Re: [GZG] FT:XD changes, part 1

TomB (and others) have made some very good points and observations.
I'm relatively "new" to the fighter problem, having heard about it for
years but never having experienced it.	My small gaming group could be
fighter heavy at times if our players (especially me!) got motivated
enough to paint their fighters and carriers.  The worst that I think
i've experienced was around 10-12 fighter groups in a 3k point game.
They mattered, but weren't any more of a deciding factor than SMs and
such.

I had a thought while reading TomB's post.  Maybe this has been
thought of before, maybe not.  Seems that part of the problem is that
tons of fighters vs not tons of PDS gives the fighters a HUGE impact
on the battle.	Can the problem be resolved by toning down the effect?

>From what I recally, we essentially have 3 damage modes:

Interceptors - no damage to capitol ships
Standard - 1 beam die per fighter (0-2 points each)
Torp bombers - 1-6 (or 3-6 or something, depending on which set of
rules/playtest rules you use).

You want fighters to be able to impact the battle. But do you (in a
sci-fi setting) want them to dominate "naval battles" as they tend to
on Earth bound wet navies?  Or do you want them to be a huge annoyance
that has to be defended against, but won't always turn the tide?

What if we went with something like:

Interceptors - no damage vs capitol ships (weapons too small to matter)
Standard - 0-1 points.	Maybe not as bad as PDS vs ships, but nearly.
Like, score 1 DP on a 5,6.
Torp bombers - 0-2 points.  Roll a beam die.  No re-rolls on any
fighter attacks vs capitol ships.

A large fighter swarm would be able to do some serious damage, mostly
if they were TBs, but only hitting on 5,6 (vs shielded in FT 2.5, make
it 1 point on a 6, even if double shielded, or otherwise adjust the
numbers some) reduces the effectiveness of standard fighters.  Then if
TBs are essentially useless in dogfights (any battle vs ordinance),
maybe only scoring a hit on a 6 (sorry, I haven't looked at this for a
while and don't want to go read to look it up), then they are one-shot
one trick ponies that still are much less likely to simply vaporize
capitol ships.	If a full squadron fires that's 6 beam dice.  Nasty,
but not ... earth shattering.

Worth thinking about?

J
_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l