[FT] Playtest of Fulton's MT Missile rules proposal

Greetings, folks!

Lonnie & I managed to get a little playtesting in of the proposed MT
missile
rules upgrade before our regularly scheduled Tuesday evening melee.  All
in
all, we like the endurance/fighter movement mechanics for MT missiles,
provided one *MAJOR* restriction is employed.

Standard "damage" missiles only.  *NO* needle or EMPs allowed.

Reasoning?  The ability to burn an endurance point for a half move in
turns 1
or 2 allows the MT missile to basically always hit something.  SM's can
miss
by the target changing speed/jinking, but allowing a secondary movement
to the
MT missile negates the target's ability to avoid by maneuver.  Limiting
the MT
missile to standard damage types only balances the point costs with the
expected damage & effects, IMO.  If Needle & EMP missiles are allowed to
use
this movement paradigm, then the mass & point costs of those missiles
needs to
be adjusted upwards to balance the game effects, especially since a
"missile
boat" using MT missiles can flush it's racks in a single turn and easily
overload the point defense on one or two targets.

One possible way of toning down the "massed EMP missile attack" to
balance the
points cost is to combine all simultaneous attacks on a single target
into a
*single* die roll as follows:

  All EMP missiles attacking a single target combine their attacks into
a
  single die roll.  For each additional EMP missile that successfully
attacks
  the same target, 1 is added to the effects die roll.

This way, multiple EMPs can be used to negate the effects of a ship's
shields,
but no matter how many EMPs you toss at a target in a single turn, there
is
only 1 possible threshold roll taken by the targetted ship.

Personally, I would cost out the needle and EMP missiles at 4 mass & 12
points
if they're allowed to use the proposed movement rules, and I would
restrict
the EMP missiles as above in addition to the mass/points increase.  I
*do*
like the new rules - they make the MT "capital" missile a usable and
balanced
weapons system again.

Comments?

===================================================================
Mark "Hauptmann" Shurtleff
  email: hauptman@sfcmd.com -or- hauptman@concentric.net
       The Gear Locker:  http://www.sfcmd.com/HeavyGear/
	   Full Thrust:  http://www.sfcmd.com/fullthrust/

 Finagle's Law:
   The perversity of the Universe tends towards the maximum.
===================================================================