Adeptus Titanicus Campaigns

[Beren]

So, this is more out of my own curiosity than for any practical benefit, but what do folks thing of the campaign rules as updated in Shadow and Iron?

 

I love the ideas behind the experience traits, Titan upgrades and differentiated planetary traits conceptually, but I don't really have a grasp of how any of it balanced or not, or how practical it is.

 

Another thing that occurred to me is that as certain aspects of the battlefield, primarily terrain density, depend on where you're fighting, might that lead to some strategy as to which Legios you engage where? For example Krytos, with its terrain destroying wargear and strategems, Legio Audax, with its ambushes being dependent upon being partially obscured, and agile close range battlegroups would benefit for fighting in the terrain dense locations of hiveworlds while long range gunlines might be better off on Agri-worlds?

[Sherrypie]

Having terrain effect legio choice in a multiplayer campaign is awesome, that's how things should be. You don't send desert specialists on operations that require mountaineers if given a choice, after all.

 

The S&I rules look pretty fun and allow nice characterisation to rise for longtime crews. They are reasonably balanced in the beginning by giving everyone more than they need per match, so that they can take an absolute beating for a few games before the losses start to feel crippling and by that time the baseline campaign should be at the final stretch anyway: since many games with cumulative rewards for victory tend to snowball in favor of those winning early and big, it is a good idea to have your test runs be reasonably limited. Maybe a month or half a dozen games, say. In this time it's probably clear if one side is winning before the towel needs to be thrown in.

 

As for practicality, there is a fair bit of book keeping with the injuries sustained, crew experience and skills as well as the domains controlled along with their bonuses. These are relatively straightforward as such, but I'd reckon trying out a short campaign run or two before taking them all in would do wonders to get a touch for it.

 

First and foremost though, campaigns are cool and fun. Always worth it to try and get one going, especially if there is a bit of narrative streak going amongst your group, even if just a "X invades Y and rivalry ensues" to kick things off with.

[noigrim]

They may tend to complicate things a bit so I wouldn't use them all

[Noserenda]

Our group wasn't too keen on the maps part but crew experience is fun :)

 

The problem with requisition points is they reinforce failure, I'd worry long term that if folks lose a few games they'll just drop out :(

[Mandragola]

Campaigns are fun in theory. In practice I find they tend to reward better players more and more over time, making them virtually unbeatable.

 

Personally I prefer to keep the rpg type stuff to actual rpgs. Otherwise you end up with a situation where things get harder and harder for the people you should really be helping.

[Sherrypie]

That's why it's best to keep them short in the beginning, so you don't end up in that death spiral that sees people quit before you've ironed out the kinks and seen how it works.

 

I like campaign systems like Blood Bowl leagues that let you track progress but price it accordingly so the heavy weights can throw down between themselves with the occasional underdog match where the other team is given help to even it out.

[Master Ciaphas]

Hail

 

Interesting to follow here! I am actually about to start an Adeptus Titanicus map-based campaign here in the Kingdom. So far we are 8 players participating (three of which were at the AT Event i Nottingham). 

 

I will be arbitrating the campaign, so that hopefully we can avoid the snowball effect; generally, the idea is to have fun, narrative games, which are not Win-at-all-costs games. So if a player shows up with a list full of Acatus Knights, and the Crusade Legio rules (Splinter Legio and Elite Magos)....they will be penalized by me (and probably have their Legio lost in the warp and evicted from the campaign) :-)

 

I will be using the S&I rules - and on the basis of the experience gained, I might make modifications in future campaigns.

 

Faithfully,
Master Ciaphas

[Beren]

Hail

 

Interesting to follow here! I am actually about to start an Adeptus Titanicus map-based campaign here in the Kingdom. So far we are 8 players participating (three of which were at the AT Event i Nottingham). 

 

I will be arbitrating the campaign, so that hopefully we can avoid the snowball effect; generally, the idea is to have fun, narrative games, which are not Win-at-all-costs games. So if a player shows up with a list full of Acatus Knights, and the Crusade Legio rules (Splinter Legio and Elite Magos)....they will be penalized by me (and probably have their Legio lost in the warp and evicted from the campaign) :-)

 

I will be using the S&I rules - and on the basis of the experience gained, I might make modifications in future campaigns.

 

Faithfully,

Master Ciaphas

 

I'll be most interested to see how that goes.

[Master Ciaphas]

 

*SNIP*

 

I'll be most interested to see how that goes.

 

That would make two of us! :-D

[Mandragola]

Likewise. I demand updates!

[schoon]

While I love the concept of a map-based campaign, they are devilishly hard to balance.

 

As has been pointed out, success tends to breed success, and there needs to be something that checks the momentum of the leader without making them feel like they're being penalized for winning.

 

I prefer a series of narratively linked scenarios for telling a story (and ability to balance).