Re: TBA designs

 ODUPSHAW3@cs.com (a bit difficult to pronounce, no? <g>) wrote:

> A note on Oerjan Ohlson's comments on Neal Kaplan's TBA ship designs.
 In FB 
> rules I do not think that pluse torps require a seperate firecon. 
Last 
> November I sent Jon Tuffley the following email.
> 
> "I have a question about pulse torps and fire controls.  In FT a
separate 
> fire control is needed to fire each pulse torp.

Not exactly. FT2 p. 18 says "engaging *a* target with torpedoe*s*
requires the use of *one* Fire Control system, which may NOT also be
used to direct Beam Batteries that turn, even at the same target.". (my
emphasises) IOW, a separate FC is needed for each target fired upon
with PTs, not one FC per PT (ie, if you fire 2 PTs and some beams at a
single target you need 2 FCs: one for the 2 PTs, one for the beams). I
believe the FT FAQ covers this, though I don't have the URL handy :-(

>  Is this still the case if using FB rules?  

Yes - well, the above version of it is. FB1 would have had to
explicitly cancel the FC requriement, but we forgot about it at the
time. You can always make a house rule about it, of course!

> If it is the case some of the NAC ships seem very strange to 
> me.  The P-torp versions of the Tacoma frigate and Vandenburg heavy 
> cruiser would be unable to fire both their beams and their P-Torps. 

The Tacoma-T would be; that's probably one of the big reasons it is
still undergoing fleet evaluation :-7 The Vandenburg-T doesn't have
this problem, as long as it fires both torps at the same target and
hasn't lost any FCs.to treshold checks. The Furious, Victoria and
Valley Forge have enough FCs to use all their weapons, though the
Furious is rather sensitive to FC damage.

> Jon's reply was as follows.
> 
> " This is actually the first time this question has come up!	Yes, I
think 
> for the FB rules we should drop the firecon limitation for PTs and
treat them 
> just as any other weapon system - we'll make a note of this for the
next 
> book!"

It certainly makes sense to drop it. The P-torp FC requirements aren't
a game balance issue IMO, merely an annoyance :-/

Best wishes,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry