Re: Critical hits (was Limits on armour?)

Feels a bit like a contradiction, hate the breakpoint, but the Silent
Death
damage losses are absolute breakpoints as opposed to random generations,
but I think I get your feeling.

Core systems rules do break it up a bit, as catastrophic damage can
occur
only after other systems have had to check.

Would breaking it down even further into external systems, protected
systems, and core systems, give you enough possible finer granularity?
Strictly as a house rule, of course.

Say, at the first threshold, you can blow off SM racks and PDF's, but
only
next threshold for FC's and shields, and maybe pushing core to third;
I'm
sure the order of systems in this structure would be the source of
vigorous
discussions, but you get my drift. And, in those cases where massive
damage
crosses multiple thresholds, you can still roll for most everything.

Otherwise, you could take a page from SD, and put limited threshold
checks
as icons in the hull boxes, which would negate some of the variable hull
row build differences.

I won't go into the 'other side of the ship' topic, as the whole 'roll
the
ship' discussion still rankles me.

The_Beast

Allen wrote on 07/07/2006 09:46:52 AM:

> On 7/7/06, Hugh Fisher <laranzu@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>
> > I really like the Full Thrust threshold checks as opposed
> > to just about every other critical hit system I've ever
> > seen because they don't occur very often.
>
> I prefer the system in _Silent Death_, myself. It's major failing is
> that critical hits are very predictable.
>
> One thing that bugs me about Full Thrust is the fact that you can be
> attacked primarily from one direction and lose the weapons on the
> other side of the ship. I know people have PSB to cover
> it, and I know
> there is no easy fix to the problem.
>
> (Funny enough, I don't have that much of a problem with it in Full
> Steam, but beams don't "plunge" into a specific part of a ship.)
>
> I've never been crazy about the break point idea. A ship takes a
> pounding but is fully functional until it loses that one point on a
> hull row... and then, bang!, it loses all its weapons.
> Again, no easy
> way to fix it, and it is a big part of FT. It just bugs me.