I'm still kicking around ideas for methods of varying ship quality. One
method is by improving DCPs. I see two routes to this--either simply
giving more DCPs, or letting players buy upgrades.
If players can buy more DCPs, what should the costs be under the FB
system? And where on the hull-box track should they go?
Upgraded DCPs would include Enhanced (1 DCP-E repairs system on a 5+,
but two DCPs still only gives you a 4+) and Superior (1 DCP-S repairs
systems on a 4+, no benefit from combining with other DCPs). What would
the costs be? Would all DCP's on a ship be the same grade? Perhaps
you'd also have Green (or Klutz) DCPs?
It would be interesting, in a small campaign with an umpire, to have secret
quality ratings for the DCPs.
Laserlight wrote in two horribly formatted posts:
> I'm still kicking around ideas for methods of varying ship quality.
Giving more DCPs for free works in campaigns (represents crew
experience etc), but not in one-off battles. Buying upgrades works
better in one-offs, but may sometimes be hard to explain in PSB terms
in a campaign :-/
> If players can buy more DCPs, what should the costs be under the FB
I'd start playtests at 2-3 pts each.
> And where on the hull-box track should they go?
Distribute all DCPs on the hull track according to the standard rules.
> Upgraded DCPs would include Enhanced (1 DCP-E repairs system on >a 5+,
Depends on how large the ship is, the average size of its weapons, and how
many "critical systems" like DCPs, heavy beam power cores, salvo
missile launchers/magazine etc. it has. A rough guesstimate is:
DCP-E = +10-20% of TMF
DCP-S = +20-30% of TMF
...but it is just that - a rough guesstimate.
> Would all DCP's on a ship be the same grade?
Would *you* want to keep track of which DCP is what grade...?
> As part 2 of my "quality is good" list of suggestions:
As with all range issues, it depends on the movement system, table size etc.
used <g> That said:
In my experience, option 1-E is worth ~15% of the ship's total value
while
option 1-S is worth ~30%. As long as your table is big or floating
enough to allow at least some maneuvers outside long-range weapon
ranges, the relation between the various weapons (on the
improved-targetting ship) doesn't seem to change much.
I haven't used option 2-style weapons much, but I'd say that it depends
quite a bit on what weapon you use - for a sub-munition pack (which
wasn't excluded in your list) increasing the first range band by 3" is
obviously better than extending each of its three 6" bands by 1", while a B3
gains more from having each 12" band increased by 2" than from having the
innermost one increased by 3". The costs given for option 1 above are probably
reasonable averages, though.
Regards,