In our FT campaign we have had several battles with small numbers of ships per
side, a mass 50 light Cruiser against a couple of mass 30 destroyers.
The winner is almost always the person that won initiative in the turn that
the ships move into 12mu range, this effect is exagerated if its the player
with the bigger ship.
I have also seen points games where one side takes 6 mass 50 light cruisers
and the otherside has a mass 200 dreadnought and a mass 100 battle cruiser. As
soon as the mass 200 dreadnought gets to fire it swats several of the mass 50
cuisers either killing them outright or crippling them.
When you have fleets of ships where the size of one combatants is different
initiative by ship gives the larger ship a significant advantage and favours
bigger ship.
Have people experimented with other types of initiative say by mass or doing
aeay with initiative and applying all damage results after all ships and
ordnance have attacks?
From: "John Tailby"
> When you have fleets of ships where the size of one combatants is
You are correct. There are a couple of ways of dealing with this: a) adjust
the point value and use Combat Point Value instead of standard NPV:
CPV = NPV - TMF + (Adjusted TMF)^2 / 100
"Adjusted TMF" is after subtracting non-combat systems, eg hangers,
passenger berths, holds, and any PTorps on Indy's ships.
Example: a mass 50 CE , 175NPV has CPV = 175 - 50 + (50^2/100) = 150
A mass 200 SDN, 700 NPV including one fighter bay, would be 700 - 200
+((200-9)^2/100) = 865
(both of these assume I've done the arithmetic correctly -- not
guaranteed). So instead of pitting four CL against one SDN for 700 points on a
side, you should really bring more like six CLs.
b) tamper with the initiative system. Use simultaneous fire, for instance. Or
have each ship roll a d6 for its place in the firing sequence. Ships which
roll a 1 fire first (and simultaneously with all other ships that roll 6's);
surviiving ships that roll an initiative 2 fire next, and so forth. If you're
using Crew Quality rules, then you can roll using the ship's Quality die
instead of just a d6.
> From: "John Tailby"
From an [OFFICIAL] point of view, I'd echo Laserlight's comments
here. For single-ship duels or similar very small engagements, it is
a good idea to use simultaneous application of damage, or for
many-on-few battles the idea of rolling an initiative number for each
ship and then firing in that order is an excellent option. The basic rule of
alternating fire after one initiative roll is designed for "standard" games
where each side has a moderate number of ships of varying sizes, and for this
it works well, but don't be afraid to change it for an alternative system if
it better suits your playing group.
> Laserlight wrote:
> From: "John Tailby"
Also note that the fire initiative sequence is far from the only FT game
mechanic that favours large ships over smaller ones - only the biggest
of several important ones.
Later,