[FT] Small Craft and Customizable Fighters (long)

Well, I've had some more ideas on the subject, inspired by some of
the other ideas mentioned on the 'filling the gap' thread...

Customisable Fighters

To simplify the maths I'm assuming that some of the cost of fighters
(and small craft) is included in the cost of the hanger, I'm also
assuming a hull MASS for a fighter of 1, for the same reason.

A basic fighter consists of a body, weapons, engines, and power reserve
(Combat Endurance)

The body costs 1 point

Weapons are categorised into fighter weapon classes, thus:

Class	Effects
1	1 hit on roll of 6
2	1 hit on roll of 5+
3	1 hit on roll of 5, 2 hits on 6
4	1 hit on roll of 4 or 5, 2 hits on 6
5	1 hit on roll of 3, 4 or 5, 2 hits on 6
6	1 hit on roll of 3 or 4, 2 hits on 5+

These can apply to both fighter, where 1 hit = 1 kill, and ships, where
1 hit = 1 damage point.

Thus a multirole fighter has class 4 weapons against both fighters and
ships (represented as 4/4), an interceptor has (6/0), and an attack
fighter has (1/6) (The actual class is based the average damage
inflicted, classes 2, 3 and 5 exist to fill gaps in the progression)

To determine the costs of the fighter weapons, add the anti-fighter
class to four times the anti-ship class, and divide the result by 10,
rounding to the nearest whole number, thus a multirole fighter's weapons
cost (4+4x4)/10, or 2, an intercepter's weapons cost 6/10, or .6,
rounded up to 1 (should be 2), and an attack fighters weapons cost (1 +
4x6)/10, or 2.5, rounded to 3. If the weapons don't re-roll 6s, multiply
the relevant cost component by 5/6 (0.8333). If the weapons ignore
screens, multiply the cost by 6/5 (for simplicity, assume class 1
weapons ignore screens).

The Engines have a cost of 1 point per 12 MU of movement

Combat Endurance Factors cost 1 point per 3 CEF, but the first 3 are
free.

Defences: standard fighter durability has its cost included in the body,
'heavy' fighter durability (as a heavy fighter) adds +2 points, while
'super-heavy' durability (as Noam's Super Stealth fighter) costs +6
points.

This can be described as a 'defence level' defence level 1 is 'heavy',
and defence level 2 is 'super heavy', reduce the class of fighter scale
weapons by the defence level (this makes interceptors slightly more
effective against heavy fighters).

The cost is then discounted by 3 points that are already paid for in the
cost of the fighter bay (1.5 MASS and 4.5 points per fighter)

To the total cost = body (1) + Weapons + Movement/12 + (CEF/3 - 1) +
defences -3

Extras:
=======

Torpedoes cost +5 points (2 x average damage)

Anti-fighter missiles costs .75 points times their average damage

Multi-purpose anti-fighter + anti-ship missiles cost 3x their average
damage

Agility - this equals +2 classes of anti-fighter and +1 defence, and
Agile Interceptor would be equivalent to a Heavy Interceptor.

The recommended limits to fighter capability are 3 points in primary
weapons, 36 mu movement, 9 CEF, and super-heavy hull. If a fighter maxes
out on more than 1 of these, add +1 to its cost.

Small Craft
===========

Small Craft have a hull size of 1 to 5 MASS, and usually only a limited
endurance (those with unlimited endurance should be built as FB ships).

Small Craft with fighter-like manoeuvrability:

These are built like fighters, but the 'body' cost is 1 per hull MASS.

They have an internal capacity of 1 less than their hull MASS

This capacity can be used to mount longer-ranged or heavier weapons:

2-4 fighter torpedoes consume 1 MASS, as well as their points cost

'limited' B-1 battery: includes fire control, requires CEF to use,
reduce to 3 fire arcs - 1 MASS and 4 points.

1 MASS can be used for hull, in which case it costs 1 MASS and 2 points
per hull box, and increased defences cannot be brought.

Fighter-like small craft can be targeted by any anti-fighter weapons,
even if not directly attacking (they are bigger), and can be targeted
with large weapons whose class is no bigger than their hull MASS, with
the attack resolved as a class-1 beam in point defence, but the maximum
range of the weapon (thus a size 3 small craft can be targeted by beam
batteries or k-guns of up to class 3). SMPs and MKPs are considered
class 2, and Pulse Torpedoes/Pod Launchers class 3 for this purpose.

Small Craft may also be built with ship-like manoeuvrability, in which
case it is either purchased as a normal Main Drive, or as a limited
endurance main drive, which requires no MASS, and costs 1 point per 20
thrust per MASS, and requires 1 CEF per 20 thrust used. Advanced drives
cost 50% more.

Small craft can purchase extra CEF by filling capacity, 1 MASS gains an
extra 6 CEF at not cost.

Well, what do you think?

Charles