Descriptive design system idea

Since James Butler nagged me about it...

This is something I've run up fairly quickly to demonstrate what I
mean by a descriptive design system. It's extremely unfinshed and
hideously flawed in many ways, and the arithmetic is ugly, but it's 
not unusable. The only glaring omission is the lack of a costing 
for sensors.

I've tried to make the numbers relatively consistent with those
from the FT rules. Systems have a base cost of four times their
current mass. Screens are a bit funny in that I've made them cost
twice, once to shaft small ships and again to shaft the large ones. 
It all needs a lot of work, damage boxes, for example, ought to
cost more on the first track than one the second (I've ducked the
issue of how damage tracks should be formed). &c. ad nauseum.

Enough waffle, here it is.

---------------------------------------------------------

Write down your chosen ship, whatever systems, however much damage.

Systems have the following values:

Class 'A' Battery		4 + 4-per-arc
Class 'B' Battery		2 + 2-per-arc
Class 'C' Battery		1 + 1-per-arc
PDAF System			4
ADAF System			12
Fighter Bay			8
Needle Beam			8
Pulse Torpedo Tube		20
Submunition Pack		4
Fire Control Systems		12 (but your first one free)
Damage Control Party		8
Screen Generator		12 (and additional cost below)
FTL Drive			zero, nada, zip... one allowed only

Total the value of all the systems and the damage boxes @ 4 points/
box.

Points Value = Total ^ (1 + (thrust/50) + (screens/50)) [round down]

Fighter groups then cost an additional 12 points (plus MT options).

-------------------------------------

These are the current and "descriptive" PV's for some ships in FT and 
MT for comparison. The one non-FTL ship becomes noticably more costly
while the merchant ships are much less so. Carriers drop a little, 
but otherwise it's all much as it was. (I've been deliberately quite
conservative.)

			Mass	Thrust	Now	New
Courier 		2	8	15	11
Scoutship		4	8	28	24     
Strikeboat		4	8	26	24
Corvette		6	8	43	55
Lancer			6	8	39	55
Frigate 		10	6	65	76
Destroyer		14	6	92	105
Torpedo Destroyer	14	6	86	105
Super Destroyer 	16	6	105	120
Privateer		18	8	137	186

Light Cruiser		22	6	190	225
Needle Cruiser		22	6	187	225
Escort Cruiser		26	4	195	222
Strike Cruiser		28	4	198	229
Heavy Cruiser		32	4	238	265
System Defence C.	32	4	252	354
Superheavy Cruiser	36	4	276	302

Battlecruiser		40	4	381	403
Battleship		48	4	447	463
Battledreadnought	60	2	431	425 + 12
Superdreadnought	80	2	580	577 + 24

Escort Carrier		40	2	286	240 + 24
Light Carrier		70	2	499	412 + 48
Fleet Carrier		98	2	687	548 + 72

Free Trader		10	2	50	17
Armed Merchantman	36	2	178	60
Survey Cruiser		48	4	333	93
Heavy Freighter 	60	2	306	109
Bulk Tanker		100	2	502	188

-------------------------------------

All comment welcome and actively solicited.

-- 
David Brewer <db-ft@westmore.demon.co.uk>