Astro's Custom Units [Update 5/26/21: WWII Medic]

[caps]

"Slumbering Retribution"?
"Sleeping Giant"?

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

"Slumbering Retribution"?
"Sleeping Giant"?

I think that the problem is with evoking sleeping or passivity on such an aggressive character. I like how it ties into the new name for Awakened Fear, but the theme does seem at odds with the rest of Masha's design.

I could always keep the current basis and go with something different like "False Idle" (which doubles as a homophone for idol, which is somewhat fitting for a demon), but that sounds kind of weird and incomplete.

I do like Retribution, though. Especially if the power is more complex, I think that it can make its effects clearer than "Spite" does. Perhaps Burning Retribution or Demonic Retribution might work?

[Lazy Orang]

'Dangerously Dormant?'

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

'Dangerously Dormant?'

I think that "Dormant Danger" has a very nice ring to it. I'm always a sucker for some slight alliteration, and it ties into the Order Marker restriction quite nicely whilst avoiding the pitfall of sleep.

[Astroking112]

STEEL ULTIMATUS
Best in the League

A Divided Alliance - Heroes of the Sport (3/4)



The figure used is Steel Ultimatus from the game Battleball. Steel Ultimatus is a single-spaced figure.

CHARACTER BIO:

Spoiler Alert!

TBA

CARD TEXT:

Spoiler Alert!

GENERAL = VYDAR
PLANET = EARTH
SPECIES = BIONIC
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ATHLETE
PERSONALITY = PRECISE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 4

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 5
POINTS = 90

GRAVITY FIELD
All opponent's figures may not pass over spaces within 3 clear sight spaces of Steel Ultimatus.

ANTIGRAVITY LEAP SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 3.
Choose an empty space within 4 spaces of Steel Ultimatus that is not under an overhang. Place him on the chosen space. All figures adjacent to Steel Auxilius after this placement are affected by Antigravity Leap Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. If Steel Ultimatus is engaged when he starts to use Antigravity Leap Special Attack, he will take any leaving engagement attacks.

-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

• IRON WOLVES : VYDAR ATHLETE BONDING
  As an athlete who follows Vydar, Steel Ultimatus may benefit from the Iron Wolves' VYDAR ATHLETE BONDING activation bonus.
  
  
• STALWART : PULL TO SAFETY
  As a friendly athlete figure, Steel Ultimatus may ignore wounds after a successful roll for Stalwart's PULL TO SAFETY.
  
  
• IRON JUDGE : FIELD PASS
  As a Vydar athlete, Steel Ultimatus may move with the Iron Judge's FIELD PASS movement power.
  
  
• LINEBACKER : ATHLETE ENHANCEMENT
  As an Athlete, Steel Ultimatus may benefit from a Linebacker's ATHLETE ENHANCEMENT attack and defense bonus.
  
  
• COMMAND COURIER : COMMAND DISPATCH
  As a Medium Vydar Unique Hero, Steel Ultimatus may take a turn due to a Command Courier’s COMMAND DISPATCH ability.

Synergy Benefits Offered

• IRON WOLVES : REINFORCE THE LINE
  As an athlete, Steel Ultimatus may aid the Iron Wolves after being wounded to trigger REINFORCE THE LINE.

As always, any comments or feedback are appreciated.

[Leaf_It]

What about Bound? It is effectively Leap with an extra move. And then there's customs with similar abilities that allow you to ignore terrain elevations. And my Vulcanmech Striker that I'm intending to submit to the SoV eventually with a Jump ability that works similarly. What if it was instead worded like this?

GRAVITY FIELD
All opponents' figures within 3 clear sight spaces of Steel Ultimatus, cannot use any special power that would allow them to ignore terrain elevations, pass over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, or pass over obstacles such as ruins.

This would have the same effect, but it wouldn't force future designers to call their powers Flying, Leaping, or Bound. It would just target any ability that had those attributes.

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

What about Bound? It is effectively Leap with an extra move. And then there's customs with similar abilities that allow you to ignore terrain elevations. And my Vulcanmech Striker that I'm intending to submit to the SoV eventually with a Jump ability that works similarly. What if it was instead worded like this?

This would have the same effect, but it wouldn't force future designers to call their powers Flying, Leaping, or Bound. It would just target any ability that had those attributes.

I somehow always forget about Kursus. Thematically, I think that the power should block a great many more powers than it can (such as Pounce or Sonic Fists), but I hadn't found a good way to do it. Back when I first posted him, I kind of just resigned to the fact that it would only affect Flying and Leap powers specifically, although I didn't realize that Kursus has such a similar power that still falls outside that umbrella. The intent was certainly not to force future designers to take Steel Ultimatus into account when designing such abilities. If the problem can't be addressed, I'll revert him back into a mini-portable Glyph of Rannveig that only stops flying.

