Re: [GZG] Opposed roll randomness (Was: [SG3]: What if?)

On Thu, January 31, 2008 20:31, Oerjan Ariander wrote:
> Robert Bryett replied to Samuel Penn:
>
>> > Which brings me to my peeve of the randomness of the die mechanic.
>> > Good troops are less predictable in their results than poor troops.
>>
>>I don't understand this comment. The random "mechanic" in SGII is an
>>*opposed* roll, so isn't the result the *difference* between the
>>rolls, not the rolls themselves? In this context, I don't see how the
>>performance of either set of troops involved in an opposed roll can
>>be called more predictable than the other. Is the theory simply that
>>more sides on the die automatically equals less predictability?
>
> I've been wondering this for years...
>
> I suspect that at least part of it is a refusal to accept that having
the
> better quality (ie. bigger die) does not absolutely guarantee that
you'll
> win the opposed die roll. To me, comments like Samuel's (and I've seen
> quite a few of them over the years) always give an impression of "My
D10
> rolled a 1 while his D6 rolled a 5, so my Veteran lost to his Greenie
-
> that's not fair! My troops are better, they're not *supposed* to lose!
> :-("

I'd say no. Poor troops should be able to beat good troops if
they have luck on their side. I've lost very badly at times due
to bad dice[1], so I've sort of got used to it :-)

However, what I don't like is that if the d12 rolls badly, then
a bad roll on the d6 can still beat it. Where there's a big difference
in troop quality, I would prefer that the poorer quality troops have
to do well in order to take advantage of the good one's bad luck.
This doesn't happen in SG. A bad roll from good troops can result
in the other side's roll being almost meaningless - they're going
to win.

Your example is fine - the greens did very well, and the elites
did very badly. It's when the greens roll a 2 and still win that
it seems wrong.

Having said that, I think the SG mechanic does work well, and I
haven't come up with a way of improving it without complicating
things. My complaint is a theoretical one based on how I like
mechanics to work.

[1] My worst example is in FT, where two dozen groups of heavy
    interceptor fighters where wiped out by half their number
    of standard fighters, with the standard fighters taking
    minimal casualties. That was good luck on the part of my
    opponent, plus bad luck on my part. That was in a single
    turn of dogfighting.

-- 
Be seeing you,		  http://www.glendale.org.uk
Sam.			  xmpp:sam@glendale.org.uk

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