Hi all, I haven't caught all the debate, but how about...
I tend to think that simultaneous is a hell of a lot of book keeping, but a
system based on the following would be good:
In lowest mass first, military ships fire; then, in lowest mass first,
civilian ships.
Ties are broken by (in order)
Crew Morale (if you are using the Galactica adaption), higher maximum weapons
range, higher number of ships of same mass, side is defending an objective,
highest number of ships total.
This system alternates between sides automatically and gives small ships,
highly trained ships and military ships the edge...
Regards,
> This system alternates between sides automatically and gives small
It seems to be a popular idea that small ships have to be faster, and I must
admit I tend toward that way of thinking myself, but why???
Why should my flying A-battery with wings fire before, my nice stable
heavy gun cruiser?
-Entropy
> Why should my flying A-battery with wings fire before, my nice stable
I'd also like to think that while speed has its advantages, the
Firecon/computers, dedicated to the weapons systems on the larger ships
are
better/more efficient than the ones on the A-Bat. Or, more crew ...
etc.
In general I think this should be an even trade-off so neither one
automatically goes first.
> >
etc.
> In general I think this should be an even trade-off so neither one
I would tend to make it go first, mainly because that way smaller ships do
have some advantages ie. they usually get a shot off before being atomised.
That's why I'd shoot for smallest mass fires first. Additionally this skews
the alternating system towards simultaneous fire, where at least the small
ships get a shot in, with the advantage of being 'alternate'. The list I
mentioned is just for 'ties' of even mass and you can tinker with it to your
heart's content, but again in a tie I think weapon range is decisive.
John's got a definite point about larger ships probably having more efficient
firecon (hmm, numbers of firecon and sensors could be another tiebreaker), but
for the purposes of balance and a 'fair go' for the smaller ships I'd ignore
it.
If you wanted to rearrange the system and keep it alternate you could go best
sensors, smallest mass as the criteria for ordering; but if you put that much
detail into the order for firing I think it'd get messy... better lowest mass
first with the tiebreakers added in. Of course you could always start highest
mass, best sensors, most firecon first; but that's real hell on the small
ships.
Thanks for the feedback though. Having a few games in a week or two I might
give some of these systems mentioned in this and previous posts a try.
Regards,
> Kevin Mc Lean. wrote:
Another thought occurred to me regarding active firecons. A D6 roll could be
used and the number of active firecons could be used as a modifier to the
initiative. This way, the Capital ships will have
an advantage with "first-fire."
<snip>
> but for the purposes of balance and a 'fair go' for the
I'll buy "balance" and I believe in being polite and honest in play --
but 'fair-go' ... "Happiness is having two fully-charged PPC's and
standing
hip-deep in water." [an old BattleTech maxim]
<snip-snip>
> best sensors, <snippity-snip> numbers of firecon and sensors
hmmm .... the idea of best sensors dredges-up the spectre of Technology
Levels. I remember [checking A-Z Guide to Babylon 5] the second season
episode "Points of Departure" where B5 takes on a renegade Minbari cruiser.
Sheridan tells how Earth forces could never "track" [get a weapons lock?] on
Minbari fighters during the war and to this day no one knew how they did it.
Well, when a swarm of Minbari fighters comes streaking towards B5 and its
defending Starfuries... and they ARE able to "track" the ships, Sheridan
figures that the Minbari WANT to be fired on and that this is actually a
suicide run.
I think it would be safe to assume [dangerous word, I know] that as technology
changes and is incorporated into new constructions
older combat vessels will not be automatically/completely refitted. We
could start talking about assigning "TechLevel" values to different systems.
Then,
in terms of tracking, first fire, beam-to-shield effectiveness, and the
like,
you could also adjust to-hit rolls, damage, etc. by differences in
TechLevels between combatants. This would also allow us to incorporate new
races with new and
different weapons, etc. and keep them at par with the rest by making them
TechLevel higher in some areas and less in others. One race might have better
armor than others... but their beams weapons are lousy against shields.
.... ummm, somewhere in the FT-mailing list FAQ I remember seeing
something about an archive. I think I'd better check the archive before going
any further.
Keep 'em flying!