I am really curious about your proposed wording, though. We normally see powers called out by name rather than function in HeroScape. @Scytale , do you feel like that type of power might work?

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Astroking112

I am really curious about your proposed wording, though. We normally see powers called out by name rather than function in HeroScape. @Scytale , do you feel like that type of power might work?

For a VC unit? No. It's much too customy, and can easily develop lots of logic holes (if it doesn't already). Not to mention, Flying is really, really poorly defined already, so this raises lots of questions about that. (If a figure flies into the aura, are they dropped? That goes against the Swirling Vortex ruling. If they do drop, can they leave the aura and start flying again? Etc. I can think of more for Stealth Leap and others.)


You can rule things however you want in your own games, though, so go for it.

[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by Scytale

For a VC unit? No. It's much too customy, and can easily develop lots of logic holes (if it doesn't already). Not to mention, Flying is really, really poorly defined already, so this raises lots of questions about that. (If a figure flies into the aura, are they dropped? That goes against the Swirling Vortex ruling. If they do drop, can they leave the aura and start flying again? Etc. I can think of more for Stealth Leap and others.)


You can rule things however you want in your own games, though, so go for it.

Thanks for the quick response! I thought that it might not work. Even if I don't plan on submitting to SoV, though, I'd like to address potential rules problems like this.

I see some potential problems with Leap (since it has a different movement, does a figure that has moved only 2 spaces with leap get to continue moving after entering the Gravity Field?), anyway, so I'm thinking that it would be best to just trim down the power so that it only affects flying.

Doesn't the way that Flying works mean that a figure can start and stop flying at any point during its movement? If so, then I don't see how Gravity Field would present rules problems if it solely limits flying.

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by Scytale

For a VC unit? No. It's much too customy, and can easily develop lots of logic holes (if it doesn't already). Not to mention, Flying is really, really poorly defined already, so this raises lots of questions about that. (If a figure flies into the aura, are they dropped? That goes against the Swirling Vortex ruling. If they do drop, can they leave the aura and start flying again? Etc. I can think of more for Stealth Leap and others.)


You can rule things however you want in your own games, though, so go for it.

What about simplifying it, and heavily borrowing the wording from Cyberclaw, to word it like;

GRAVITY FIELD
All opponents' figures that enter or occupy a space within 3 clear sight spaces of Steel Ultimatus may not ignore terrain elevations by use of any special power on any army card or glyph.

As I understand it, this would allow flying/leaping figures to ignore terrain effects, similar to levitation, it would allow them to pass through figures they didn't start engaged with, kind of like having Phantom walk, and they would be able to pass through Ruins, and trees and stuff since that's included in the flying power. The big difference is that they would need to count elevations. This thematically makes sense to me, since the ability is supposed to be making the force of gravity stronger while next to Ultimatus.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Astroking112

Doesn't the way that Flying works mean that a figure can start and stop flying at any point during its movement? If so, then I don't see how Gravity Field would present rules problems if it solely limits flying.

Not that I know of. As far as is known, you can only start flying during a movement, not land until the end. But who knows; flying is too poorly defined.

Even still, like I said, powers like Swirling Vortex and Cyberclaw do not affect flying figures until they land, so I don't see why this power would either. Apparently flying figures do not actually occupy the space they fly over.

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by Scytale

Not that I know of. As far as is known, you can only start flying during a movement, not land until the end. But who knows; flying is too poorly defined.

Even still, like I said, powers like Swirling Vortex and Cyberclaw do not affect flying figures until they land, so I don't see why this power would either. Apparently flying figures do not actually occupy the space they fly over.

Well, What if we added a definition to flying? What I mean is, since we are effectively the creators, we can add new definitions within reason, and some of the Sov/C3V custom already have done this. Certainly we should be cautious of doing so, but Flying seems to be a case where a newly defined definition would be immensely helpful. I propose, and this is probably not the best place to be doing this, that the term "pass over"/"passes over" be used to reference a figure that is flying. This term can used to effect figures that are flying as they move. We could now for example affect a flying figure during it's flying move by wording it like so; "any figure that becomes engaged, or passes over [insert name here]".

GRAVITY FIELD
All opponents' figures that pass over, enter, or occupy a space within 3 clear sight spaces of Steel Ultimatus, may not ignore terrain elevations by use of any special power on any army card or glyph.