I'm glad I found this video! You kept talking about rolling a lot of dice when talking about weapon stats in your unboxings, and I could not figure out why. I have only ever used the 2D6 method (but was aware of the D12 method)
we use the optional Alpha Strike optional damage rule, we have added a fumble table, when you roll snake eyes something happens to you, kind of helps speeds things up and it make's your butt pucker when you roll
Having watched a decent number of videos on BT: Alphas Strike, I think that the flexibility of the dice system is one of the strengths. Adjusting which system you use for speed and force size seems pretty handy.
In a house-rule version of the game I like to call 'Betastrike', when a unit takes 1 point of damage, instead of filling out 1 armour/structure bubble with a dot, you instead do a slash / and when it takes it's second point of damage you convert that slash / into an X. Basically you effectively double the armour and structure of all units. I feel it's a bit more realistic as to how long a mech, especially a light one would last. Betastrike also changes Initiative a bit where size 1 units move and fire first, then size 2 and so on. The exception is if there's a command unit, then that overrides and any size unit can move and fire in any order. The weapon attack can also occur at any point in the units movement making shots on the run possible. Damage takes effect immediately. Receiving unit's can interrupt with a counter-fire with a +1 modifier, and they use up their firing action if they do. (they can still move if they haven't acted)
I like using the d12 for the reason that long range becomes viable, and close range isnt guaranteed, and I just do without the crit dice on hit, but I do roll 2d6 when the mech is down to structure. Thanks for the insight :) love the videos.
I'm not massively experienced in AS yet, but we played multiple 2D6 so far without designating any crit dice in the pack. We do get more crits that way, but that doesn't seem to bother us too much. In fact, I kind of like that the mechs take more degradation as they get shot at... Makes it feel a bit more like CBT, but much smoother. We only ever allow one crit effect per attack mind you. It just triggers more often.
I believe the rules stipulate you can only ever get one crit from box cars somewhere in the book so that makes sense. I believe the max criticals you could ever roll is 3. 1 for box cars, 1 for internal, 1 if the attack was AM. If that happens look out mech, you’re in for a bad day lol! As to the rest, I’ve detailed why I do this at events and it’s basically because we are using an optional rule that doesn’t specify how to handle the change in crit percentage and I don’t want to enforce an optional rule that inadvertently favors a particular style of unit over another by deviating from the core rules. Your method works and I’ve played that too, but for consistency sake from events to channel games I play the same way (crit pair). If CGL ever puts out an errata for this I’ll make the adjustment to my packet for sure. I do agree more chances for criticals does feel more like CBT as well which can add a little extra narrative to AS games. I just wish AS heat wasn’t as brutal as it is, in Classic heat management is a thing but with a scale of 1 2 3 shut down and all the of negatives associated with it, it’s rough. I digress though, as with all rules though if everyone agrees to use or not use something (which I also tell people at my event is ok so long as both people agree) that is what matters :)
I like in the beta for matched play that CGL are working on, they recommend multiple attack rolls for smaller games and single attack rolls for larger ones.
For super big games that makes sense but even with a company on company game (12v12) all or nothing is boring and stuff goes down super fast. It lends itself better to high damage low skill units and just skip lights because stuff just gets one shot. I think there is a reason why most events are not using the all or nothing dice mechanic, it simply bypasses most of the extra rules in the game because they never come up. What good is a crit from a dire wolf if the unit it hit is just one shot anyway lol. If you’re player with scores of units on a really large table it makes a lot more sense for the all or nothing.
@@Thearmedpainter Yeah, like at Battalion or Regiment level, all or nothing works because you kinda treat a lance worth of troops like a single unit at BattleTech scale. But a format like AS350 would be awful using single attack rolls.
We've been using the multi dice rolls. Definitely better than just one pair. We only recently started working in multiple colors into the mix after it became too unbalanced with people sometimes getting 3-5 12's. We hadn't incorporated any rules for limiting the number of crits, so gameplay was wildly skewed.
