Thanks for your comments, peeps. I've broken out the (unexpected) K-gun
vs Beam points e-mail.
> Missing P4 2-arc and PSL as "special"
I must have missed the P4 on the Kamarov. The "non-standard" was merely
a label for that column. I'll rephrase, load and put it up.
> >Interesting briefing on the Kra'Vak.
Glad you liked it.
> whether or not it has any connection to the *real* GZGverse situation
Cheers, guys. What happens to the xeno-analysts when they get it wrong?
;-)
I hope the briefing does not contradict any of the "official" KV outupt in the
Tuffleyverse: do say where you think it directly does so. It is supposed to be
a step up to try and build some motivation into the KV, and answer questions
such as:
- We do know that KV change from male to female then neuter as part of
"maturing". It is unclear as to whether this is a voluntary, a
dominance-triggered trait (silverbacks) and therefore partly
psychological or involuntary. Is gender and the associated sex drive a problem
in senior KV so they *choose* to stay neuter? Perhaps the more decadent tempt
themselves (Los Laurenco & Rot Hafen)...
- Finding more about this hostile alien race would be top of the agenda
on any admiral/Star-Marshal's book and the prisoners would be treated to
survive, at least, but KV still die in human hands: why?
- Given their natural xenophobia could a Hu'Man "clan" ally successfully
with them? How would they treat subject races?
> FTL torpedo rules clarifications
They are launched with other missiles. As per rules entering FTL is at
the end of the move phase (minus warm-up turn). FTL dropout is at the
start of the *next* turn, immediately after order writing and before
Initiative. Having tried it I don't like the super-secret entry point
(sensors seemss to detect some form of FTL dropout from what I've read).
This delay makes accuracy a bit of a problem. The chance of "friendly fire"
damage is also present as ships will have to bypass the known entry point!
As you asked, I've clarified things a bit and added in the "extremely working"
points costs. But they are working.... I'm prototyping some ship designs to
see if one of the manufacturers will mould them for me.
> Tim Bancroft wrote:
> Cheers, guys. What happens to the xeno-analysts when they get it
Depends on whether or not the grunts who suffered because of his mistakes can
lay their hands on him...
> I hope the briefing does not contradict any of the "official" KV
Don't think there are any direct contradictions (well, OK, my 15mm KV infantry
minis seem to have three fingers and an opposable thumb, so the
"base three" theory contrasted against our "base five/base ten" system
might be iffy - but those models are so small so I can't say for
certain)... it's just that most of the briefing is conjecture based on very
limited observations, and the questions you aske could very easily be answered
by completely different theories. Heck, different theories could be true for
different KV clans, just like no social model is capable of describing every
human culture <g>
Note that the Rot Hafen saga was written before FB2 was published, so don't
take all it says for "canon truth". (This is most appearent in the space
combat descriptions, where eg. the KV scatterguns are extremely potent
against spaceships - following the More Thrust scattergun rule, but
contradicting the FB2 scattergun rule.)
> FTL torpedo rules clarifications
Whether or not the damage is "incidental" or "intentional", the actual
*effect* is similar to the effects of previously published weapon systems...
> They are launched with other missiles. As per rules entering FTL is
Considering that the FT PSB descriptions of FTL travel describes it as
"taking no measurable time in real-space", I must say that having to
wait almost an entire turn for the outgoing missiles to arrive feels a bit
strange <g> But then again the FT2 FTL rules aren't entirely consistent
with themselves either :-/
For ease of play, I'd suggest that these FTL missiles drop out *before*
order writing - the
enemy ships can't dodge it anyway and the effect is instantaneous upon arrival
so it doesn't matter if ships move into the danger zone after the missile has
already arrived, and arriving after the orders have been written means that
the target ships risk suffering engine damage which
invalidates their written orders. Resolving the missile drop-out before
orders are written save you from having to re-do the orders of any ships
which suffer engine damage (and from having to do orders for any ship which is
destroyed by the missiles, too).
(The reason why ships appear from FTL *after* order writing is to prevent
the enemy from pre-positioning his ships to welcome the new arrivals and
hit them before they can open fire, but that doesn't really apply to the
FTL missile since it "opens fire" simply by arriving and "dies" anyway after
completing its jump.)
> Having tried it I don't like the super-secret entry point
Some SF backgrounds mention this, but others don't and the published FT rules
specifically deny it. However, secretly recording coordinates and then having
to measure them exactly when the missile pops out is a serious
pain game-wise :-/
> This delay makes accuracy a bit of a problem.
It makes it essentially the same as the accuracy problems with plasma bolts
or (human) missiles. (Having to roll 2+ on a D6 is an accuracy problem
of sorts, but it is considerably better than having to survive the target's
point defences the way plasma bolts or (human) missiles do.)
> The chance of "friendly fire" damage is also present as ships will
Should be a pretty minor problem, unless you both launch the FTL missiles
straight into your own path and move too slowly to get out of the danger
zone (and/or forget to change your course to compensate). With thrust
ratings of 6A or better, the Tjyy'Tidd shouldn't have any problems at all to
avoid their own departing missiles.
Later,