DS2: Points or no Points

Many moons ago there was a miniatures game highly detailed design system
that 
included economic and technological factors.  Days could be spent
optimizing 
the various factors (pre-PC). Such was Striker.

The first time I ran a game, I looked at the minis, pulled out Traveller
Book 
4/ Mercenary, and looked to see what was described for the Tech Level I
had 
selected.  I then assigned values to the various systems at whim.  It
worked.

Too much of the real game balance is in the scenario.  ID the force
structure, 
SWAG the values (be consistent with things like size), and play!  Total
elapsed 
pre-game time <= 15 minutes.  John has it right, design the force
package, on 
capabilities and mission, then design scenarios to test it.

Michael Brown