[FT] Fighter descriptions

11 posts ยท Jun 20 2003 to Jun 21 2003

From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@c...>

Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 23:03:04 -0400

Subject: [FT] Fighter descriptions

For no good reason, I'm trying to make ship control sheets the size of
collectible cards for Star Ranger's marvelous SF Crossover games.
( http://www.star-ranger.com/SRStuff.htm )
( I'm using the card toolbox from http://www.exodusproject.com/ )
( You can see what I have so far at http://www.projectrho.com/xover/ )

However, I have a minor problem. Star Ranger has a few special rules for the
various fighters (e.g., Battlestar Galactica Viper fighters have a secondary
move of 24 due to their turbos, B5 Thunderbolt fighters act like normal
fighters equipped with a torpedo, etc.) While his ship sheets have plenty of
room to print such rules, cards are a bit more cramped.

I wanted to adapt Jared Noble's modular fighter rules,
( http://www.homegame.org/siefert/uftwwwp/files/fighters.htm )
but with a terse nomenclature (with all due respect to Mr.Noble, his rules are
fascinating but the proposed graphics are a bit intimidating).

Here's what I have so far. Perhaps it can be the basis for something useful
with some editing from
the minds of gzg-l.

Write the initial move I, secondary move S, and
endurance as I/S-E.  So a standard fighter would
be 24/12-6 (by FT2.5 rules).  A Fast fighter
would be 36/12-6.  A Long-range fighter would be
24/12-9.

Append codes for various modifications: H: Heavy frame, fighter takes damage
as if it has level 1 screens. X: Cannot attack ships W: When attacking ships,
a roll of 6 will destroy one armor or hull, all other rolls have no effect. A:
When attacking ships, add one to the roll.
T: Ship has a single shot torpedo.  4+ to hit, does 1d6 damage.
L: When attacking a fighter group, a roll of 6 will destroy one fighter, all
other rolls have no effect. I: When attacking a fighter group, add one to the
roll.

So the FT fighters would be coded thusly:

Standard:       24/12-6
Heavy:          24/12-6H
Fast:           36/12-6
Long-range:     24/12-9
Attack:         24/12-6AL
Interceptor:    24/12-6IX
Torpedo:        24/12-6TXL

Star Ranger's fighters would be:
BG Viper        24/24-6  (turbos)
B5 Thunderbolt  24/12-6T (normal fighter w/torpedo)
TIE fighter     24/12-6W
TIE bomber      20/12-6AL (slow attack)
TIE interceptor 30/12-6IW (interceptor w/limited anti-ship)
X-wing          24/12-6HI (heavy interceptor)
Y-wing          24/12-6H
A-wing          36/12-6H (fast heavy)

From: Roger Burton West <roger@f...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 09:28:59 +0100

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

> On Thu, Jun 19, 2003 at 11:03:04PM -0400, Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:

> Here's what I have so far. Perhaps it can be the

I have no problem with the numbers, but I think the letter codes are
potentially unintuitive. H/A/T/I are easy because they're the same as
the fighter types, but the others will be hard to remember. Perhaps if you
give a word for each letter? (e.g. L = "limited antifighter", W = "weak
antiship", but I'm sure someone else can come up with more sensible versions.)

R

From: Eric Foley <stiltman@t...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 01:50:35 -0700

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

Perhaps use the following nomenclature... stick with the regular H/A/T/I
for the basic stuff, and put the letter in lowercase if those elements are
weakened rather than strengthened.

So an attack fighter standard would be...

24-12/6Ai

And if you just flat out _can't_ attack something, stick a "-x" suffix
after the letter. Standard interceptor is thus...

24-12/6Ia-x

Another way to do it would be to leave the letter in uppercase but put it in
parentheses or something to indicate a weakening...

24-12/6A(I) for an attack fighter
24-12/6I(A-x) for an interceptor

Thus, all the letters stay intuitive but you can adopt one or the other
nomenclature to use the same letter to denote either a strengthening or a
weakening rather than adding a different one and having to remember what the
heck it refers to.

Just a thought...

E (aka Stilt Man)

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@c...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 07:12:16 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

> ERIC FOLEY wrote:

From: Doug Evans <devans@n...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 07:31:53 -0500

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

Ok, not that this is valuable, but I think Eric reversed the / and the -
in Nyrath's schema.

How about using two /'s? Then you could simplify even more making items
before a - usable, and  after, not.

