06-30-2021, 01:51 PM
I think there ought to be enough detail (in an appendix if nothing else) that the player can find out most of what they need to make the best decisions. But Fungus is right that some details need to be hidden or vague so that you can't min-max every little part of the game (in addition to things that are intended by design to be unknown).
For instance, in Galac-Tac, research levels are explicitly given as approximate values but the actual point of change is randomly determined (near that value) differently for each galaxy. The effects of gaining that research level are specifically laid out in the rules though. Also in Galac-Tac the rule book gives only raw details of the effects of various ship weapons and defenses in combat, but the actual tactical procedure used in the fight is left vague so you don't know exactly how it's going to come off - you can only make approximations of your combat capabilities (which is usually good enough, though).
But overall, you do need a pretty fair idea of what's going to happen if you do "X" to make the game fun - being able to plan is a big part of playing, especially in PBeM.
For instance, in Galac-Tac, research levels are explicitly given as approximate values but the actual point of change is randomly determined (near that value) differently for each galaxy. The effects of gaining that research level are specifically laid out in the rules though. Also in Galac-Tac the rule book gives only raw details of the effects of various ship weapons and defenses in combat, but the actual tactical procedure used in the fight is left vague so you don't know exactly how it's going to come off - you can only make approximations of your combat capabilities (which is usually good enough, though).
But overall, you do need a pretty fair idea of what's going to happen if you do "X" to make the game fun - being able to plan is a big part of playing, especially in PBeM.