Re: Re: [FT] Simultaneous Fire

--- agoodall@canada.com wrote:
...
> For me, that's just as implausable as the case you
> describe, but simultaneous fire takes away a
> tactical aspect of the game that I like: the tough,
> nailbiting, what-ship-do-I-fire-now,
> gosh-I-hope-it-survives-this-volley, combat phase.
> 

What happens to me is you lose initiative in some
critical section of the game and though you were
even up before, now your ships dies just because
of that initiative die. Oops, you fire first, gee
I guess you killed my last ship with your last ship
before I had a chance to fire. I don't like luck
to have THAT great an impact. One lucky roll on 
the initiative dice can turn a winning strategy
into a crushing defeat, not because the strategy
is bad, but just because the opponent was luckier.

I prefer to lose because my tactics are bad rather
than merely because my opponent won initiative.
Yes, the die rolls for fire make luck a persistent
factor in FT, but that one roll (initiative) has
a MUCH larger effect (or can) than those individual
die rolls for weapons fire which tend to even out.

...I suspect
> that it makes very small ships with very high
> initial speeds a much more deadly tactic than in
> standard FT. ... This might be what
> your player was talking about when he said it
> greatly alters the game.
> 

Good point, but no I don't think that is what
they were thinking. Small ships don't come up
that much. I play them sometimes, but not often
and other than me, I can't think of anyone who
plays smaller than destroyer sized ships.

None of the recent games that I played non
simultaneous had any ship smaller than a destroyer
and only 1 or 2 of those.

...
> I can see both sides of this. I think they should be
> more open to new systems and the like. I can also
> sympathize with them. Balancing the effect of new
> weapons is a BIG deal. I've been on the list long
> enough to see incredibly unbalanced weapons. This is
> a big part of what the playtest list does for new
> fleet books. It's a lot harder than it appears. Ask
> Oerjan. :-)
> 

I'd like a little variety that I could introduce into
my fleet design, but it wouldn't have to be my own
new custom weapon. There are probably plenty that have
been proposed on the list that have had a fair amount
of playtesting which would be known to not be too
unbalancing. Something like AFHAWKS for example. But
it only seems to cause arguments and bad feelings
and accusations about changing the game when I 
bring them up so I've stopped bringing them up. 
Arguments aren't fun.

I'd love to try the Earthforce Sourcebook heavy
beam weapons. They don't strike me as particularly
overpowered, though you'd have to come up with a
point value for them. There are a number of potential
neat ones in there like the narn energy mine. Oh well
it's still fun or I wouldn't still be playing.

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