From: Jared Hilal <jlhilal@y...>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 19:16:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Revised Missiles (long) was Re: [GZG] Heavy missile questions.
> --- Robert N Bryett <rbryett@mail.com> wrote: > One of my nephews/admirals ... and developed a commendable ambition to I have been working with the group I game with to come up with a version of salvo missiles that probably covers what you are looking for. Take a look and see what you think: REVISED MISSILE RULES PROPOSAL The goals of this rule proposal is to address the problems of the existing Full Thrust rules for salvo missiles while remaining within the parameters set through discussion on the GZG mail list. The parameters set by the GZG-list are that a missile system is not to have a movement or V dependant on the V of the launching ship. The problems with the existing rules to be solved are: 1) The "place missile marker, then it looks for targets" game mechanic is really the biggest problem. The game effect of the placed marker system where missiles are used as an area denial weapon like artillery is used in ground combat is the biggest source of Âsuspension of disbelief in the game. The fact that the missiles are not targeted at a specific ship or squadron also contributes to #3 below. 2) The close second is the inherently inaccurate missiles of the existing "1d6 missiles lock-on" game mechanic. SF/Sci-fi missiles are usually portrayed as much smarter than this. The vast majority of misses should come from defensive fire or evasive/deceptive defenses such as Stealth Hull or ECM. 3) The inherent stupidity of the missile seeker systems which blithely attack the nearest target, rather than seeking a specific target. 4) The "1d6 lock" mechanic limits the launchers to salvos in multiples of 6. A "roll to-hit per missile" mechanic would allow for future development of a range of SML/RÂs with varying numbers of missiles. 5) There is a sharp break between the existing SM rules and the MT/Heavy Missile rules. A smooth spectrum of missiles is more desireable. The beta-test AM-Missile could also be integrated as a variant warhead type. While reading through these rules, keep in mind that the change to a "roll to-hit per missile" game mechanic will allow the FB1 standard 3 MASS, 9PV SML to be balanced in the game by adjusting the number of missiles in the salvo to find the balance point if so needed. I.e. if these rules are acceptable but they make SMs more powerful than their FB1 MASS/PV, the size of the salvo can be adjusted to 5, 4, or 3 missiles per salvo to bring them into line with their MASS/PV. The reverse also obviously works if these rules are found to make SMs less powerful. Definitions: A ÂSalvo is all of the missiles from a single launcher. A ÂVolley is all of the salvos of a single type from a single ship directed at a single target. We represent a Volley with a SM marker with the number of missiles on the marker represents the number of SALVOES in the Volley, and the die represents the number of missiles in the last Salvo. Using Salvo Missiles Standard salvo missiles have a 24MU Range. This represents their powered attack envelope. They also have a terminal attack range of decreasing effectiveness. They are targeted against a specific target ship/station/facility/installation, not an area of space. 1) When writing ship orders, note whether the ship is tracking targets for SMs. 2) After orders are written, but before ships move, announce which ships are tracking targets for SMs, and which targets each ship is tracking. Each ship may track a number of targets up to the total number of FCS that the ship has. A FCS used to track a particular target for SMs are dedicated to that target for the rest of the game turn. They MAY NOT be switched to a different target during the Fire phase, but they MAY be used to direct other kinds of fire, such as beams, p-torps, or k-guns, at the SAME target as they were tracking for SMs. Any FCS not declared as tracking targets for SMs is free to direct any fire EXCEPT SMs at any target during the Fire phase as normal. 3) After ships have moved, any ship that has been tracking SM targets may launch SMs at them. There is no requirement that a ship must launch at any target that it is tracking. It may track several targets and choose to launch at none, one, some, or all of the targets that it is tracking. A ship may not launch against a target that it did not declare as being tracked in #2, above. To avoid gamesmanship, all players write down their launches and reveal them at the same time. 4) Place volley markers for launch. Each launch platform places one volley marker for each target representing all of the salvoes fired at that target by that launch platform. E.g. Ship A fires 3 salvoes at Target B and 1 salvo at Target C. Place a single 3-salvo Volley counter against Target B and a single 1-salvo Volley against Target C. If the Target is farther away than the SMs Range, place the Volley counter at the end of its Range along a straight line from the launch platform to the Target. If the Target is less than the missiles Range away, the place the Volley counter directly against the target along a straight line from the launch platform to the Target. For each full 6 MU less than the SMs maximum range the missiles traveled, they may either (launching player's choice) adjust the direction from which the missiles attack by up to 30 degrees OR receive 1 "terminal attack point" for evasive maneuvers against PD fire. E.g. if the range to the target was 12MU less than maximum range, then the Volley can either a) adjust the direction of the attack by 60 degrees b) receive 2 Terminal Attck Points or c) adjust the direction of attack by 30 degrees and receive 1 Terminal Attack Point 5) Perform anti-missile and point defense fire as normal. Note that in some cases the direction of the attack will affect which PD or other weapon systems can bear on a particular Volley. All PD and anti missile fire is alloted against Volleys, not individual salvoes, so the amount of overkill may be reduced compared to FB1 rules. For each "Terminal Attack Point" that the Volley has, the effectiveness