Re: [FT] Beam Battery Idea - reload delays

On 13-Aug-99 at 09:46, Jerry Han (jhan@canoe.ca) wrote:
> '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?
>

The turn is so long that fire rates really aren't necessary.  It's
pretty
balanced the way it is, after all, instead of a 6 arc class three
that does 3 dice at close range you can have 9 class 1's.  For that
matter for a 1 arc class three you can have 4 class 1s.

All you are going to do with the proposed changes is drive everybody
away from the larger weapons.

Roger