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Recent updates to Code Geass: (Generated at 2025-06-21 11:42:50)
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There's an unfortunate oddness here. Most Knightmares in Code Geass just use projectile weaponry like heavy assault rifles, but the Knightmares in the series that are optimised for close-quarters combat tend to use either lances or maser swords. The CQ Gloucesters use lances. Lances in MTG tend to mean first strike... but that's because they represent weaponry that's longer range than most melee combat.
I think using "CQ -> lance -> first strike" works fairly well anyway, because most CQ Knightmares are piloted by skilled pilots, which means in the series they tend to wipe the floor with normal Knightmares or Knightmares with unskilled pilots.
Took the costs down a bit. Knightmares with Eject work rather more like Auras than Equipment, and Oakenform is a lot cheaper than Vulshok Battlegear.
no, if I'm going coloured I probably want properly coloured
cost "down" from
-> 
Good point about the personal mecha though. Especially for the Knights of the Round and perhaps Cornelia and her troops, I could have the character card be assumed to include the Knightmare as well. I'm not that bothered about eject, but if I really wanted I could have such characters ETB with a +1/+1 counter and a totem-armour-like effect to remove it.
"Just trim out some of the middle" - I've already done that two or three times over :) There are vast numbers of Knightmares I didn't include in the list above; and I trimmed the big list drastically down to the basic six or so that I'd really want to be sure to include and have in the right power levels relative to each other.
Most extra keywords wouldn't really help. But first strike is one that would.
I certainly agree I'm not going to get a sensible balance from all the combat logic. That's fine. But a +1/+1 from a Glasgow just doesn't feel like it has enough impact.
However, typing out that enumeration does help me realise that there are (way more than) enough Knightmares in the set for me to consider something I'd been contemplating, which is making Knightmares coloured rather than colourless. I generally dislike coloured artifacts, but it does have some definite benefits - it lets you use more colour-specific abilities, it lets you affiliate certain artifacts with certain factions, and it means not all drafters will be able to snap up a powerful artifact as easily as each other.
The key that makes this possible is that many of the Knightmares above are affiliated with particular factions. The Glasgow is Britannian; the Japanese Resistance have Knightmares equivalent to the Glasgow, but give it a different name, the Burai. I can easily have Knightmares in black and white (Britannia), red (terrorists and Black Knights), green (Japanese and Chinese) and blue (experimental models and perhaps Knights of the Round), even in different proportions.
You can get away with including some of the personal mecha in the character's stats. That loses eject; I guess.
I don't think applying magic's combat logic overmuch is very sensible. Philospher vs bear? A mammoth can trample past one guy, but not three guys? It's the "knight vs cat" problem all over again.
Anyhow. I'd suggest the later frames should instead add keywords. So maybe the new light frame is no stronger, but it's first-strike so who cares?
Finally - just trim some out of the middle. You don't have to represent each and every one.
Hmm. I'm not sure if I can actually have this give +2/+1 while still having room for all the generations of Knightmare... The problem is the series does rather have an arms race going on in the technology in use across its 50-ish episodes. Let me enumerate the Knightmares I might include in the set:
> Generations 1-3 were prototypes, probably not reflected on cards, except possibly the Ganymede. > > Fourth Generation: > > * The Glasgow
is the bog-standard basic mass-production Knightmare at the start of the series.
> * The Burai 
is a Japanese variant on Glasgow with similar stats.
> * The Burai Kai 
is a much more powerful tweak on the Burai, comparable to the Gloucester, used only by the Four Holy Swords (and optimised for close-quarters combat).
> * The Gun-Ru 
is a mass-produced Chinese fourth gen Knightmare, without eject.
>
> Fifth Generation:
>
> * The Sutherland 
is the mass-produced fifth gen Knightmare.
> * The Gloucester 
is a significant improvement on the Sutherland. Many of Cornelia's staff use Gloucesters optimised for CQ combat.
>
> Sixth Generation:
>
> * The Gawain 
is an experimental, slow, heavy Knightmare with stealth, flight, and a powerful Hadron Cannon.
>
> Seventh Generation:
>
> * The Lancelot 
is Suzaku's iconic experimental seventh-gen Knightmare.
> * The Guren Mk II 
is Kallen's experimental seventh-gen Knightmare, optimised for CQ combat.
> * The Vincent 
is a pre-production version of the Lancelot.
> * The Vincent Ward 
is the mass-production version of the Lancelot (albeit lower-powered).
> * The Gekka 
is a pre-production version of the Guren and an upgrade on the Burai Kai.
> * The Akatsuki 
is the mass-production version of the Gekka.
> * The Gareth 
is a powerful, high-end, mass-produced Knightmare with flight capability used at the end of the second season.
> * The Somerset 
is a transforming flight-capable version of the Glasgow.
>
> Eighth Generation:
>
> * The Shen Hu 
is an experimental version of the Guren given to the Chinese.
is Lelouch's personal command Knightmare, upgraded from the Gawain, with flight and transformation capability. Extremely defensive.
> * The Knights of the Round's personal Knightmares are eighth gen, such as Anya's Mordred 
(defensive with a devastating siege weapon), Bismarck's Galahad 
, Gino's Tristan 
(aggressive/manoeuvrable) and Bradley's Percival. 
> * The Zangetsu 
is Tohdoh's personal Knightmare, an upgrade from his Gekka. Aggressive/swift, very hard to use.
>
> Ninth Generation:
>
> * Lancelot Albion 
is Lancelot's ultimate form, and
> * Guren SEITEN 
is Guren's ultimate form.
> * The Shinkiro
...Wow, that's a lot... Anyway. The point is, the personal Knightmares (in italics) are allowed to be stronger than the mass-production versions, but even restricting consideration to mass produced Knightmares I want
Glasgow < Sutherland < Gloucester < Gareth
.....................^ Burai Kai < Gekka
So if Glasgow gives +2/+1, then I'll want Sutherland to give at least +3/+1, and Gloucester to give even more... and I don't think +4/+4 or higher is something I want on uncommon or common Knightmares in this game. If the Glasgow gives +2/+1 then I think Sutherland wants to be notably better, but then the Gloucester needs to be notably better again...
The alternative is either allow Sutherland to give the same power bonus as Glasgow, which feels wrong given how much of an upgrade Sutherlands are, or to make Glasgow only give +1 power, which feels wrong given how much stronger any random human in a Knightmare is against any random human not in a Knightmare.
(Edited to add colour affiliations: Britannia
or 
, Black Knights 
, Japan 
. Until I decide on their colours China can be 
and Zero can be 
.)