Counter argument to having a crit pair while rolling for each individual point with a separate die: In Battletech if you hit with more weapons you WOULD have a higher chance to score a lucky crit. The arbitrary averaged damage in AS doesn't represent the multiple hits for multiple weapons in Battletech very well. That's the discussion our gaming group had. Both sides have a good argument. Our solution: To better represent both sides of this point of view instead of having a single Crit Pair have a Crit Pair for every other point of damage. That increases the chances of scoring a crit for units that deliver a large volume of fire without skewing it to far either way. The way you described is still treating multiple points of damage like a single weapon hit instead of the multiple hits the AS numbers are meant to represent. A start damage of 6 represents multiple weapons averaged together. Your trying to divide that single 6 into 6 ones and THEN have it only have a 1/36 chance of a crit when that 6 is ALREADY multiple weapons averaged together. IMHO without changing the initial formula entirely designating every other dice pair as a crit pair is the only way to be fair to both sides. I hope that made sense. Basically I agree that having all dice have a crit chance is to much, but most of my gaming group felt that just one crit pair wasn't enough.
A 7+ on 2d6 is 21 / 36, which is about 58% of the time. It's also the most common result and the average (mean, medium, and mode) 6.5 is the average on a d12 tho.
I currently play with designated crit dice, but I'm not sure for how much longer. For Alpha Strike to really grow, I really think we need to stop using so many house rules and not have so many wildly different formats.
I think for that to occur CGL needs to take an active role in further developing the game. With so many house rules they could learn a thing or two from the community in regards to what big events are doing and what players are gravitating towards. There are already lots of things in the core rules players opt out of because they are terribly unbalanced and need fixing and at this point we are about to have a huge influx of minis on the market, I really hope they go back to develop the rules and further refine them.
@@Thearmedpainter CGL is currently working on a new rulebook focusing on new player experience and stream lining the game, it just takes time. They also have an open beta for a "matched play" system to have a more common pickup game format. Anyone can give it direct feedback.
I prefer the first (2 Dice) style of rolling. I have played less than a handful of games since learning Alpha strike a few months ago and played both the first and second styles. What I like about the first style is the speed at which the first style plays. Once a get better at the game I may switch to the second style.
The method you've used is fine to learn with but the more granular method in some form is by far more commonly used. The method you're currently on does work well for larger scale games though as it keeps the speed of the game up.
I love it when games come with unique dice like Starwars Legion since sometimes seeing symbols just makes things easier then trying to memorize numbers to activation, at least for me.
D12 method is bad for all the reasons you mentioned, and it seems like the dog agrees. The "standard" method is... alright, but not my favorite, for the reasons you mentioned, though it does seem to give lights a better chance of avoiding getting chipped down over time (but when they do get hit, they typically do get one-shotted); I don't think it is worth the negligible increase in speed. Pilot die just feels way too swingy to me, much love to DFA but no love to their dice method. Don't like multiple damage rolls (which is the one book-official method you left out -- it involves making a to-hit roll with 2D6 and then rolling 1D6 for each point of damage, and was actually the method I learned the game on), but do like multiple attack rolls -- that has been my go-to for years now. Not a fan of the house rule that lowers the chance of crits on multiple attack rolls; I feel like there aren't enough crits in AS, and wish they were more common overall. I usually run AS at the Battalion vs Battalion level (or higher), and we can get through a game in roughly 4 hours with multiple attack rolls. The "multiple damage rolls" method actually lines up a lot with your house rule quite a bit -- you might consider checking it out.
