What does "skill" mean in terms of the Tech Specs?

Karhukjnsi · 09-20-2009, 07:28 AM

NOTE: This is primarily for movie figures.

I initially thought that it meant "fighting ability", but then looking at the various figures' specs, Ratchet's skill is at a 9, and Ironhide a 5. So then I thought, maybe it had to do with their "skill" at their designated position/profession, but then it still doesn't make sense that Ironhide be only a 5 (being a weapons "specialist" and whatnot; oh yeah, let's not get into why the hell his firepower is only a 6, while Chromia's is an 8).

Any thoughts? Comments? Answers?

eisen · 09-20-2009, 07:51 AM

my guess is they decide numbers with a dartboard. or Ironhide just loads a lot of blanks.

jametron · 09-20-2009, 07:53 AM

Good question. It seems to me a lot of them seem to fit the character, but some of those (Ironhide's firepower a 6, while Chromia's is an 8???) make no sense.

firehawc_69 · 09-20-2009, 07:59 AM

It's always been that way. Those things never make any sense.

brr-icy · 09-20-2009, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firehawc_69

It's always been that way. Those things never make any sense.

^this, i think it's supposed to be how good they are at their respective designations

Sol Fury · 09-20-2009, 08:12 AM

In my mind, "Skill" is more to do with how the character fights, than how good they are at it. Ironhide's a big bruiser of an Autobot. He fights brutally and effectively, ploughing through his enemies. Ravage on the other hand is swift and manuverable. He fights a lot more stylishly, weaving and strafing when he fights, part of of need, because he's weaker than most other Transformers, and part because of his speed.

It is mostly picked to make the characters seem cool, though.

In Chromia's defence, she ought to have higher firepower - a gun twice the size of her arm, nearly as big as the rest of her, is going to have a lot of firepower. Ironhide on the other hand is only (!) packing arm cannons - they're proportionally much smaller weapons than what Chromia has.

Extra - my interpretation of what the tech specs actually mean:

Strength - physical strength i.e. can they lift a solid steel block, or break down a bulkhead with their bare hands?
Intelligence - not just smarts, but also the capacity for tactical and strategic thought. A low INT doesn't mean the 'bot is dumb, just that they're not very creative in a fight.
Speed - How fast they can run, also reaction times - a bot with higher speed is going to take less time to dive out the way when someone shoots at them.
Endurance - How much punishment they can take before going down.
Rank - Their relative standing within the organisation. Sometimes I think it more applies to their rank within a squad when they are part of a subgroup, like the Aerialbots or the Wreckers.
Courage - Their bravery, how much they can endure before going into a panic. High Courage + Average Intelligence usually equals hotheadedness, in my mind, because you're dealing with a character who's too gung ho and not smart enough to know the best time to hold back.
Firepower - relative firepower to another robot of their size class. Obviously if a Fort Max sized robot only had a 4 in Firepower, he'd still have a ton of firepower compared to someone the size of Bumblebee. A 10 for any size class basically means the character either has really, really effective guns, or is a walking mountain of cannons and ammo.
Skill - as above, this one relates to how well the character uses the abilities that they have and their general stylishness in a fight.

Razorclaw · 09-20-2009, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sol Fury

In my mind, "Skill" is more to do with how the character fights, than how good they are at it. Ironhide's a big bruiser of an Autobot. He fights brutally and effectively, ploughing through his enemies. Ravage on the other hand is swift and manuverable. He fights a lot more stylishly, weaving and strafing when he fights, part of of need, because he's weaker than most other Transformers, and part because of his speed.

It is mostly picked to make the characters seem cool, though.

In Chromia's defence, she ought to have higher firepower - a gun twice the size of her arm, nearly as big as the rest of her, is going to have a lot of firepower. Ironhide on the other hand is only (!) packing arm cannons - they're proportionally much smaller weapons than what Chromia has.