The Standard interceptor would be:
24/12/6I-a

hmm... My 'I' is sans serif; almost looks like a one. WOW, an endurance of
61. ;->=

The_Beast

From: Izenberg, Noam <Noam.Izenberg@j...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 08:52:11 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

Nyrath - I really like your fighter simplifications.

Some comments: None of the fighters listed have secondary moves other than 12.
Of course other fighters might, but perhaps the standard move,
secondary and endurance (24/12/6) can be relegated to the letter s.
That way a standard fighter group would just be: s/s/s  Actually, might
as well include the number of fighters in the group, too - esp if you
want to track things over a couple battles Standard = 6:

Move/Secondary - # fighters/endurance

Standard 6-fighter group: s/s-s/s
Same group after a couple turns fighting: s/s-2/4

Heavy:      s/s-s/s-H
Fast:          36/s-s/s
Long range:  s/s-s/9
Attack:        s/s-s/s-AL
Intercept:  s/s-s/s-IX
Torp:   s/s-s/s-TXL

This scheme might better highlight only the differences between the fighters

BG viper:  s/24-s/s
B5 Tbolt: s/s-s/s-T
TIE:    s/s-s/s-W
TIEV2: s/s-12/s-XL (a weaker swarm of 12 Tie fighters I remember from
somewhere)
etc...

For fun:
NI Bard'las s/s-s/s-H Stealth (= heavy)
NI Ashan - s/s-s/s-HAL Stealth attack
NI Chermesh - s/s-s/s-HIX Stealth interceptor

From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@c...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 19:51:18 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

> Noam Izenberg wrote:

Why, thank you!

I had tried using "s" for standard, but it seemed hard to read. I dunno. I
agree that it does a better job of highlighting the differences. Perhaps both
can be allowed?

How about this?

N x M/S/Ea(d)-f

N: number of fighters in group M: initial movement S: secondary movement E:
endurance a: list of advantages d: list of disadvantages f: list of forbidden

Frame: standard fighters take damage as if they had level 0 screens. H: heavy
advantage, take damage as if they had level 1 screens.

Anti-ship: standard fighters attack ships with class 1 beams
A:   attack advantage, class 1 beams, +1 to die roll.
(A): attack disadvantage, roll of 6 will destroy one armor or hull, all other
rolls no effect.
-A:  attack forbidden, may not attack ships at all.

Torpedo: standard ships have no torpedoes
T:   torpedo advantage, fighter has 1 shot torpedo,
      roll 4+ to hit, does 1d6 plasma damage

Anti-fighter: standard fighters attack fighter groups with
class 1 beams
I:   interceptor advantage, class 1 beam, +1 to die roll.
(I): interceptor disadvantage, roll of 6 will destroy one fighter, all other
rolls are no effect.
-I:  interceptor forbidden: may not attack fighters at all.

Standard:       6 x 24/12/6
Heavy:          6 x 24/12/6H
Fast:           6 x 36/12/6
Long Range:     6 x 24/12/9
Attack:         6 x 24/12/6A(I)
Interceptor:    6 x 24/12/6I-A
Torpedo:        6 X 24/12/6T(I)-A

B5 Thunderbolt  6 x 24/12/6T
BG Viper        6 x 24/24/6
NI Bard'las     6 x 24/12/6H
NI Ashan        6 x 24/12/6HA(I)
NI Chermesh     6 x 24/12/6HI-A
TIE V2         12 x 24/12/6(I)-A

From: Laserlight <laserlight@q...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 23:36:23 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

> From: "Nyrath the nearly wise" <nyrathwiz@comcast.net>

Nice to have you back among us, BTW

From: Michael Brown <mwbrown@s...>

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 21:16:01 -0700

Subject: RE: [FT] Fighter descriptions

Actually, it is nice to see some activity on the list.

From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@c...>

Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 08:10:57 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

> Laserlight wrote:

Glad to be back. You can thank Star Ranger and his SF Crossover games. I've
become obsessed with obtaining enough miniatures to
        re-create those games, which also
        re-inflamed my fascination with

From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@c...>

Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 08:14:59 -0400

Subject: Re: [FT] Fighter descriptions

Anybody who might be interested in the pitfalls I've encountered on my quest
for SF Crossover miniatures are encouraged to go to
http://www.star-ranger.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
and click on "Sci-Fi Crossover miniatures"