OtherDuel

OtherDuel is a tactical combat boardgame with "ship" design, in the likes of classics like Car Wars and Battletech. The actual setting is totally abstract, which makes it thorougly unmarketable, since there are no books, figures, etc. to sell. Nothing but the rules themselves, which I'm making freely available here. Additionally, a bit more math is involved than in either Car Wars or Battletech, say, which is another possible turn-off. On top of that, it's a barely playtested set of rules and costs, so making a "broken" design is likely possible. However, with those caveats aside, it's a rich and open set of play strategies, and the most in-depth "ship" design system I've ever seen. As with any good game of this genre, at least half the fun is just making the ship designs, before the battle even begins (Armored Core fans will also appreciate this sentiment).

Several components make OtherDuel unique* in combat-construction games:

1. Ship layout is constructed as much as ship payload. The game is played on a hex-grid, and the layout of the "modules" is essentially arbitrary. When I invisaged the game, I thought of essentially symmetric shapes that looked like ships from the top down. What actually happens in practice is far more varied and organic.
2. Ship layout determines movement, not "engine" and "mass." Certain positions are chosen as rotation points, others as "juxtapoints" where one juxtapoint can be moved to the other as a single move. Ships are only "fast" if you make them that way by layout. Big does not have to mean Slow, a limitation easily removed by the abstractness of the game.
3. Weapon location affects weapon speed. If you place the guns near the fire control, you can fire fairly quickly; however, your fire control may be more vulnerable to damage being so close to the "surface" of your ship. This actually also extends to movement, defense, and most other aspects of control.
4. For basic attacks, there is a difference between "just" rolling what you need to make a hit, and really clearing it. Frex: if on 2d10, I need to roll over 11, and I roll an 12, I barely nick the opponent, but if I roll a 20, I cream them. If I need to roll over 1, it's gonna hurt a lot, maybe a whole lot. If I need to roll over 19, I don't get a miracle hit for rolling 20, I get what I deserve: a minimal hit.**
5. A fluid Cost/Weight/Space tradeoff capability. You want it small, light, and cheap...pick 2. All components have a Mass, but you choose the Volume it will take in a given module, and that gives you a Density (Mass/Volume). Cost is Mass*Density (yes, that's Mass squared over Volume). Another idea that works well in the context of an abstract arena.
6. Decentralized control; that is, no pilot to take out in a single lucky shot. Instead the location of various Control components is decided in the design, allowing for centralization or decentralization, even duplicate and backup systems. Again, the distance of these control components to the things they control limits the speed of action and reaction, so having a single central super-well-protected control core has disadvantages in speed, too. (The original design of the game actually did have such a monolithic command module, but once "backup control" components were introduced, it became obvious that the command module was a design limitation that wasn't needed anymore, but can be played as an optional rule)

• *so far as I know; Feel free to email otherduel AT gmail.com if you know of another game with these components.
• ** Ok, that one I borrowed from an old boardgame "Asteroid Pirates," a game that had a few great ideas, but big unexplained holes in the rules, so it wasn't actually fun.