the party is eating and resting and shit.
It's totally unbalanced and free power for showing up to the session. I'd like to... make it better.
Last edited by The Adventurer's Almanac on Fri Nov 15, 2019 12:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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Wait a minute, I came here to ask something else. I could use a bit of help with a scenario my party is in.
Basically, they're the heroes of this little town that's about 100 miles away from anything of comparable size, but this little town has a railroad that goes all the way to the big city, which is basically where most of civilization is. Our heroes are big on criminal reform, so they try to bring bandits back to town alive to throw them into jail. The problem is that this setting's tech level is basically coming up on an industrial revolution and an apocalypse happened a couple centuries ago, so there isn't really a "jail" or "legal system" out here - usually people get fined or beaten if they act up, and there's a shack to put people in for a little while until they've learned their lesson.
The societal structure of the city, and most of the setting, is based on Imperial China throughout its history. That means you've got hellish bureaucracy - a bureaucracy one of the PCs is intimately familiar with. Using her connections, she sent a letter to the city to ask them to supply the town with a magistrate, judge, some guards, all that civic jazz. Turn this town into a real haven of civilization!
I hope you can see where this is going. She got a letter back saying that the city doesn't give a fuck what the town thinks, but they'll be more than happy to send over some help in exchange for the magistrates taxing the townsfolk and stuff like that. They go to talk to the mayor about this development, and he loves it: his plan is to bribe the magistrate so the guy looks the other way when collecting payment. Then they got the brilliant idea of holding an election to determine who the judge of the town should be, and they shot a letter back off to the city to let them know that.
I come to ask: How hard should I fuck them in the ass over this? The PCs have very anachronistic attitudes about things like "equality", "treating monsters like your friends", "religion is weird, and "extracting wealth from the lower classes is morally wrong". I get it, that's the kind of shit I subscribe to in real life... but this isn't real life and Imperial China's government was a motherfucker and a half. I fully intend on having the city really be able to help the town out... in exchange for control over the town. I'm not really certain on how to proceed with this since it's purely shit that the players care about that I never intended, so I don't have any strong investment over the outcome. I want to slap my players with the long arm of the Imperial Bureaucracy, but I don't wanna, y'know, be a dick about it. People in town mostly respect the party, but I see no reason for the city to give a fuck about them or the town beyond "we're all human and monsters are trying to kill us all". Which is valid, but not quite enough in my eyes.
Thoughts?
Basically, they're the heroes of this little town that's about 100 miles away from anything of comparable size, but this little town has a railroad that goes all the way to the big city, which is basically where most of civilization is. Our heroes are big on criminal reform, so they try to bring bandits back to town alive to throw them into jail. The problem is that this setting's tech level is basically coming up on an industrial revolution and an apocalypse happened a couple centuries ago, so there isn't really a "jail" or "legal system" out here - usually people get fined or beaten if they act up, and there's a shack to put people in for a little while until they've learned their lesson.
The societal structure of the city, and most of the setting, is based on Imperial China throughout its history. That means you've got hellish bureaucracy - a bureaucracy one of the PCs is intimately familiar with. Using her connections, she sent a letter to the city to ask them to supply the town with a magistrate, judge, some guards, all that civic jazz. Turn this town into a real haven of civilization!
I hope you can see where this is going. She got a letter back saying that the city doesn't give a fuck what the town thinks, but they'll be more than happy to send over some help in exchange for the magistrates taxing the townsfolk and stuff like that. They go to talk to the mayor about this development, and he loves it: his plan is to bribe the magistrate so the guy looks the other way when collecting payment. Then they got the brilliant idea of holding an election to determine who the judge of the town should be, and they shot a letter back off to the city to let them know that.
