LotGH to FT ideas?

Hello: It's late my time and I am working on what will eventually become my
Legends of the Galactic Heroes rules for Full Thrust. I was wondering if there
were any other LotGH fans out there who might want to collaberate on this? If
so, let me know.

Later,

Excerpts from FT: 15-Aug-97 LotGH to FT ideas? by "Mark A.
Siefert"@csd.uw
> It's late my time and I am working on what will eventually

Well, I sat down and watched the first, err... 8 or 16 episodes on a *really*
bad Nth generation copy, and *still*liked the show, so I think I'd qualify as
a "fan".

Besides, I've got the Mecha Press issue with the discussion on LoGH. ^_^

Later,

> Aaron P Teske wrote:

> Besides, I've got the Mecha Press issue with the discussion on LoGH.
^_^

Does it have any info on the ships?

Later,

> Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> Hello:

No prob....here's some ideas which I've come up with on the conversions-

*There are LOTS of ships ina LoGH battle! The average fleet consists of
something along the lines of 60,000 ships. Sixty THOUSAND! It might be
worth building most of the smaller ships as pseudo-fighter groups.  You
do this by noting that counter X is a Frigate Group of ten ships with
10xA batteries, 20xC batteries, total thrust 6, and about 12-18 points
of damage plus level 1 screens. For every two points of damage, you lose a
ship and a A battery and 2 C batteries. Individual ships should be confined to
cruisers, battleships, and command ships(aka "named" ships).

*LoGH ships seem to depend a lot on armor and less on screens. I might
restrict any but "named" ships to only level one screens, but all ships can
have up to level 3 armor.

*Most of the LoGH ships have a great deal of firepower forward. From
what I've seen in the series, FPA ships have LOTS of A and B-class
batteries forward with average fire-control.  Imperial ships seem to
rely on more powerful batteries(AA and A-class) with much better FiCon.
Ships do have side guns, but they aren't as powerful as the massive bruiser
arrays up front. Missles are used, but not very often.

*LoGH ships rely a lot on fighters and gunships. You might have fighters
numbering in the low hundred thousand in the average fleet engagment. They do
also have a variety of fighter types, but three average fighters can down a
cruiser! But cruiser guns are pretty effective against fighters, too.

*LoGH works on firepower, but also the will of the commanders and overall
fleet cohesiveness. A number of episodes have Yang Wendi defeating superior
fleets because he's got both better strategy and a willigness to think on his
feet and change plans when the previous plan is useless. Rules for commanders
might be in order here.

More ideas when I come up with them.

> Aaron P Teske wrote:
Siefert"@csd.uw
> > Aaron P Teske wrote:

on another note, somebody said sugested using escorts in massed formations in
order to simulate the huge amounts of LotGH warships as shown in the series...

I first heard of this idea while observating a game of the starblayzers
tactical system at gencon, the apparently (i didn't watch the game for very
long) most effective units on the table were the destroyer groups...

i have been pondering this idea for a game of full thrust...buying escort
class ships in formations of three ships...and running them as
one model/unit

any suggestions, or somebody who can actually convince his friends to play
wanna try it out.....

chris "how many corvettes does it take to get to the center of a

Excerpts from FT: 16-Aug-97 Re: LotGH to FT ideas? by "Mark A.
Siefert"@csd.uw
> Aaron P Teske wrote:
^_^
> Does it have any info on the ships?

Hmm. Y'know, I really don't remember. In fact, I don't really remember which
one it is... either #6 or #9, I think, but I just dropped off most of my
gaming stuff back at CMU. I'll check next week, when I get back there to stay
for a while, and lket you know....

Later,

> On Sat, 16 Aug 1997, Christopher Pratt wrote:

> on another note, somebody said sugested using escorts in massed

They were good because: A. They carry LOTS of torpedos and missiles
        B.  They're gun batteries are useful for anti-fighter/missile
work.

> i have been pondering this idea for a game of full thrust...buying

I must admit the idea is very intriguing. I'll have to give it a go.

> "How many corvettes does it take to get to the center of a

"I never made it without wave guns. Ask Mr.Owl...."

Later,

> R. Souza wrote:
You
> do this by noting that counter X is a Frigate Group of ten ships with

I do like this idea. The question is how can it be used and not abused.

> *LoGH ships seem to depend a lot on armor and less on screens. I

One thing I noticed about LotGH screens is that they seem to just cover the
forward arc of the ship. The tops, flanks, bellies, and rear tend to be
uncovered.