Im no mathematician: Replace Pilot Dice with a Crit Dice - D12 + a 50% crit dice/coin flip. Roll a D12 and another dice, call Odd/Even and if a 12 occurs and the Call is correct, the Crit happens. Call is wrong = no Crit. 1/36 = 3% crit(rounded up). 1/12 = 8%. d12(8%) x 1d2(50%) = .04. Brings it closer to the 3% of 2D6??? So for Speed 1D12 + 1D2(Crit Dice). Fewer Dice to manage, less Bell Curve, about the same Crits(?). Can also Speed up ( * ) Damage Attacks. Mulit Roll: D12 per Damage + Crit Dice(instead of Pilot Dice) brings Damage down to a slightly less-swingy Average without much more Criticals. Like multiple damage, it can keep Lights and some Mediums from getting One-Shot by strong(Clan) attacks. Interesting part is if Multi-Damage is split between multiple targets. Cant remember if there are rules for this but i would say if Mech does 6 damage and wants to split up among a swarm of 6 Liao Citizens on Trikes(how very Liao) i would think each additional target past the first gains a +1 mod to Hit per additional target. Or something like that.
@@ThrawnsHand speed, volume of models on the table, and complexity. AS is more closely related to today’s traditional war games where as CBT is closer to a simulation. In AS you can drop a trinary of Clan mechs against a company or more of IS mechs and tanks and finish a game in a few hours. That same setup in CBT would not only need several hex maps that hopefully work for you but would likely also take all weekend. AS highly favors 3d terrain where as CBT its an after thought and doesn’t scale well relative to the models. AS is great for war gamers. CBT simulates the crunch and provides for more interesting stories at the individual mech or pilot level. Both are fine in their own ways, just a matter of what a player wants to get out of a game. In my experience I’ve done almost no CBT and no one at the game shops is interested in it but AS can get traction. AS is also easy to teach CBT in my experience goes more smoothly with a seasoned vet to walk players through, AS is simple to the point that casuals can learn easily even if it’s self taught. Finally. MUL has all of the unit cards for free for AS, CBT requires mech sheets that (unless you resort to piracy) the majority of them are behind paywalls.
@@Thearmedpainterit’s probably an unhappy medium, but as an exclusive AS player, sometime I want to try playing with all AS rules except using AGOAC mech sheets and weapons rules. Seems like maybe more story moments but not as complex as the full classic rules. I’m gonna test it with a friend in a 2v2 Solaris match in a few weeks.
Trying to find a half dozen d6 pairs of the same color and different enough color from the other pairs is a huge pain. That's why that's my least favorite.
Market is flooded at this point with them both official and non. Dice Baron has some slick sets with unofficial icons that look close to lots of factions at least.
Only one crit would happen, but more chances for a critical. If you don’t use a pilot skill pair you still get exponentially more chances for that single crit which ain’t accounted for in a unit’s cost when you use the alternative damage method. I’m aware only one instance of box cars grants a crit roll. RAW each unit has 1:36 to crit for their points. If you use the optional damage dice rules this changes and some units benefit a lot while others do not. That’s why I use pilot pairs to make sure by using the alternative method I’m minimizing any cascading impacts to the core rules (if that makes sense).
It doesn’t always shoot crits it has a 1:36 just like everyone else with the base rules. I do this because the standard AS damage method (all or nothing) has all units capped at 1:36 chance to crit. Swapping to multiple dice rolls inadvertently changes the odds making some units more potent than others without their point totals being adjusted to reflect this. Because I don’t know the intent from the author of the rules and no FAQ or errata has been posted to clarify critical when using the optional damage methods (not that I’ve seen anyway), I use a crit pair to maintain the 1:36 to minimize any cascading effects that were not intended by the designer. If they put out a document saying otherwise I’d happily switch and it wouldn’t be the first house rule I’ve used that a clarification from CGL changed. They put out an update on multiple damage dice and rear shots and I adjusted my gameplay as well as my event packet to reflect their clarification. What I do is not because I favor it specifically it’s because I always look at my games and the events I run through a lense of fairness. If I make an adjustment to something for any reason I try to minimize the impact as much as possible to the core mechanics of the game. This hasn’t been an issue at the events I run or the tables I play on yet but as with all things wargame related how I play doesn’t have to be how everyone plays.
