Is there a reason why the first two options are made up of those specific combinations?
Personally, I'd like to see two options from #1 and one from #2.
Bryan Blaire provided a succinct explanation that directly answers the question. I'll provide a more detailed explanation below (
!!!WALL OF TEXT AND OTHER GOBBLEDYGOOK WARNING!!!). Note that while I’m directly responding to Chaplain Dosjetka’s question, this explanation is directed to everyone that might purchase dice. It’s pretty detailed, and I hope I’m not screwing up on the math.
The combinations in each black/red/white die option were derived from a simple left/right shift. If you put each color side by side on a cylinder and shift left, you get one color combination. If you shift right, you get the other color combination. So
Option 1 has the black die on the left, red in the middle, and white on the right. To the left of the black die is white, so the combination becomes a white design on a black die. To the left of the red die is black, so the combination becomes a black design on a red die. To the left of the white die is red, so the combination becomes a red design on a white die. The opposite direction creates
Option 2.
Limiting the options means players won’t be interested in most/all of the available combinations. However, by having a range of options, it is more likely that each player will be interested in at least one of the available combinations.
There are three variables I see in this: money, desired combinations, and quantities.
Most players will have a certain amount of money to spend on dice. Some will be fortunate enough to be able to purchase as many dice of whatever combinations they desire. Most, though, will be limited to spending a certain amount of money. They may spend less than that maximum depending on the interactions with desired combinations and quantities.
Everyone desires different colored dice, so having a range of available combinations increases the chance that there will be at least one combination that appeals to each player. In all likelihood, the majority of players won’t be interested in
all of the available options. By having a limited number of available combinations, players aren’t tempted to get a few of each combination in which they are interested; they are more likely to get a larger quantity of each of the combinations in which they are interested. Over time, though, we’ll go through more combinations, providing different combinations each year in order to cover the whole range (and then we’ll start a new cycle, going through the range of combinations).
In terms of quantities, each player has their own ideas about the quantities of dice they need. WH40K is a “bucket of dice” type of game where players often need large quantities of dice, and different combinations of dice can be thrown simultaneously to represent different effects. For example, a Space Marine army might use one color for the standard attacks (say black dice with white designs for boltguns) and another color for special attacks (say red dice with black designs for meltaguns). From this, a player may determine that a certain quantity of dice of one combination and a certain quantity of dice of another combination are necessary, and these quantities may differ. Regardless, they probably don’t need 100 dice of any combination.
Each player (P) is going to buy a certain quantity (q) of each combination (C#). The total dice of each color combination (Q) will drive the cost of each die (m). The assumption is that each player will have a set limit of money that they
can spend (M), and that this will be fixed. Another element to keep in mind is the postage and handling (P). The amount of money that they will actually spend may be less than that total, driven by the combinations in which they are interested and the quantities of dice that they desire.
From a dice cost perspective:
q
P1 + q
P2 + q
P3 … q
Pn = Q
C = m
C
As the total quantity of dice for each combination increases, the cost per die decreases:
Q
C
, m
C
From an individual player perspective:
q
C1 + q
C2 + q
C3 + q
C4 + q
C5 + P = Q where Q <= M
If m
C1 + m
C2 + m
C3 + m
C4 + m
C5 + P < M, a player
might increase the quantity of one or more combinations until they reach M. However, if m
C1 + m
C2 + m
C3 + m
C4 + m
C5 + P > M, a player will
definitely decrease the quantity of one or more combinations until they get down to M.
If more color combinations were available, it is much more likely that players would exceed M in terms of the total desired combinations and quantities. As a result, we would see more (and different) quantities of combinations decrease. This would more likely result in cost per dice increasing.
The converse of this, of course, is that fewer desired combinations means fewer desired dice. However, the B&C makes no profit from this. The only cost to us, aside from the bandwidth to coordinate, is the cost to
me and anyone else that gets in involved in receiving and sending dice to players (most likely WarriorFish, but we haven’t gotten to that part of the plan yet). The only entity really making any profit from this is Q Workshop, who is making the dice. So my interest is in getting the cost per die (the cost to
you) as low as possible.
We won’t know the actual cost of each die (by combination) until we have an idea of how many of each combination players will purchase. In all likelihood, different combinations will have different costs. What we
will know is the maximum cost of each combination (i.e., the rate for the lowest quantity); and the assumption is that players will plan based on that maximum cost. We’ll factor in either time or methodologies to allow for quantity adjustments as we hit certain threshholds.
Since the design that we’ve finalized is the standard design that will be offered on a recurring basis, we can work through the various color combinations so that everyone eventually gets everything that they want. Also, cost over time is easier to stomach, so players can spend more total money over time rather than being limited to a one time cost. And then we’ll have special designs in the other years, and these will probably be one time runs with more color option choices so that players can get everything they want.
Personally, there are only a few color options in this poll that I’m interested in; and the color combinations that I’m most interested in aren’t in this run and probably won’t be in the next run. When planning the available color combinations, though, I had to make it about general interest rather than my own or someone else’s. As long as everyone (or as close as possible to everyone) can find one, two, or even three color combinations that they want in each run, I’m satisfied. This only works when everyone is willing to purchase more than one combination, of course (so someone that is
only going to buy if we offer purple dice with white designs might have to wait a while).
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