RE: [FTFB] "Needle" fighters?

my first post was interrupted by suddenly realising it was 0200. i've a
good 30 minutes before that happens this time.

Jared E Noble wrote:
> >On Fri, 8 Jan 1999, Robertson, Brendan wrote:
> >> How about an entirely new type of fighter, instead of rehashing old
> >> ones?
> Possibly, but I like Thoomas' idea better

who is this Thoomas character? if i catch him round here i'll batter
him,
having a funny name like that :-).

if we can develop a good mechanism for fighter needle attacks, people
can
patch it in as a fighter type or an attack mode as they wish. reduce,
reuse, recycle. as an attack mode it should be called the trench run,
obviously.

> >- nominate primary and secondary target systems
> >- roll a die. if you score under the current strength of the
squadron:
> >-- roll a beam die:
> >--- 2 pts - primary and secondary targets destroyed

thinking about this some more, this may be excessive. maybe we should
just
say pick one target; 1 point of damage destroys it, 2 pts destroys it
and
the player is allowed to shout "KABOOM!" louder than he usually would.
or
score a point of hull damage too, although i dislike this on aesthetic
grounds.

define terms: if a system is KOd so it can be repaired (eg threshold) it
is damaged, if it is KOd so it cannot (eg shipboard needle beams) it is
destroyed.

if we use the 'needle fighters damage systems' rule, then maybe getting
2
points means the damage was extra heavy, and is treated as system
destroyed (ie, cannot be repaired). this i like. this would apply to
multiple successes for each-fighter-rolls mode.

note that needle fighters should be able to target systems which have
been
damaged in an attempt to destroy them (the Horizon is drifting
helplessly,
but nonetheless the Equinox launches needle fighters to see the job is
properly finished ...).

> >count turkeys as one fighter less

squadrons with aces make an attack at one less strength (the ace is not
involved) but get the ace's attack as well. or just get +1 on the roll,
or
count as 1 stronger (the opposite of turkeys).

> How about collapsing that to a single die roll to resolve the attack?

faster is better.

> The squadron gives up it's normal attack and instead:
> - Nominate the target system (I think only one, but two may work
> - Roll a die and compare it to squadron strength (subtract 1 for
turkeys)
> -- If above squadron strength, nothing happens
> -- If equal to squadron strength target takes 1 pt damage
> -- If below to squadron strength target takes 1 pt and system
destroyed.

the nice thing about rolling a normal beam attack die is that it allows
fighter types to differ: needling ordinary fighters roll a straight beam
die; needling attack fighters do the attack fighter thing and add one.

ok, so can torpedo fighters do the trench run?

also, my rule is totally unlike the rule for ordinary needle beams.
Jared's rule is unlike beam or needle rules. this may not be a problem.

> I would still
> allow PDS to take place before the needle attacks

fair enough. with a bonus, as has been suggested.

> >strong - replace anti-ship attacks with needle attacks; thus fighters
are
> >no longer able to actually sink a ship, just batter its systems. i
never
> >liked the idea that my lumbering city-sized battleships were so
vulnerable
> >to those little swarming pests ...
> 
> Possibly...I'd need to think on that one some more.

so do i! this was one of the parts that fell victim to the 0200 effect; 
i was going to go into more depth, but basically it consists of removing
the normal attack mode altogether.

i think that screens can be ignored: if you're using needle fighters,
the
weapon punches through them; if you're using the trench run, the
fighters
duck in below the screen. do we have a consensus?

i have analysed the statistical characteristics of the proposed systems.
to recap, we have damage mode (each rolls a beam die for damage), needle
mode (each rolls a needle die for knockouts, max of 1 total), mark
(shurtleff) mode (each half rolls a needle die, max of 1 total), tom
mode
(morale check and beam die for knockouts, max of 1 total), jared mode
(roll under strength to get a knockout). iirc, needle die score 1 on the
roll of a 6.

thus, i give you formulae. where N is the number of fighters in the
squadron and R is the result (damage or knockouts):

Damage: R = N/2
Needle: R = 1 - (5/6)^N
Mark: R = 1 - (5/6)^floor(N/3)
Tom: R = N/12
Jared: R = (N-1)/6

this is all normal squadrons. these versions are a bit simplified and
rule
out secondary targets, attack fighters, etc.

a table:

N	6	5	4	3	2	1

D	3.00	2.50	2.00	1.50	1.00	0.50
N	0.67	0.60	0.52	0.42	0.31	0.17
M	0.31	0.17	0.17	0.17	0.00	0.00
T	0.50	0.42	0.33	0.25	0.17	0.08
J	0.83	0.67	0.50	0.33	0.17	0.00

The Needle mode is probably the most powerful in combat situations (ie
strengths of 4 or 5 are typical); Jared's is a close second. mine is
less
so and falls of linearly, like Jared's; Mark's is the least powerful. we
just have to decide how we want this.

hope this helps (and is correct),
Tom