Re: [GZG] Gzg-l Digest, Vol 37, Issue 24

_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lIn my
experience, the whole game experience of FT involving fighters /
missiles 
and the giant mass of paper, scissors, stone that results in the fleet
design is 
a fundamental result of the way that the rules have been written.

Isn't the root cause of the problems the completely different rules that
firing 
at ships use and firing at a missile uses? A mass 2 ship gets hit by a
beam 
weapon 48" away on a 4+. There's no penalty for target size or speed.
The same 
weapon and firecontrol can't engage a mass 1 missile.

The second problem is that ordnance firepower can be configured to
discharge all 
in one turn. Thats like being able to buy a one use beam weapon that
fires 10 
shots in one turn and then can't be used again. (Lensman books anyone)

The third problem is that missile and carrier ships can float onto the
table 
fire their weapons and then jump off the table. Their ordnance then
seeks out 
and kills the enemy. Even in a campaign you can argue that neither side
controls 
the territory but a fleet that keeps getting tons of shipping sunk every
turn 
won't have any ships shortly.

If you took the FSE ships from the fleet book and ripped out the missile

magazines and replaced them with salvo rack mounts you would have some
pretty 
big levels of one shot firepower.

So if you want to balance out the gun-ordnance-fighter triangle to the
point 
that the "best answer is to take a bit of everything" then you need to
make 
changes to the rules.

Some ideas.
1) get rid of fighters only leave interceptors and bombers. Maybe have
some 
types that can be configured as either type at mission launch.
2) Carriers need to purchase hangers and launch tubes and can only
launch one 
squadron per tube per turn. Most modern carriers can launch only a
couple of 
planes at a time of the forward catapults and it takes time to assemble
a multi 
squadron attack. Squadrons also need sensor support from their carrier
or fleet 
elements to manouvre towards their targets.
3) All missile systems must be in magazines no massed racking of
missiles 
4) ships can only launch one missile per firecontrol
5) missiles can only attack a target illuminated by a firecontrol or can
only 
move towards a target illuminated by a firecontrol
6) Allow ship weapons to engage ordnance targets as if they were ships

if you then have a battle where missile armed warships are getting 1 MT
or salvo 
missile hit per turn, thats probably about 2d6 damage per turn. To get 7
points 
of damage on a shielded ship  on a screen 2 ship thats about 20 beam
dice 
equivalent.