Re: Retrograde from hell

From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@swob.dna.fi>

> Interesting, I just had horror visions of the 
> retrograde ship from hell and then Noam pulls 
> something like that outta his hat...

Assuming you can fire aft while turning, but not using MD (I can't
recall
right now if that's legal), I'd also thought of a Beam-5, Thrust 6 fleet
with A/AP/FP arcs. It has many of the flaws Mikko points out, but the
3-arcs
means I'd (usually) be circling on attack, only running away from dogged
pursuit, and then, only running to prolong the time I can fire at him
for
free. For a two person game, I don't think you bring fleets like this if
you
want _both_ players to have fun :-)

> Unfortunately, these tactics are often horribly 
> boring no matter who wins in the end. Thus, IMHO, 
> a game system would need to make it BLATANTLY
> obvious that they won't work.

As a matter of course, yes, I think it's boring. In the occasional game
-
like say the last Cygnus BYO, the reactions from bystanders alone were
worth
it, and a multiplayer game can, on its own, challenge strategy and keep
it
from being boring.

-Noam