RE: [DS] Points system

Of course this kind of thread pops up when I'm away from the computer
for a
day or two... fortunately Brian B2 has already said most of what I
would've
said :-)

Ryan M Gill wrote:

 >>No.	Dollars etc. reflect how much it costs IN REAL LIFE.  Points
 >>reflects it's effectiveness in game play.  Totally separate issues.
 >
 >But easily extrapolated.

No, the monetary cost is *not* easily extrapolated from the combat 
effectiveness. It is in fact almost impossible to extrapolate the
monetary 
cost of a weapon from its combat effectiveness and vice versa.

Let's take an extremely exaggerated example: build an M1A2 Abrams, but 
replace all steel with gold and/or platinum. Will the golden tank be
more 
expensive than a normal one? Hell yes! Will it be more effective in
combat 
than the normal tank? Hell no - not with a gun that can't fire without 
bursting, tracks that don't survive any wear and tear, and armour which
is 
too soft to stop a serious threat...

You don't need examples this extreme, of course. There are plenty
examples 
where two weapon systems are designed to do the same thing but one is
both 
cheaper and more combat effective than the other.

[snip]

 >Ahh, but this deviates significantly from the old system. I'm trying
to
 >make a slight change without really making a new system that bears a
 >resemblance to the system used to make Mechs in Battletech.

In that case, I'm afraid that you're bound to fail. The DS2 design
system 
has too many problem areas for a slight change to solve them - it needs
to 
be re-worked from the bottom up.

Regards,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."