“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #19: The Newest Ship in the Fleet by K. Patrick “Shadowmeld” Barley

One of the challenges we had to overcome in Talon was balancing fleet strength across the factions. We have several areas of fleet imbalance between Fighters, missiles and the Talon Dreadnaught, but as a whole the fleets needed to be able to field large or small forces that at least feel balanced. Through the first year of playtesting we started with a central ship the Heavy Cruiser (CA). Our first battery of play tests had us pitting three CAs against each other to test Talon tools versus Terran tools. It was this testing that rooted out the need to add afterburners and eventually lead to some Talon structural increases. Wave after wave after wave of Talon CAs clashed into their Terran counter parts, disruptors alight. Phasers and torpedoes fired back and as the dust settled, our win rates came closer and closer to even.

We then slowly folded more and more ships into the scenarios, first Scouts and Frigates, then Terran Light Cruisers and both factions’ Destroyers. The Talon Destroyers had us adding missiles for the first time, and while we were trying to weigh this unconventional weapon system it seems another issue flew under the radar. The Light Cruiser.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #18: The Player Aid Cards

One of the challenges of making a war game more accessible is trimming the number of tables.  STOPPING play to reference something goes against making any kind of streamlined game.  Not that I have anything in particular against tables: as a developer they are a fantastic tool.  With them you can add a great deal of depth, flavor or choice to an action (see the article on the crit table from last week). As a player, I love them too, in moderation.

I remember the first time I picked up an AD&D player’s handbook and being totally awestruck by the fact that there was a (serious of) table(s) delineating what my 9^th level fighter’s household guards have equipped.  They’ve thought of everything!  Simulation and theme!

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #17: The Critical Damage Table

Hull damage is serious business. If given the opportunity, you always want to deal damage directly to a ship’s hull. An exposed shield side can turn the tide in battle and subsequent hull damage can lead to dramatic effects.  Yes, when a ship’s hull is reduced to zero (all the red hull boxes get marked off) it is destroyed and it explodes, however, this is not the only reason you want to be firing on the enemy’s hull.

Destroying hull boxes also means the ship will have less power. Not only are important parts of the ship that regulate power usage damaged but more power is re-routed to life support to keep the crew alive. Since power (and the AP it generates) is one of the most precious resources in the game, damaging a ship can have big effects on its offensive capabilities.  Also if a ship is traveling at a high Speed and suddenly takes a large amount of hull damage, reducing its Power, its drives may overheat and the ship can break apart.  You can never have a negative Power number written on your ship so unless the ship can slow down to a safe level during the Power Phase, it will overheat.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #16: The Play Book

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, we wanted the Talon Rulebook to be thin and streamlined. This way, new players can pick up the game and understand the system as quickly as possible. As such we’ve moved not only the scripted scenarios into the Play Book but also some of our other “chrome-y” features: Transports, Terrain randomization, Design your own scenario outline, Empire War, Space Empires Crossover, other Battle Modes… When I get a new game, I always like having a thick scenario book. It means I’m going to get a lot of replay out of my purchase. We hope you feel the same.

Like we’ve talked about in previous Talon Tuesdays, there are a bunch of different ways to play the game.  Last week I discussed our default win condition – Last Ship Standing.  It’s an important game structure for Talon but it is just one of many ways to play a battle. We call the other options Battle Modes. They’re alternative victory conditions and objectives, some of which are used in the scripted scenarios and all may be used in Design Your Own Scenarios.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #15: Lifetime Score

The goal of most battles in Talon is control over that region of space.  This is expressed with our default victory condition: Last Ship Standing.  That means for most games, the winner is the side with ships remaining on the map, regardless of how many ships that side lost during the battle. This is important because we felt that if your fleet beats up another fleet and then retreats, you didn’t really achieve much for your faction. The goal is the conquest/securing of territories as represented in most scripted scenarios.  It’s a different ball game in Empire War, where one goal may be to deal significant financial damage to your opponent. However, even then you need to avoid losing territory.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #13: Empire War

I loved to play tactical space combat games as a teenager.  One off scenarios were fun, but I almost always ended up designing a campaign game which would allow me to string scenarios together.  So, when I was designing my own game, some kind of campaign game was definitely going to happen.  It works even better with Talon because the individual battles play so quickly.  It is possible to get multiple games in during a session, especially if you are conscious of trying to preserve your flee.  With that mindset you will more often than not avoid fighting to the (bitter) end.  When to jump to FTL to save your ships becomes a very important decision that also tends to make games go even quicker.

Actually, the scenarios we provide are interesting enough that there is plenty to keep you busy without the Empire War – invading planets, base assaults, convoy protection, lots of interesting terrain – but since some of these elements have found a home in the Empire War, it also makes the Empire War even more interesting.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #12: The Rulebook

This isn’t my first board game project but it is my first time as a developer. Composing a rulebook is a real challenge. They serve two diametrically opposed purposes: 1) Quickly introduce you to the game and 2) Act as a reference when rules questions occur. The challenge is to get players into your game without overloading them with rules they may not need: rules for things that may occur at the fringe of gameplay.  Working on a rulebook can be tough. It’s this (figuratively) huge, living document. A slight change to one rule can ripple out and lead to changes in other rules. You really need to understand your game in order to express it to a total newbie. Fortunately, I earned a ton of valuable experience working under Oliver Upshaw on Space Empires: Close Encounters.  He was definitely a big positive influence on me as a developer.

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #11: Needing Bigger Guns

There are three weapon types for each race in Talon. This symmetry of design seemed appropriate when we first started, but as we began defining fleet doctrine and ship design for each of the races, the three weapons became less and less symmetrical. In the beginning, we started with Phasers and Torpedoes on the Terran ships, and Disruptors and Missiles on the Talon ships. This idea, that each ship had a beam weapon and a projectile weapon, was a typical trope of most space combat games, but we felt that by ensuring the weapons felt different enough we could create something dynamic there. The third weapon for each race was a powerful cannon that did devastating damage to a target, but with restricted range brackets and powerful recharge times.