After getting (some 8) comments about the concept, the Simplified
Starship Combat System is in pre-alpha edit and reality checking. So far,
it's coming together quite well.
I've introduced a few new concepts to help manage things... the first
is that I'm rating some things (mostly performance and damage absorbtion
capability) on an exponential rather than linear scale. (The amount of
damage done was always sort of nonlinear, and this preserves the effects
of the old system while reducing numbers to _very_ manageable levels in
a consistent-across-scale system.). Damage is still done linearly, though;
a battleship may have twice the 'damage points' in some system as
a escort, but each of those points both means a lot more systems backing
it up _and_ is harder to damage (I subtract size from what amounts to
battery factor to determine number of damage rolls, so big ships are
harder to ding).
I am including a scale table so nobody has to remember the log
factors or other similar evil mathematics. 8-)
The other innovation is something that I proudly declare WILL
replace most of the command-control-sensor-etc rules: Control points.
Basically, use the crew size on the same log scale to determine how
many 'things' the ship is allowed to do in one turn. It amounts to
about 15 things for a battleship, perhaps half that for escort sized
ships, etc. I feel this a wonderful improvement, as it cuts out about
10-20 skill checks per combatant vessel per round in heavy combat 8)
I know this is a teaser. Real Soon Now (tomorrow night target
release) I'll be happy enough to release the first version for reality
checking and comparasons. It looks to be mildly big (warning to those
who want warnings of incoming Large articles...) in the 2500+ words
range.
- -george william herbert
[email removed] [email removed]