Engine damage rules

[Davin]

I'd like to make another proposal for a rules change and see what
y'all think about it as well. Some years ago we modified the rules on
P-types so that big ships' weapons did more damage than small ships'
weapons. I think this has worked out well.

So I'd like to suggest a similar combat rules change. Right now, a P-
type hit on a ship's engines destroys (well, more like disables) 3
engines for each point of damage. This seems quite reasonable for
small ships like fighters, which would have "smaller" and more fragile
engines. However, the same does not seem as reasonable for the big
battleships, which I imagine to have physically larger and more robust
engines. I would think that these larger engines would be harder to
disable.

Therefore, I would like to propose that we change the rules on ships'
engines getting damaged in combat. A single point of damage can still
take out 3 engines for small ships (like fighters). But for the big
battleships one point of damage will only put 1 engine out of
commission. The medium-sized ships (e.g. cruisers) will then lose 2
engines for a single point of damage.

May we discuss these changes and see if they seem reasonable to most
players? Please contribute your thoughts.

[Jon]

Sounds like it might work. Give it a try.

[Davin Church]

I thought it sounded reasonably game-balanced. Big battleships seem
to lose all their engines first (since they can't have as many) and
get blown up from internal damage awfully easy. I'm hoping this will
adjust things in the right direction.

Who else has opinions on this?

[James White]

I haven't really had enough time with combat to really be able to say
one way or the other, but it sounds like a good idea.

[Davin]

Ok, if nobody has any concerns I'll start adjusting the combat system
to take that into account. It won't start making any difference until
we start fighting with medium-to-heavyweight battleships anyway, so
we'll see how it goes when we start getting into those bigger battles.

(Comments are still encouraged!)

[Hobbit]

Are you also considering the ship doing the firing? Consider this: A
battleship fires it's guns and hits. (Think WW II with the 18 inch
guns of the Japanese battleships. If one of those shells hits it
pretty much dooms a small ship like a destroyer or frigate, but still
seriously damages larger ships like cruisers and battleships.) Also
consider ship armor and ship size. Smaller ships tend to lightly
armored and harder to hit, thus the faster speeds. But the bigger
ships have more size and armor, thus they tend to be slower and easier
to hit.
f

[Davin]

On Oct 6, 8:18 am, Hobbit <fge...@airmail.net> wrote:
> Are you also considering the ship doing the firing?

Yes, that's what I'm talking about in the first paragraph of the
opening message in this thread. We've long had battleship guns doing
more damage than fighter guns. But I think the engine damage ratio is
still out-of-kilter. Don't you think we should change engine damage
as well? I wouldn't think that fighter-sized phasers should hurt the
big battleship engines as easily, do you? Shouldn't it take the more-
powerful battleship weapons to do as much damage to same-classed
engines?