(FT) BETA fighter rules, comments

Hi all,

I have just returned from a very extended gaming weekend in which we tried out
the new fighter rules posted on the list a few weeks back. The

comments that I can think of are as follows;

The new turn sequence works a treat, and saves on an awful lot of paperwork in
ordnance heavy games. This feature was rapidly picked up on

and went a long way to winning all of us round to the "test rules".

Scatter guns are a lot more balanced, though their fire power has been
drastically reduced the new turn sequence allows the scattergun armed fleet to
conserve its shots much more effectively.

The whole anti-shipping vs ordnance was a favourite of mine, though it
was effective it was never OTT.

Using fighters was a treat. I used to hate the flipping things, but now here I
was, happily utilising 8 heavy fighter squadrons, escorting the main battle,
to keep the enemy fighters, missiles, boarding pods at bay, and once all the
nasty stuff was moped up my fighters disengaged and attacked the enemy. Great!

Fighter casualties in the hardest battles rarely topped 50%, but in comparison
I didn't destroy any vessels with my fighters (though they did cripple 2
capital ships in one game).

Whether as a result of the vagaries of dice rolls or the gods of chance,

1-4 salvo missiles lobbed into an enemy fleet numbering about 4000pts
somehow seemed to survive defensive fire and get a few missiles in on target
(never decisive strikes, but some nasty hits inflicted), whilst
1-6 AMT's/PBL strength 1's fired at the same fleet would normally all be

negated. Very odd.

Jinking is a good feature, at least from our initial tests. It is not always
wholly effective but then thats kind of the point I suppose. It is useful in
the sense it helps fighters to soak up heavy weapons fire that might otherwise
be targeted at the vessels in the fleet itself, but

in return long range fire is useful in forcing enemy fighters to spend CEFs in
defence.

All in all, from the 6 games we played the new turn sequence, fighter
rules, and general point defence/area defence set up described by these
rules was simple, effective and clean (for want of a better word).

Regards,

> Before Easter broke out, Matt Tope wrote:

> I have just returned from a very extended gaming weekend in which we

Thanks for the report!

[positive comments snipped]

> Whether as a result of the vagaries of dice rolls or the gods of

I've recieved similar reports from several other groups too, and unlike the
Graser case I have neither maths analyses nor enough personal experience

with this PB-vs-PD game mechanic to file these reports as "extreme die
rolls" ;-)

It seems that a -1 target's DRM against PD fire doesn't give the PBs and

AMTs enough protection when every PDS in the area of effect can target them
*and* the defenders get to fire one ship's PDS at a time (allowing them to
minimize overkills), so this is an area we need to work more on. As an
interim solution, try changing the PB/AMT -1 target's DRM vs PD-mode
fire
to -2 (though keep Scatterguns at D3-1 for now - think of it as
"(D6-2)/2
if you like <g>); this still tones them down a bit compared to the FB2 rules
since most weapons get rerolls against them, but not as much as the
beta-test rules currently do.

Later,

> Oerjan wrote:

> >Whether as a result of the vagaries of dice rolls or the gods of

> would normally all be negated. Very odd.

> I've recieved similar reports from several other groups too, and

experience with this >PB-vs-PD game mechanic to file these reports as
"extreme die rolls"

> It seems that a -1 target's DRM against PD fire doesn't give the PBs

I wasn't sure if the AMT/PBL "effect" was a result of our rolls or not
but if it is happening to others then it could be a slight problem. We shall
try your suggested ammendment, which on face value looks like it could do the
trick! I agree with leaving the Scatter guns unaltered, only fair as in a PBL
armed vs scattergun defended clash the scatterguns

will eventually run out, whilst the PBL's won't.

I will report back on this as soon as I am able to tread vacuum,

Regards,