Re: New Wargame Website (chance to be a critic)

G'day Jeremey,

The concepts look pretty good, but I haven't had time to double check 
whether the costung and chit allocations make sense (I'll try and do
that 
over the holidays). Just a couple of things for now.

Segmented Chitin Armour (SC) - I can understand the restriction on 
elasticity, but I wouldn't necessarily ban stuff that needs cargo space
or 
SMS. A lot of chitinous animals have special pouches or chambers built
in 
that allow them to store stuff or have buried wells of stuff they can
fire 
out. They just add recesses or extra segmentation around the spot in
question.

Exo-Skeletal (ES) - I get what you mean here even if I'd quibble about
the 
name <;)>, but what I'm wondering is if there's a movement penalyty 
associated. If the stuff is that rigid its more than likely to impair 
movement too.

Chameleon stealth - why can't ES use this? Is it a balance issue? 
Admittedly very few creatures with an exoskeleton do change colour
(they're 
usually so hard they don't need to), but a few can manage it (at least
in 
parts), by running a thin layer of living tissue over the top of their 
shells. Maybe the ES covered vehicles could have it until fired upon...
or 
maybe it is just simpler for them not to have it at all.

Fire controls - as for humans, "The exception is that Aliens equipped
with 
basic fire controls or Green infantry units cannot opportunity fire".
Why? 
I' not saying its a bad thing, just curious.

The Aliens have no understanding of ECM technology - now this one I'd 
disagree with. You may want to stop them having whizz bang levels of it,

but many animals contain electro-based organs that could be easily
modified 
into spoofing sensors (a few have sorta done this, but the evolutionary 
pressure hasn't been there yet - ones that are invading space or are 
genetically engineered as vehicles may have had teh extra push though).

Bio Elasticity - nice idea!

Bio Womb - produce units? Do you mean infantry or small vehicles? OK
when I 
got to the Queen mother bit it obviously covers vehicles too, but I'd 
mention that under the Bio Womb bit directly too.

Bio Repair Gland - nice idea, though you may like to add that they
prefer 
to do it in cover... very few animals (that live to tell the tale
anyway) 
are going to expose themselves to that level of threat in the open where

they have no chance to hide.

Gatherer Pouch - I wouldn't give these a fixed capacity, or if you do
let 
them be linked.... or you're not going to see many vehicles fixed.

Each army must have a Mother Alien with a Telepathic Control Centre - I 
would've called it some other means of communication (chemical or high 
pitched noise or something), but that's just me having trouble with 
telepathy (says she that runs a Greys aliens with telepathy...bit 
hypocritical sorry).

The destruction of the Mother Alien reduces the morale of every unit by
1 
step and the unit quality 1 step - if she's that central to command I'd
say 
they'd lose a LOT more than one level of confidence!!! I'd make it a
fairly 
hefty penalty if you lose the old bird.

Swim: Base Movement Factor = 6 - this is OK, but I'd probably add
another 
one (say BMF 10+) to reflect the speed capabilities of dedicated "ocean
goers"

Legs: Easy = Roads; Normal = Open, Urban; Poor = Hills; Difficult =
Light 
Scrub, Cultivated, Rivers/Streams (crossing only);
Impassable = Rough, Mountains, Swamp, all Woods, Open Water

I think this is way too steep.... many things with legs have managed to 
conquer Rough, Mountains, Swamps and Woods ;)

Alien winged units cannot fly in 'High Mode'. - Why? Once again not
arguing 
if there's a good rational, just curious.

All up though it looks like you're well on the way, have you used them
on 
the battlefield yet? I'll try and have a closer look at the costings
next 
week, but well done!

Cheers

Beth

------------------------------------------------------------------------
---- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Elizabeth Fulton
c/o CSIRO Division of Marine Research
GPO Box 1538
HOBART
TASMANIA 7001
AUSTRALIA
Phone (03) 6232 5018 International +61 3 6232 5018
Fax 03 6232 5053 International +61 3 6232 5053

email: beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au
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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 15:08:21 -0800
From: Sean Bayan Schoonmaker <s_schoon@pacbell.net>
Subject: [FT] SML-AF Was Re: More weapon...
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I'd proposed an Anti-Fighter missile a long time ago (before FB1 
arrived) using the MT Missile rules, but they weren't terribly 
effective due the different ways that Missiles and Fighters moved.

Thanx for giving me an excuse to update the idea ;-)

SML Ammunition: Anti-Fighter Salvo

Same MASS and POINT COST as a standard salvo. Simply mark the traded 
salvoes with a dot in the center of the icon. SMRs may also be traded 
on a one for one basis.

Unlike a standard salvo, the AF salvo attacks ALL fighter groups 
within 6" . The fighter groups may not use their secondary movement 
until AFTER the missiles attack. Each fighter group may defend 
against the salvo normally. The attacking player rolls 1d6 for each 
fighter group and subtracts for the defensive fire of the appropriate 
group. The group then takes one PDS shot per "missile" that 
penetrates their defence.

EXAMPLE: A Jerez Class CH has 2 fighter groups closing for an attack. 
Anticipating fighters from before the scenario started, he'd wisely 
traded one SML salvo for an SML-AF salvo. The 2 fighter groups 
unwisely group together in Step 3, and in Step 4 the Jerez launches 
its nasty surprise. Both fighter groups decide to defend against the 
SML-AF, reducing their endurance accordingly. The first group rolls 
(1,2,3,4,5,5) two hits, and the second group rolls (2,3,3,5,6,6) 
three hits. The Jerez rolls a 4 for the first group and a 2 for the 
second. The first group suffers 2 PDS rolls, and the second group is 
unharmed. The Jerez rolls a (2,6,re-roll 5) and kills 3 fighters from 
the group.

Schoon
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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 23:20:07 +0000
To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
From: Ground Zero Games <jon@gzg.com>
Subject: Re: Noble Armada
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>Hi all,
>Has anyone on the list had any experience with the Noble Armada game
set
>in the Fading Suns universe? i.e. are the minis any good for FT? are
the
>boarding actions interesting? can they be mapped to FT?
>
>I have looked at the web page but that did not give a view of the minis
>included in the base box just the expansion one (which looked ok and
>around LC to BB scale)

I've got the game in my "reference collection", I've skimmed the rules
but
not actually played it, so can't comment on how it plays. The basic game
minis are in hard silver plastic, like the plastic Silent Death ones.
They're not all that big, averaging around DD-CL size in FT terms IIRC.
Some nice designs, and they'd do well for privateers, merchants and
similar
stuff.

Jon (GZG)
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>
>Flynn Richardson
>Powders Project Manager
>Lever Rexona New Zealand