I actually use the D12 for each damage per range with one as a “pilot” die meaning the pilot die is the only critical possible with a 12. All roll tables still use 2d6 like on the crit table for example. My kids and I like it for speed.
We adopted the D12 and average only about 1 "headshot" per game which i feel is very thematic and acceptable. So what i mean, is that if you have a 5 damage Mech shooting at a target, you roll 5 D12. Then if you roll a 12 you get a crit roll- then roll a D12 on the chart - we play if you get a 1 it is a miss, from there follow the chart- another roll of a 12 is a headshot and the target is destroyed. This way .we feel there are more damage results from the crit table that are applied to the target and rarely see that second 12 rolled on the chart. I understand for purists the math is different, but we play for fun and it speeds up the game.
I think the method I like and the d12 are the only ones I’d consider. And for the d12 if you’re worried about the crit chat just use 2d6 when that comes up. Otherwise it doesn’t skew the actual damage results nearly as bad as the normal method or single skill die method, I don’t enjoy those 2 options at all. One perk of d12 system is the big dice in hand feel nice to roll and half the game is feeling cool while stuff happens lol!
I tend to bounce between d12s and the skill die depending on how my group feels. Unfortunately most of us don't have enough matching d6 pairs for the other methods.
One pilot die and one die for each damage point. Why? When you are firing a live weapon, in real life, your shot grouping will not vary wildly from shot one to shot 5 or 10. Unlike the pair of dice for every damage point or one roll for all damage, the single pilot die is a little more "realistic" in a game sense.
Watching videos of zeroing rifles it appears there is variance and they usually do 3 shot groups and take an average. In this case however I outlined why I don’t use the method, nothing to do with realism (it’s also BT where realism went out the window anyway), has everything to do with swingy dice. If you spike that pilot die you can miss everything or hit everything which is not great for gameplay and also not indicative of realism either. Again watching gun tubers when they do drills sometimes they have a stray shot or they yanked the gun etc and went real wide or low, that doesn’t mean all their shots missed nor does a single bullseye mean all of them hit but with a single pilot die that is exactly what would happen in bt.
@@Thearmedpainter i agree with the spike. However, if I take an AK and fire a burst, most rounds will either hit or miss in that burst. Next burst may be better or worse. However, you won't have one shot hitting dead center, two shots hitting the next county over, a fourth or fifth shot hitting partial target, etc. It's usually all or nothing in that burst.
Excellent video! I myself prefer the multiple attack rolls but usually end just playing 2d6 standard roll because it’s easier for my kids.
This is a good reason to use the easier method, especially if it’s getting your kiddos to play with you! That’s awesome!
I think multiple attack rolls with crit pair makes Alpha Strike feel the most like classic. Great video.
I really like the multiple dice rolls with the single chance for a crit.
I'm glad I found this video! You kept talking about rolling a lot of dice when talking about weapon stats in your unboxings, and I could not figure out why.
I have only ever used the 2D6 method (but was aware of the D12 method)
I've only been playing classic so far but I'm gonna have to remember to rewatch this video when I eventually try alpha strike
Im on the opposite side. Learned alpha strike first and now learning classic
Good explanation, thanks!
I like the math behind the various approaches.Thinking about following your lead.
@@donlovejoy1805 let me know which method you land on and like :)
Thanks for all the videos! You’re doing an awesome job!
we use the optional Alpha Strike optional damage rule, we have added a fumble table, when you roll snake eyes something happens to you, kind of helps speeds things up and it make's your butt pucker when you roll
A critical failure table would be interesting for sure!
You Sprint that undamaged Atlas(GFI) Fail, it trips and falls, Pilot(Skill 2) fails Injury Roll, Injury Table = Snake Eyes: Pilot Ded. Praise Nuffle
The local scene here in Lansing all use multiple attack rolls and the official Michigan GT uses that too
Thanks for lobbying Bobby to add the crit pair in SA III. Didn’t realize that was your doing. A nice addition to MAR.
Thanks for the video, just getting into the game and it was helpful!
