Re: FT.... my 0.02

On or about Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 03:49:51AM -0500, Thomas Barclay typed:

>FT for my money is an easy to learn, fast to 
>play game. This is both virtue and drawback. 
>Too many (most) of the FT games I've played in 
>have resembled massed end-end cavalry 
>charges. Jousting with lasers. Not a _lot_ of 
>tactics in them. FT doesn't have the fine 
>granularity of tactical decision present in SFB or 
>in a number of other single-ship focused (yes, 
>people played SFB with 3000 BPV fleets - me 
>too - but it shone with single ship 
>engagements, something that FT kinda sucks 
>for) games.

Hmm. I think this is an inevitable decision: FT, for my money, runs a
lot more smoothly when there are large fleets around than SFB ever did
(and I once played quite a bit of it). True, a lot of stuff is
abstracted; but I still find that there are a lot of decisions to be
made. (Mostly, I think, games are won and lost in the manoeuvre plotting
phase...)

>But if you enjoy the 
>tactical complexities and decision of ground 
>warfare, playing on the black mat of space 
>where no one can hide or take cover gets kinda 
>dull.

The battle makes its own "terrain", which is different for each unit. 
My fighter flight doesn't want to go too near that CE, but the 
strikeboats will try to get in and out before his SDNs can come up to 
range... do I bunch up for concentration of firepower, spread out to
avoid plasma bolts, and/or stick some tin cans out front to attract
missile salvoes?

I agree that FT with few ships can be fairly uninspiring; but it seems
to me that it's designed as a game for fleet actions, and that's where
it shines.

>So, vector or cinematic - how easy or hard you 
>find it has a lot to do with how your brain 
>works. I taught (in one game) a bunch of 
>history majors (can't do real math to save their 
>behinds) vector, and they refuse to play 
>cinematic anymore. So it can't be _that_ hard...

Have you written this up as a tutorial? I like vector, but a lot of the
people with whom I play don't... yet...

Roger