Re: Game 796

[Oerjan Ariander <oerjan.ariander@xxxxxxxxx>]

Noam wrote:

> >> That's because the apparent range is still the range to the target.
> >> A stealth-2 ship at 16 MU should _not_ show up in targeting as being
> >> at 24 MU.
> >
> > WHY shouldn't it show up in targetting as being at 24mu?
>
>For a purely semantic difference on how stealth "feels". If the
>actual range is 17, the effective range is still 17.

The hell it is. If the actual range is 17, the appearent range (or 
"effective range" if you like) against Stealth-1 is 20.4 (shifting it one 
range band further out for Grasers, LRPTs, PTs and K-guns) and the 
effective range against Stealth-2 is 25.5 (shifting it one range band 
further out for both beams, Grasers and LRPTs, and *two* bands further out 
for P-torps and K-guns).

>If the ship is stealth-2 and you're firing a b2 at it, the effective range 
>is
>_still_ 17, but _your_ effective range _band_ is 8.

Which is mathematically identical to saying that your *range bands* are 
unaffected, but the *appearent range* has increased: against Stealth-1 
targets your weapons fire as if the range is 20% greater than it actually 
is (ie., the *appearent range* is 20% greater than the actual range), and 
against Stealth-2 targets your weapons fire as if the range is 50% greater 
than it actually is.

> > The only reason the targetting window shows the range AT ALL is so the
> > player can determine which ships are in range of his weapons (and
> > in what
> > range band).
>
>Ah - but that parenthetical is not directly indicated by the range
>number value.

It most definitly *is* directly indicated both by the range number value 
and by the warning flag "Out of range" which ought to pop up whenever 
you're attempting to target a ship which is out of range.

>It is determined by the player because the he knows the
>range band of his weapons. If he knows what they are vs. stealth
>ships, the number is exactly as informative as it should be.

No, it isn't as informative as it should be - because in the "real world" 
even if the captain/admiral at the start of the battle doesn't know what 
effect the enemy's Stealth has on his weapon systems, his subordinates (the 
sensor and weapons crews) will tell him within approximately ten seconds of 
noticing that they can't get as secure target locks as they should at that 
actual range. If they *don't* tell him about it, they're up for 
court-martials for gross negligence of their duty... assuming that they 
survive, of course.

In FTJava, the role of those subordinates is played by the range numbers 
listed in the targetting window. I say we court-martial FTJava for gross 
negligence ;-)

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ariander@xxxxxxxxx

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry