Re: [OFFICIAL] new ideas!

At 04:14 AM 3/2/97 +0000, you wrote:
>At 02:55 AM 2/28/97 +0000, I wrote:
>>
>>	  Perhaps what you need is some sort of sliding scale. Perhaps
an
>>exponential scale might be better. That way, low cost ships would pay
>>proportionately less for higher thrust than higher cost vessels. That
would
>>work to keep people from just building a handful of gigantic
superships.
>>
>>	  Just a thought,
>>
>>	  James
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>
> (BTW cool ship :) -- snip

	We like it. Keeps us safe and alive and what not. :)

>A sliding scale isn't nessesary.....small ship's engines will be cheap.
 And
>the large ship's engines will be expensive.  What this does is put the
>players in the same position as the real military ship designers....If
you
>put in more engines, you have to leave out weapons, or defences.    So
large
>ships can have as much acceleration as the small ships, but their
engines
>will be more expensive, and they will have to give up weapons, ect.
that
>they could have carried.
>
>Donald Hosford
>--

	Without a sliding scale, players will immediately see that all
vessels pay the same rate for engines. Now I don't know what kind of
guys
you play with, the guys I play with will translate that into: 

	"Nothing but superships!! You see, you get all the increased
defenses of a huge starship and you pay the same rate for speed as a
little
ship with a C-bat and a submunition. Doesn't make sense to get anything
other than superships!!" 

	I'm very interested in this descriptive design system idea, but
to
implement it with our group I'm going to need some incentive for people
to
take smaller ships, or they simply won't. Would you? Would you take
several
ships with a handful of damage boxes when you could merge them into one
big
ship for the same price? You wouldn't lose a ship to incidental damage.
You
wouldn't risk the whole force being annihilated by a single wave gun
hit,
etc., etc., etc. We need some way to make ships with high price tags pay
proportionately more for their engines or frigates will wind up in
museums.

	James
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	Battlecruiser INTREPID, CORMORANT-class
	Captain James L. Butler III, Commanding
	JAMESBUTLER@worldnet.att.net