tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post7091341103660102210..comments2024-03-29T10:21:29.354-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 374: Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed (1992)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30517169704437251712021-05-19T16:33:13.829-04:002021-05-19T16:33:13.829-04:00No, the manual just offers that "the manufact...No, the manual just offers that "the manufacturing capabilities of the planets vary." I don't know if the differences are there in the original tabletop RPG, but in the first game (<i>Countdown to Doomsday</i>), you visit the various planets in roughly the order that the gear improves, so I suspect that it was just a thinly-disguised way to justify any weapon and armor upgrades at all.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-70770418163141407702021-05-18T22:47:18.299-04:002021-05-18T22:47:18.299-04:00So Earth-made weapons and armor are inferior to al...So Earth-made weapons and armor are inferior to all other kinds? Does the game provide any rationale for this?Wyvernhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13875391093860681312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-26433918690764958262020-08-28T14:38:10.506-04:002020-08-28T14:38:10.506-04:00Thanks! I appreciate letting me know.Thanks! I appreciate letting me know.JJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-18279613103329081302020-08-25T23:27:31.568-04:002020-08-25T23:27:31.568-04:00The Gold Box Buck Rogers are Twiki-free, so you...The Gold Box Buck Rogers are Twiki-free, so you're safe if you want to give it a shot ;-)BoardGameNuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03573162816708652568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38130440453658936062020-08-25T22:59:43.925-04:002020-08-25T22:59:43.925-04:00Despite being a Gold Box fan, I never found the Bu...Despite being a Gold Box fan, I never found the Buck Rogers' games interesting. I grew up in the 70s and all I could remember from the franchise was Twiki. I suppose though having Lorraine Williams shoe horn her franchise was the price to pay for getting Pool of Radiance etc in a format that was easy to use back in the day. I mean if Joan Crawford had been putting up the money at TSR, there would have been a CRPG about Pepsi. As with all intersections of capitalism, you take the good, the bad, and the mediocre. Maybe if they could have crossed Buck Rogers with Expedition to Barrier Peaks, it might have been an interesting crossover. It would be nice to see a dragon attack Twiki after all. JJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17067957302114545572020-08-25T17:32:16.029-04:002020-08-25T17:32:16.029-04:00Yeah, taking out the heavy cruiser was also an acc...Yeah, taking out the heavy cruiser was also an accomplishment. Good way to gear up and make money. Of course, you left a lot behind. The boarding battles were always fun for me.BoardGameNuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03573162816708652568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61646759762920946092020-08-25T16:47:01.313-04:002020-08-25T16:47:01.313-04:00Jack Vance wrote _The Dying Earth_ while serving a...Jack Vance wrote _The Dying Earth_ while serving as a sailor in WW2. It was published around 1950, and its setting is a far-future Earth where the Sun is on the point of flickering out, haunted by the products of ancient, long-forgotten technologies and magicks. There are demons. There are decaying radioactive batteries. It's been a huge influence on SF. and probably even more on RPGs.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34954759906512314252020-08-24T22:54:32.098-04:002020-08-24T22:54:32.098-04:00I played through both games and never knew you cou...I played through both games and never knew you could backstab. Good info!Kirk Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15908957846104715486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88697414450051965242020-08-24T22:51:17.587-04:002020-08-24T22:51:17.587-04:00I seem to remember being able to board them withou...I seem to remember being able to board them without having to dance around like that. Maybe I was willing to just charge in blasting at the enemy's controls with my heavy guns and reloading if I didn't make it. <br /><br />There was some definite satisfaction in taking out a heavy cruiser. Kirk Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15908957846104715486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89458365456712757182020-08-24T22:46:51.876-04:002020-08-24T22:46:51.876-04:00Count me as one of the ones who enjoyed both games...Count me as one of the ones who enjoyed both games in the series. Maybe it's because I was 10 when Countdown to Doomsday came out and it was one of the first games I had with VGA graphics. My dad and I also managed to play it to completion back then which I was pretty proud of. We didn't beat Matrix back then but about 10 years ago I started an "unfinished business" tour of all my old computer games and did manage to complete Matrix Cubed. <br /><br />I think the sci-fi setting and weapons are a cool change of pace and the games are challenging without being unfair. The space exploration and combat was a nice feature. The skills also added some flavor and though not all of them came into play, most of them did and it was cool when you got to use them (the ones that were never used they at least warned you about in the manual). I think those additions did enough to push it beyond "D&D with no magic". <br /><br />I do have one quibble with Matrix Cubed, but I'll save it until you complete the game and get your opinion before I offer mine. <br /><br />As for bolting the Buck Rogers stuff into the Gold Box / D&D engine, well the Gold Box engine was great so why reinvent the wheel? Heck I wish they kept making games using the engine to this day, in many ways it was never surpassed. Same with the Infinity engine. Kirk Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15908957846104715486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10514373702614069402020-08-23T00:43:30.543-04:002020-08-23T00:43:30.543-04:00I appreciate the hints, but it sounds like a lot o...I appreciate the hints, but it sounds like a lot of work for something that isn't even necessary to the game.