RE: cm scale

In message <01BCF5DC.2BAE1350@Tim.Jones@smallworld.co.uk>
	  Tim Jones <Tim.Jones@Smallworld.co.uk> wrote:

> On Thursday, November 20, 1997 9:16 AM, Mikko Kurki-Suonio 
> [SMTP:maxxon@swob.dna.fi] wrote:
> > >	o Use a bigger playing area
> >
> > Will you pay for my new house? I'd really like a heated garage as a
hobby
> > room.
> 
> Some folks use the floor.

Floor is often the best bet for large battles, the only
problem is the increased risk of stepping on models...

> > Cm works better for movement (the aforementioned happens only after
> > people start pushing 50+ speeds) but ships tend clump together for
> > firing. This is simple geometry -- the area falling under any given
range
> > bracket is over 6 times smaller in cm scale, thus you can
comfortably
> > fit only 6 times less ships within the desired firing distance.
Weapons
> > with 6cm short range get especially nasty.
> 
> Having longer weapon ranges solves this, I don't think it screws
> balance as everyone has the same factor and it stops the
> fly-by out of range problem.

Use cm for movement, inches for firing.

> > Another argument against cm scale is that it's so bloody small.
> 
> Is not chunky like an inch.

Actually I like the inch for wargaming. I'd never use
it for real world applications, but as a wargame unit it's
just the right size.

> > With this in mind, I've come to the following conclusion:
> >
> > Even though FT technically allows unlimited speeds, it's not really
meant
> > to be played so. Unlimited speeds just sound so cool for a space
game...
> > anyone disagreeing is welcome to play a test game with 100+ speeds
and
> > report the outcome.
> >
> > Thus a speed cap is in order. This might be a constant for all ships
> > (e.g. "c"), or depend on the ship (e.g. "hull vibration" and similar
PSB)

Why? Play with a fixed war zone, and rule that ships that
leave the play area never come back. Practicality then limits
the speed of ships, since if you travel too fast, you're out
of the battle.

This way, you don't need artificial limits (or PSB).

> > AND... the number of ships needs to be limited. Every time we had a
major
> > clash of 20+ ships per side, things got ugly. This is kind of sad
since
> > the FT is otherwise simple enough to handle largish fleets.
> >
> 
> 20+ Play virtually then :-)

We normally find that lots of small ships die early on,
so the large fleet tends to become a small fleet within
a few turns...

-- 
Be seeing you,
Sam.