RE: [FT] Enabling "Defense" Scenarios: Eclipsing ships

From: "John Crimmins" <johncrim@voicenet.com> 

>I did something similar, but far more simply...I like simple. 
>If an escort is assigned to a ship, write orders for the pair as though
they 
>are a single vessel, and move them accordingly. 

>Whenever the defended ship is the target of incoming fire, the escort
may 
>attempt to interpose itself between the two and take the fire itself. 

>In order to do so, the escort must roll less than or equal to its
current
thrust 
>factor on 1d6 -- so if a ship has done a lot of maneuvering on a given
turn, it 
>is going to have a more difficult time intercepting oncoming fire. 

>An escort can protect against any number of attacks, but only from a
single

>attacker in any given turn.  Area effect weapons cannot be defended
against. 

I have to say I like this (and laserlight's addition). It is much
simpler.
But should a thrust 6 FF be able to shield an SDN as effectively as a
cruiser?. And shouldn't a thrust 6 FF be able to _hide_ behind an SDN
much
better than behind an FF?.

Maybe it should be a die roll vs. unused thrust of both ships, penalised
or
aided by relative size.

Noam