RE: Ramming.

Hi All

On the subject of ramming, I think the 6 is too low a generic chance, on
a
ship where presumably the helm can steer it without the rest of the crew
being
able to know for sure what is happening, all you need is
discipline/fanaticism/fear of being deemed a coward among the bridge
crew.  I
have just come back from Japan where I visited the cemetary with the
shrine to
the 47 ronin (who all killed themseleves on the order of the government
after
carrying out an illegal revenge killing on an official who had caused
the
death of their master) and the war dead shrine in Tokyo which is mostly
glorious suicides, mass suicides (or 'final attacks' which amount to
much the
same thing) and acts of selfless death of one sort or another by people
who
obviously needed to roll 2-6 to attempt to ram.  

If you have a culture conducive to such behaviour it gets down to
economics
and logistics / repair costs + time, crew replacement availability +
time, if
you have 'plenty more where that came from' or the repair takes so long
a ship
is useless there is no reason not to have a doctrine based on the ram
for the
few survivors of a heavily damaged ship if they are so culturally
conditioned
as to believe it its the right thing.

One off games have trouble making such distinctions fairly.  I recall
one
(confession time here) SFB campaign where I sacrificed one of my fleets
three
dreadnaughts to blow a gap through a defensive position and allow the
capture
of an alien homeworld - when defeat, with few losses, was the
alternative. 
National pride, the need to maintain an aura of invincibility and
economics
all made it the right decision.  The racial heroes were all deified :). 
This
decision would not be made in a points balanced non campaign, non
scenario
game.

Aden
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9431/