2 Quatloos:
Hardened systems are IMHO below the resolution of FT.
Take the current proposal: +50% mass and cost, round up.
Any 1 mass system is not worth hardening: Example:
Firecon - Mass: 1, Cost: 3
Hardened Firecon: Mass: 2, Cost 5
I would pay the extra point and have a whole additional firecon.
Any Mass 3-4 system is better served by buying other systems or armor.
My logic here is that 2 armor protects _all_ systems from one more good
beam hit. Another example: Rather than pay 2 mass and 6 points for a hardened
Class 3 beam, I'd rather just buy a whole Class 2 beam, or 2 points of armor.
for the same or less cost.
A mass 5+ system is better served by buying armor or screens. Absorb 3
points of damage or reduce incoming beams by ~16%, your choice.
2 more Quatloos:
I like directional armor. I was thinking of a system like this: 3 Directional
Armor cost 1 Mass and 3 points. Directional armor covers 1 arc of a ship, and
can be placed in any number in any arc.
> 2 Quatloos:
Possibly - depends on how they are handled
> Take the current proposal: +50% mass and cost, round up.
Actually I thought it would be Mass 2, cost 6 (keep cost/mass)
> I would pay the extra point and have a whole additional firecon.
Well, as given above, sure. Actually, though, when I first read the proposal
and its reference to Core systems, what I envisioned was not really
individually hardened systems, but rather, identify system(s) to be hardened,
draw a box around the group. Take the mass of the group and set the mass for
the 'hardening' at 50% of the total. This could muck up the
cost of the hardening, what with mixed-cost systems inside, but I'm sure
something can be resolved (like making it 3/mass for the hardening)
What this means is that I take 2 firecons and 'Harden' them together and it
takes Mass 3, Cost 9 -just like 3 firecons. however, they test at 1
threshold higher. While in most cases, buying additional systems may be the
better choice, there are some on the list who have complained about
their poor luck in losing all their Firecons in a single go - at it
seems that some times this is irregardless of how many they have. So then it
becomes a matter of priorities and choice.
> Any Mass 3-4 system is better served by buying other systems or armor.
True, but those 2 points protect what I consider a valued system for an
entire damage row - this may be important
> A mass 5+ system is better served by buying armor or screens. Absorb 3
Not totally disagreeing with you here, just pointing out that it is a matter
of priority and choice. There are reasons that individualized protection could
be more important to someone, just not to you it seems.
> On 13 Jan 99, at 12:25, Izenberg, Noam wrote:
> 2 Quatloos:
Fine, so do that:) However, two firecons could both fail the first threshold
check, leaving you with none, while a single hardened
one /can't/ fail the first check. Perhaps making it worth considering.
> Any Mass 3-4 system is better served by buying other systems or armor.
Except, again, you can't lose this hardened beam at all on the first threshold
check. Perhaps worth it.
> A mass 5+ system is better served by buying armor or screens. Absorb 3