Re: [GZG] [FT] Graser-1s again

["john tailby" <John_Tailby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Oerjan Ariander" <oerjan.ariander@xxxxxxxxx>
> If the problem is the players' perception of the mega-hits, then the best 
> solution is to remove the potential for mega-hits - which in the Graser 
> case means removing the to-hit die rerolls (and adjust their points cost 
> accordingly). This limits the maximum possible damage inflicted by a 
> single Graser die to 12 (which is of course still quite a lot - but the 
> probability that a single Graser die will score 12 pts is *less* than the 
> probability that two (rerolling) standard beam dice combined will score 12 
> *or more* points!). At the same time removing the rerolls doesn't change 
> the *low* end (0-8 pts or so) of the Graser's damage profile noticably, so 
> it is still distinctly different from the standard beam batteries.
This exactly summaries my gaming groups experience. A few battles where one 
players ship rolls a 6 followed by a 4 producing 3D6 damage or even a ship 
mounting 4 grazer 1 rolls 3 hits its an awful lot of dice. Its like being 
struck by multiple assault missiles or AMTs. Powerful cruisers go from OK to 
dead in one go.

This left our players feeling a bit scarred.

So we changed the grazers to be d3 per hit and halved the mass. This means 
they average more damage but are less excessive at the top end. In addition 
because the mass is halved the ship can mount twice as many units so gets to 
roll more dice so a tighter bell curve on doing some damage.

We also had similar arguments about fleets based heavily on MT missiles and 
fighters. The general feeling about ordnance based fleets was "develop an 
effective counter". So people did.

I did also like the idea of dropping the rerolls but then it means that the 
Grazer stops being a beam and becomes its own sets of special rules. I much 
prefer weapon that are composed of different combinations of common 
attributes rather than each weapon having its own made up rules.

BTW we also allowed all weapons that used the torpedo to hit mechanism to 
take the long range (range bands +50% mass x2) or short range (range 
bands -33% mass halved). This works OK except for short ranged K1 at mass 1 
which are a bit good.

In our new campaign there are some players that look like they have "math 
geeked" their designs out of some kind of formula. They are not doing so 
well as the players that have defined their doctrine and tactics and 
designed ships to match.

John



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