What if
To allow players to choose the output of their damage dice.
Either at the start of the game, for the entire game. Or right before a battle starts.
I think it is a neat idea.
But counterarguments are welcome.
If I am to implement this, the CRT dice that I use will have to gain an upgrade.
Besides of the 1,2,3,4,5,6. There are also number of hits.
The default game uses 0,1,1,2,3,3 for hits. A total of 10, or 1.666 as average.
Other options are for example:
022222
000055
00000-10 or 00000X
112222
etc.
All having an average of 1.666 and a total of 10 points distributed on the 6 sides.
In fact, there are 35 different options.
The dice certainly have room for 2 more figures on each side.
Thus a total of 4 numbers per side.
1 for the normal numbers. And 3 coloured ones for 1 of the 3 options.
That is, if different colours are possible per side.
black die, white normal numbers, red/blue/green for the options. With the game having 2 or 3 players in most situations. I think, 3 options is a good number. "I think"
I am however, looking for the right options. I made a big table of calculations in excel. That covers the standard deviations for each possibility. Up to 9 dice rolls of the same damage output.
The SD is divided by the average. Giving me the SD in % compared to the average.
I discovered some weird results.
I thought that the %SD development form 1 to 9 dice would provide me leverage on choosing. But it just so happens that no matter which die I use. The SD of 9 is always 1/3 than that %SD of 1.
The true differences are that some start with a %SD, way higher then others.
Some dice have the exact same SD and thus %SD, while their damage output can differ greatly by chance.
I don't know how to continue to close in on the final choices.
Maybe some advice on what other figures I could look at.
I could post a list of the 35 possibilities.
But I am sure you can imagine what is possible.
Pondering about what I would like to use.
But it has gone back to the logical reasoning. When does a roll, kill?
A clean shot of 5 works best on most opponents.
A combination that reaches 5 also works good.
Second level: 1+4 and 2+3.
Third level: 1+1+3, 1+2+2.
There is a fourth and fifth level. But those have a very low %SD. That includes dice that combine the second and third level. Not only that, but certainty for 1 kill, removes the chance on a second.
A clean shot of 10, works best when you are running away, and want a smaller chance, but are trying to snipe 2 opponent during the run. With 16,7%, this is very reasonable.
Any shot that does 6, 7, 8 or 9 hits, are either overkill or insufficient during combat. There is healing nowadays. Not only that, but gaps in hits are created with multiple dice.
Gaps in the combination rolls are worse, when the gap is exactly 5.
eg. 000028 will never make 5 hits. It does however with 10. But all in between are overkill or insufficient.
000046 is exactly the same. And 000226 is even worse.
But if you think that is bad. 111115 is a disaster. While with 5 dice, you have a certain kill. If one of those dice roll a 5. The kill will remain just 1.
In fact, the gaps move along the axis when adding dice. 1 die or 5 dice make a kill. 5 dice will have multiple occasions with overkill, that is also insufficient for the next target.
With 2 or 6 dice, the same story applies. But then everything shifts up 1 hit. Which even means, more inappropriate gaps.
***
With 35 choices. I need to think of a way. To get myself a good overview of how much overkill and inefficiency there is.