RE: cm scale

In message <Pine.LNX.3.91.971128000352.31801A-100000@swob.dna.fi>
	  Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@swob.dna.fi> wrote:

> On Wed, 26 Nov 1997, Samuel Penn wrote:
> > Because of the way the movement system works, low thrust ships
> > are more manouevrable at high speeds. 
> 
> Would you care to elaborate? I find this statement highly confusing.
> The angles they can turn are exactly the same, but the turning radius
> goes up.

What I mean is, you can change your expected position a
lot more when going fast. A 2 point turn at speed 4 will
only put you a couple of inches away from your 'expected'
position, whereas at speed 20 it puts you half a table
away.

> >   b) Limit their speed, which forces them to keep their
> >	 speed down so they don't fly off.
>  
> No. By observing the speed cap, they *won't* fly *too far* off the
table.
> Really cuts down those "fly-by at 100 and then turn around 1000" away
for
> another pass" tactics too. 

Okay, I thought you were trying to reduce the chance of
ships going off the table altogether.

> 
> > In both cases you're restricting fast ships. In the latter,
> > you've also got to cope with what happens when ships go off
> > the table. With a few ships this is easy. With 100+ ships
> > and fighter groups, it's not worth it.
> 
> We've been playing a lot of campaign games, which means punishing
those
> spent missile boats is a big deal. Letting them get away simply flying
off
> the table wouldn't cut it anyway.

Unless they're non-FTL, they should be able to just FTL out
anyway.

> 
> > We tend to play with large fleets btw... (which may explain
> > why I'm approaching the problem from a different direction
> > to you).
> 
> I'll just disagree with you, but the larger the fleet is, the sillier
I 
> find it not splintering into separate engagements drifting off the 
> various table edges.

I tend to prefer to concentrate my firepower.

If, as you say above, you're quite happy with ships going
off the table, and you just want to limit how far they go
off the table, then speed caps are better.

If (as in my case) you don't like ships going off the table
at all, because of the hassle it involves, then I still
maintain that area caps are best.

-- 
Be seeing you,
Sam.