As you wander Wujung City, a new building catches your eye.
The sign outside says it is "Ing Hok's Quantum Research Lab".
On entering, you see a single cybernetically-enhanced male-presenting person.
"Hi, I'm Ing Hok," he says, "a quantum universe researcher. Unfortunately for me, the recent Typhon Incident meant my university grant was cancelled, so now I'm soliciting grants from cavaliers."
"Why would a cavalier give you a research grant?" you ask.
"Because of many-worlds, there are a vast number of possible universes," he explains. "The detailed quantum conditions at the Big Bang at the creation of the multiverse determines the physical laws of each universe; each universe has a unique 'quantum signature' that determines its physical laws, and I can tell you what the actual physical laws in our universe are."
"How does knowledge of physical laws help cavaliers?"
"It means each universe has certain physical laws that may make certain weapons or systems more effective compared to their equivalents in other universes," Ing Hok says. "For example, some universe might have a Charge Attack that is more effective than that of other universes. With research, we can determine whether the laws of this universe imply that, or if other weapon types are better."
That would certainly be interesting if it were true, and you begin to ponder if some of your hard-earned credits might be better used for this.
"How much would a grant cost?" you ask.
"Initially, I would ask for a 3M grant," he says. "I already did some research and learned a certain rule of this universe, but I would prefer to get more money to continue my work before I reveal it. Learning more would require more money, as a rough estimate, maybe double that each time."
That's fairly steep, but perhaps getting some information on what equipment is much better in this universe would be worth it.
So here are some "quantum signatures" that may change game rules:
UnreasonablyGoodCharge "Our universe has a small deviation between the gravitational constant and another mass-related constant, the acceleration constant, which are the same constant in other universes. The deviation is too tiny for most cases but it seems to make Charge unreasonably powerful." Charge gets a d10 instead of a d7 damage roll.
EnergyMeleeSlasher "Our universe seems to have a smaller Planck constant than is typical of other universes. This seems to make energy-based melee weapons strike faster compared to other universes, and more likely to deal damage compared to non-energy weapons." Energy melee weapons are twice as likely to get additional attacks.
UniverseTornByEWar "Our universe's electromagnetic forces are more powerful than other universes. Electronic equipment is significantly more reliable, and people are more likely to operate computers and electronic warfare better." All beings get a hidden +3 Computers.
GoingBallistic "The effective balance between the gravitational and frictional forces in our universe is much different from that of others, in favor of the gravitational force. This changes the parabolic firing arcs of bullets and shells, making ballistics weapons much more powerful." Ballistic weapons get a hidden +1 Accuracy +1 Penetration.
We implement this in a new gears.quantumuniverse module.
This contains the above as classes derived from a QuantumSignature class.
Each class just has the description above, which will be explained by Ing Hok when you fund a research grant.
When a new campaign is created, we call into gears.quantumuniverse.create, which creates a set of classes.
It starts with all classes derived from QuantumSignature as a list, then shuffles them, then cuts it to half the size.
So for example, with the above initial set of quantum signatures, 2 of them will be selected at random for each universe.
Then it converts the list to a set and returns the set.
The campaign object stores this set in a new attrib.
When a campaign is started or loaded, we check for that attrib on the camp object.
If it is not set, we call into the above create function to set it.
Then regardless, we call into gears.quantumuniverse.assign with the quantum signature set of the campaign, which sets a private global inside the module, to indicate what quantum universe to apply.
The various game rules in gears.base and gears.attackattributes then call into gears.quantumuniverse.has to check if a particular quantum signature is set.
For example, the code for gears.base.Being could be:
def get_stat(self, stat_id):
# Cyberware can remove skill by giving them -999,
# but make sure not to actually affect gameplay
# beyond removing skills.
stat = ( max(0, self.statline.get(stat_id, 0) + self.get_cyberware_bonus(stat_id))
+ self.ench_list.get_stat(stat_id)
)
if stat_id is stats.Computers and quantumuniverse.has(quantumuniverse.UniverseTornByEWar):
stat += 3
return stat
The IngHok plot then keeps track of a set of already-revealed quantum signatures.
When the pc funds the grant, we take the set difference of the current quantum signatures set and this set, and if the result is non-empty, randomly select one to reveal to the player and add to the already-revealed quantum signatures.
If there are no more unrevealed quantum signatures, then Ing Hok tells the player that his research is wrapping up and he will no longer accept any grants.
