As has been mentioned before, a problem creeps up in FT when the scenario
calls for protecting a convoy or screening a battle-group. The problem
is that the attackers can ignore the ships firing on them and go for higher
victory points by attacking convoy. Following are some rules to mediate the
problem.
Initiative: Each side rolls 1 dice (or 1 dice per "flight" of ships). The side
with
the higher score wins and has the CHOICE of moving Fighters/Missiles 1st
or 2nd, and the CHOICE of firing 1st or 2nd. Fire is broken into 4 rounds. The
number of ships that fire in a round is the total number of
ships on a side/4 (round down) with any extra ship firing in the last
round. If there are more than 1 side, each side rolls a die. The side
with the higher score determines if moving Fighters/Missiles are in
ascending or descending order (highest first/lowest last or lowest
first/highest last), and ascending/descending order for fire.
Drawing Fire: If a ship if hit (damaged or would have been damaged except for
screens/armor), it must direct a MINIMUM of 1 fire control to return
fire on the ship that hit it. This is even if the ship is out of range or not
in a valid firing arc (this simulates loss of concentration due to being
hit). ALL DAMAGE IS SIMULTANEOUS, except *DAF fire which occurs first (All
ships get to fire even if destroyed on a previous round (same turn)).
Threshold rolls are made after the last round of fire. Firing order is just to
determine Drawing Fire effects.
Comments/Suggestions wanted. This was done off the top of my head and
has not been tested.
> Brian Bell writes:
@:) Initiative: @:) Each side rolls 1 dice
The singular of "dice" is "die". Thus, two dice but one die.
Otherwise I think the initiative idea is a little complicated and I'm not sure
what benefit is gained from it. I could be missing something.
@:) Drawing Fire: @:) If a ship if hit (damaged or would have been damaged
except for
@:) screens/armor), it must direct a MINIMUM of 1 fire control to
@:) return fire on the ship that hit it.
This is a more interesting idea. I think it's a little harsh, though. I might
suggest that each time a ship takes any damage, it has a chance of losing the
use of one fire con for one turn. Let's
say, on a 4-6. This would mean that three escorts could disable a
capital ship for a turn, if they got three lucky hits. On the other
hand, it might be too stiff a penalty because unless you have level-2
screens, you can expect damage to come through on a fairly regular basis. But
the it might be possible to flesh out the idea into something useful.
> In message <199703091244_MC2-1253-E85@compuserve.com> Brian Bell writes:
As I understand wet naval tactics of the day, ships are paired
escort/escortee against missile attacks so the escort physically
interposes itself (and it's point defence) against an attacking enemy missile
raid.
I suppose that in FT you could reasonably allow a ship to pair off with one
nearby ship "behind" it to deny one attacking ship the ability to target it.
That would make many small ships (like, err... escorts) better escorts than
one big ship.
> This is a more interesting idea. I think it's a little harsh,
My idea was not to disable the fire control but to draw it's fire. I agree it
would be too harsh if is disabled the fire control.
> This would mean that three escorts could disable a
If you pick on the Capital long enough you will loose the escorts (but the
convoy might make it to the jump point).
> Brian Bell writes:
@:) > I might suggest that each time a ship takes any damage, it has @:) >a
chance of losing the use of one fire con for one turn.
@:)
@:) My idea was not to disable the fire control but to draw it's @:) fire. I
agree it would be too harsh if is disabled the fire @:) control.
But if a ship is forced to fire on a ship that's out of range it has, indeed
lost the use of a fire control. If it's forced to fire at
all it's lost the use of a fire control - and it should be pretty easy
to force the ship to waste fire either by being out of range or having level 3
screens or whatever.
In article <199703091244_MC2-1253-E85@compuserve.com>, Brian Bell
<PDGA6560@compuserve.com> writes
> Drawing Fire:
Why not use a system similar to a reaction test in Dirtside II to see if a
ship returns fire or not. The threat level used could reflect how much damage
the ship is taking etc. This would allow the grading of ships crew(Unit
Quality) and the captain(Unit Leadership), or keep things simple and treat all
ships as Regulars with LV 2.
Any thoughts.