Re: FT3 DEVELOPMENT QUESTION: FTL

Where I played, we did. It was a blast and made formation flying a pain


     On Monday, November 2, 2015 2:02 AM, Randy Wolfmeyer
<rwwolfme@gmail.com> wrote:


 I'm a little behind - but I wanted to comment on the use of "arrival
out of FTL" rules: I've done a number of my convention games with
something along those lines. I can't remember if what I use is similar
to the original rules, or if I've houseruled it completely - but I
usually make each ship plot an arrival jump point before the game, and
then on the first three turns the players make a roll per ship to see if
they arrive on that turn (usually it's a 1 to arrive on the first turn,
1-2 for the second turn, and so forth - by the 6th turn everyone is on
the table). When they arrive, they roll a D12 for direction and a D6-1
for distance and displace their arrival from the plotted jump point.
It's worked pretty well to mix things up - you make plans for your
fleet, but you're at the mercy of the dice as to where and when each
ship will actually arrive. For new players its also kind of nice because
the first couple of rounds they're getting the hang of things with just
a couple of ships and as more ships arrive things get more complex. It
just sucks when your SDN doesn't arrive until late into the fight.

On Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 5:39 AM, Jon Tuffley <jon@gzg.com> wrote:
Roger and Hugh, you both make very valid points here, and I'd be
interested in everyone else's opinions on it too.

It is entirely true that FTL has no game effect in the majority of
situations - I don't know how many players have ever used the "arrival
out of FTL" rules in a game….anyone here? The only other real effect
that you get in game terms by having FTL drives as a separate ship
system is that loss of them will strand the damaged ship in-system by
making escape to FTL impossible, but again that is quite a minor factor
and more of use in campaign terms than a one-off game.

As a completely off-the-cuff suggestion, that I haven't thought through
at all, how about doing away with the FTL drive as a "paid for" system
and making it into a fourth Core System alongside the Command (Bridge),
Life Support and Power Core icons?

Feel free to discuss the ramifications of this, or indeed any other
ideas on the matter…….

Jon (GZG)