Boat designs with the Fleet Book in mind: One problem with a one hit point
boat is that one PDS has 1 in 6 chance to take it out. Granted, a PDS has only
a range of 6" but many boat designs have short ranged weapons. Ships tend to
have more than 1 PDS so if not firing at fighters or missiles many PDS can
shoot at many targets (PDS do not require a FC). So much for overwhelming FCs.
I usually try to put at least 1 armor point on a boat which also
eliminates the 4-5 roll on a beam die from taking it out.
Also, it doesn't take much to knock out a weapon on a boat. One or two hits
and you've permanently lost part of your firepower. A large
ship has to take a bit of damage before it loses firepower. And a large
ship has improved capabilities to fix damage and recover that lost firepower.
I did design a torpedo boat, but at a mass of 14, cost 50, with main drive of
6 and FTL drive. It doesn't pay to not put in an FTL drive since the mass
requirement is so low. I've designed "battle riders" but it just doesn't pay
for the reduction in FTL capabilities if you want to play a campaign.
Glen
> One problem with a one hit point boat is that one PDS has 1 in 6
Ummm - Unless I'm missing something here, PDSs don't get to fire at
ships.
> I usually try to put at least 1 armor point on a boat which also
Agreed. Actually, I've been thinking that two armour points might be
better, making not even a 0-12 MU range Class 3 shot a "sure kill."
> Also, it doesn't take much to knock out a weapon on a boat.
As long as you keep the Hull down to one box, you don't have to worry about
that. Just add armour to give more damage capacity. That way: no thresholds.
> It doesn't pay to not put in an FTL drive since the mass requirement
I disagree. With a squadron of 6 Strikeboats, you save 6 MASS by not
installing FTL. The tender will use anywhere between 7 and 12 MASS (depending
on the MASS of your SBs) to carry them. However, the tender can generally
afford to "waste" that MASS much more than your SBs.
> Schoon wrote:
> >One problem with a one hit point boat is that one PDS has 1 in 6
You're missing the PDS description on FB1 p.12.
> >Also, it doesn't take much to knock out a weapon on a boat.
Yes, you do. Once that one hull box is gone, the boat loses *all* its
weapons :-/
Regards,
Hi Schoon,
It's not used very often here in my neck of the woods, but page 12 of the
Fleet Book allows PDS to fire at ships in a limited capacity.
Bill
In a message dated 02/09/2000 10:49:13 AM Central Standard Time,
> schoon@aimnet.com writes:
> >One problem with a one hit point boat is that one PDS has 1 in 6
> Ummm - Unless I'm missing something here, PDSs don't get to
FTFB lets PDS fire at ships. I don't recall the page, but its the weapons
summary chart
> As long as you keep the Hull down to one box, you don't have to
no thresholds.
Of course, an armor-skipping weapon will kill you pretty
quick-several weapons do "1/2 armor 1/2 hull" so there's no
point loading up all that much armor (unless your opponent is
Beams-Only and you're not using rerolls).
> You're missing the PDS description on FB1 p.12.
Yes I was. However, a 1 in 6 chance is sort of a long shot.
> As long as you keep the Hull down to one box, you don't have to worry
What I meant was that by adding armour rather than hull boxes, thresholds do
not apply. For example, you can do 2 total damage capacity in two ways: two
hull boxes, or one hull box and one armour point. Using the first, you may
have to roll a threshold. Using the second, you do not.
> It's not used very often here in my neck of the woods, but page 12 of
Yup, I stand corrected. Though the chance of a hit is quite low.
> Of course, an armor-skipping weapon will kill you pretty
Excellent point. 1 point would then be the max for the 1 Hull box ship.
> It's not used very often here in my neck of the woods, but
The chance of not getting a hit is 5/6 = .833
The chance of not getting a hit with 2 PDS is 25/36 = .694
With 3 PDS, 125/216 = .578
For 4 PDS, 625/1296 = .482
So a reasonable number of PDS means you have a pretty fair chance of killing
the strikeboat, using PDS which are presumably not occupied with anything more
interesting and therefore a "free" shot.
> So a reasonable number of PDS means you have a pretty fair
This of course begs the tactical question of combining fighter or SML attacks
when the SBs enter the envelope.
[quoted original message omitted]
> So a reasonable number of PDS means you have a pretty fair
Also worthy of note s the fact that PDS attacks on ships ignore shields
:)
> One thing to keep in mind is that we are still talking about a ship
After "penning" that reply, I had a look at the effects vs armor rules, and
think that a good design combination would be a mix of boats:
Lead with boats with a 2 armor/1 hull mix. Follow with a 1 armor/1
hull/extra weapon mix.
Your lead boats are likely to take a more severe pounding.