FT firing order

Our group has recently been using an alternative method for determining firing
order. Instead of alternating choosing firing ships, we use a deck of cards,
with each ship getting a base of one card. A ship may write in its orders that
it is dedicating one or more fire control to general target tracking. For each
fire control so dedicated, that ship gets an extra card in the deck. The cards
are all shuffled and revealed one at a time. When a ship's card is first
revealed, that ship conducts its firing actions. Subsequent cards for that
ship are ignored. Any fire control dedicated to tracking cannot be used for
weapons targeting.

This system has had a number of advantages. First, it actually speeds up play,
since there is less time spent deciding whose ship is going to get vaporised
and thus needs to fire. Secondly, the swarms of small ships get a fighting
chance to fire their munitions before the big guys vaporise them. Finally
there is additional tactical fun and added suspense from a very simple
mechanic. It has worked great so far, with some fun moments two ships on the
verge of death anxiously await to see which will fire and which will
die....

Also works well with the various specialized fire controls that I use (Aegis,
Lanch Control), since these cannot be used for general tracking.

Later

Brian