Re: [FT] FB2 Balancing Corrections Proposed

>
> >>>Question: Does anyone on the list know how large tables the
> >>>CanCon FT competition uses? (Since Brendan Pratt is one of the
> >>>organizers for that tournament, and it is his testimony which
> >>>worries Alan :-/ )
> >>
> >>6ft x 4ft
> >
> >8ft x 4 ft
>
> Allows a bit more time for acceleration, but no more lateral space to
> dodge in than a 6x4 table (assuming the fleets set up at the short
> edges of the table). I'm not sure the difference between a 5ft wide
> table and a 4ft one is that critical (cf. the previous report where
the
> 1500-pt Phalon fleet got virtually annihilated for only light NAC
> losses on a 8'x5' table), but it does make it harder to dodge than on
> my 120x100mu table (equivalent to 10'x8'4"for you inch-measurers) :-/

As a generalisation, I would suggest that 8 x 4 playing surfaces are
more
commonly in use than larger alternatives - only said as I have played
tournament style games since 1980 and have played in 5 countries.

>
> >I'm not prone to knee jerk reactions - I used NAC to defeat all
> >comers two years ago after the 1st book came out and wasn't
> >bothered by SMs  this last years gone by I used FSE to do the
> >same thing only with a higher enemy body count than before -
> >interesting weapon with many tactics for use with and against.
>
> I don't know your personal initial reaction to the Salvo Missiles, but
> during the first summer (1998) after FB1 was published quite a few
> player described their reactions to them in almost identical terms as
> you described your group's reaction to the Pulsers.

My personal reaction was "Wow - I'm goning to run out of ammo really
quickly - I was on my way to a wedding down south and pulled into a
truck
stop to read later, after 2 hours driving and pondering the issue I
thought
about the limitations - ammo and less control over targeting. I was
borne
out on these points and have found that they are a strong weapon, but do
not
tip the balance when two opponents of "roughly equal" skill play. We are
testing the rules very intensively with about 20 players at our twice
weekly
club meetings - there are a number of players at any given skill level,
all
of whom have expressed the same strong opinions about certain aspects of
both Phalon and Sa'Vasku weaponry.

>
> We also had a *very* similar reaction to the FB2 Kra'Vak from two
> players after their first FB2 battle - IIRC they  recommended removing
> the "double-damage" feature of the K-gun completely and/or increase
the
> cost of the K-guns considerably in order to balance them, though these
> recommendations were withdrawn after some further analysis. At least
> one of those players is what I'd consider "not prone to knee jerk
> reactions", but his initial battle report was strongly coloured by the
> reaction of the other player (who *does* seem somewhat prone to
> knee-jerking when certain other subjects come up, so it's anyone's
> guess whether or not he did so in this case as well).
>

We've enjoyed the Kra'Vak immensely here - however most Kra'Vak players
are
getting used to being burned down by beam fire - no defence at all :-)

> So... whether or not you actually *were* knee-jerking, your post to
Jon
> sounded very much like other posts which have since proved to be just
> that :-/
>
> That said, the tactics needed to defeat the Phalons are quite
different
> from those effective against the FB1 designs (and against most custom
> designs you can build with FB1 technology). Indeed, both the Phalons
> and the Kra'Vak were deliberately designed to turn the "traditional"
> concepts of "effective tactics" in FB1on their heads (as well as some
> extreme human-tech design styles that are very effective against other
> human-tech ships) - but that only means that these aliens are
> vulnerable to other tactics, not that they are invulnerable or
> unbeatable.

Granted that you argument does hold lots of water - My main counter is
that
two players of equal skill are not going to have similar results over a
number of battles - I am not going into my own relative skills, as an
Organiser of a major event I have to test to destruction the rules
before
implementation and would like as many arguements as possible to be
resolved
before the Con.

> Jon had a whole bunch of posts he was going to forward to you. Did you
> recieve those?

Not yet - Alan Brain forwarded yours originally.
>

One other comment is that the Phalon plasma bolts don't worry me
anywhere
near as much as the Sa'Vasku.

Again - I appreciate the feedback and look forward to future discussion

Brendan