Phalon Beta Test: Ver. 1.1b online

My apologies to those of you who will receive this message multiple times.

Based on feedback, I have updated the Phalon public beta test rules. You can
find the rules on my site. The direct link is:

http://home.att.net/~agoodall/sg2/sg2-bds.html

There are several documents available for download. I have the full rules and
a version history document that lists the changes to the full rules. The
version history document is useful for those who already have the full rules
and don't want to bother downloading it again. Both documents are in four
formats: A4 paper in Rich Text Format, A4 paper in an Acrobat PDF, 8.5" by 11"
paper in RTF, and 8.5" by 11" paper in PDF.

Beside some formatting changes and some minor editing fixes, there are two
major changes in version 1.1b (the "b" stands for "beta").

Cross Training The cross training rules have been substantially changed. In
summary, the changes are as follows:

1. Cross training has been extended beyond support weapons to cover special
equipment, such as EW gear, FAO gear, etc. 2. An Equipment Recovery Test is
necessary to recover the equipment or weapon. The test is functionally
identical to a TL2 Reaction Test. 3. Equipment can be recovered from other
squads.

The cross training rules are quite a bit longer now because they cover
situations that may arise from the new rules.

Support Pulsers The Phalon support pulser has been changed. It still has three
settings, but these are:
- FP D12, Impact D6
- FP D10, Impact D8
- FP D8, Impact D10* (*means double damage due to a MAJOR HIT on a point
target)

Support pulsers are no longer "best of breed" in any of its settings. That is,
some human support weapons have better impact for the firepower, or vice
versa. This is, of course, offset by the fact that support pulsers can change
their settings. Also, the plasma projector has the standard FP D6, Impact D12*
of a plasma infantry gun. The way the support pulser was originally created
(before Jon released a 15mm figure with a plasma projector) the top end impact
setting of the support pulser matched the plasma projector. This begged the
question of why anyone would use a plasma projector when the support pulser
did the same thing but was more versatile.

I also added some folk to the acknowledgments list: Adrian Johnson for his
general comments, Matt Tope for his comments on Phalon government, Brendan
Robertson for prompting me to change the support pulser settings, Mark Donald
for suggesting that I change the die roll for equipment recovery, and Oerjan
Ohlson for suggesting that the equipment recovery die roll be based on the
Quality Die.