Re: [FT] U-boat

Under the current rules, U-boats cannot be effectively simulated by the
cloaking field. What is needed is an introduction/modification to the
rules
(here is an off-the-cuff version):
  1. Cloaked ship will have 2 modes of cloaking: Standard and Blind. 
	Standard mode would place a bogey marker on the board within 12"
	of the cloaked ship's actual position. The player must make a 
      note of how far and what clock direction the actual ship is from
      the bogey marker. In this mode the cloaked player would know the
      position of the other ships, but not to the degree that he could
      fire most weapons at them. MT Missiles & Salvo missiles would 
      be able to be fired since they have their own guidance. However,
      doing so would give away the position of the cloaked ship.
	Blind mode. In this mode the player leaves a marker where the 
      ship cloaked (or entered the board cloaked). The player must
      must write orders for all turns that the ship will remain in 
      Blind mode. In Blind mode, the ship cannot attack or be attacked.
      Exception: the cloaked ship in blind mode may be attacked by
      area effect weapons such as the Wave Gun and Nova Cannon.
  2. Active Sensors. Ships should be able to search for cloaked ships
      using their sensors. Any standard mode cloaked ship that comes 
      within 36" of an opponent's ship must place a bogey marker.
	Standard (military) sensors: A player may choose to use a
      ships active sensors to try to find a standard mode cloaked
      ship. This requires the use of one Fire Control System (FCS).
      The player may designate 1 firing arc to search. If the
      standard cloaked ship is within 24" of the scanning ship (and
      in the firing arc) roll a die to see if the cloaked ship is
      located. On a roll of 5+ the cloaked ship must move/place its 
      bogey marker on its actual position. The standard cloaked ship 
      may now be targeted for fire for the rest of this turn. Also, 
      if the standard cloaked ship is scanned area (regardless to
      if the roll succeeded) the ship that did the scanning may be
      attacked by the located, cloaked ship. Of course, if the 
      cloaked ship fires it will give away its exact position,
      allowing other ships to attack it.
	Enhanced sensors: As the standard sensors but a FCS is not
      required; and the roll to reveal the cloaked ship is at + 2.
	Superior sensors: As the standard sensors but a FCS is not
      required; the area covered by the scan has a range of 36"; 
      and the detection roll is at +3.
	Blind mode ships can also be detected, but the roll is at
      -3.
  3. Entering/Exiting cloaked mode. Cloaking and decloaking are
      executed just before writing orders.

-----
Brian Bell
bkb@beol.net
http://members.xoom.com/rlyehable/ft	 
-----

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eli Arndt [SMTP:emu2020@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 1999 8:59 PM
> To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> Subject:	Re: Auxillary Cruisers
> 
> I considered for awhile a way to use the cloaking optional rules to
create
> a 
> sort of space U-boat.  This however was never followed throuhg because
I 
> could never, under the exsisting rules for cloaking in FT, figure out
an 
> effective method of operation.
> 
> Under the rules, a vessel is complete blind while cloaking.  I assume
that
> 
> some sort of navigational systems are functional, but that's about it.
 
> Under the system I came up with, the vessels would operate from 
> pre-determined bases, who's coordinates would be used as a ready
course 
> after an attack.
> 
> Under cloak, they would procede to a predetermined set of coordinates
and 
> wait, only when they were in position.  A swift attack, then recloak
and 
> return along a preset course.
> 
> This made a lot of sense against emplacements that don't move a lot,
but
> as 
> far as commerce raiding and use against actual moving targets it
seemed
> that 
> the cloakign vessels would tend to come out of cloak off the mark too
> often.
> 
> Well, that's what I came up with.  any other ideas?
> 
> Eli
> 
> 
> >From: edens@mindspring.com (Matt Edens)
> >Reply-To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> >To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> >Subject: Auxillary Cruisers
> >Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 08:02:20 +0000
> >
> >"Or how about the Merchat Auxilliary Carriers which had a Hurricane
or
> two
> >mounted on a catapult with NO retrieval access at all. The guy hit
the
> silk
> >and waited in a rubber raft for a boat to pick him up. There's
dedication
> 
> >for
> >you!"
> >
> >
> >Think those were called CAM ships. The MAC ships, the Merchant
Auxillary
> >Carriers were regular merchantmen (mostly bulk ore and grain carriers
if
> >I'm not mistaken) decked over with a flight deck and carrying 4-6
> Swordfish
> >biplanes (gotta love the "stringbags" -- open cockpit biplanes in
WWII?
> >kinda like bringin' a knife to a gunfight?  Yet surprsingly they
worked).
> >No hangers as I recall, carried 'em lashed down on deck 24/7.  I've
> >tinkered with the concept a little - freighters that trade out a
little
> >hold space for a hanger bay or two or strap on a little extra armor
and
> >guns and pretend to be a cruiser - an idea that was given serious
thought
> >during both world wars.  The RN, short on escorts, commissioned quite
a
> few
> >Armed Merchant Cruisers which occassionally got in way over their
heads.
> >One was present at the battle of Coronel in WWI and escaped from the
> >Scharnhorst and Gneisenau mainly by being hardly worth sinking,
another,
> >the Rawalipindi, was sunk by S&G's WWII namesakes, while another, the
> >Jervis Bay, fought a hopelessly one-sided action (four 6-inch guns vs
six
> >11-inch and numerous 5.9's) against the Admiral Scheer (but saved
most of
> a
> >convoy in the process).  I've played a few commerce raiding scenarios
of
> >that sort: auxilary cruisers guarding a convoy versus a small raiding
> >force.
> >
> >Amazingly, despite its obvious drawbacks, the auxilary cruiser was
> regarded
> >as a real threat going into WWI, particularlly since the Germans
armed
> >several fast liners, including a few that had won the Blu Ribband for
the
> >Atlantic crossing (as fast, if not faster than most cruisers -- by
> >comparison the thrust-2 liner in the FB seems a rather pokey old
tub).
> The
> >RN even armed a few liners as a response (plans at one point called
for
> >arming the Lusitania and Mauritania, a factor in the Lusitania's
sinking
> -
> >ie German insistance that she was armed).  Once two of these
"eggshells
> >armed with hammers" even fought - the RN AMC Carmania sank the German
Cap
> >Trafalgar off Trindad in 1914.
> >
> >That's one intersting wrinkle between FT and 20th century wet navy
> models:
> >commerce raiding.  While carriers may function more or less like
WWII,
> >there's nothing comparable to a u-boat, so commerce raiding is taken
back
> >to more traditional days - fast cruisers along the lines of the CSS
> >Alabama, the Emden or even the Graf Spee, quietly lurking near the
"safe
> >jump limit".  Reading about the KRS Kohl in the Rot Hafen saga (great
> stuff
> >by the way) has had me toying with the idea of small "stealth boats"
or
> >some such as a sort of u-boat stand in.  Thoughts?
> >
> >			    -M
> >
> >
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________________________
> Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com