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Re: Ftl tugs, mass and psb question

From: Frits Kuijlman <frits@p...>
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:50:18 +0200
Subject: Re: Ftl tugs, mass and psb question

Laserlight wrote:
> I suspect the PSB is to make the FTL field extensible to another hull.
 I've
> built most of the Islamic Federation's smaller ships to be non-FTL,
but it
> really isn't efficient if you have to povide a tug--even a 10% Hull,
Main
> Drive 1 civilian tug.  If you have a campaign, though, you can use 1
tug and
> keep ferrying non-FTL's with it, or you can go pick up ships which
have lost
> FTL (due to needle beams, for example).

After some more thought I think we have a conflict here between a psb
that
would work right for campaign games and one that would work for single
conflicts.

The basic role of a tug is transporting things via ftl that don't have
an
ftl drive or that don't need one. When using one to get stuff to a
battle
you want to be sure that either you'll definately win, or that the tug
will be
there when you want to leave. Another use of a tug during a battle would
be
to get something specific away from the target area.
Another (obvious) observation is that it is always cheaper not to have
an ftl drive than to have one, irrespective of the cost of such a drive.

I have probably read too much SF where ftl gets relatively cheaper the
greater
the mass is that has to be transported (please don't ask me for a
quote).
This could be represented by a log scale or something, or even by
something
simple as a 5% cost for tugged mass instead of 20%.

In a campaign game this wouldn't matter. However, for a single conflict
it
would be tempting to exploit this to make mass free for offensive
weapons,
thus increasing the likelyhood of winning. The likelier the win is, the
less
people would have to worry about the survival of the tug and possible
hasty
exits. This would give single conflicts a more unnatural feel.

So, I can live with this. We can justify the 20% psb by either:
- needed to extend the ftl field to another hull(laserlight)
- 10% for the tugged mass, and 10% for clamping/connecting facilities

Still, it's a shame that a tug only gives cost savings in long term
campaign games, and not in short term mass/point costs.

Cheers,
	Frits
-- 
Frits Kuijlman			   F.Kuijlman@{its,cs,twi}.tudelft.nl
Delft University of Technology			      The Netherlands

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