Having watched a decent number of videos on BT: Alphas Strike, I think that the flexibility of the dice system is one of the strengths. Adjusting which system you use for speed and force size seems pretty handy.
Thanks for doing this. I had been looking for a dice method breakdown.
Neat and helpful discussion about AS.
In a house-rule version of the game I like to call 'Betastrike', when a unit takes 1 point of damage, instead of filling out 1 armour/structure bubble with a dot, you instead do a slash / and when it takes it's second point of damage you convert that slash / into an X. Basically you effectively double the armour and structure of all units. I feel it's a bit more realistic as to how long a mech, especially a light one would last.
Betastrike also changes Initiative a bit where size 1 units move and fire first, then size 2 and so on. The exception is if there's a command unit, then that overrides and any size unit can move and fire in any order.
The weapon attack can also occur at any point in the units movement making shots on the run possible. Damage takes effect immediately. Receiving unit's can interrupt with a counter-fire with a +1 modifier, and they use up their firing action if they do. (they can still move if they haven't acted)
I definitely like the granular rolling method. Also, it's fun to roll a crap ton of dice!
As a die-hard Classic player I have no dilemma of which die roll scheme to use 😉
I like using the d12 for the reason that long range becomes viable, and close range isnt guaranteed, and I just do without the crit dice on hit, but I do roll 2d6 when the mech is down to structure. Thanks for the insight :) love the videos.
I'm not massively experienced in AS yet, but we played multiple 2D6 so far without designating any crit dice in the pack.
We do get more crits that way, but that doesn't seem to bother us too much. In fact, I kind of like that the mechs take more degradation as they get shot at... Makes it feel a bit more like CBT, but much smoother.
We only ever allow one crit effect per attack mind you. It just triggers more often.
I believe the rules stipulate you can only ever get one crit from box cars somewhere in the book so that makes sense. I believe the max criticals you could ever roll is 3. 1 for box cars, 1 for internal, 1 if the attack was AM. If that happens look out mech, you’re in for a bad day lol!
As to the rest, I’ve detailed why I do this at events and it’s basically because we are using an optional rule that doesn’t specify how to handle the change in crit percentage and I don’t want to enforce an optional rule that inadvertently favors a particular style of unit over another by deviating from the core rules.
Your method works and I’ve played that too, but for consistency sake from events to channel games I play the same way (crit pair).
If CGL ever puts out an errata for this I’ll make the adjustment to my packet for sure.
I do agree more chances for criticals does feel more like CBT as well which can add a little extra narrative to AS games. I just wish AS heat wasn’t as brutal as it is, in Classic heat management is a thing but with a scale of 1 2 3 shut down and all the of negatives associated with it, it’s rough.
I digress though, as with all rules though if everyone agrees to use or not use something (which I also tell people at my event is ok so long as both people agree) that is what matters :)
I like in the beta for matched play that CGL are working on, they recommend multiple attack rolls for smaller games and single attack rolls for larger ones.
For super big games that makes sense but even with a company on company game (12v12) all or nothing is boring and stuff goes down super fast. It lends itself better to high damage low skill units and just skip lights because stuff just gets one shot.
I think there is a reason why most events are not using the all or nothing dice mechanic, it simply bypasses most of the extra rules in the game because they never come up. What good is a crit from a dire wolf if the unit it hit is just one shot anyway lol.
If you’re player with scores of units on a really large table it makes a lot more sense for the all or nothing.
@@Thearmedpainter Yeah, like at Battalion or Regiment level, all or nothing works because you kinda treat a lance worth of troops like a single unit at BattleTech scale. But a format like AS350 would be awful using single attack rolls.
Great analysis, buddy!
We've been using the multi dice rolls. Definitely better than just one pair. We only recently started working in multiple colors into the mix after it became too unbalanced with people sometimes getting 3-5 12's. We hadn't incorporated any rules for limiting the number of crits, so gameplay was wildly skewed.