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62284494163010120052020-08-22T06:42:10.247-04:002020-08-22T06:42:10.247-04:00I disagree :D Some of the Hotu hall of fame games ...I disagree :D Some of the Hotu hall of fame games are not really justified and, as much as it popularised digging forgotten games, it also pushed for the idea of games as part of a bargain bin. The best thing were the forums. And some people I knew from there. But I cannot avoid thinking about it critically.Risingson Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08915480026187953569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25188046171286585752020-08-21T20:34:22.204-04:002020-08-21T20:34:22.204-04:00There is a way to defeat the heavy cruisers though...There is a way to defeat the heavy cruisers though it takes a bit of patience. The key is to keep them at maximum range (6-9). This will keep out of the range of most heavy cruisers' weapons, whereas your beam lasers will still be effective.<br /><br />Heavy cruisers will close in constantly at a speed of 1 range unit per turn. The Maelstrom Rider can move at around 3 range units per turn. Starting range is 8. At range >9, sensor contact is lost and the engagement ends.<br /><br />When engaged with a heavy cruiser, remain stationary, withdrawing only when it closes to range 6. Hit its 'control' subsystem repeatedly with beam lasers. This will take some time, given the weak damage that lasers do. Like you, the enemy crew will be able to jury-rig a damaged subsystem once during the engagement. Once its controls are out, close in quickly, then board the enemy.Fortesquenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24515424874398068562020-08-21T09:32:47.698-04:002020-08-21T09:32:47.698-04:00I agree with Vonotar--they were limited by their l...I agree with Vonotar--they were limited by their licensing agreement. The games actually did make heavy use of the skill system, but the actual Buck Rogers combat system was way too based on D&D. A lot of Paul and JarlFrank's suggestions make a lot more sense--what they really should have done was move to a pure skill system a la Wasteland (a sci-fi game of the era well-liked enough to inspire the Fallout series), but that would have gone too far from the IP. Everyone wanted to play D&D on their computer--nobody wanted to play Buck Rogers XXVc on their computer.<br /><br />Also, they probably didn't want to stray too far from the well-liked and popular Gold Box combat engine. Technical limitations were a much bigger deal in that era.Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-22154091634454965072020-08-21T09:13:09.959-04:002020-08-21T09:13:09.959-04:00Yep! I'm guessing with the 640K limitation the...Yep! I'm guessing with the 640K limitation they had to reuse as much code as possible. It doesn't really make sense to have Mars, the Big Bad, have the second-worst weapons after the non-named ones from Earth, but it was the second place you visit in Countdown (the pluses track pretty well with the order of the planets visited in that game.)Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37895787217229768662020-08-21T09:09:29.535-04:002020-08-21T09:09:29.535-04:00From what I can tell, ECM packages (built into bat...From what I can tell, ECM packages (built into battle armor with fields BTW) and chaff grenades stop rocket pistols and rocket rifles, and aerosol grenades and reflective surfaces (on shiny robots) stop laser pistols and laser rifles. I do remember there were a couple of robots that weren't taking damage from my needle gun, but I used something else (maybe a bolt gun?). Monoswords and polearms wind up being helpful due to the strength bonus.<br /><br />I think the idea is to compensate for the lack of spells by transposing the 'immune to fire and electricity, let me cast Cone of Cold' dynamic to the weapons domain. As you can see already, the whole 'do I want a Martian Battle Armor with Fields or a Mercurian Battle Armor' thing fits the 'Leather Armor +4 versus Chain Mail +1' dynamic from D&D.Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-82330206689704897822020-08-21T08:54:12.694-04:002020-08-21T08:54:12.694-04:00I always thought the Psi Phi fraternity shirts wer...I always thought the Psi Phi fraternity shirts were funny.Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28858246762350139952020-08-21T08:52:28.643-04:002020-08-21T08:52:28.643-04:00I like genre-mixing too. There was a big boom of m...I like genre-mixing too. There was a big boom of multi-genre stuff in the 70s, from what I remember (Star Wars is a science fantasy after all), and you see those influences in early D&D (the original rulebooks suggest robots and aliens as potential enemies). There was a famous module called 'Expedition to the Barrier Peaks' where your characters find a crashed spaceship and find power armor and grenades and ray guns as treasure and fight androids and plant monsters.<br /><br />From Wolves of the Calla, book 5 of Stephen King's sci-fi-fantasy-western-horror epic:<br /><br />“In our world you got your mystery and suspense stories . . . your science fiction stories . . . your Westerns . . . your fairy tales. Get it?” “Yes,” Roland said. “Do people in your world always want only one story-flavor at a time? Only one taste in their mouths?” “I guess that’s close enough,” Susannah said. “Does no one eat stew?” Roland asked.”