A complete turn-around of attitude...

well, I was thinking last night... in my younger days, my friends and I
wrote a game based on the GUNDAM anime series. (space combat with
robots).
it was a simple game to play, not quite as quick as full thrust, but
nearly so... the main difference was that it had very complex ship
construction rules. all in all, I think this was a good thing...

applying this logic to full thrust, I'd come up with something that let
you allocate mass for not just fighter/launchpad/repair like now, but
seperate space for storage of the fightercraft and launch facilities.
then
it wouldn't be important how to define your ship as a carrier, if you
pay
the mass to buy enough lauchpads to launch all your fighters in one
turn,
then so be it!	I'd add mass-per-firearc for batteries (at present,
there
is little reason NOT to have all your guns fire in 3 arcs), I even like
the FMA system better, now that I've been thinking about it.

all these things I support (now) because they don't add much (if
anything
at all) to the playing time of the game. they do add some time to the
pre-game construction of your ships, but as with anything that will
speed
up once you get the hang of it (I can almost make Dirtside vehicles in
my
head now!)

we also had a system, I really doubt that you'd want to adopt it, where
an
item had a size attribute (like now) based on its power/performance,
etc... you could decrease the cost (in points) by increasing the mass
and
lower the mass by paying more points (representing using older tech with
larger, more complex parts). this made the construction phase MUCH more
complex, but also added a nice touch. that way your dreadnaughts COULD
go
thrust 8 if you wanted, but the engine would be huge if you didn't want
to
pay too much...

at any rate, if the new system is done up right (and I think it would be
a
superb idea if the list were allowed to playtest the rules and perhaps
even give some opinions [assuming we all respect the god-like power of
The
Tuffley ;-) ] on the game as it develops...

since game development is a long process (I assume!) why not also do a
small reprint of more thrust?

Brian Lojeck
lojeck@mizar.usc.edu

"This is the .sig that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends.
Some people started reading it, not knowing what it was; but now that
they've
been reading it, they notice it because... This is the .sig that never
ends..."