Test 30 Apr

[Jubal]

As well as some Hetairos tests I did some Cepheida testing recently, just one game.

T-P played Hansa, I played Homeworlders, and we did the Extraction scenario, a sort of capture-the-objective: it's one of the more directly competitive scenarios, asking players to get items back from a crashed ship to their own ship. We were on a toxic desert world so we were all taking some hits throughout from that, and I made the error of trying to push forward a bit too fast despite not having a lot of firepower, meaning actually I just got mauled by a Trugen and its guard and porter: numbers really really matter in Cepheida, and whilst the Homeworlder captains are pretty good for combat, the scientist with one guard is far, far too squishy.

I set about in a science lab I found trying to create biomechs with my remaining (very much not a scientist) adventurer, to get some revenge while T-P started extracting some of the devices. With one device left to go, I made a rush for the crashed ship, but unfortunately both Trugen ganged up and with their guards and porters stomped on my new creations anyway. The remaining Trugen were probably not going to make it back to their ship in one piece, but they'd have enough of a head-start before succumbing to the atmosphere that a backup crewman could finish the job so it made sense for me to concede.

Interesting game - I'd not done much direct PvP combat in Cepheida before, I think my shooting system actually works quite well, but the advantage of numbers is still very important. Definitely need some more healing options in the game as well, and I think the scenario needs some tweaking, possibly adding a first phase where players need to explore to find ways to get into the ship before just running for the extraction point. Losing the exploration bit to a mad dash for the objective takes away from the fun chaos a little bit.