Re: coupla Full Thrust questions

Mark wrote,

> I can understand this for most miniatures systems, but for starships I
would
>  think that your individual targetting computers can pretty easily
determine
>  ranges to enemy ships and such (otherwise it'd be hell navigating
("Tactical,
>  just how close or far *is* that asteroid, anyway??"). And if you're
doing
>  genre-specific games, you should be able to measure in advance (since
they
>  can always tell how far away the enemy is, anyway ;). So I would
argue
that
>  you *can* pre-measure distances in FT (or any starship minis game,
for
that
>  matter).
>  
>  My $0.02, for what it's worth

About $0.02, I'd say.  ;-)

I agree with Mark. When we play ancients or fantasy miniatures, we don't
allow pre-measuring, but in sci-fi games we measure EVERYTHING.
(Remember the
motto: "Measure twice, shoot once.")

But for those who don't want to allow pre-measuring, here's a PSB
rationalization: say that your time & distance scale is REALLY huge,
with 1"
equal to a couple thousand kilometers, so that there is a slight delay
in
speed-of-light targetting systems, and ships are moving at not-quite
relativistic speeds. Thus, by the time your computer has registered the
target's location, the target has moved. This would explain why it's so
hard
to hit with speed-of-light weapons; targetting includes a certain amount
of
guesswork. Donaldson did a little with this in his "Gap" series,
although it
was portratyed as a very rare exception to the way ships normally fight.

Just another idea...

Scott Field

FASHION: Today's rage, tomorrow's chuckle. (see THE SEVENTIES)