Re: Fleet Initiative

Joachim Heck - SunSoft wrote:

>   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?

I think most turns it doesn't matter much who shoots first, as you
said, but some turns it can make a big difference.  If you've got a
pair of fleets with a good mix of ship sizes (say a battleship, a
couple cruisers, and a handful of destroyers), on the turn that the
battleships close within 12" of each other it can really make a big
difference who gets to shoot first, as you can take out a big chunk
of the opponent's firepower before they get to shoot back.

Does the whole game revolve around getting the initiative?  No; this
isn't Silent Death.  :-)

Daryl