From: John Brewer <jbrewer@w...>
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:53:08 GMT
Subject: [GZG] [FT] Marine Assault Fighter Group
_______________________________________________ Gzg-l mailing list Gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU http://mead.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lSince ship boarding has come up this month, I have an idea for a new way to do it... According to MT pg. 7, to launch a Boarding action the attacking ship must first be brought close to the target vessel, so that it is within 6" of it at the END of the turn's movement. The attacking ship must also be travelling at a velocity that is not more than 1 factor different from the velocity of the target ship, and on a course that is again not more than 1 point different from the target's course. Well, for a ship to get that close to a target, it first has to disable the target's drives & knock out the major ship-to-ship weapons. But here's an idea to deliver a boarding party without exposing the attacking ship to closing fire or the target ship to disabling drive damage. Since fighter groups can close with target ships with ease, and attack at the same distance as boarding actions, why can't a fighter group deliver a boarding party? The Marine Assault Fighter Group's icon is a fighter group wedge with an admiralty anchor in it. In the place of 2 of the fightercraft, there is an open sledge big enough to carry about 20 marines in vac suits, and an unarmed fightercraft used to push the sledge through space. Using the Modular Fighter Design, the "pushercraft" is bought as an unarmed, fast, long-ranged, heavy fighter - necessary to off-set the mass of the sledge, and to give extra protection to the marines on the way to the target. The other 4 fightercraft are bought as interceptors, and act as an interceptor screen for the sledge & pusher. A bigger version of the Marine Assault Fighter Group consists of 3 pairs of sledges & pushers, which should only be deployed when you have dedicated Interceptor groups to act as a screen. Marine Assault Fighter Groups would be of great use to both interdiction forces on anti-piracy missions, as well as pirates themselves. As always, I invite your comments.