of PD and ant-missile fire is reduced. For weapons that score their PD/AM rolls as beam dice, treat the number of TA Points as the level of screens that the Volley has. For weapons that score their PD/AM rolls as straight die scores, reduce the score by a number of points equal to the number of TA Points that the Volley has. 6) When it comes time for the Volley to attack their target, roll one die for each missile remaining in the Volley. This roll represets a combination of the missile's guidance quality and all of the non-PD/AM tricks that the target does to try and spoof, decoy, distract, or mislead the missile into generating a miss. For Volleys attacking within their Range, each missile successfully attacks the target on a score of 2+. For Volleys attacking outside their Range, add +1 to the To-Hit number for each full MU between the target and the Volley. E.g. missiles in a volley placed at the limit of its Range measures 0.5MU to its target will have to roll a 2+ To-Hit, while one measuring 2.5MU to the target will need to roll a 4+ to successfully attack the target. 7) For each missile that hits, roll and apply damage as per FB1. STEALTH, ECM, AND FCS So far, the description has assumed that the target and missiles all have Standard ECM, Stealth, and FCS (missile guidance) as described in my post of: http://lists.firedrake.org/gzg/200509/msg00077.html However, this SM proposal is perfectly capable of being used with differing levels of Stealth, ECM, and Guidance as follows: * For each level of Stealth Hull and/or ECM the target has above Standard (Level 3), increase the missile's to-hit target number by 1 (more difficult to hit). * For each level of Stealth Hull and/or ECM the target has below Standard (Level 3), decrease the missile's to-hit target number by 1 (easier to hit). * For each level of Guidance the SMs have above Standard (Level 3), decrease the missile's to-hit target number by 1 (easier to hit). * For each level of Guidance the SMs have below Standard (Level 3), increase the missile's to-hit target number by 1 (more difficult to hit). * For each enemy ship within 1MU of the target and/or 1MU of the missile's flight path with an active ECM system equal to or greater in Quality to the missile's Guidance, increase the To-Hit target number by 1 (more difficult to hit). SALVO MISSILE SIZE, RANGE, AND WARHEAD CLASS The missiles so far described are the same as the ones from FB1; 24mu range and a 1d6 warhead. This is a Size Class 1 missile. Other sizes of missiles and warheads are available. Warheads are rated by the number of dice of damage that they do. e.g. a class 2 warhead does 2d6, a class 4 warhead does 4d6, etc. Warheads larger than class 1 are available in integer sizes (2, 3, 4, etc.). Warheads smaller than class 1 are available in Light (1/2d6, or 1d3) and Mini (1d1, i.e. 1 point). Missiles are available in the same sizes as Warheads. A Standard Missile carries a Warhead equal to the missile's size with a range of 24MU. E.g. a Standard SM1 does 1d6 with a range of 24MU, a Standard SM3 does 3d6 with a range of 24MU, etc. A missile of a given size class can carry a smaller warhead in exchange for extended range, at a rate of +12MU range for each size class reduction of warhead. Below Size 1 is Light, then Mini. E.g. an Extended Range SM1 does 1d3 (Light Warhead) with a range of 36MU, and a Long Range SM1 does 1 point (Mini Warhead) with a range of 48MU; an ER-SM2 does 1d6 (class 1 warhead) with a range of 36MU, a LR-SM2 does 1d3 (Light Warhead) with a range of 48MU, and an ELR-SM2 does 1 point (Mini Warhead) with a range of 60MU, etc. A missile of a given size class can carry a larger warhead in exchange for a reduced range: +1 warhead size for a -33% range (16MU) or +2 warhead sizes for -50% range (12MU). These various warhead/range combinations are interchangeable within a given SM size class, however they are not changeable during the game. I.e. you decide before the game how many of your salvoes are SM1, ER-SM1, SM1+, etc., but you may not change them during the game. SALVO MISSILE LAUNCHERS SM launchers are described by the class and number of missiles that they launch. A launcher can only launch a single size missile. E.g. a SM1 launcher cannot launch size 2 missiles nor can it launch Light missiles. The 3 MASS launcher from FB1 launches (subject to adjustment by the list) 6 class-1 missiles each time it fires. This is described as a SM1L6 or SML-1x6. There is available a range of launchers all having the same MASS and cost as this FB1 standard launcher. I am not sure how they balance, but the larger missiles should probably have more total dice per salvo to compensate for loosing several dice damage for each PD/AM hit, e.g. SML2x4, SML3x3, SML5x2, or SML2x5, SML3x4, SML5x3, SML9x2, etc. (I realy am not sure how the size/number ratio should balance); while the smaller ones should probably be around SML-Lx9 or x10 and SML-Mx12 or x15, this could all change if it is determined that the SM1 launcher should fire salvoes of fewer or more missiles to balance the new game mechanics. At the extreme end of this range will be a launcher firing a single very big SM, maybe SML-12x1. It is a true capital ship killer, but each takes only 1 PD/AM hit to swat down. Additionally, there can be larger and smaller launchers, e.g. a 2 MASS SML1x3, and a 4 MASS SML2x6, SML3x5, etc. SALVO MISSILE WARHEAD TYPE So far, we have only addressed normal type warheads, like those in FB1. Once the number/size of missiles per salvo is balance, we can address a range of warhead types as follows: * Standard Warhead - damage as per FB * Beam Warhead - stand-off weapon that fires Beam Dice at target ship, affected by screens, but lesser chance to shoot with PD/AD/AS * Nova Warhead - Big Boom area affect weapons, lesser chance to shoot with PD/AD/AS, replaces beta-test AM-Missile * Hyperspace Warhead - no boom, warhead/missile transists/jumps to FTL/hyperspace instead of detonating, damaging nearby ship(s) * Interceptor Missiles - Mini warheads (and appropriate range) specialized to attack fighters and missiles. Would any of these ideas help with your nephew? Any thoughts, comments, discussion from the List? J