Date sent: 19-NOV-1996 10:46:59
OK. A point was raised yesterday about Large ships hardly ever taking critical
damage. Here is a proposal for new damage layout that should alter this. It
gets away from the three class split and defines a ship
purely on the bulk/hull integrity.
Escort. Mass <= 18, Two rows of 5, 1 Fire con, Cost as Escort
Cruiser. Mass > 18 to <= 36, Three rows of 6, 2 Fire con, Cost as Cruiser
Line. Mass > 36 to <= 56, Four rows of 7, 3 Fire con, Cost at 50/50
Capital/Cruiser
Capital. Mass > 56 to <= 80, Five rows of 8, 4 Fire con, Cost as Capital
Flag. Mass > 80 to <= 108, Six rows of 9, 5 Fire con, Cost as Capital
Mauler. Mass > 108 to <= 140, Seven rows of 10, 6 Fire con, Cost at
50/50
Capital/Super
Supership. Mass > 140 to <= 176, Eight rows of 11, 7 Fire con, Cost as Super.
All further brackets add one column and one row for the maximum mass, that's 9
x 12, 10 x 13 etc, and add an extra fire con. Cost as Superships from MT.
Cost as 50/50 means it falls between two types, so pays for half it's
thrust as if it were one type, and half as another.
The real bonus of extra firecons is the extra free damage control teams if
using those rules. (I always use the 'tournament' damage control rules from
MT). With the earlier and more criticals, you are going to need them. (Quick
note for those without MT. Fourth and further criticals are
rolled for 4+ on 1d6 (as is the third) and does not get worse than
this).
So what do you all think? Does this make big ships more balanced, or too
vulnerable? Too many critical tests in a game?
And JT can include this in any future suplament he likes (and I think he
should, because it's a great idea).
Date sent: 19-NOV-1996 14:45:45
> OK. A point was raised yesterday about Large ships hardly ever taking
> Call me a reactionary,
You are a reactionary. 8-)
> but I like the fact that capital-class ships are
The ships themselves will still be intact, though they would take more system
damage. It would also only effect ships >= 60 mass (58 and
less remain unchanged, but are cheaper), and you'd have to reach 80+
before it became a serious change. It is a minor tweak, and I think it works.
The damage control rules would also lessen the impact of threshold checks.
> The
OTOH, if you can't hurt Capitals without major damage, you'd be a fool not to
take the escorts out first. If anything the reverse is true. By giving people
a reason to hit capitals, they may well decide not to shoot at the escorts. As
it stands, escorts are VERY vulnerable, because everyone knows that they can
be removed easily, where as you are wasting your time with early hits on
capitals.
> On Tue, 19 Nov 1996, Adam Delafield wrote:
Call me a reactionary, but I like the fact that capital-class ships are
hard to kill. They're big, tough and mean, and have the staying power to go
from one battle to the next (especially in a campaign game). The
resilience of capital ships also helps the survivability of escort-class
ships -- if your opponent decides to pound on your capital ship, your
escorts will be spared (for that turn, anyway). Otherwise, escorts tend to go
up like popcorn.
> Adam Delafield wrote:
Capital/Super
> Supership. Mass > 140 to <= 176, Eight rows of 11, 7 Fire con, Cost as
The only problem with the wait classes is the as soon as you change to the
next catagory the ship costs more and is easier to force threshold checks. I
suggest one additionally category and a slight change to the boundry of the
next two.
Scout. Mass <= 8, One row of 4, 1 Fire con Cost 3/4 Escort
Escort. Mass > 8 to <= 20, Two rows of 5 Cruiser. Mass > 20 to <= 36, Three
rows of 6
The allocation of the mass boxes for the ships in each class should be done
differently to stop the easier threshold checks. I think table will best
describe the mass box allocation.
1 2 3 4 9 16 25 36 49 5 6 7 8 10 17 26 37 50 11 12 13 14 15 18 27 38 51 19 20
21 22 23 24 28 39 52 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 40 53 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 54
Using this system of allocation as you cross the class boundary the only thing
that happens is it costs more and it survives longer. Only the high end of the
class wait longer to take the threshold checks.
Just a thought