[FT] Fighters (AGAIN) was: Operational game

> --- "Imre A. Szabo" <ias@sprintmail.com> wrote:

> All of this is just off of the top of my head. If

I was cleaning out my car the other day and happened to come across a piece of
scratch paper on which I'd jotted some ideas for increasing the effectiveness
of
anti-fighter defenses.  A lot of it has to do with the
relationship between PDS and Beam-1's, I sort of went
with the parallel of Beam-1's being similar to the
5-inch guns used by the US Navy for years - designed
for AA, but capable of providing small ships with
limited ship-to-ship abilities.  So here we go, with a
few last-minuter editing adjustments:

First off, anti-fighter fire is divided into 3 types:

1. Point Defense (Defending against fighters that are directly attacking you)
2. Area Defense (Defending against any fighter group that enters a certain
area around you) 3. Zone Defense (I'd like to come up with a better name for
this. It covers the current ADFC ability to fire on fighter groups attacking
other ships near you. The reason I split AD and ZD becomes apparent below)

Point Defense: 1. By PDS as per normal rules 2. By Beam 1's requires use of
EITHER a Firecon OR an ADFC

Area Defense (any fighter group within 6"):
By PDS alone at -1 to die roll
By PDS With an ADFC
By Beam 1's with ADFC at -1
By Beam 1's with both an ADFC AND a Firecon

Zone Defense: (per Normal rules for ADFC use) By PDS with ADFC
By Beam 1's with ADFC at -1
By Beam 1's with both an ADFC AND a Firecon

in addition: 1. Declare and resolve each PDS fire before moving to the next
PDS.
2. A PDS may engage a second group of fighters at a -1
penalty to it's die roll, provided both groups are attacking that ship.

and finally an idea I just had more recently: Allow beam weapons larger than 1
fire on groups of fighters provided: 1. An ADFC is committed to those Beams 2.
The fighter group has at least as many fighters left as the class of the Beam
3. The fighter group is attacking within that Beam's arc
4. The Beam weapon suffers a -1 penalty to the roll.

On Thu, 30 Jan 2003 10:44:05 -0800 (PST) Brian Bilderback
> <greywanderer987@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I was cleaning out my car the other day and happened to come across a

> First off, anti-fighter fire is divided into 3 types:

> 1. Point Defense (Defending against fighters that are directly

I like this because it addresses a need in the game -- _offensive_
anti-fighter fire, i.e., the ability to attack fighters that are within
range but are not attacking anyone -- yet! As the rules currently
stand, fighters can waltz by 1 MU from a flakship and not be engaged simply
because they're not attacking in that turn (shades of the infamous Harpoon
rule which says that ships out of weapons can't be detected! <g>)

I'd accept a to-hit penalty on "area defence" fire to reflect fire
control difficulties, but I think allowing ships to fire on fighters
pre-emptively, as it were, is something needed, particularly in certain
backgrounds.

Phil
----
"Sic Transit Gloria Barramundi" (Or, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!)