Re: Re: [FT] Simultaneous Fire

> This is, I think, overstating the case. Maneuver
> and ship design, as well as fleet composition are
> still strategic/tactical factors. And choosing targets
> is more tactical than strategic.

Sorry, I understand it's tactical and not strategic. I was talking
"strategy" in the general term, such as in "game strategy".

I also meant that it was often the only "strategic" aspect while playing
a game. Obviously ship building has an effect.

Maneouvre, though, is an interesting point. Yes, it's the most important
strategic part of the game. But, you are conducting it blind. You don't
know what your opponent will do. A lot of it can be guess work. Will he
break right, or break left? Accelerate or decelerate or stand pat?
Making the right decision is very important. It's also a small part of
the time spent playing the game.

For me, after I write my orders, simultaneous fire takes away most of
the fun -- and thinking -- from the rest of the game turn.
 
> It seems to me the tactical consideration you name
> is the more artificial one -- the one least likely
> to have a connection with a real situation. 

Ummm... you're talking reality with regard to a spaceship combat game?
Played in two dimensions? Often without a campaign component? Often
without using vector movement? With artificial limitations to the vector
movement (when used) to keep the game playable?

Sorry, but it's a game. And it's, for me, a more interesting and fun
game when I have to make difficult decisions in the ship firing phase.
Simultaneous fire may make it less "gamey", but for me it also takes
away some of the thinking and tactics.

> If you didn't like simultaneous fire, but wanted to
> model some kind of play mechanism

<<snippage>> I like the system as it is.

> They claimed it totally 
> transformed the game into a completely new game.
> This too was an overstatement for effect. It does
> change the feel of the game a bit, but not enough
> to transform it into a whole new game (in my
> opinion anyway). 

Having played simultaneously (in an e-mail game) I have to sort of agree
with your friend. No, it' snot a WHOLE new game as most of it is the
same. But it does transform it quite a bit. I've won and lost games
based on picking the right ship to fire at the right moment in the game
turn. It adds excitement. Knowing that every one of my ships is going to
get to fire this turn, regardless of what I do, takes away some of that
excitement. The rules, as they stand, force me to make difficult
choices. I like that. 

Simultaneous fire has been called "more realistic" but there is so much
that is UNREALISTIC in FT that it's like claiming chess would be more
realistic if you had to worry about feeding the knight's horse.

> FT is a great system, but no
> system is ever exactly like you think it should be.