Re: FTIII/classes redefined

Mike M. wrote:
>This reminds of one big area I would really like to see changed in FT -
>classifying a ship type based only on its mass.  I think it should be
the
>player's decision as to what type of the ship, the ship actually
represents
>based on its role, etc.  I think a more efficient system would be to
assign
>an identifier to each mass range for helping with identification and
ship
>construction.	One example is trying to represent races where the
beings in
>question may be of different sizes compared to humans.  A race of
beings
>much larger than humans might have a scout as large as a human battle
>cruiser, etc.
>
>Example using Phil's size listing:
>
>>Mass	       Size Class
>>0 to 6	   A 
>>7 to 12	   B 
>>13 to 24	   C 
>>25 to 36	   D 
>>37 to 66	   E 
>>67 to 96	   F 
>>97 to 116	   G 
>>117 to 134	   H 
>>135 to 156	   I 
>>157 to 180	   J 
>>180 to 200	   K 
>:
>etc.
>
>A ship of say 96 mass might be considered a battle cruiser, a strike
>cruiser, a scout, a dreadnought etc.  The ship type should be based on
the
>its actual role, not just its size.  Many of todays modern destroyers
and
>cruisers are built on similar hulls and have similar tonnage, but they
are
>not all called destroyers or all called cruisers.  They are primarily
>classed on their role.
>
>
>Mike Miserendino

Yes, I quite agree. The class names in FT are no more than arbitrary
labels, as I pointed out in the rulebook - they are simply to give
players
used to "wet navy" terms a rough idea of the relationship between ships.
By
all means call any size of ship a Cruiser, a Dreadnought or a
Vandanbladderstiddle* for all it really matters....  I guess the only
real
reason for some sort of consistency is that it allows other players to
relate to ship sizes - if you say to your opponent "this is a Frigate",
he
has a ROUGH idea of how big it is and what it canm probably do.
BTW, one of the changes that WILL come in FTIII (and probably be
"previewed" in the Fleet Book) is a revised construction system that
fixes
the mass problems and removes the artificial class break points for
good.... Then you really CAN call your ships what the h*ll you like!

Watch this space....

Jon T. (GZG)

* Three House Points and a poke in the eye with a sharp stick for the
first
really sad person to tell me where that comes from...... (OK, so I'm
tired
tonight and the sense of humour is free-associating again).