FTFB class-4/5 beams anyone?

Okay, who was it that was saying that class-4+ beams were useless?  I'm
not sure about their practicality either, but I was playing around with ideas
of running a star wars style campaign. So far, I've played a couple of games
and they have been indecisive so far ( The Rebel ships go boom way

too often), but we decide to set up a scenerio similar to the Return of the
Jedi battle... The Rebels have to fight to destroy the evil empire... yada
yada yada yada...

Anyway, here it is....... If anyone gets a chance to play around with it I'd
be curious to hear what you think of the class-4/5 beams in use on the
freighters. They have a lot of stand of firepower in the Rebel fleet, but to
acomplish that they give up a lot in durability and speed. Anyway, just

some thoughts. Oh, experience with the fighter carriers has made us up most of
them to carrier status, and even increase the fighter launch/recovery
rate to give them some chance. This gives them a fighting chance, but for the
most part you need to have some serious durability for carriers to survive
very long.

"Rebel Scenerio's
------------------------

#1: "He's At it again..."

        Rebel Forces
        ------------------------------------
        Think converted Civilian craft with a few ff's/dd types.
lots of fighters and long range Armement.

try:
        Bennington  - bulkcarrier var#1
        Ethan Allen - bulkcarrier var#2
        Rutland     - FleetAux var#3
                    - Hvy freighter var#2
                    - "
                    - Hvy Freighter var#1
                    - fleet Aux var#1
                    - fleet Aux var#2
                    - "
3* (NSL) FF's 2* (ESU) Warsaw DD
        (all fighters are normal or interceptors -> players decision)

        NAC Forces
        ----------
        5000 pts worth of NAC/NSL ships

        Setup
        -----
NAC forces at one end o'table, speed = 0, facing any (They're just sitting
there picking their noses)

Rebel forces at opposite end o'table, speed = 6, facing NAC forces

        IDEA
        -----

Think "Return of The Jedi". Silly Rebels just Want to Anhilate the opposing
forces. Both sides will retreat if they lose more then 50% of their forces.

Victory Conditions
        ------------------

Okay Tough Guy..... The rebels want to kick ass, but lets face it their ships
suck. They don't care about fighters and the freighters are not too big a
deal, but still a pain to replace. The bulk carrier warships and the military
hulls are just a bad thing to lose.

        NAC
        ---
        Decisive Victory     = Route the Rebel attacks, lose less 1/2
forces Significant Victory = Route Rebel's
        Draw                 = both sides lose 1/2 forces or more
Oops = Rebels win.... your head is on the platter

        Rebels
        ------
	Decisive Victory     = All military hulls intact, route the NAC
forces
        Significant Victory  = 1/2 military hulls intact, route the NAC
forces
        Draw                 = loss 1/2 fleet, lose all military hulls,
route NAC forces
        You're In trouble    = lose more then 1/2 fleet, all military
hulls,
                               flee system
Execution time = lose entire fleet

Historic Outcome