SG/DS ideas [Was RE: John A.]

Knowing the ground scale, it would be simple to use DS vehicles and
range bands 
(nearly all are CLOSE!).  Tech gives the real edge in preparing the
battlefield 
(Intel, timing of maneuver, etc).  Once it gets as close as SG ranges,
troop 
quality starts to get the edge.

Michael Brown

-----Original Message-----
From:	Allan Goodall
Sent:	Monday, November 03, 2003 11:02 AM
To:	gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
Subject:	Re: John A.

On 3 Nov 2003 at 12:11, laserlight@quixnet.net wrote:

> 1)Low-tech DSII. As far as mixing tech levels, it's a
> waste of time.

This is a really, really good point!

> Now, the SAW category in SGII
> presumes that exotic propulsion technologies (binary
> liquid, gauss, ETC, etc) push the muzzle velocities
> and sustained ROF of SAW-weight weapons up to GPMG
> levels and hence the distinction between these weapons
> disappears.

To me this seems a lot like the computer concept, "it's not a bug,
it's a feature!" I haven't seen anything in the SG2 rule book, this
list, or the playtest list to suggest that Jon T. designed the game
with the above in mind. Maybe he did, but I haven't seen anything
about it. I suspect, instead, that John A. is rationalizing the lack
of GPMGs in SG2.

My own opinion? Using Occam's Razor, I suspect that Jon lumped all
machine guns in the SAW category due to the restrictions of the game
system. If AGLs have D12 impact and rotary (gatling type) SAWs have
D10 impact, that leaves non-rotary SAWs at D8. Likewise if a Gauss
SAW has a D12 impact and an AGL has a D8 impact, that doesn't leave a
lot of room for the impact of machine guns in general (D10). I
suspect that with this level of granularity Jon didn't see the point
in the modelling the difference between SAWs and GPMGs.

> I've said it before and I'll say it again: SGII does
> not model heavy crewserves like the .50 cal or the
> Mk19 at all. It's a light infantry game, and light
> infantry doesn't have these puppies except on
> vehicles. And we all know SGII rules only cover
> vehicles because JT couldn't get away with
> dispensining with them entirely.

I agree that it's a light infantry game. I disagree that it's a light
infantry game by design. I do agree that Jon made a conscious
decision to tone down vehicles, but I think that decision was
unfortunate.

--

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

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
   - Ogden Nash