Re:[DSII] Ship Designs

At 11:12 AM -0800 2/25/99, John M. Atkinson wrote:
>Specifically, riverine patrol craft.  I've been acquiring a collection
>of GHQ Vietnam riverine craft over the past few months (still have some
>ATCs sitting around to pick up after the con).  Not going to have time
>to play with 'em before I go, but it's on the list of 'things to do
>someday'.

Cool !Small craft actions are a personal favorite of mine. Have fun,
and if you and the mini's ever get to San Francisco, drop me a line !

>Here's the catch--a Swift boat is considerably larger than, say, an M-1
>Abrams.  In fact, it's almost exactally twice as long, and the cabin
>which takes up about 40% of the length is taller than the Abrams's
>turret.  Given a size 3 or 4 Abrams (I use 'em as Size 4 in the
Georgian
>Orbats, YMMV), and a definitely Size 4 Basil II (I use the mini on the
>front cover of Dirtside), the _smallest_ I'd feel comfortable classing
a
>Swift boat as is Size 5.  Probably no more than armor 1 or 2, but still
>size 5.

As I read all of this, the disparity that concerns you is that the
game-relevant equipment makes the Swift a size 2 and using real-world
measurements it comes out as size 5. (correct me if I'm misreading
this).

I see two easy options:

1. Build it as a size 2 vehicle that takes up extra space to transport.

2. Call it a size 5 that has unused space.

The hard way is to write more detailed rules for designing riverine
craft in DSII. Since they have to worry about bouyancy and (for the
Swift) crew accomodations, we can assume some of the 'missing' or
'wasted' space (the diff. between size 2 and 5) we just have to account
for the difference. DSII is all about the combat stats, so I think
roughly doubling the Size to produce the efefctive Size for transport
purposes (only other place I can think it'd make a diference) would
work. Anybody who did brown-water work or served in an amphib unit,
please feel free to correct based on experience.
Personally I favor option 1 above

Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
Devolution is very real to me.

Whenever I hear the "Odd Couple" theme, I get this image of Dennis
Rodman borrowing Marge Schott's toothbrush.