> *Most of the LoGH ships have a great deal of firepower forward. From

Single arc A's and B's.

> Ships do have side guns, but they aren't as powerful as the massive

C or B batteries I'd guess.

> Missles are used, but not very often.

They seem to use them in surprise attack situations and en masse (like all
anime tends to).

> *LoGH ships rely a lot on fighters and gunships. You might have

Maybe if we double the amount of fighters that you can buy for 6 Mass and 20
Points?

> *LoGH works on firepower, but also the will of the commanders and

I like this idea. Of course the we have to differenicate between good
commanders and those who are REALLY GOOD. Adm. Mittenmeyer (aka The Gale Wolf)
maybe a good tactican, but he's no Rhinehardt Von Lonhengramm.

> More ideas when I come up with them.

> R. Souza wrote:
You
> do this by noting that counter X is a Frigate Group of ten ships with

I do like this idea. The question is how can it be used and not abused.

> *LoGH ships seem to depend a lot on armor and less on screens. I

One thing I noticed about LotGH screens is that they seem to just cover the
forward arc of the ship. The tops, flanks, bellies, and rear tend to be
uncovered.

> *Most of the LoGH ships have a great deal of firepower forward. From

Single arc A's and B's.

> Ships do have side guns, but they aren't as powerful as the massive

C or B batteries I'd guess.

> Missles are used, but not very often.

They seem to use them in surprise attack situations and en masse (like all
anime tends to).

> *LoGH ships rely a lot on fighters and gunships. You might have

Maybe if we double the amount of fighters that you can buy for 6 Mass and 20
Points?

> *LoGH works on firepower, but also the will of the commanders and

I like this idea. Of course the we have to differenicate between good
commanders and those who are REALLY GOOD. Adm. Mittenmeyer (aka The Gale Wolf)
maybe a good tactican, but he's no Rhinehardt Von Lonhengramm.

> More ideas when I come up with them.

Later,

> At 09:58 PM 8/17/97 -0500, you wrote:
You
> do this by noting that counter X is a Frigate Group of ten ships with

SNIP

> *LoGH works on firepower, but also the will of the commanders and

There is a SERIOUS problem here!!! In the above example, you're looking at
throwing up to 50 dice for a
group representing LESS than 1/6000th part of the power of an average
fleet!!! You're also looking at several thousand maneuvre units, and it's not
really on, is it? A parallel would be Napoleonic land warfare (similar
numbers)- you don't give a damn about individual files of men, or even
companies and batallions; to fight Waterloo you deal with brigades, divisions
and corps.

        General Quarters Pt.2 (WW1) uses the ship-combining trick to
deal
with light cruisers and destroyers in big actions like Jutland- CLs are
paired, and DDs\TBDs grouped in 4s.  GQ forbids such groups to make gun
attacks on heavier units. I think (speaking from the purity of my ignorance of
LotGH (annoyingly, 'cos it sounds good and the ships are attractive)) that you
might want to consider taking the line Wesencraft did in land games donkeys
years ago: decide how many maneuvre units you want, and adjust the game to
give you that number. So in this case, say you feel 20 units a side is
workable. Each unit will represent an average of about 3000 ships (!). Let the
figure scale be a bit variable, so a single model is eg 1000 capital, 3000
cruisers or 6000 escorts (or 3000 fighters). Represent
each unit with a single model,  with _single ship_ stats, or perhaps 2
or 3, if you keep them on the small side and run them as squadrons. It sounds
as if LotGH ships are 1) very directional and 2) a bit fragile. As a
suggestion, how about giving them damage boxes as for merchants. Permit
screens, confined to the front 180 degree arc. That'll make them worry about
the enemy getting past their line.

For commanders: Give each fleet an overall commander, and perhaps a
sub-commander.  Give each a single rating representing his tactical
ability, willpower etc. Each turn, roll a d6 and add his rating to give the
number of "special command functions" he can perform in that turn (Aye, it's a
DBA
rip-off!).  SCFs would include:  boosting a squadron's thrust
(forethought!), adding beam dice (targeting advice/formation) and
absorbing enemy fire (tactical maneuvring) by placing "evade" markers on a
squadron
(Mecha Carnage rip-off!).

cheers, Rob Paul

PS: I apologize if I sounded overly critical at the start there, I had a
crap weekend :-)
(Women! Can't live with them, can't beat their worthless creep boyfriends to
death)

"