Thoughts?
Does this improve replayability and add another sink for extra money the player has (and encourage players to try different playstyles depending on the exact universe they got for a playthrough), or is it just complication for the sake of complexity with no real strategic value?
As you wander Wujung City, a new building catches your eye. The sign outside says it is "Ing Hok's Quantum Research Lab".
On entering, you see a single cybernetically-enhanced male-presenting person.
"Hi, I'm Ing Hok," he says, "a quantum universe researcher. Unfortunately for me, the recent Typhon Incident meant my university grant was cancelled, so now I'm soliciting grants from cavaliers."
"Why would a cavalier give you a research grant?" you ask.
"Because of many-worlds, there are a vast number of possible universes," he explains. "The detailed quantum conditions at the Big Bang at the creation of the multiverse determines the physical laws of each universe; each universe has a unique 'quantum signature' that determines its physical laws, and I can tell you what the actual physical laws in our universe are."
"How does knowledge of physical laws help cavaliers?"
"It means each universe has certain physical laws that may make certain weapons or systems more effective compared to their equivalents in other universes," Ing Hok says. "For example, some universe might have a Charge Attack that is more effective than that of other universes. With research, we can determine whether the laws of this universe imply that, or if other weapon types are better."
That would certainly be interesting if it were true, and you begin to ponder if some of your hard-earned credits might be better used for this.
"How much would a grant cost?" you ask.
"Initially, I would ask for a 3M grant," he says. "I already did some research and learned a certain rule of this universe, but I would prefer to get more money to continue my work before I reveal it. Learning more would require more money, as a rough estimate, maybe double that each time."
That's fairly steep, but perhaps getting some information on what equipment is much better in this universe would be worth it.
So here are some "quantum signatures" that may change game rules:
UnreasonablyGoodCharge"Our universe has a small deviation between the gravitational constant and another mass-related constant, the acceleration constant, which are the same constant in other universes. The deviation is too tiny for most cases but it seems to make Charge unreasonably powerful." Charge gets a d10 instead of a d7 damage roll.EnergyMeleeSlasher"Our universe seems to have a smaller Planck constant than is typical of other universes. This seems to make energy-based melee weapons strike faster compared to other universes, and more likely to deal damage compared to non-energy weapons." Energy melee weapons are twice as likely to get additional attacks.UniverseTornByEWar"Our universe's electromagnetic forces are more powerful than other universes. Electronic equipment is significantly more reliable, and people are more likely to operate computers and electronic warfare better." All beings get a hidden +3 Computers.GoingBallistic"The effective balance between the gravitational and frictional forces in our universe is much different from that of others, in favor of the gravitational force. This changes the parabolic firing arcs of bullets and shells, making ballistics weapons much more powerful." Ballistic weapons get a hidden +1 Accuracy +1 Penetration.We implement this in a new
gears.quantumuniversemodule. This contains the above as classes derived from aQuantumSignatureclass. Each class just has thedescription above, which will be explained by Ing Hok when you fund a research grant.When a new campaign is created, we call into
gears.quantumuniverse.create, which creates asetof classes. It starts with all classes derived fromQuantumSignatureas a list, then shuffles them, then cuts it to half the size. So for example, with the above initial set of quantum signatures, 2 of them will be selected at random for each universe. Then it converts the list to a set and returns the set. The campaign object stores this set in a new attrib.When a campaign is started or loaded, we check for that attrib on the
campobject. If it is not set, we call into the abovecreatefunction to set it. Then regardless, we call intogears.quantumuniverse.assignwith the quantum signature set of the campaign, which sets a private global inside the module, to indicate what quantum universe to apply.The various game rules in
gears.baseandgears.attackattributesthen call intogears.quantumuniverse.hasto check if a particular quantum signature is set. For example, the code forgears.base.Beingcould be:The
IngHokplot then keeps track of a set of already-revealed quantum signatures. When thepcfunds the grant, we take the set difference of the current quantum signatures set and this set, and if the result is non-empty, randomly select one to reveal to the player and add to the already-revealed quantum signatures. If there are no more unrevealed quantum signatures, then Ing Hok tells the player that his research is wrapping up and he will no longer accept any grants.Thoughts? Does this improve replayability and add another sink for extra money the player has (and encourage players to try different playstyles depending on the exact universe they got for a playthrough), or is it just complication for the sake of complexity with no real strategic value?