Re: More FT Ideas.....

In a message dated 97-02-19 12:14:29 EST, you write:

>  On the other hand, changing the fighter movement rules to make them
>  more similar to the ship movement rules actually REDUCES the
>  complexity of the game.  I support any attempt to make fighters act
>  more like ships for purposes of simplification.
> 
This is what I was thinking.  Having the fighters limited to speed
twelve
when larger ships (escorts, etc) often zing about at speeds of 24 or
more
just doesn't sit well with me.	Hell, even a mass 100
super-duper-dreadnought
can eventually reach speed 24 provided she doesn't need to stop in the
next
week....

Of course, all my "additions" are entirely optional.  Some of us can't
resist
the urge to tinker :).	I do try to use existing game mechanisms
whenever
possible and to keep new ones as simple as possible.  The fault of SFB
is not
really in having to many ships/systems/etc, but rather in having a
separate
volume of special rules unique to each one.

Further playtesting of some of these ideas is ongoing.	As I endure the
last
two weeks of my unemployment, I've been setting up games every other day
or
so to test a few ideas.  I like having fighters keep track of their
speed,
but not worry with move plots, etc.  The feel is about what I want. 
They are
very nimble and zip around the board, but if you build up speed to go
attack
something, it can take you a couple of turns to get back into the fray. 
They
still turn around faster than any ship, but there is a price to pay for
zooming off at speed 30.

The rules for evasive maneuvers seem to work pretty well and are
certainly
easy enough to use.  I suspect that everyone who can understand the
basic
rules can instantly tack +50% onto the measured range...  In todays
game, two
squadrons of little ships attacked a squaron of capitals.  The little
ships
came in fast and evasive, which enable some of them to get within range
to
fire off their submunitions.  They were still hammered hard on the way
in.
 One captial killed three Mass 6 corvettes in two turns firing just 2
long
range a batt shots at each.  Yes that's a 4/5 and a 6 on 3 out of four
shots.
 The evasive maneuvers helped by turning medium range A batt shots into
long
range shots.  The corvette squadron also got plowed by three squadrons
of
fighters who zoomed off of the decks of the capitals.  They were able to
accelerate into range of the evasive corvettes (had to get within 4")
but the
CT's were not able to fire their PDAF's and two more went boom.  Of nine
CT's, only two survived to fire their submunitions (they did cause a
threshold check however).  The other squadron of lights is equipped
mostly
with 1 arc A and B batts so were coming in slower hoping the
submunitions
would drop a screen.  The game is still ongoing, but the capitals
definitely
have the edge at this point since none of the submunitions attacks
dropped a
screen.

Later

Brian