Re: Size Class Escalation -- How high in Mass?

Oerjan Ohlson wrote:

> Of course, the suggested formula breaks down for extremely large
ships. The
> infamous "Dreadplanet Roberts" (TMF 1200) would go from a measly NPV
of
> 5000 (incl. fighters) to a rather more respectable ~18000 (again incl.
> fighters), and since I've narrowly defeated that ship with 5000 points
of
> Kra'Vak ships (vanilla FB2 cruisers) I'd confidently expect 18000
points of
> just about anything to rip it apart fairly easily! OTOH the DPR is a
> product of the very flaws in the FB1 design system which the
suggestion is
> intended to rectify, so maybe it isn't unreasonable that it makes the
> über-sized ships overpriced <g>

I'm flattered anyone still remembers me even though I've been almost
entirely
in lurk mode for the last year. :)

For my own answer to this question as to where my size limits are, the
largest
ship I've actually ever fielded was that version of the DPR, yes.  Later
versions
have pared down the size in favor of better fighter quality, fewer
fighters,
and
better plasma armaments.  Whereas that one, if memory serves, had few or
no
six-arc weapons, 32 dice total plasma, and 45 regular fighters for its
1200
TMF,
the present version has a few B4s to annoy people at long ranges with, a
backup

armament of full-arc B2s and B1s, only 30 fighters (half and half
regular and
torpedo), 44 dice of total plasma (8 class 5's in the main battery, 4
class 1's
for
the auxiliaries, mainly for anti-missile duty), level 2 screens (I did
the math
and
realized that taking less than half damage from enemy plasma could be
handy
some
day), and a scattergun armament enough to take out about another 20 or
25
groups of fighters in case its enemies try to out-swarm it.  It's only
TMF
1120,
same cost.

However, I haven't actually used this version yet.  A lot of it is
theoretical
anticipation of what an enemy might throw at me:

- The all-arc weapons replace the 3-arc fare that the earlier version
had, in
anticipation of highly maneuverable ships picking and choosing their
angles
of attack.

- The heavier plasma armament both is to pack a heavier punch to enemy
fleets as well as allow it to spread its fire out more against smaller
opponents.
One clean hit will clear away most scattergun defenses, and after that
those
cruisers only need 8 dice of clean hits on average to put them away.

- My opponents' efforts to out-play me at my own fighter games have
generally
been even more disastrous than their attempts to beat me without them,
so they
haven't been trying much lately.  So I'm going less for all-out
superiority
(only
15 regular fighters), backing it up with a panic armament of scatterguns
(in
case
they DO go for more fighters), and reserving the rest of the bays for
extra
offensive firepower (15 wings of torpedo bombers, average 15 points of
damage
per surviving wing... that's gotta hurt).  So less maniacal and more
purposeful
with
the fighter swarms.

- I did the math and realized that level 2 screens essentially means you
take
less
than half damage from plasma.  My opponents have been borrowing my
plasma
tactics, so I've got them there to minimize the damage if someone wants
to play

for a plasma standoff.

- Of course, the combination of plasma and fighters is still the
overlying
theory
behind the ship's design.

Kra'vak neutralize the screens, of course... if I anticipate them I
might well
replace
the screens with an extra 22 dice of plasma.  The only other thing
that's
potentially
a problem is if someone decides to go for those ridiculous B6, high
thrust
skirmishers
with obscene PDS that someone suggested a while back.  In that case, the
DPR's
going to either retrofit reflex fields to turn their own medicine back
on them,
or it'll
simply ignore them while it's still in deep space and, since their
interdiction
powers
are complete rubbish, it'll just fly past them and reduce their home
planets to
cinders.
They can either get within ADS range of their planets to try and duke it
out at
close
range or their entire starfaring race dies for free.  :D