Re: FT Thrust question...

On Wed, 16 Oct 1996 pcaron%nhqvax.dnet@rapnet.sanders.lockheed.com
wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
>	Has anyone out there noticed that the small ships in fleet 
> engagements tend to get blown up too easily.

Depends on what they're fighting! If they go up against bigger ships 
at least they seem to survive for longer than they would have in the 
other capital ship space combat games (mainly Starfire and Leviathan) 
I've played...

It also depends very much on the measuring scale (or the playing area).
I 
measure in cm, which on my 120cm*80cm table allows thrust 8 ships to 
manouver at speeds of 40+; in this way they can use hit and run tactics 
and actually have a hope of survival. (Unless, of course, they end up in

front of the enemy heavies instead of behind them >:(  )

>  Our group has.  Maybe it's
> just the tactics we're using but it seems to me that our small ships 
> get blown to bits in the first few turns.

>	We are going to try and tweak the FT rules a bit to see if we
> can improve the survivability of small ships in our games.  For any
ship
> whose present thrust rating is 8, all other ships target it with
direct
> fire weapons at -2 to hit.  Ships with a 6 thrust rating are -1 to
hit.
> 6's rolled are automatic hits (criticals).  This gives ships with poor
> odds at hitting at least some chance at hitting the target.  A ship
whose
> engine has been damaged will no longer get the to-hit defense bonus
> (ie. it's in a s**t load of trouble).

Ouch. This is, in effect, the same as giving all thrust 8 ships level 3
shields and all thrust 6 ships level 2 shields for free; plus the fact
that these modifiers protect very well against railguns and pulse torps.
I've tried something similar on my Eldar ships (who use holoflage fields
instead of normal shields; the protection from the holoflage depended
both
on the speed of the unit and the direction from which it was fired
upon);
and their small ships became utterly lethal - small missile boats with
the
equivalent of level 3 shields. No fun at all after the first battle... I

still like the idea, but it has to have more drawbacks or cost a lot
more 
than my idea (currently the 'fields are mass 2, cost 75... and it is too

good IMO).

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson

"Father, what is wrong?"
"My shoes are too tight. But it does not matter, because
 I have forgotten how to dance."
- Londo Mollari