Re: Fire Control lock-on (was: Re: [FT] squadron suggestions)

>On 22-Jun-05, at 2:30 AM, Ground Zero Games wrote:
>>Seeing as this subject has come up in the last few days' 
>>discussions, I thought I'd take the opportunity to canvass some 
>>opinions from all of you out there in gzg-list-land..... this is 
>>something that's been discussed at some length in the past within 
>>the playtest group, but sometimes it's both interesting and 
>>valuable to get some feedback from a much larger group of players.
>
>Perhaps a small change in perspective: let the defending ship try to 
>"break" the
>lock-on of a ship that is attacking it. If you think about it, the
reason that
>an attacking ship is unable to lock on usually depends on some property
of the
>defending ship. Either it has ECM, stealth, decoys or is performing
evasive
>manoeuvres. Also, the effect of the failed lock-on may depend on the
defence
>being deployed. For example, an ECM defence may produce a fuzzy 
>target, whereas
>a decoy would produce a double target.
>
>Tony Christney

Hmmm, an interesting way of looking at it - one that had crossed my 
mind at some point, but I hadn't developed it any further.
Letting the |target" player roll does not actually make things any 
different to having the firer do it, but it does give the target the 
FEEL of trying to defend his ship, and that's a good thing.....

So, for example (as with the ideas I posted yesterday), take a BB 
with 3 FCs - the firing player announces he is using 1 FC to engage a 
DD, and the other 2 against a CH - he expects the CH to try to break 
lock, hence the choice to use 2 FCs on it.

The DD is neither evading nor using countermeasures, so lock-on is
automatic.

The CH, on the other hand, is using ECM and is trying to evade as 
well; the CH owner adds up whatever values these give him, and must 
roll equal or less than this total to break the lock; as the BB 
player is dedicating TWO FCs to the task, the CH player must roll TWO 
dice and must succeed with BOTH in order to prevent the BB getting a 
firing solution.....

I think I kind of like this.... what does everyone else think?

Jon (GZG)