Re: [FT] "Killing" fighters and pilots

[UNCLOAK]

I've been lurking on the list for a while (my wife produced a little
playtester last
Friday, so I've been too distracted to get drawn into any deep
discussions).

However, having finally been freed from the constant anxious
nail-chewing of the
expectant father, this thread has caught my eye. I've been trying to
come up with an
alternative set of fighter rules to better represent the differences
between fighter
types in the St*r W*rs universe. The existing FT rules are great as they
are but
lack the granularity to represent small differences between fighter
types. Having
played a lot of the LucasArts X-Wing series games, I know what I want
dogfights to
feel like (or at least which factors I want to influence the results of
a dogfight).

My answer has been to use the FMA small-arms firing system from
Stargrunt, with each
squadron firing as if it were an SG squad. Each fighter type has a
firepower value,
hull strength, shield strength, missile value and (most importantly) an
agility
rating. I've also given each type a speed and CEF rating. Dogfights are
resolved by
opposing die rolls, one per squadron to determine how many hits are
scored and then
another one to resolve each hit. Yes, there are quite a few more die
rolls involved
than the existing system although there is no more record keeping
required (I know
there will be some stiff opposition to the idea of more die rolls, so I
should
stress that I came up with these rules purely for my SW genre designs,
not as a
replacement for the rules in GZGverse games).

Having finally written the rules up and produced the stats for each
fighter type, I
gave them a quick playtest and - guess what - the balance is all wrong.
The
strongest fighters (B-Wing) are too strong, weak ones too weak. The
concept is
pretty sound but there's a lot of serious tweaking to do with the stats
for the
individual ships.

Tony

Michael Sarno wrote:

> Tom,
>	  Because of our little conversation here, I've been thinking
about this
> problem even more.  As I mentioned in my last post, I agree that the
difference
> in mass/quality would be nice to reflect in designs.	I'm literally
heading out
> the door for Origins.  (Well, OK, I'm just making a check of all my
luggage and
> then a shower, then get dressed, and THEN out the door.)  The
advantage to this
> is that I'll have 8 hours in the car to think about this.  Forget
those books on
> tape, I've got to work out the variable fighter strength problem! <g> 
I'll let
> you know what I invent when I get back.
>
> -Mike
>
> --
> Michael Sarno
>
> To see a World in a grain of sand,
> And a Heaven in a wild flower,
> Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
> And Eternity in an hour.
>  -William Blake