Re: EFSB

Winchell Chung wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 20 Jan 1998, Jim 'Jiji' Foster wrote:
> 
> > For the sake of those of us not flush enough to buy both, could you
give a
> > rundown of how B5 Wars works? I've yet to meet anyone who owns, let
alone
> > plays it....

I disagree with people who claim that B5 Wars is more detailed then
EFSB.  B5 Wars has more pointless detail then the EFSB, and yet leaves
out some key aspects.

The single most important aspect of all ship combat games from the late
1800's to the far future should be fire control directors (not really
listed in B5-Wars).  If you take them out, your opponent can not return
fire accurately.  The problem is that they have to be mounted on the
exposed surface of the ship (how are you going to mount a radar that
works behind 12" armour), and can not be heavily armoured (when was the
last time you heard of a radar dish with 12" armour built in???).  The
German Battleship Bismark was destroyed by British (or forced to
scuttle, depending on who you believe), because it could not return fire
accurately after its fire control directors were destroyed.  In modern
warships, try launching a missile without a fire control director... 
EFSB deals with this quite well with threshold checks.	You can lose
them all after only minor damage (first threshold check).  I know this
from experience...  

Another problem with B5 Wars is the way damage is handled.  These
weapons are going to be able to knock out system on the opposite side of
the ship from where the ship was hit.  It's called penetration.  EFSB
deals with it elagantly by threshold checks, B5 Wars ignores it inspite
of all its "detail."  

The last major problem with damage is that in the show, once in a while
you see ships suffer catastrophic damage.  It exists in EFSB, but is not
in "more detailed" B5 Wars.  Lucky shots have been a part of warfare for
centuries.

EFSB has its problems too.  Some of the ships just don't look right.  It
does not convert easily to a hex map.  Fighters are too abstract
(compared to too powerful in B5 Wars).

IAS