Re: [FT] Gunboats - points cost??

On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, -MWS- wrote:

> I'd like some opinions on what you'd all consider a "fair"
> points cost for the following:

i'm going to look at this by trying to construct an equivalent starship
to
do the job.

> Gunboats are large, FTL-capable fighters.  They are capable of
extended,
> independent patrols and are effective at anti-shipping attacks.

sounds like a starship to me, not a fighter. the point of fighters is
that
they don't have extended operations capabilities. starships, on the
other
hand, are specifically designed to be large (relative to fighters),
FTL-capable, capable of extended independent patrols and effective at
anti-shipping attacks.

> Gunboats use the basic Fleet Book fighter movement and attack rules,

well, a ship wouldn't, it would use the ship rules. i'm not sure whether
this is a pro or a con.

> 1) Gunboats are grouped in flights of 4 (as opposed to 6 for
fighters).  

ships wouldn't necessarily be grouped, but i don't think it makes any
difference.

> 2) They mass 3 each for hanger space requirements.

hmm. i don't think you could get hull, drive, ftl, PDS, one-shot torps
and
screen into mass 3 on a ship. since i can't get Armageddon Outfitter to
work on this machine ("javascript error line 313: undefined is not a
number" - i must have an old version of javascript), i can't check
though.

> 3) Their base movement is 16 MU, and they get no secondary move.
> (rationale: they're a bit heavier & slower than regular fighters)

i'm not sure how fighter movement maps on to ship thrust.

> 4) Their endurance factor is 12.

ships would have unlimited endurance, but 12 is as good as in any one
battle.

> 5) When engaged by fighters in a dogfight, gunboats always take damage
from
> the fighters first before any return fire is allowed.

fighter attacks on ships go after PDS, right? thus, the ship would fire
first, unlike the gunboat.

> 6) A gunboat's 'beam' weapon uses 2 dice for its attack.  This attack
may
> not be split between targets - a gunboat group must still attack a
single
> target like fighters do.

like a twin PDS with some restrictions.

> 7) Each gunboat carries two 'torpedos' that may be used instead of its
> beams for an attack in a turn.  Each gunboat can launch only a single
> torpedo in a single attack run - the torpedo hits on a 3+ on 1d6 and
does
> 1d6 of damage each.

one-shot pulse torpedoes. you do not mention range.

> 8) Gunboats ignore rolls of '4' when defending against fighters, PDS,
and
> Class 1 beams.

level 1 screen.

>  Unlike fighters, however, Class 1 beams used for PDS get a
> normal 2 kills + reroll when used against gunboats (rationale:
gunboats are
> considerably sturdier than fighters, so fighter & PDS fire is less
> effective.  They're also less nimble, so Class 1 PDS is *more*
effective.)

just like ships!

> 9) Strategically, a gunboat may make 4 FTL jumps before jump-engine
> refueling is required.  A gunboat may replace one or both torpedo
launchers
> with extra jump tanks - each jump tank so added extends the gunboat's
range
> by 2 jumps.

a ship wouldn't have any such limits, that i'm aware of. they should do,
though!

> Just as an initial SWAG, I'm thinking that the points cost would be
> somewhere between 20 and 30 points per gunboat, making a group cost
between
> 80 and 120 points.  Opinions, please?

well, i think that might be a bit much stuff to pack into such a small
space. however, i think i would reach the same conclusion for any other
type of fighter! let's check: standard fighter would have PDS, drive,
hull. that wouldn't fit in mass 1. it must be that fighters are built
with
less german approaches - everything is lighter, minimised, more fragile,
etc, lacking the solidity of a real ship. thus, your proposal looks
roughly ok. i would have thought that gunboats would cost about 3x a
normal fighter (well, maybe; if it weren't for either the torps or the
ftl).

Tom