Counter argument to having a crit pair while rolling for each individual point with a separate die:
In Battletech if you hit with more weapons you WOULD have a higher chance to score a lucky crit.
The arbitrary averaged damage in AS doesn't represent the multiple hits for multiple weapons in
Battletech very well.
That's the discussion our gaming group had. Both sides have a good argument.
Our solution:
To better represent both sides of this point of view instead of having a single Crit Pair have a Crit Pair
for every other point of damage.
That increases the chances of scoring a crit for units that deliver a large volume of fire without
skewing it to far either way.
The way you described is still treating multiple points of damage like a single weapon hit instead
of the multiple hits the AS numbers are meant to represent.
A start damage of 6 represents multiple weapons averaged together.
Your trying to divide that single 6 into 6 ones and THEN have it only have a 1/36 chance of a crit
when that 6 is ALREADY multiple weapons averaged together.
IMHO without changing the initial formula entirely designating every other dice pair as a crit pair
is the only way to be fair to both sides.
I hope that made sense. Basically I agree that having all dice have a crit chance is to much, but
most of my gaming group felt that just one crit pair wasn't enough.
I agree. Each damage needs to have the chance to inflict the only critical available to ATTACKS.
I tend to favor multiple attack rolls with the crit pair, but I don't have a ton of AS experience.
A 7+ on 2d6 is 21 / 36, which is about 58% of the time. It's also the most common result and the average (mean, medium, and mode)
6.5 is the average on a d12 tho.
I prefer multiple damage rolls with one crit pair. I find it helps lights and mediums be more useful.
I'm gonna try the way you play. I'm not a fan of the D12 at all.
2nd method also! I have to add that house rule of the crit dice pair going forward.
I assume that method 2 does not allow more than 1 critical to be applied during an attack, no matter how many pairs are being rolled. Is that right?
Correct
I currently play with designated crit dice, but I'm not sure for how much longer. For Alpha Strike to really grow, I really think we need to stop using so many house rules and not have so many wildly different formats.
I think for that to occur CGL needs to take an active role in further developing the game. With so many house rules they could learn a thing or two from the community in regards to what big events are doing and what players are gravitating towards. There are already lots of things in the core rules players opt out of because they are terribly unbalanced and need fixing and at this point we are about to have a huge influx of minis on the market, I really hope they go back to develop the rules and further refine them.
@@Thearmedpainter CGL is currently working on a new rulebook focusing on new player experience and stream lining the game, it just takes time. They also have an open beta for a "matched play" system to have a more common pickup game format. Anyone can give it direct feedback.
We do SARs due to time and space limitations.
I’ve played multiple ways and like multiple attack rolls and D12s with any 12 triggering a crit roll, also with D12s. Just makes it more interesting.
For me, the mechanics depends on how much time we want to take to play.
Makes perfect sense :)
I prefer the first (2 Dice) style of rolling. I have played less than a handful of games since learning Alpha strike a few months ago and played both the first and second styles. What I like about the first style is the speed at which the first style plays. Once a get better at the game I may switch to the second style.
The method you've used is fine to learn with but the more granular method in some form is by far more commonly used. The method you're currently on does work well for larger scale games though as it keeps the speed of the game up.
I love it when games come with unique dice like Starwars Legion since sometimes seeing symbols just makes things easier then trying to memorize numbers to activation, at least for me.
D12 method is bad for all the reasons you mentioned, and it seems like the dog agrees. The "standard" method is... alright, but not my favorite, for the reasons you mentioned, though it does seem to give lights a better chance of avoiding getting chipped down over time (but when they do get hit, they typically do get one-shotted); I don't think it is worth the negligible increase in speed. Pilot die just feels way too swingy to me, much love to DFA but no love to their dice method. Don't like multiple damage rolls (which is the one book-official method you left out -- it involves making a to-hit roll with 2D6 and then rolling 1D6 for each point of damage, and was actually the method I learned the game on), but do like multiple attack rolls -- that has been my go-to for years now. Not a fan of the house rule that lowers the chance of crits on multiple attack rolls; I feel like there aren't enough crits in AS, and wish they were more common overall. I usually run AS at the Battalion vs Battalion level (or higher), and we can get through a game in roughly 4 hours with multiple attack rolls. The "multiple damage rolls" method actually lines up a lot with your house rule quite a bit -- you might consider checking it out.
