FT firing order

Our group has recently been using an alternative method for determining
firing order.  Instead of alternating choosing firing ships, we use a
deck of
cards, with each ship getting a base of one card.  A ship may write in
its
orders that it is dedicating one or more fire control to general target
tracking.  For each fire control so dedicated, that ship gets an extra
card
in the deck.  The cards are all shuffled and revealed one at a time. 
When a
ship's card is first revealed, that ship conducts its firing actions.
 Subsequent cards for that ship are ignored.  Any fire control dedicated
to
tracking cannot be used for weapons targeting.

This system has had a number of advantages.  First, it actually speeds
up
play, since there is less time spent deciding whose ship is going to get
vaporised and thus needs to fire.  Secondly, the swarms of small ships
get a
fighting chance to fire their munitions before the big guys vaporise
them.
 Finally there is additional tactical fun and added suspense from a very
simple mechanic.  It has worked great so far, with some fun moments two
ships
on the verge of death anxiously await to see which will fire and which
will
die....

Also works well with the various specialized fire controls that I use
(Aegis,
Lanch Control), since these cannot be used for general tracking.

Later

Brian