Re: [FT} RE: PT boats

>>It doesn't work very well in FB if you pay for the tug (which you have
>>to do in a campaign), because even the cheapest, slowest, and
therefore
>>most vulnerable tug you can build will cost you more than putting FTL
>>drives into your combat ships would.

Unless of course you tweak the rules slightly (as I do with one sentence
in the FTL rules, and a few changes to allowed weapons....).

>Islamic Federation ships are generally non-FTL with a tug lurking in
the
>background.  I postulate that not everyone has the ability to build
star
>drives at an affordable price (either due to rare raw materials or
>industrial base), and the IF one of the "Have-Nots".  This means they
have
>to build a few tugs and a lot of STL ships to best use their resources.
 In
>game terms, it means you've got a batch of Thrust 6 ships with decent
>firepower and the ability to skirmish--but they have a vulnerability,
ie the
>tug, which can be exploited.  It also tends to limit the IF's ability
to go
>on the strategic offensive, which allows for semi-independent emirs and
also
>helps their smaller neighbors--eg, the Alarishi Empire--survive.

This is one good reason to use FTL tugs. I changed the design rules just
to simulate a slightly different technology mix. The FTL construction
rule
(amended) was as follows:

Step 3:
Choose and fit DRIVES to the ship: if selecting an FTL drive to give the
ship an interstellar capability, this will require 10% of the total mass
(MINIMUM MASS 100). Any excess mass beyond 10% of the ship's mass may be
used as with a tug (ie a hyperdrive ship can use any excess hyperdrive
mass to tow other ships as long as the excess hyperdrive mass is equal
to
or less than 20% of the mass of the ships being towed).

I also eliminated all weapons except for Salvo Missiles, Class 1 beams,
PDS, ADFC, Missiles, and Submunitions Packs. (expendable ordinance).
Supply ships were VERY common in campaign games....

>In a campaign, what you'd do would be to jump to relatively deep space,
drop
>your combatant ships, make another trip, etc..  Don't let your fighting
>ships leave the area until your tugs have cycled their drives and are
ready
>to jump out if they detect and enemy ship (and pray your sensors are
better
>than the enemy's stealth).

Alternately, have the ship jump out and then jump back in for a
pre-arranged rendezvous (although that has its own risks).

On a tangent, the "only expendable ordinance allowed" rules that I used
above resulted in one other modification of the "big tug" idea: the
Space
Control Ship. An SCS was around 500 mass, and could therefore transport
about 250 mass of other ships. It was equipped with a Thrust 1 drive, a
few weapons, some armour, and plenty of stores. The SCS would jump in as
part of a flotilla, and then act as a temporary base/supply centre (a
basic manufacturing unit was small enough to fit (just barely) in the
holds of an SCS) until a permanent (and better-guarded) base could be
constructed. The SCS flotilla was a definite sign that your opponent was
there to stay.

Brian Quirt