Re: [OFFICIAL] Fighters in Vector Thrust

On Fri, 28 Mar 1997, Ground Zero Games wrote:

> OK chaps, its late on Friday evening and I've just had an idea, so I
> thought I'd throw it out to you all now so that you can cogitate on it
(I
> think I'm allowed to say that...).
> 
> There has been a lot of discussion about how fighters (and missiles)
should
> work in a "true vector" movement system of the kind we've been kicking
> around for a while. The most "realistic" answer is to make them move
as
> ships do, with recorded velocities, vector markers etc., but for a
long
> while I've been trying to avoid doing this for fighters in order to
avoid
> the additional complexity.

Added complexity? Uh... no.

Since I don't have very many nifty fighter bases (I used to use
Leviathan
or Starfire fighter squadron counters instead; now I have two fighter
bases too...), and it is a bit difficult to get a small D6 to stay on
those counters during combat, I usually record how many fighters each
squadron has on a slip of paper. This means I already have a piece of
paper on which I can record the squadron's current speed. 

I, too, have given fighters an all-around fire arc (due to their 
maneuvrability) and use the "facing" of the squadron counter/model to 
indicate direction of travel - this means I don't have to use vector 
counters for them. The _only_ additional book-keeping I need to do is
the 
current speed of the fighters, and that isn't very much. Since I don't 
have to worry about two different movement mechanics, I'm happy. :)

Oerjan Ohlson

"Life is like a sewer.
 What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
 -Hen3ry