Re: A complete turn-around of attitude...

In message <Pine.SUN.3.92.961211105632.27829J-100000@caroli.usc.edu>
lojeck writes:
> 
> 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...

I disagree completely. A space-ship in FT is a game-token like a
piece is in chess. Simple tokens can make for very complex games,
and for very enjoyable ones.

Complicated design-it-yourself tokens leave me cold. Putting the
whole of the game into the design stage impoverishes the game at the
face-to-face level. A game that needs to be constantly added to to
keep interest in it is a poor one.

I'd rather be an admiral than an engineer.

---

A different approach to ship design would be just to write down the
stats quite without reference to each other. So many hull boxes, so
many weapons, so much thrust, so many fighters-launched-per-turn, so
many shields with a points cost for each (and thrust as a multiplier). 
"Mass" simply would not be relevent. If you want thirty 3-arc-A's in a 
thrust-10 ship with 3 hull-boxes, go ahead.

-- 
David Brewer