Re: FB2... hmmmm...

On Sat, 3 Jun 2000 02:35:48 -0700 (PDT), stiltman@teleport.com wrote:

>Phalons' plasma bolts.... anyone besides me see lots of abuse potential
in
>a custom game?  Is this thing really intended to only be three points
per
>mass?	With a six inch radius... the thing's essentially a higher-end
>nova cannon that you can just dilute with screens and PDS.

A couple of points: 

1) Fighters can take out plasma bolts, too.
2) They fire every other turn.
3) They require a Fire Control per Plasma Bolt to fire. The firecon can
be
used for pulsers (and, if you were using these things on custom designs,
they
could be used to fire other weapons at other ships, I'd imagine), but
you
still need a firecon per PBL. 

>Number cruncher note:	A class 5 K-gun on Kra'Vak ships is actually
more
>efficient than a class 6.

That was intentional. There are diminishing returns at work. Think of it
this
way: how many Saturn V launchers could you fit on an Aegis class
cruiser? :-)

>In just about any sort of fighter operations, Sa'Vasku are in bad
shape.
>They have to consume biomass to launch fighters of their own or to
effect
>any sort of area defense, and their fighters are all plain-vanilla on
attack.

Sa'vasku play a bit differently from almost any other force. The
allocation
system allows hideous amounts of thrust available to their ships. They
are a
shoot and scoot design, in many ways. Fighters just won't keep up. They
also
benefit from a regeneration system. I haven't done much with them, but I
think
they could be THE most interesting fleet to play.

>Question arising from that last sentence:  plasma bolts are going to
nuke
>fighters too, aren't they?  At least, they certainly would seem to
under
>official rules.  (The house rules we play with assume that fighters can
>evade nova cannons and wave guns for free.... we might use that
assumption
>with plasma bolts, too, especially if they get too abusive.)

No need to make it a house rule. It's implied by the turn sequence, but
should
probably be stated more forcefully. Fighters can evade PBLs. However, if
they
want to try and shoot them down, they have to stay with in the area
effect.
It's a nasty little decision, but fighters can scoot if they wish. 

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"