Re: (fwd) Re: [FT] F***ters [was: Operational game]

On Fri, 7 Feb 2003 22:20:34 -0800, "Eric Foley" <stiltman@teleport.com>
wrote:

>Which, incidentally, is exactly what I said:  their effectiveness
scales
>non-linearly with the _gap_ in the number of fighters as opposed to the
>amount of defenses mounted against them, and as I said, it scales in
both
>directions.  If your opponent can stop any number of fighters that you
can
>carry, you're better off _not_ carrying them -- i.e. the more fighters
>you've got, the _worse_ off you are.

No, the fighters are scaled non-linearly. Period. One fighter squadron
is
worth much less than 1/20 the power of 20 fighter squadrons. This has
been
shown time and time again.

What you're pointing out is that scatterguns are really, really good at
taking
out fighters. This is because scatterguns themselves are inherently
unbalanced
in their anti-fighter capabilities.

A scattergun costs 1 mass and 5 points. It does an average of 3.5
fighters
worth of damage. A fighter costs 3 points. This means a 5 point weapon
takes
out -- without any risk to itself -- 10.5 points of fighters. It's even
more
unbalanced when you take into consideration hangar bay costs and mass,
as a
scattergun costs only 1 mass point.

Even if you roll a 2 on the scattergun, it will take out 6 points of
fighters
at a cost of 5 point of its own. Scatterguns are, therefore, overpriced.
They
also have an inherent ADFC ability without needing a special ADFC. 

This overpricing of scatterguns doesn't change the fact that fighters
are not
linearly scaled. 

>And frankly, I don't really care how many times it's been "shown"
otherwise
>on the list.  If I've got a 1000 point fleet that has the scatterguns
to
>kill off a soap bubble carrier's entire complement of fighters, my
enemy is
>better off carrying _zero_ fighters.

True, but that's because you're using a weapon that's more unbalanced
against
fighters than fighters are against anything else. Forcing players to
mount
scatterguns doesn't fix the fighter balance issue.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"We come into the world and take our chances
 Fate is just the weight of circumstances
 That's the way that Lady Luck dances
 Roll the bones." - N. Peart