[FT] Beam Battery Idea - reload delays

'lo everybody,

I don't think this has been brought up on the list before.  At least,
I don't remember seeing it, and I didn't find it in my cursory search
of the archives.

Anyways; here's the idea.  Many times on the list, analogies have been
drawn between batteries and naval cannon i.e. class-1s are the quick 
firing 76mm or 5" gun, while class-3s are 16" battleship cannon.

One thing that makes the analogy break down is that, under current
rules,
all batteries have the same 'rate of fire' i.e. they fire once a turn.

It could offer some interesting design and tactical choices if the
larger
batteries had a 'recycle' period.  Here is the mechanic I'm proposing:

At the end of a turn, for every battery that has fired, roll 1d6.  If
the roll on the die exceeds the class of the battery, that battery will
be ready to fire in the next firing phase.  If the the roll fails, then
roll again next turn, adding +2 for every turn since the battery last
fired.

I haven't playtested this, I have no clue if the extra mechanics make
it worth while, or even if it's balanced.  It feels like it might be
cool,
though it might also mean ships start carrying hordes of Class-1s as
opposed
to the mixed batteries they carry now.

Thoughts?

Thanks for letting me ramble,
J.
-- 
/ Jerry Han -  CANOE Canada - jhan@canoe.ca -
http://people.canoe.ca/jhan \
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TBFTGOGGI
 The opinions expressed are mine, and not necessarily those of CANOE
Canada.
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