I've just updated my alpha test rules for
Zero Dark to version 0.2.3 and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to let the Lead Adventure crew know about them. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about talking about them here until they were a bit more finished. They're a long way from polished, but the full game is now taking on a clear shape. Other than missions and campaigns, there's little to add - but a lot to fine-tune!
But in a world replete with sci-fi skirmish games, why bother with
Zero Dark?
Well, what I hope makes it stand out from the crowd is that it offers you a variety of different play modes.
Solo Mode lets you play on your own against a dangerous and unpredictable enemy controlled by card flips, which also provide the game with its countdown. Not completed your mission by the time the last card is flipped? You lose.
Co-op Mode is a lot like Solo mode, but you team up with a partner, each of you controlling an agreed number of characters.
PvP Mode is traditional miniatures wargaming: two sides against each other. But you can add an optional Red Force for additional chaos (representing vulnerable civilians caught in the cross-fire). In addition, PvP can easily be played as team-versus-team in a more natural and fluid way to traditional miniatures wargames. Just agree a number of characters for each player, and a number of upgrades for each team, and you're ready to go!
If you'd like to know more, sign up at the Precinct Omega beta testing forum:
http://precinctomega.freeforums.net/You can download all the latest iterations of the alpha test rules there. Hope you like what you see. I'm certainly enjoying play-testing!
If you want to know the sort of gameplay, I put together a mission for my team, following a successful bank heist, to escape past an enemy perimeter force. My team comprised a super-smart electronic warfare operative (EWOp), Cap, a heavy weapons expert, Shadey, and their leader, Agent Grace, a deadly sharpshooter and mistress of Gun-fu. Their opponents were a mixture of human and synthetic enemies.
Shadey ran around to a flanking position, drawing curiosity from a nearby enemy out of his line of sight. But Cap moved up stealthily and used his excellent skills to distract the threat to Shadey off in a different direction. Grace pushed around to Cap's left, gesturing for him to use his hacking skill to give her a better shot at the enemy boss, who had his back to her. But unfortunately for Cap, as he was manoeuvring for his hack, an eney Grunt spotted him, snapping off a poorly-aimed shot but alerting his colleagues to the presence of the team.
Deciding now was the best time, Shadey launched his anti-personnel rocket into the midst of the nearest knot of enemy, blowing three of them to bits and knocking several others to the floor. This gave Cap the opening to tag the Boss, and Grace opened fire on the deadly leader. The poor visibility was against her, however, and he refused to go down, instead calling on a nearby synthetic Grunt to deal with them. Shadey hefted his light machine gun to lay down fire on the survivors of his rocket attack while Grace moved up, closing the distance to the Boss and keeping a nearby truck between her and the synthetic trying to hunt her down. In a hail of lead she dropped the leader, just as Shadey killed off the final elite. There were only Grunts between the team and their exit point, now!
But suddenly a heavy step crushed the asphalt behind them and Cap turned in horror to see that a massive enemy Defence Mech had appeared right at their backs. He would be toast the second it noticed him unless...
Dominating a Defence Mech is no simple task. It has a firewall level of 2 and was carrying a support token, too. But if he did exactly the stupidest thing imaginable, and ran right at the mech...
The mech - a synthetic type rather than a piloted one - obviously taken aback by his assault, failed to react immediately and gave Cap enough time for one hack attempt. He was rolling five d12, but he would need to roll 5+ on all of them to succeed...
Success! The mech is dominated and now the team has its very ownmech to push into the enemy lines. That should definitely distract them while the others head for the exit...
Regards,
Robey
16 September 2014, 08:28:29 AM