<br /><br />I suspect the thing nowadays is that with the new rules about cultural appropriation, you can't use another culture unless you have that ethnic background, but everyone's allowed to use fantasy Europe, so everyone winds up using fantasy Europe. I could be wrong though. I'm sure there are financial reasons as well--big-name games are too pricey to make these days so you're stuck playing it safe or something.Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6304773788961974562020-08-21T08:41:34.019-04:002020-08-21T08:41:34.019-04:00Hey, I'm still making FRUA mods 28 years later...Hey, I'm still making FRUA mods 28 years later. ;) You like what you like. I never got these holy wars over entertainment. OK, someone doesn't like a video game you like. Who cares? Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72027462689004156712020-08-21T08:39:17.088-04:002020-08-21T08:39:17.088-04:00They made these at the end of the Cold War. My bes...They made these at the end of the Cold War. My best guess is they were aiming to be neutral and have both the Americans (us) and Russians (the enemy until a few years ago) be involved in the evil dictatorship half a millennium on, against which Buck and his friends fight like good plucky American underdogs. As with all scifi, it winds up reflecting its era--where's China?<br /><br />The actual fluff (I was doing research for a potential FRUA mod) is actually fairly well-developed with multiple cultures on each planet (there are three on Mercury, for instance, with miners and 'dancers' following the rim between the light and dark sides of Mercury, in addition to the decadent pseudo-French nobility) and a developed Martian caste system (executives, managers, and workers) that nonetheless seems very 1950s America. (RAM is a megacorporation and all its minions are paid through dividends-- what's the last time a big company paid a good dividend?) There are even charts of the RAM power structure with outlines of which rich families want to push out Simund Holzerhein, the head of RAM, who gets a one-line mention near the end of Countdown.<br /><br />There's also a lot about genetically engineered organisms, but biopunk was still 10-20 years away. Part of it was to allow for 'monsters' reminiscent of D&D monsters (some of the enemies will seem familiar to you ;) ), with special defenses like 'takes half damage from plasma', but there were larger themes about slavery, etc. that could have been developed further. Overall I think they had an interesting world there that just didn't hit at the right time--the later retro-scifi nostalgia boom hadn't hit, it seemed too much like Star Wars and nobody really cared about Buck Rogers anymore, and didn't play up the cyberpunk angle enough to ride that wave.Null Nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-81354695260548621272020-08-20T21:57:41.388-04:002020-08-20T21:57:41.388-04:00Quick comment: You mentioned that you weren't ...Quick comment: You mentioned that you weren't sure what different planet names did for equipment:<br /><br />Martian: +1 to hit/damage for weapons, -1 AC for armor<br />Venusian: +2 to hit/damage for weapons, -2 AC for armor<br />Mercurian: +3 to hit/damage for weapons, -3 AC for armor<br />Lunarian: +4 to hit/damage for weapons, -4 AC for armor<br /><br />Basically they're the magic weapons +X and armor +X of the 25th century. =pSnorbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03931889157053355508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-40598130141891168782020-08-20T21:55:28.025-04:002020-08-20T21:55:28.025-04:00Weapon Specialization kicks in on every even (2nd,...Weapon Specialization kicks in on every even (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th...) Warrior level, and they can specialize up to +3 to hit/damage with a particular weapon.<br /><br />Find a Mercurian needle gun and three ranks of Weapon Specialization (Needle Guns)? 1d3+6 damage six times per burst is nothing to laugh at! (Plus, needle guns aren't fouled by chaff grenades, aren't fouled by aerosol grenades, and nothing in the XXVc franchise is immune to getting shot with hair-thin ferrous needles!)Snorbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03931889157053355508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-1241743705802852842020-08-20T21:52:03.329-04:002020-08-20T21:52:03.329-04:00There ARE stun rifles. I think the developers clea...There ARE stun rifles. I think the developers clearly understood that they needed SOME substitute for magic. They just didn't go quite far enough.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23926005680851731402020-08-20T21:44:03.602-04:002020-08-20T21:44:03.602-04:00The Earth is under the control of the fascist Russ...The Earth is under the control of the fascist Russo-American Mercantile (RAM). <br /><br />Do the names of the leaders of RAM by any chance rhyme with Lootin and Stump? Because the story of the game is beginning to sound Nostradamus-ian.<br /><br />Also, it's a shame about magic not being present. Weapons like Napalm (fireball), Tasers (stun) and Lasers (lightning) could easily be fired by drones controlled by scientists who would be (and are!) the wizards of the science based world that is so abhorred by the our equivalent of the RAM and it's followers...gamerindreamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89161114344540050352020-08-20T20:31:49.495-04:002020-08-20T20:31:49.495-04:00I can't disagree with anything you wrote so fa...I can't disagree with anything you wrote so far, and yet my overall impressions have been a little more favorable. I think the biggest problem I have with the game is that I don't care anything about the setting, so none of the plot developments mean anything to me.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.com