I come to ask: How hard should I fuck them in the ass over this? The PCs have very anachronistic attitudes about things like "equality", "treating monsters like your friends", "religion is weird, and "extracting wealth from the lower classes is morally wrong". I get it, that's the kind of shit I subscribe to in real life... but this isn't real life and Imperial China's government was a motherfucker and a half. I fully intend on having the city really be able to help the town out... in exchange for control over the town. I'm not really certain on how to proceed with this since it's purely shit that the players care about that I never intended, so I don't have any strong investment over the outcome. I want to slap my players with the long arm of the Imperial Bureaucracy, but I don't wanna, y'know, be a dick about it. People in town mostly respect the party, but I see no reason for the city to give a fuck about them or the town beyond "we're all human and monsters are trying to kill us all". Which is valid, but not quite enough in my eyes.
Thoughts?
Last edited by The Adventurer's Almanac on Fri Nov 15, 2019 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'd expect the City officials to see that letter as a plot from the PC to choose the judge. They could:
- Just inform them that the judge has to be appointed by Heavens and that the proper process will be followed. If they don't care about the PC they could pretend they consider that the PC are barbarians who are unaware of the proper rules and that the "election" thing is a local custom that is now irrelevant. If they have something against the PC, they could consider this suggestion as treason and have the PC arrested.
- Decide that they like the idea of selecting the judge themselves rather than putting up with whoever their boss will send. So they go along with the PC's plan and rig the election. Since they probably suspect that the PC will try to do the same, they'll probably send people to prevent them from doing so.
- Just inform them that the judge has to be appointed by Heavens and that the proper process will be followed. If they don't care about the PC they could pretend they consider that the PC are barbarians who are unaware of the proper rules and that the "election" thing is a local custom that is now irrelevant. If they have something against the PC, they could consider this suggestion as treason and have the PC arrested.
- Decide that they like the idea of selecting the judge themselves rather than putting up with whoever their boss will send. So they go along with the PC's plan and rig the election. Since they probably suspect that the PC will try to do the same, they'll probably send people to prevent them from doing so.
They receive a letter back telling them to 1) go on with the elections and 2) make sure the person the city has already chosen wins, or the city will.The Adventurer's Almanac wrote: I hope you can see where this is going. She got a letter back saying that the city doesn't give a fuck what the town thinks, but they'll be more than happy to send over some help in exchange for the magistrates taxing the townsfolk and stuff like that. They go to talk to the mayor about this development, and he loves it: his plan is to bribe the magistrate so the guy looks the other way when collecting payment. Then they got the brilliant idea of holding an election to determine who the judge of the town should be, and they shot a letter back off to the city to let them know that.
Why is "best someone in a Pokemon battle" not one of the potential solutions here? Like, have the party go to the big city, challenge a corrupt eunuch or stodgy old Confucian scholar-official to a duel, and if they win, they get their way. Maybe even a series of Pokemon battles with increasingly stodgy officials or whatever. Perhaps four of them, who make up what you might think of as an elite group of some kind.
If you're playing a Pokemon game, virtually every problem you present your players with should be soluble by means of Pokemon battle. Exceptions should be few. If a plucky ten year-old can't put an end to a murderous organized crime syndicate by ordering his Poliwhirl to beat down the Yakuza boss' Rhyhorn in a one-on-one challenge, I don't know how what you're doing has anything to do with Pokemon at all.
If you're playing a Pokemon game, virtually every problem you present your players with should be soluble by means of Pokemon battle. Exceptions should be few. If a plucky ten year-old can't put an end to a murderous organized crime syndicate by ordering his Poliwhirl to beat down the Yakuza boss' Rhyhorn in a one-on-one challenge, I don't know how what you're doing has anything to do with Pokemon at all.
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The Adventurer's Almanac
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Pokemon literally caused the apocalypse and murdered most of human civilization. The government doesn't give a flying fuck about Pokemon outside of ignoring them, killing them, or using them for manual labor. "Everything can be solved with a pokemon fight" might work in the video games, but I'm running a tabletop game here. I have to pretend like violence isn't the only solution. Plus, what you're proposing isn't really a sustainable form of governance - ostensibly civilized people don't settle their problems with duels and shit. They pay off the magistrate to buttfuck the guy they don't like with the legal system. It's easier and less messy.Mord wrote:Why is "best someone in a Pokemon battle" not one of the potential solutions here?
