FW: Bigger--not always better

Hmm. Some more good points. I think perhaps my proposed solutions do not
fit my real purpose...

Paul
----------
From:  Samuel Penn [SMTP:sam@bifrost.demon.co.uk]
Sent:  Sunday, March 23, 1997 4:01 AM
To:  FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject:  Re: Bigger-not always better

In message <01BC3708.2818A0E0@tanker.rahul.net> Paul wrote:
> In my continuing quest to degrade the potency of cap ships I wonder if
> anyone has tried any of the following modifications to the rules and,
if
> so, how did they go?
> 
> 1) Allow A Bats to only fire every OTHER turn.
> 2) Give a -1 to all to hit roles from A bats on cruiser class ships
and
> -2 on escort class ships.
> 3) Give a -1 to all hit roles from B bats on escort class ships.

Am I the only one who doesn't have a hatred of A batteries?  No offence
Paul (and I've heard similar suggestions before, so this is directed
towards others as well), but the above seems totally stupid, useful only
in making beam weapons utterely useless.
The entire point of beam weapons (in FT), is that they are useful
against unshielded and unarmoured ships - normally escorts and cruisers.
A batteries are useless against any ship with 3 levels of protection -
eg most capital ships.	And yet, people also want to reduce their
effectiveness against escorts and cruisers. Why?
As they stand, beam weapons are principally anti-escort weapons. Pulse
torpedoes are much better against capital ships. A batteries are
slightly overpowered relative to B and C batteries, but I think this is
more due to the B and C batteries being too weak, rather than A
batteries being too powerful.
> 4) Allow Pulse Torps to only fire every other (or third) turn.
> 5) Nova Cannons can only fire every third turn (still use the regular
> charging rules).

Making both weapons useless. Nova cannons are difficult enough to aim as
it is (waveguns are far more effective). Would you also give railguns
and waveguns these limitations?
Using the above rules, I'd stick to railguns, sub-packs, missiles,
waveguns and fighters.
> I think these mods put the weapons in a bit better perspective
> vis-à-vis their intended (designed for) targets.

I think we disagree on what weapons are suited to what purposes.  Beam
batteries aren't very effective against capital ships, but are very
effective against escorts, which, to my mind, suggests that their
intended targets are escorts.
Pulse torpedoes do (on average), less damage against escorts than
equivalent mass of A batteries, but far more damage against capital
ships. This suggests pulse torpedoes are designed to be used against
capital ships.

-- 
Be seeing you,					     ARM not Intel.
Sam.					       Acorn not Microsoft.