Extra - my interpretation of what the tech specs actually mean:

Strength - physical strength i.e. can they lift a solid steel block, or break down a bulkhead with their bare hands?
Intelligence - not just smarts, but also the capacity for tactical and strategic thought. A low INT doesn't mean the 'bot is dumb, just that they're not very creative in a fight.
Speed - How fast they can run, also reaction times - a bot with higher speed is going to take less time to dive out the way when someone shoots at them.
Endurance - How much punishment they can take before going down.
Rank - Their relative standing within the organisation. Sometimes I think it more applies to their rank within a squad when they are part of a subgroup, like the Aerialbots or the Wreckers.
Courage - Their bravery, how much they can endure before going into a panic. High Courage + Average Intelligence usually equals hotheadedness, in my mind, because you're dealing with a character who's too gung ho and not smart enough to know the best time to hold back.
Firepower - relative firepower to another robot of their size class. Obviously if a Fort Max sized robot only had a 4 in Firepower, he'd still have a ton of firepower compared to someone the size of Bumblebee. A 10 for any size class basically means the character either has really, really effective guns, or is a walking mountain of cannons and ammo.
Skill - as above, this one relates to how well the character uses the abilities that they have and their general stylishness in a fight.

Ditto.

For those RPG fans, using skill points in calculating an outcome of the action is esential. You can't just compare 2 strength numbers from 2 tfs, add skill in the equation as well. That will mean that a tf with more skill than strength will have a fair chance against a tf with low skill but more strength.

$shockwave$ · 09-20-2009, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sol Fury

In my mind, "Skill" is more to do with how the character fights, than how good they are at it. Ironhide's a big bruiser of an Autobot. He fights brutally and effectively, ploughing through his enemies. Ravage on the other hand is swift and manuverable. He fights a lot more stylishly, weaving and strafing when he fights, part of of need, because he's weaker than most other Transformers, and part because of his speed.

It is mostly picked to make the characters seem cool, though.

In Chromia's defence, she ought to have higher firepower - a gun twice the size of her arm, nearly as big as the rest of her, is going to have a lot of firepower. Ironhide on the other hand is only (!) packing arm cannons - they're proportionally much smaller weapons than what Chromia has.

Extra - my interpretation of what the tech specs actually mean:

Strength - physical strength i.e. can they lift a solid steel block, or break down a bulkhead with their bare hands?
Intelligence - not just smarts, but also the capacity for tactical and strategic thought. A low INT doesn't mean the 'bot is dumb, just that they're not very creative in a fight.
Speed - How fast they can run, also reaction times - a bot with higher speed is going to take less time to dive out the way when someone shoots at them.
Endurance - How much punishment they can take before going down.
Rank - Their relative standing within the organisation. Sometimes I think it more applies to their rank within a squad when they are part of a subgroup, like the Aerialbots or the Wreckers.
Courage - Their bravery, how much they can endure before going into a panic. High Courage + Average Intelligence usually equals hotheadedness, in my mind, because you're dealing with a character who's too gung ho and not smart enough to know the best time to hold back.
Firepower - relative firepower to another robot of their size class. Obviously if a Fort Max sized robot only had a 4 in Firepower, he'd still have a ton of firepower compared to someone the size of Bumblebee. A 10 for any size class basically means the character either has really, really effective guns, or is a walking mountain of cannons and ammo.
Skill - as above, this one relates to how well the character uses the abilities that they have and their general stylishness in a fight.

Very nicely put Sol, so Ditto for me too.

grimlock1972 · 09-20-2009, 10:38 AM

Sol pretty much has it but id like to add on skill that for some bots such as Ratchet there skill more heavily applies to there non combat skills such as Ratchet's work as a medic/mechanic and Wheeljack's "talent" for inventing where as on others it almost fully applies to combat such as the Dinobots

Allsparky · 09-20-2009, 11:23 AM

Maybe that is his skill level for the Voyager class. Chromia may have higher firepower because she is at the higher end of the deluxe class of autobots. In reality Ironhide still has higher firepower than her, he's just only so far up the scale on the next chart, that being Voyager.