[DSII] Heresey

I've been doing a good bit of DSII designing lately, and something's
been bothering me about the system.  Let me see if I can put this into
words; I've only 
just managed to put my finger on what it is.

When you look at Full Thrust, it's very possible to have two ships of
identical mass (and virtually identical point cost) that are *very*
different from each 
other, but still very competitive.  Ship X may have Pulse Torps and
screens, while Ship Y has beam weapons and armor, but neither of the two
is clearly 
superior to the other.

It seems that DSII is missing this factor; it's very easy to see (and
design) the ideal tank.  Given two grav tanks of similar size with
turreted weapons, 
designed by two different people, how different are the end results
going to be?

If they are designing in a vacuum (no scenario or background
restrictions to worry about) you are likely to have a pair of almost
identical vehicles: 
assuming Size Class III, each will have an MDC(4), Superior Firecon,
class 3 armor, the best ECM available...and if points are not a problem,
two levels 
of stealth.

There are a number of minor differences that are possible -- ablative or
reactive armor, APFCs, and so on -- but nothing that's likely to have
much game 
effect.

Doing my own designs, and self-limiting myself to Enhanced Firecons for
most vehicles (Basic is for low -tech, Superior for ultra-tech), I found
that there 
was a depressing sameness to the results.  Going from a WYSIWYG
standpoint, there's not all that much that the system can do to
differentiate 
between a pair of tracked Class III tanks of similar tech level.

Solution?  Beats me.  I'd like to see something like the FT building
system, or even (bear with me for a moment here) classic Car Wars. 
Given $15,000 
to spend, you could end up with a ton of different vehicles, all of them
of similar combat potential.  Maybe I need more experience with the
system, but it 
seems to me that DSII can't do the same right now.

I'm sure that there are folks willing to argue the contrary, so please:
somebody prove me wrong.

-- 
John Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com