What were they thinking? Rule Analysis

[TychesCoin]

I think everyone agrees there are alot of rules and design decisions that don't make sense or seem inconsistent. There's always alot of talk about changing rules, particularly the ones that seem unbalanced or just dumb. I have enough faith in the game designers to believe they put thought into each of these decisions. I'd like to see some discussion analyzing some of these decisions. What were they thinking? Does some important game balance or playability issue rest on this decision?

The first issue on my mind is why aren't super strength characters allowed to drop items? I'm guessing this was to minimize disputes: "I dropped the mailbox last turn so I'm in hindering terrain and get a +1 for defense" "You didn't say you did" "I thought it was obvious" blah blah blah. Also I suppose the possibility of a superstrength character with stealth carrying around a hiding place might influence the decision as well.

Anybody else have thoughts on this. Or Flying RCE, or soaring's purpose in the minds of a game designer? Or anything else along these lines?

[Ozymandas]

I agree with you & feel that in many cases the rules are needlessly complicated. Depending on who I'm playing with, often someone feels cheated when what seemed fine according to the rulebook gets overturned by the FAQ's.

Also, hovering/soaring is a little silly. These characters should be either walking (grounded) or flying. Have you ever read a comic where these caracters never touch the ground?

[Logan Myrddin]

I think that's a good point. We DON'T want stealth characters carying around cardboard boxes. NOT good. However, I think they should be able to drop the objects in an adjacent square of the opponent's choice, just so they can drop it if need be. Wait a minute. WHY in the WORLD would a ss character want to drop an object? Of course, if it's to pick up a better one...

[TychesCoin]

I'm not sure the rules a needlessly complicated. They may just seem that way. THere may actually be reason solidly founded in logic that just isn't obvious to those of us who weren't in on every phase of development.

As far hovering/soaring I understand the need for a distinction between hovering and grounded. But I don't always understand some of the decisions they made to support their weird 4-tiered system (grounded and then in no particular order of elevation: hovering soaring and elevated). Line of sight rules get weird, ranged combat gets weird etc.

Good point Logan, nothing in my explanation for not allowing super strength characters to drop an action explains why they can't simply discard it into oblivion as if it had been used. Though I suppose you could make an attack at some in offensive piece of shrubbery four squares away and throw the thing.

[MrPopo]

I tend to agree here on the subject of Super Strength. I'll also add that characters with Battle Fury should also be immune to Psychic Blast. It's only fair for Juggernaut, right? And I'm not a fan of the fact that rolling doubles for mind control will damage your target, when you probably want him to be at his strongest so he can slaughter his teammates. It'd be better if the one click carried over to his attack rather than the mind controller's.

[zaurial]

i also agree with the being able to drop an object. you can't be carried if yoiu have one! that can slow the game. to avoid dispute, i think you should be able to drop an object, if you announce on your turn that you are doing it. and about the soaring/hovering thing, i also agree. for instance, the vulture cant just float in one place for a while. he isnt a friggin hummingbird! and i have one: taxiing. how can some one like yellowjacket possible carry the 610-lbs that is the hulk? it cant be done! opinons?

[KarateForever]

Originally posted by zaurial
how can some one like yellowjacket possible carry the 610-lbs that is the hulk?

Hulk weighs way more then 610-lbs

www.MarvelDirectory.com
Weight: 1,040 lbs. as green Hulk, 128 lbs. as Banner, 900 lbs. as gray Hulk

Just playin' with you Zaurial.:D

[TychesCoin]

MrPopo, I understand why battle fury doesn't stop psychic blast and think its a good decision. Maybe psychic blast should have been named more generically, but the point of it is to bypass enhanced defenses (from a gameplay standpoint). The sole purpose of battle fury is to defend against mindcontrol, there isn't any overlap.
In fact so many tough/inv characters seem to have battlefury at some point or another having it cancel psychic blast would greatly diminish psychic blast's value. But since its named as a psychic attack, in comic book terms juggernaut should be immune.

zaurial, the hovering rule is a case where comic book reality has to give way to consistent rules. Vulture may not be able to hover in one place forever, but magneto certainly can. As would any TK or magic based flier I think. And the taxi rules are never gonna be perfect. No way could wasp really carry Hulk, but how do you make that rule? Give each flier a list of characters they can legally carry? gets a little complicated. Limit taxiing to characters with superstrength (makes and awful lot of characters worthless, and do you really need superstrength to carry most characters? Only allow taxis to carry figures of lesser point value? might fix alot of things, but then you've got the the 160 point elektra who is suddenly looks pretty heavy in a 300 pt game.