Formatting for this narrow for some reason, you can also read this update here: https://itch.io/t/3983102/12-month-update
Reizor
Creator of
Recent community posts
Hello Commanders!
Assault Fleet Centauri has been out for just over a year now in early access in some form, and I wanted to give you an update on the game.
I'm still working diligently on refining the game, making new ships, new officer abilities, and refining the rules. In fact barely a day goes by where I'm not thinking about AFC, Section 5, or the Solar Cold War setting. I've been picking away at them all pretty diligently, but I'm only one person and this project is huge. I thought, since it's been a year without a game update I should tell you what I've been working on. Basically, the games been going through a full rework. I'm fundamentally changing the basic mechanics of the game, but I'm doing it in service of the spirit of the game.
Why the change?
There are two reasons why I needed to change the game.
First of all the mechanics are much more of a convoluted mess than I originally thought. Back in October I showed the game to a friend of mine at PAX Aus. They're a very insightful game dev and have a knack for getting to the heart of what a game is, and what does and doesn't work in a design. Up until this point I'd only showed the game to RPG players, not anyone in the industry.
Something that became immediately apparent was that every action you could do in the game worked completely differently in a way that was just confusing to a new player. More specifically, there were too many different ways to roll dice. Another factor in the confusion was that some mechanics were ultra granular and felt like moves in board game, while other mechanics were very loose, narrativist, and open to interpretation...and not in a fun way. So the incongruity of the mechanics alone demanded a revision, but so did the game feel they created.
When I originally started making this game I wanted to create a tactical rpg where success was based on the choices you made. What Version 1 of AFC turned out to be however was a board game where choosing the right move was all that mattered. I don't want a tactical game of sci-fi chess. As a player I want to be engaging with the game world as closely as possible to the way my character would be. I don't wanna be thinking about action economies and granular rules, I want it to be a narrative simulation. I want the tactical puzzle to be about considering the in universe circumstances, not board game manuvering...I'll save that for board game night
So something also needed to change in the design philosophy of mechanics. The game as it stood wasn't about making choices, it was about system mastery...and that's not what I wanted it to be.
What's Changed?
I don't want to list every little bit of rules difference, both because that'd be tedious but also because it wouldn't be useful. I'm pretty set on the major change, but still working out the details. The basics of the game, what I consider the core experience, remains unchanged. Each player still commands their own warship. Those ships are still made up of Hull Points, Weapon Systems, and Ship Abilities. Your player character is still your ships commander and has Skills and Officer abilities. Your ship is still represented in the play space by a playing card. And as ever, a key part of your success is managing your resources.
What's changed is that the game, where ever possible, focuses more on narrative positioning than numbers and stats. It now uses a decision matrix to determine the effectiveness of your action, but you still roll dice. Graduating up or down dice sizes as the odds stack up for or against you. Instead of Crew abilities each ship has a number of Sub-Commanders, NPC Officers that help you lead your crew in actions. I've also done away with combat phases. Instead each officer on your ship gets to take an action. I've redesigned the Ship sheets to be more legible, coherent, and to better describe the in world capabilities of your vessel. The Officer sheets are more streamlined, and setup so you can print them on the back of your ship sheet.
There's a lot more changes that I've been making to the game but the big one is that I've moved it even further away from what other tactical rpgs are doing. This now feels even less like D&D and Starfinder, and much more like someone fused Blades in the Dark with war collage strategic simulations.
What does that mean going forward?
This Dev Log is just a declaration of intention. Its update on what I've been working on. The new version of the game is nowhere near ready for public viewing but I did want to leave you all in the dark about what I've been doing for the last 12 months.
Right now, nothing changes for you or the game. I feel that the new mechanics are pretty big departure from what I originally released, and I don't want to steal that version of the game away from you. When version 2 of AFC is eventually ready for the public, I'll archive version 1 but leave it available as a zip file for you all to access through the downloads.
I hope you're as excited for version 2 as I am, thanks for reading, and Fair Winds.
Sorry for the slow reply, I've been getting ready to run the game at a convention this weekend.
I think 1-3 players is the sweet spot, but 4 and 5 also work well. At five players you Skill Specialisations and Subtle Manifestations start to double up.
I think early teens an above is the age range. If you'd let your kid watch Dark Angel or Terminator unsupervised, they are probably old enough to be playing this game.
I would argue that all my work has Queer themes by virtue of me being Queer, and that's definitely true of this game. However, there aren't like mechanics or powers related to that. The game explores ideas of self expression, found family, abusive childhood, and running away to make a better life for yourself where you can be who you really are...There's also a bit in the back of the book about two prehistoric angels having a gay romance and being exiled by God, so I'd say it has LGBT content in it.
I hope that helped answer your questions, let me know if you have any more.
If you like Section 5, why not check out it's companion game Assault Fleet Centauri? If you like Space Socialism and Battleship Carrier Hybrids, it's the game for you.
If you'd like to hear how Make Our Own Heaven is played, Jeff has an actual play up on Party Of One podcast.
https://www.partyofonepodcast.com/2022/04/20/324-make-our-own-heaven-with-reizor/
Earlier this month I made the bare bones version of my game for the TRAN FUCKING RAGE JAM.
With this jam I'm hoping to refine the book, I've got a list of things to expand and improve.
The game is Reclaim Eternity, and the pitch is fringe cyberpunks and outcasts killing Gods Cyberangels, ripping out their guts, and using those to modify your body so you can kill more angels. All so you can steal gods miracle medical tech and use it to help those he rejects.
The lovely people over at the Technical Difficulties podcast just released an actual play episode where they took a look at LLDR.
https://www.technicaldifficultiespod.com/episodes/2022/3/16/livelovedieremember-one-shot
First off, game is explicitly a commentary on the twin evils of colonialism and capitalism. It's not an Adventuring game.
Second, this comment and others you have left all across the site demonstrate a contempt for the games you are commenting on.
All art is political, either explicitly or implicitly.
This game is clearly not what you are looking for, but you knew that before you commented. It's a Biopunk game, of course it's gonna deal with political themes. You are clearly out here commenting on bad faith.
I don't want your money, or your patronage. Get outta my comments.
Love what you've made here, an I love that shot of Mars too.
The layout is clean, an a nice show of your skill. I like the triangles.
The text is perfect, giving you just what you need to get going. A little bit of evocative text, the mechanics, some tools for randomisation. Love it. An excellent showing.