Re: Ramming and Suicide Attacks.

On Mon, 7 Apr 1997, A stalwart bastion of bachelorism wrote:

> I don't see where there's a big deal with this Ramming stuff.

Really, there isn't. I think we were mostly interested in prolonging 
combat longer than a real captain would. E.g. your battleship is reduced

to 5 hits. Do you disengage or stick around trying to inflict maximum 
damage in final blaze of glory?

The fleet morale rules cure most of this but IMHO it still remains an 
interesting dilemma.

Why do real people not always finish off cripples? Either they can't 
catch it, or they don't want risk further damage to themselves. The
first 
is easy, but in FT the second option is a bit problematic: Anyone trying

to get away will expose their unarmed rear. Shooting someone up the 
tailpipe is a no-risk proposition in FT.

What does this lead to? Big ships will find it hard to disengage. 
Consequently, they probably won't even try. From the dynamic fleet 
composition viewpoint, slow capitals become a losing proposition since 
they can't really get away from a losing fight.

This may or may not be the effect you want in your games.

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