Optional Core Systems Hits (was: Re: FB designs and SLMs)

I usually don't play with the Core Systems in the FleetBook because I
feel
they take ships out a bit way too harshly. Yeah, they're fun and all to
do (eg, watch happen to your opponent), but I don't find it really fun
when
either some of my ships or my opponent's ships go drifting off because
they
took a Bridge hit, or had a Power Core hit. Yes, I know, you don't check
for
them until the second Threshold Check, but still, it can be very
unbalancing
very quickly, esp if it's a cap ship which has most of its systems still
intact and all of a sudden it takes a Core System hit (or more than one)
then that side just lost a significant amount of its firepower, and the
other
side just got a huge advantage for (relatively) little output. It can be
as
unbalancing as 'game over' for the unfortunate side.

Also, we found that rolling for *each* Core System gave there being a
higher
chance of any one of them going on the first threshold run (the odds of
rolling
a 6 with three die are significantly higher than with just one). So
typically
when we do use them we only roll once for the Core Systems, and if a
Threshold
Check fails, roll to see which *one* of the Core Systems bit it.

A friend of mine in Colorado came up with another set of Core Systems a
while back that are not quite so 'all or nothing' unbalancing, but give
a fun flavor to the game. I've used these more often.  :-}  I've
included
his write-up below for your reading entertainment.

Mk
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From:  poe@fokker.fc.hp.com
To:    kochte@stsci.edu

The following are non-catastrophic critical hits.  They are "hit" like
any
other system during a threshold check (unlike the catstrophic hits which
are
checked at -1 on the die rolls).  They cannot be targetted by needle
weapons.

     Computer -- you must plot your movement one turn in advance (e.g.
     if I take the computer hit in turn 5, when writing turn 6 orders I
     also write for turn 7.  In turn 7 I'll write for turn 8...).
     Should your computer get fixed you can erase what you had
     previously written down for the turn and  write new orders.
     Should you take engine hits or repair engine damage, you still
     need to follow the orders you had written but may change the
     thrust levels involved (e.g. MD4 becomes MD2 orTS2 becomes TS3;
     but you cannot change TS to PS -- the "letters" must stay intact
     and thrusts cannot be reduced to zero).  You do not have to plot
     missile firing or fighter launching in advance -- only movement.

  [symbol: icon of computer terminal & keyboard inside a circle]

     Communications -- ships with communications damage fire after all
     ships with intact communications have finished.  (In a PBEM game,
     this hit might also have an effect on your ability to communicate
     with your buddies.)

  [symbol: icon of a typical phone handset inside a circle]

     Sensors -- when firing, for weapons with multiple range
     categories, the target is treated as if it were one range category
     further away.  For weapons with only one range category, the
     target is treated as if it were twice as far away (i.e. a Class-1
     battery has an effective range of 6).

  [symbol: icon of sensor dish inside a circle]

We used them in our playtest last night and I really liked them -- they
add
flavor without turning the battle.  We also used the catastrophic
criticals,
on which I'm ambivalent -- we seemed to get them too often for my taste.
Maybe for catastrophic hits if you only made one threshold roll for the
set
of three (the "catastrophic hit check") and if positive, roll to see
which
one.  That'll change the odds:

Chance of one or more catastrophic hits (cumulative chance in parens):
		  Current system     1-check method
1st row dies	     none		   none
2nd row dies	     42% (42%)		    17% (17%)
3rd row dies	     70% (83%)		    33% (44%)

That's more to my liking.  In fact, I'll probably do that for
non-catastrophic criticals too:

Chance of one or more non-catastrophic hits (cumulative chance in
parens):
		  Current system     1-check method
1st row dies	     42% (42%)		  17% (17%)
2nd row dies	     70% (83%)		  33% (44%)
3rd row dies	     88% (98%)		  50% (72%)

I'll send lots more mail on the battle and various observations later.

Daryl
poe@fokker.fc.hp.com