Re: [FT] DCP costs

Laserlight wrote in two horribly formatted posts:

>I'm still kicking around ideas for methods of varying ship quality. 
>One method is by improving DCPs.  I see two routes to this--either
>simply giving more DCPs, or letting players buy upgrades.

Giving more DCPs for free works in campaigns (represents crew
experience etc), but not in one-off battles. Buying upgrades works
better in one-offs, but may sometimes be hard to explain in PSB terms
in a campaign :-/

>If players can buy more DCPs, what should the costs be under the FB
>system?  

I'd start playtests at 2-3 pts each.

>And where on the hull-box track should they go?

Distribute all DCPs on the hull track according to the standard rules.

>Upgraded DCPs would include Enhanced (1 DCP-E repairs system on >a 5+,
but two DCPs still only gives you a 4+) and Superior (1 DCP-S 
>repairs systems on a 4+, no benefit from combining with other DCPs).  
>What would the costs be?

Depends on how large the ship is, the average size of its weapons, and
how many "critical systems" like DCPs, heavy beam power cores, salvo
missile launchers/magazine etc. it has. A rough guesstimate is:

DCP-E = +10-20% of TMF
DCP-S = +20-30% of TMF

...but it is just that - a rough guesstimate.

>Would all DCP's on a ship be the same grade? 

Would *you* want to keep track of which DCP is what grade...?

>As part 2 of my "quality is good" list of suggestions:
>
>Option 1:
>Enhanced Targeting: weapon adds +1"/6" to range capability.
>Superior Targeting: weapon adds +2"/6" to range capability.
>
>Option 2:
>Enhanced Targeting: first 3" are free.
>Superior Targeting: first 6" are free.
>In this concept, using Target-E, a target at 15" would count as 12"; a
>target at 28" would count at 25".
>
>I assume that either way, the cost of Improved Targeting would be 
>based on the value of the whole ship--but what cost should it be?

As with all range issues, it depends on the movement system, table size
etc. used <g> That said:

In my experience, option 1-E is worth ~15% of the ship's total value
while
option 1-S is worth ~30%. As long as your table is big or floating
enough to allow at least some maneuvers outside long-range weapon
ranges, the relation between the various weapons (on the
improved-targetting ship) doesn't seem to change much.

I haven't used option 2-style weapons much, but I'd say that it depends
quite a bit on what weapon you use - for a sub-munition pack (which
wasn't excluded in your list) increasing the first range band by 3" is
obviously better than extending each of its three 6" bands by 1", while
a B3 gains more from having each 12" band increased by 2" than from
having the innermost one increased by 3". The costs given for option 1
above are probably reasonable averages, though.

Regards,

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