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Re: The GZG Digest V1 #608

From: Tom Anderson <thomas.anderson@u...>
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 23:49:05 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)
Subject: Re: The GZG Digest V1 #608

On Thu, 9 Dec 1999, Sindre Cools Berg wrote:

> Roger Books wrote:
> 
> > GBailey@aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > > A smarter SML would have to give up something.
> > > How about making they are more fragile so any PDSs fired
> > > at them get a +1?
> >
> > SML's are fairly balanced if you use the ships in the fleet
> > book.  When you can attach 3 mass 2 towed drones to every
> > major ship (at a whopping 6 points each) suddenly SML's are
> > broken, this is just an attempt to correct the problem.
> >
> > You know, maybe only playing with official designs is the
> > way to go...
> 
> I'm just a little bit curious about this banzai jammers/SML thread
> (Could someone please enlighten me to what a banzai jammer is ?) ?

in my understanding (which is far from perfect), a banzai jammer is a
tiny
ship designed purely to absorb SM fire, and die doing it. 'jammer'
because
they interfere with SM fire, and 'banzai' because they expect to die
(that
term may be culturolinguistically inaccurate, but it clearly
communicates
the intent). the ultimate banzai jammer is mass 3: 1 hull, 1 engine
(thrust 8) and 1 FTL motor. 9 points in total.

> I our games, we've never had that much problem with small ships
> escorting...though we use Fleet Book only designs,

which rules out the use of extreme banzai jammers.

> and try (sometimes at
> least) to make logical fleets.

which probably rules out the use of massed scouts as off-the-shelf
banzai
jammers.

however, i think there is a good case for banzai jammers being
realistic,
to some extent. basically, those tiny ships have jobs other than banzai
jamming; i refer to such tiny utility ships as 'granaatscherven', Dutch
for 'shrapnel'. in the Tuffleyverse (the universe described in the
rulebooks), there is no FTL signalling, only ships. thus, for a fleet to
keep in touch with bases, other fleets, etc, it must have an armada of
small ships suitable for courier work. the mass-3 ship mentioned above
would actually be pretty good for this. furthermore, a fleet needs
scouts
to run around looking for the enemy, and those mass-3s do this well too
(or you could use mass 6: hull 1, engine 2 (thrust 8), FTL motor,
superior
active sensors, 44 points). there are a multitude of other jobs suitable
for granaatscherven, too: carrying area ECM (these have done their job
once the fleets reach combat range, although one might want to keep them
alive: they're expensive!), intercepting enemy scouts and couriers,
fleet
security (checking on other ships in the area), etc.

> Of course most larger ships have smaller
> escorts but that's the point right ? And isn't it better to spend the
> points you spend on surrounding the large ship with small corvettes on
> some proper escort cruisers or other ships with overlapping ADAFs ? In
> that case at least they can shoot back and take some serious pounding.

this is a point of debate. on the one hand, proper escorts obviously
give
better sustained defence than banzai jammers - escorts defend by giving
ADFC-driven PDS support, whereas jammers defend by getting in the way
and
dying, and as such are a very limited resource. on the other hand, it
takes a very heavy PDS barrage to stop a large SM salvo in its tracks,
whereas it only takes a handful of jammers (or is it just one? i forget
the details of the rules.) to do the same. what it comes down to is do
you
want all-round area defence, in which case you take ADFC-PDS escorts
(which can defend against fighters and MTMs, too), or do you want cheap
protection against SMs, in which case you take banzai jammers.

> Though in my little experience (I've only played FT for a few months)
> the real missile problem is the german missile destroyers played by a
> good german player. :)

on the other hand, the german capitals are the best _targets_ for SMs
ever
invented :).

> Anyway I've seen missiles do excellent damage due to clever
placements,
> but of course we have a house rule that says you can't place escort
> ships closer to the big one than the miniature allows...

that sounds like a very sane rule, and one that i imagine is played by
most people.

> Hope this made some sense, as it's my first post to this list

it was a model of clarity. welcome aboard!

oh, and don't worry about the SG2 guys, you get used to 'em eventually
:).

tom

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