Mods to the Mobility Factor

At 12:50 PM -0700 4/11/02, Brian Bilderback wrote:
>I've been following the discussion of different AFV's/Tanks and the 
>relationships between	engines, gear ratios, armor weight, etc., and 
>must say it's quite interesting.  But I want to steer this back to 
>the discussion of the game itself by making an important 
>distinction:  The game is not reality.  It is an attempt at a 
>reasonable facsimile of a possible reality, that's all any game can 
>do.  While it's true that IRL, there's more to making a tank go 
>faster than just peeling off armor, in the *_GAME AS IT STANDS_* 
>there is no mechanism for simulating this complexity and recreating 
>a variety of different speeds and manouverabilities. There is either 
>Fast Tracked or Slow Tracked, HMW or LMW, and while ultimately I'm 
>of the opinion that a completely design system is needed to address 
>issues just like and including this one, in the short run the 
>original suggestion that [paying for full armor but][1] carrying 
>less than full armor, and rewarding this sacrifice with additional 
>BMF, CAN simulate both the subtraction of armor and the addition of 
>bigger engines/better suspensions & transmissions.  It does seem 
>like a viable stopgap measure for adding variety to vehicle designs.

I feel from the basic method of choosing motive speed for a given 
system could be modified slightly and allow for better detail and 
sophistication.

Take the existing standard where a vehicle of one armor value has an 
assumed standard speed for a standard engine. If you want to make it 
faster, you can allocate a few more capacity points for engine or a 
few less to engine and get a corresponding increase or decrease in 
speed. Say 1 pt of capacity gives you 2" added movement. Its not as 
detailed as the system in BattleTech, but then its not as complex 
either.
	(this is a basic, if the 6 liter engine isn't fast enough for 
you, we'll just shoe horn in an 8 liter engine and add the Series II 
Hydro-matic Transmission).

Now, assuming there is a system in the game for points (cost based 
not effectiveness based) then one could theoretically pay points for 
increased speed or loose points for decreased speed. This simulates 
additional R&D time/technology sophistication/materials cost in a 
given engine/transmission/automotive configuration that gives you 
more or less speed.
	(The basic example is where one has an off the shelf engine 
design and one then takes more expensive components that have more 
production cost associated with them. The parts are 
lighter/better/more efficient such that with a given amount of 
additional capital invested in each power pack, one has more 
horsepower for the same weight or even less weight depending on how 
much you pay.)

The two mechanisms generally simulate RL mechanisms and are simple 
enough that they don't obfuscate things much. Additionally, they 
could be added in as an 'optional rule' in the design system.

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