Anyone maintaining?
 

Hi
Is anyone working on the Starship Trooper files?

I'll admit it
 

I am, but I would say don't hold your breath for too long.

I had to learn a lot of new things, and learning cure meant I botched the first 4 re-writes...the next 4 were trying to implement new things I had figured out in the learning process, and playtesting ripped it apart...and then I got the bug and MI army books, which had new methods of figuring priority levels, which invalidated the core method of the first 8 versions...and the thing I was trying to implement turned out to be a dead end, so I needed a short break to bang my head into concrete for a bit.

Now that I've done that for a while, I sat down and put the project fully out on paper with all the planning done with methods I have used before and I know work, with one exception (and I've got that figured out, its just the exact code I need to do it still comes to me slowly).

But, if the first 8 attempts taught me anything (and apparently I should have learned more or there wouldn't have been 8 of them...) the planning here at the start is crucial; as long as I get this all right it starts to be data plugging pretty fast after that.

On this rewrite the Arachnids are about 70% done. Once they are done (this week I think) it needs a bit of playtesting and then I'll put the bugs only version up on the yahoo group for people to play with (the most recent version there is my rewrite 7; it has issues that the current re-write fixes, and its not complete. Someone wanted to see what direction I was going, so I stuck it up there.)

MI (Including Klendathu and Pathfinders) should get up within 2 weeks or so after that, skinnies a bit after that (my skinny book got backordered).

I've got my wife doing data entry to help speed things along, and two more members of my gaming group are buying AB this week to help me with playtesting and debugging, and we have set playtesting every week (about 6 hours worth).

So, its still going to be a bit, but its going to be right when it gets there.

I hate to say a exact date, becuase I sure thought I had it on version 5....and version 6.....and well, you get the idea.

A quick update so I'm not leaving you hanging; the bug version needs a bit more playtesting before I'll put it up. The basic design is getting good reviews from the play testers, but I've got a few typos and carrion bugs are still giving me a bit of trouble to implement (the tag that tells a host what PL it is dosen't go to a unit that gets added to the host, I need to figure that out so I can limit the carrion bugs to one unit of bugs at PL2 and none at PL1).

But, it is producing very playable lists.

A bit more time in the cooker, but the kind of problems that caused the earlier re-writes seems to be nailed.

The skinny book is in a box next to the gaming table as well, so I'll be able to get all current rules into it (and yes, I will be buying all future rules updates, my gaming group has gone SST crazed).