RE-[FT] Starfire bug designs

Brendan, if you are going to run a warp point defence/assault, using FT
rules, there are some things to be carful of. SML`s are a very leathal
weapon to use when the targets cannot maneuver or have limited speed
(like
emerging from a warp point), and if you are using WARPHAWK pods, you
need to
give these enough range to clear a area to allow you room to deploy. The
warphawk pods should be small, independently guided ships armed with
SML`s*.
I say this because it allows them to be targeted by ship to ship weapons
(which is given in the novels), and the best tactics for using them is
in
mass transits, to overwhelm the opponents. If you design warphawk pods
as
small ships, it also allows them to be used as independent missile
platform
controlled by a starship. I say this because I once ran a FT senario
with
warppoints, and if you can keep your players from realising what you
have
planed (and have more than 2 players, so allowing you to have 2 sides,
in
different room, with a umpire, you can game the fact that the assaulting
player will have no knoledge of what is on the other side) it makes the
game
a lot more interesting. If you can keep the other side from realising
what
you have waiting (warphawk pods), they can make a very NICE <g> suprise
(well, nice for one person anyway). This may make the warphawk pods
sound
very overpowered, but if you are playing a strategic game, over several
engaugements, and you say that the warphawk pods do ont have FTL (the
way I
used them), using them requires a lot of freighters which eats into your
supply/ship construction  resorces. This makes the deployment of these
weapons not altogether simple or automatically given.

Hope this give you some ideas, and if done right, it can make a very
enjoyable/ interesting game (and especially if your oppenents figure out
a
tactic that you had not thought of to combat the pods, it is a very nice
supprise<g>).

BIF
"yorkshire born,yorkshire bred,
strong in arms, thick in head"

*PS-In my original designs for the pods, they used MT missiles, because
this
was before FB with the SML`s (stats are. M=7, T=6, H=1, Mass for
weapons=4,
cost with MT missiles=25)