Re: Bigger--not always better

On Sat, 22 Mar 1997, Paul Calvi wrote:

> In my continuing quest to degrade the potency of cap ships I wonder if
> anyone has tried any of the following modifications to the rules and,
if
> so, how did they go? 

> 
> 1) Allow A Bats to only fire every OTHER turn.

Possibly. I wouldn't use them at all in this case.

> 2) Give a -1 to all to hit roles from A bats on cruiser class ships
and
> -2 on escort class ships. 

This is equivalent to giving all cruisers lvl-2 screens against capital 
ships' A batteries, and Escorts lvl-3 screens. I've tried it, but didn't

like it much; especially not since I had to roll dice from different
beam 
batteries separately from each other. It didn't slow things down too 
much, but it was annoying.

> 3) Give a -1 to all hit roles from B bats on escort class ships.

...ie, equivalent to lvl-2 screens. See above.

> 4) Allow Pulse Torps to only fire every other (or third) turn.

This makes them virtually useless. Since they are one of the (possible) 
_anti_-capital ship weapons (they're only effective (compared to beams) 
against screen levels of 2 or higher, and they need to be mounted on 
fairly manouvrable ships) I wouldn't use this.

> 5) Nova Cannons can only fire every third turn (still use the regular 
>   charging rules).

I can't hit anything with them anyway (this might be because I measure 
distances in cm rather than inches, which makes the templates pretty 
small...). Using the Wave Gun recharging rules for them could be fun,
though.

> I think these mods put the weapons in a bit better perspective
vis-à-vis
> their intended (designed for) targets. 

Well, if that's what your background thinks is the intended targets, go 
ahead! Mine didn't...

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson

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