Re: [FT] CPV vs. NPV

On Thu, 13 Feb 2003 02:20:03 +1100, Hugh Fisher <laranzu@ozemail.com.au>
wrote:

> In history from at least the time of Nelson on a battleship
> beats up the cruisers and frigates and big battleships beat
> up smaller ones. And this 'concentration of force' rule, or
> just expectation, is carried over into in science fiction
> as well: Honor Harrington, Star Trek, Babylon 5, CoDominion,
> Star Wars.

That makes sense, but the purpose of a point system is to say that X of
these
ships equals Y of those ships if the points are the same. The point
adjustment
idea is to give you a proper total of the number of small ships you'd
need in
order to defeat a bigger ship.

The way the current point system works, 1500 points of big ships will
always
defeat 1500 points of smaller ships. Okay, you don't have a problem with
this.
However... how do you know how _many_ small ships equal a big ship? The
whole
purpose of a point system is to give a point balance so that two fleets
of
about the same number of points will be equal in ability to win the
game.
Otherwise, why have a point system at all? 

A big ship will defeat a number of smaller ships. A single 1000 point
superdreadnought should be able to take on ten 100 point frigates with a
fairly equal chance that either player will win. This is not the case
with the
FT point system. Instead, the 1000 point superdreadnought has a distinct
advantage. The reason for adjusting the point system is to tell you just
how
many of those 100 point frigates it will take to equal a 1000 point
superdreadnought.

> Putting it another way, what's the point in being an evil
> overlord if you can't build monster warships to annihilate
> your puny foes while laughing at their futile efforts?

Well, you can! But you need to know the point at where there are enough
puny
foes to destroy your monster warship!

Personally, I prefer games with a larger number of smaller ships than
games
with monster ships. I like lots of maneuvering and seeing ships go
"pop"! 

Allan Goodall		     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