Ramming

Hello Folks,
  In general, ramming would not have been included in a game if it
wasn't
expected at some point in time for the rule to become useful.  On the
other hand, I would like to ask the designers of Full Thrust to shelve
their rules for Full Thrust 3, and concentrate on something a tad more
useful - namely campaign rules.
  Ramming, to my way of thinking is justified under one of two major
situations, and to my way of thinking, is another modified form of
scuttling the ship.  The first reason is when the crew of a ship has
little chance of escaping their enemy, and capture looks likely. 
However,
it is unlikely that a captain who wants his crew to be picked up by the
enemy's forces after the destruction of his ship will chose ramming as a
means of destroying his ship (something about an outraged enemy
perhaps?).
The second reason is when the situation is desperate, and by ramming,
you
bring about a better end battle situation than had you not rammed.  This
could be the defense of a home planet system, it could be the rear-guard
action where it is imperative that you delay the enemy as long as
possible, etc...
  On the other hand, I cannot picture a first officer relaying the
command
"ram" to lower sections on the ship, or the helms man ramming when the
ship in question has hardly suffered damage, and is capable of
withdrawing
from combat.
  In addition, it takes more time to fabricate larger ships than it does
for smaller ships, so the loss of a capital ship is bad news indeed!  
  On a similar vein, ships that are being swamped, and have multiple
enemy
ships within 6 inches, run the risk of being jump traumatized - ie the
swamped ship committing potential suicide by jumping while in the mass
zone (ie 6") of other ships.

  In conclusion, committing suicide in a game should be held to
realistic
levels, not at some whim of the commanding officer of the ship.  Short
of
refusing to play with the person who uses ramming capriciously, there
should be guidelines towards when a ship would consider ramming or
jumping
to their death.

  What I hope to see sometime soon, are rules that relate towards a
campaign game that allow for battle damage repair times, construction
times, and so forth.  I would also like to see some concepts as to what
a
mass means versus what a "volume" means.  Based upon Full Thrust II, I
gather that each "Mass" unit holds something like 250 cubic yards.  By
inference, I gather that the jump drive takes up 25% of a ship's mass
and
volume.  So what takes up the other amount of volume?  How many people
are
involved in crewing the ship?

  These are all peripheral questions that do not directly relate to the
game Full Thrust, but would be useful in campaign games...

Hal