Re: [Fwd: "Custom" fleets]

Stilt:
> *shrugs*  We just don't over-design things so that they can't 
> deal with a broad variety of situations.

I disagree that a Beam-6 fleet is more overdesigned than a 41-45 fighter
group dreadplanet. Each _is_ overdesigned, and each needs to be tweaked
to
deal with different types of threats.

> Side note, perhaps a bit rules-lawyerly:  the FT book states 
> that a ship firing a nova cannon may not fire _any_ other weapons 
> that round.  

I'd agree, though a) I'm not sure I'd interpret that you couldn't fire a
double barreled Nova, and b) I'd been referring to two Nova ships,
rather
than two on one ship. As for Nova range, unless I misunderstood,
6+18+24+24
= 72 + 3 blast radius = 75"

>> Hm. A "soft" edge is almost worse than a "hard" edge, since 
>> it "how far is too far" becomes a matter of opinion rather 
>> than fact.

> Perhaps.  But like I said, we just don't get into those 
> sorts of arguments because no one abuses the edge with the 
> understanding that this sort of details exploitation would
> probably earn your ships an ejection from the game on 
> simple principle alone. :)

Which _could_ be interpreted that people are so afraid of the soft edge
(for
fear of being accused of being exploitive) that no one tries to maneuver
anywhere near it, effectively hamstringing fast, wide maneuvering
tactics.

> You can't have speed, firepower, _and_ resilience all on the same 
> ship.  :)

True, but a wallowing ship, overgunned that it might be, has a seriously
exploitable weakness.

> No prob.  However, I think I've probably made my point...
> the dreadplanet can potentially make a mess, and individual 
> ways of stopping it in my particular field are only going 
> to force it to make minor tweaks, whereas you have to really 
> gimmick yourself up to particularly scare it.

My points remain two: 1) A tweakable Beam 5 or 6 fleet is no more
gimmicked
than a tweakable dreadplanet. 2) Both a Beam 5-6 fleet _and_ a
fighter-overkill dreadplanet _are_ gimmicks.

Noam