FYI, I kind of hate the Pokemon setting. It's why I don't play in it.
That actually sounds perfect. In fact, it seems obvious now. Thanks! I'll throw in a bit of Blade's "elections are a petty local custom that is now irrelevant" just to rub in their faces that they aren't part of a liberal democracy.Iduno wrote:They receive a letter back telling them to 1) go on with the elections and 2) make sure the person the city has already chosen wins, or the city will.
Last edited by The Adventurer's Almanac on Fri Nov 15, 2019 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Avoraciopoctules
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I’m playing in a Star Wars game. I’m assassinating the dictator of Fishman Planet, in his underwater palace. What is the best way to pollute his waters so badly that it keeps the response time from the military slow? I have a big space yaht with a really good cloaking device, a full robotics / tech lab, and a LOT of money.
Unfortunately, googling the easiest way to pollute a lake has not been very helpful.
Unfortunately, googling the easiest way to pollute a lake has not been very helpful.
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Thaluikhain
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What do you mean pollute the water to limit the response time? Do you mean distract them with some other emergency, or limit their effectiveness due to being poisoned?
Various forms of algae can be a right nuisance and would tend to look natural, though they'd take some time to spread.
Alternatively, releasing a radioactive substance (preferably with a short half-life so as to not be a problem for the people after the dictator is dealt with) into the water...don't know how Star Wars works, but "radioactive" is a scary word in real life, can cause quite a bit of panic with a minor problem that way.
Various forms of algae can be a right nuisance and would tend to look natural, though they'd take some time to spread.
Alternatively, releasing a radioactive substance (preferably with a short half-life so as to not be a problem for the people after the dictator is dealt with) into the water...don't know how Star Wars works, but "radioactive" is a scary word in real life, can cause quite a bit of panic with a minor problem that way.
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Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Originally, I was just thinking about a big ink cloud, but currents could disperse it semi quickly. I want to keep an army of submarines and tiny men from rushing in and swarming my team to death.
Dumping a bunch of nuclear waste might do something. My team is immune to radiation, and it might scare the reinforcements off. Thankfully, this place is well isolated from civilians.
Dumping a bunch of nuclear waste might do something. My team is immune to radiation, and it might scare the reinforcements off. Thankfully, this place is well isolated from civilians.
Dirty bombs being plan A is great. Space Shadowrun.Thaluikhain wrote:What do you mean pollute the water to limit the response time? Do you mean distract them with some other emergency, or limit their effectiveness due to being poisoned?
Various forms of algae can be a right nuisance and would tend to look natural, though they'd take some time to spread.
Alternatively, releasing a radioactive substance (preferably with a short half-life so as to not be a problem for the people after the dictator is dealt with) into the water...don't know how Star Wars works, but "radioactive" is a scary word in real life, can cause quite a bit of panic with a minor problem that way.
I guess otherwise, they can lure some of that planet's octopi-expies into the area with some sort of bait first.
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Thaluikhain
- King
- Posts: 6215
- Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm
In WW2, the Germans had a sonar decoy that would release a chemical that reacted with the water and made lots of bubbles that showed up on sonar.
Possibly you could do that by releasing pockets of gas under the seabed. In theory, if you get a big enough gas release, it can sink ships in the same way quicksand works.
Alternatively, releasing a large deposit of crude oil would make a mess, possibly not unlike squid ink.
Possibly you could do that by releasing pockets of gas under the seabed. In theory, if you get a big enough gas release, it can sink ships in the same way quicksand works.
Alternatively, releasing a large deposit of crude oil would make a mess, possibly not unlike squid ink.