Im no mathematician: Replace Pilot Dice with a Crit Dice - D12 + a 50% crit dice/coin flip. Roll a D12 and another dice, call Odd/Even and if a 12 occurs and the Call is correct, the Crit happens. Call is wrong = no Crit. 1/36 = 3% crit(rounded up). 1/12 = 8%. d12(8%) x 1d2(50%) = .04. Brings it closer to the 3% of 2D6???
So for Speed 1D12 + 1D2(Crit Dice). Fewer Dice to manage, less Bell Curve, about the same Crits(?). Can also Speed up ( * ) Damage Attacks.
Mulit Roll: D12 per Damage + Crit Dice(instead of Pilot Dice) brings Damage down to a slightly less-swingy Average without much more Criticals. Like multiple damage, it can keep Lights and some Mediums from getting One-Shot by strong(Clan) attacks.
Interesting part is if Multi-Damage is split between multiple targets. Cant remember if there are rules for this but i would say if Mech does 6 damage and wants to split up among a swarm of 6 Liao Citizens on Trikes(how very Liao) i would think each additional target past the first gains a +1 mod to Hit per additional target. Or something like that.
I have to pick up alpha strike . What do you consider the pros to Alpha strike a game of total warfare ?
To a game of Total warfare is what I meant to say
@@ThrawnsHand speed, volume of models on the table, and complexity. AS is more closely related to today’s traditional war games where as CBT is closer to a simulation.
In AS you can drop a trinary of Clan mechs against a company or more of IS mechs and tanks and finish a game in a few hours. That same setup in CBT would not only need several hex maps that hopefully work for you but would likely also take all weekend.
AS highly favors 3d terrain where as CBT its an after thought and doesn’t scale well relative to the models.
AS is great for war gamers. CBT simulates the crunch and provides for more interesting stories at the individual mech or pilot level. Both are fine in their own ways, just a matter of what a player wants to get out of a game.
In my experience I’ve done almost no CBT and no one at the game shops is interested in it but AS can get traction.
AS is also easy to teach CBT in my experience goes more smoothly with a seasoned vet to walk players through, AS is simple to the point that casuals can learn easily even if it’s self taught.
Finally. MUL has all of the unit cards for free for AS, CBT requires mech sheets that (unless you resort to piracy) the majority of them are behind paywalls.
@@Thearmedpainterit’s probably an unhappy medium, but as an exclusive AS player, sometime I want to try playing with all AS rules except using AGOAC mech sheets and weapons rules. Seems like maybe more story moments but not as complex as the full classic rules. I’m gonna test it with a friend in a 2v2 Solaris match in a few weeks.
@@Thearmedpainterthis is the exact reason why I started with alpha strike first instead of CBT.
Trying to find a half dozen d6 pairs of the same color and different enough color from the other pairs is a huge pain. That's why that's my least favorite.
Market is flooded at this point with them both official and non. Dice Baron has some slick sets with unofficial icons that look close to lots of factions at least.
Use a "box-of-death"
They used to be cheap but have tripled in price.
3rd printing of the alpha strike rules says only 1 crit applies when using the multiple attack rule
Only one crit would happen, but more chances for a critical. If you don’t use a pilot skill pair you still get exponentially more chances for that single crit which ain’t accounted for in a unit’s cost when you use the alternative damage method. I’m aware only one instance of box cars grants a crit roll.
RAW each unit has 1:36 to crit for their points. If you use the optional damage dice rules this changes and some units benefit a lot while others do not. That’s why I use pilot pairs to make sure by using the alternative method I’m minimizing any cascading impacts to the core rules (if that makes sense).
