Fleet Initiative

Daryl Poe writes:

@:) My group thinks, and I have to agree, that the "fleet initiative
@:) system", where the side with the most ships shoots first, is kind
@:) of artificial and contrived.  And it can lead to some gamey
@:) tactics like, "Shoot up the little ships first *solely* so I can
@:) get the initiative in later rounds".  I wonder if there's a more
@:) natural way of doing initiative?

  I don't know whether the current initiative system is natural or not
(to a certain extent it is but it gets less so as the number of ships
per side gets lower) but I wonder whether it really matters.  My group
has found that initiative gives no more than a small benefit to the
player that gets it.  It's nice (sometimes - might be better if
initiative gave you the ability to CHOOSE who fires first) but not
usually spectacular.  If you have a lot of ships, the small ones are
going to piffle no matter who shoots first.  If you have few, the
player that goes first usually won't be able to do enough damage to
matter.

  Are your experiences different?

-joachim