Changing Reliable Generals DT back to +1

One of the things we have amended in Impetus 2 is the bonus factor for Reliable Commanders. The rules give Reliable Commander a +2 bonus for discipline tests. This is a very important and powerful ability. What we found was that we were seeing very few Expert Commanders in the game. If you were prepared to spend 30 points you might as well spend 40 to get the special bonuses of Charismatic or Genius commanders. Otherwise, with 20 points the Reliable commander is capable of rallying or making multiple moves with a +2 bonus. We found that this was too big a bonus for general play. What it means in practice is that a Reliable commander can roll for a 2nd move with a Group of B class troops and pass on anything but a 1. We found that commands were zooming across the table in Impetus 2 in way that did not occur in Impetus 1. What we have done is move the DT bonus for Reliable commanders back to +1. If you want the +2 you are going to have to buy the Expert. The impact was immediate. Now with a 1/3 chance of failure for the 2nd move players are a bit more judicious in their decisions.

As a general observation we think that Impetus 2 is a better game than Impetus 1, but interestingly, Impetus 2 has more quirks in it and has required more club changes in our play than Impetus 1 (we made very few club amendments.) For instances we have moved to a d10 for CTs. The d10 is made up of 1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6. A kind of d10 average dice. The 1 and 6 occur a bit less often and the middle numbers a bit more. We are trying to make the CT a little less lucky. In the original game the number of dice players were rolling in melee were a lot lower than what is being rolled today. In Impetus 2 melees tend have more dice involved which means more hits and therefore the CT becomes more decisive. Too much was hanging on this one roll. So far, it seems to be working.

I have a similar opinion. A line of heavy infantry can reach the enemy deployment zone in 2 turns.

After 1 year playing without changes (well, almost, as we are using 50% for command breakpoint), we plan to try a couple of changes. One is precisely the reduction of the DT bonus to +1 for all generals.

Interesting, As I mainly solo game these rules, so tend to only get a one dimensional view of their workings.

That said, I do think its a bit to easy to multi move around the table and will try reducing the DT bonus for reliable commanders.

Hey Roundie, right now we are all solo gaming!

jorneto wrote: After 1 year playing without changes (well, almost, as we are using 50% for command breakpoint).

Personally I would like to go back to 50% command breakpoint from Impetus 1. That beings said, we are using the Alternative System at the moment in Impetus 2 with some amendments. One of the advantages of this system over Impetus 1 is that it encourages more commands. The difference between a demoralized command and a broken command grows at the VD total of the command increases. So for instance, a 12 VD command is 5/6 (first number is demoralized and the second number is broken.) Not much difference. A 20 VD command would be 7/10 which becomes a bigger problem. I think overall having more commands is probably better for the system.