Ahh i see what you meant now. Makes sense. It's how they do the d12 method at gmr just have one crit die.🎉
Now I need to go buy multiple colored dice pairs. Thanks alot lol
So does your one shot stinger always shoot crits?
It doesn’t always shoot crits it has a 1:36 just like everyone else with the base rules. I do this because the standard AS damage method (all or nothing) has all units capped at 1:36 chance to crit. Swapping to multiple dice rolls inadvertently changes the odds making some units more potent than others without their point totals being adjusted to reflect this.
Because I don’t know the intent from the author of the rules and no FAQ or errata has been posted to clarify critical when using the optional damage methods (not that I’ve seen anyway), I use a crit pair to maintain the 1:36 to minimize any cascading effects that were not intended by the designer. If they put out a document saying otherwise I’d happily switch and it wouldn’t be the first house rule I’ve used that a clarification from CGL changed. They put out an update on multiple damage dice and rear shots and I adjusted my gameplay as well as my event packet to reflect their clarification.
What I do is not because I favor it specifically it’s because I always look at my games and the events I run through a lense of fairness. If I make an adjustment to something for any reason I try to minimize the impact as much as possible to the core mechanics of the game. This hasn’t been an issue at the events I run or the tables I play on yet but as with all things wargame related how I play doesn’t have to be how everyone plays.
I actually use the D12 for each damage per range with one as a “pilot” die meaning the pilot die is the only critical possible with a 12. All roll tables still use 2d6 like on the crit table for example. My kids and I like it for speed.
We adopted the D12 and average only about 1 "headshot" per game which i feel is very thematic and acceptable. So what i mean, is that if you have a 5 damage Mech shooting at a target, you roll 5 D12. Then if you roll a 12 you get a crit roll- then roll a D12 on the chart - we play if you get a 1 it is a miss, from there follow the chart- another roll of a 12 is a headshot and the target is destroyed. This way .we feel there are more damage results from the crit table that are applied to the target and rarely see that second 12 rolled on the chart. I understand for purists the math is different, but we play for fun and it speeds up the game.
I think the method I like and the d12 are the only ones I’d consider. And for the d12 if you’re worried about the crit chat just use 2d6 when that comes up. Otherwise it doesn’t skew the actual damage results nearly as bad as the normal method or single skill die method, I don’t enjoy those 2 options at all.
One perk of d12 system is the big dice in hand feel nice to roll and half the game is feeling cool while stuff happens lol!
My favorite thing about using d12s in concept is that the poor d12 needs more love!
I tend to bounce between d12s and the skill die depending on how my group feels. Unfortunately most of us don't have enough matching d6 pairs for the other methods.
Look for a "box-of-death"
One pilot die and one die for each damage point. Why? When you are firing a live weapon, in real life, your shot grouping will not vary wildly from shot one to shot 5 or 10. Unlike the pair of dice for every damage point or one roll for all damage, the single pilot die is a little more "realistic" in a game sense.
Watching videos of zeroing rifles it appears there is variance and they usually do 3 shot groups and take an average.
In this case however I outlined why I don’t use the method, nothing to do with realism (it’s also BT where realism went out the window anyway), has everything to do with swingy dice. If you spike that pilot die you can miss everything or hit everything which is not great for gameplay and also not indicative of realism either. Again watching gun tubers when they do drills sometimes they have a stray shot or they yanked the gun etc and went real wide or low, that doesn’t mean all their shots missed nor does a single bullseye mean all of them hit but with a single pilot die that is exactly what would happen in bt.
@@Thearmedpainter i agree with the spike. However, if I take an AK and fire a burst, most rounds will either hit or miss in that burst. Next burst may be better or worse. However, you won't have one shot hitting dead center, two shots hitting the next county over, a fourth or fifth shot hitting partial target, etc. It's usually all or nothing in that burst.
So far just use normal dice and rolls
Pilot skill die is only thing that actually works .