Message-Id: <Version.32.19980923105709.0122d8c0@shell8.ba.best.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 13:29:48 -0700
To: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU, agent1@agentsofgaming.com
From: "mcalhoon@best.com" <mcalhoon@best.com>
Subject: [B5W] E-mine playtest comments
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<R.Eitzen> Well, we tested the E-mine as a missile type weapon concept.

Basically, you rolled to hit based on facing and EW and did 40 flash to
the target and 10 damage to anything else in the hex (not that there
ever was).  We used a fire control bonus of +4/+2/-2 for the weapon.

It was a Narn vs. Centauri battle.

The Narn had 1 Bin'tak, 1 G'Quan, 1 Dag'Kar, 1 T'Loth, 3 Rongoths, 6 Frazi,
and 20 Goriths.  (Ran by myself).

The Centauri had 1 Octurion, 2 Centurions, 3 Altarians and 36 Sentris.
(These were run by Michael Calhoon and Randy Grundstrom).

Turn 1 E-mine fire severely damaged the front of 1 Centurion and destroyed
the front of the the other as well as the Octurion.  (Both sides had full
offensive EW at their respective targets, the Altarians had full defensive
EW).
At this point all players conceded that the E-mines seemed TOO powerful
using this rule.  In order to compensate (and continue the battle) we
decided to increase the damage of all heavy weapons, changing half of the
D10s to 10 points of damage (as had been suggested by someone on the mailing
list).  E-mines still seemed far too nasty though.


After the battle was over we discussed some of the rules changes that we liked
(that we also used):

1.  We like the new initiative system.  +4 for HCVs, +8 for medium ships,
and +12 for fighters
   seems to work just fine.

2.  Acceleration at the time of movement seems to be much more flexible than
   acceleration before all movement.  It allows you to respond better to
units moving
   before or after the current moving unit.  It also makes accidental
overflying of
   a target happen much less often.  For example, Frazis flying at speed 15
could easily
   overfly a capital ship in the previous version, but now (as long as you
move after
   the target) you just change your speed so that you end up at the range
you want.
   This seems to make a lot of sense for fighters.

   We (all three of us who played) like this rule.

3.  The change to -2 per hex for twin arrays caused those weapons to not be
fired at
   ships on every turn.  One negative is that the 36 Sentris were able to
go to range
   6 on a Rongoth and hit it on 8's, but since the Rongoths were not locked
onto them,
   they didn't have to worry about any counter fire (from twin arrays anyway).

   Even with a lock on of 1 point (the Rongoth REALLY wanted to shoot heavy
pulse cannon
   at an Altarian) the chance to hit the Sentri's would have been facing
minus seven.

   We like this rules change.  

4.  The -2 intercept rating was not discussed, but did come into play
against E-mines
   and heavy pulse fire.  The -3 against heavy pulse is VERY helpful as it
will (most
   of the time) reduce the number of pulses hitting (if you are using the
rule discussed
   in #5 below) in addition to decreasing the chance of an actual hit.

5.  We used the rule that says for every 4 points you beat your to-hit
chance, you
   get a +1 on the d5 die roll for number of pulses hitting from a pulse
weapon.  This
   seems reasonable IF heavy weapons are overall getting a damage increase
in 2E.

6.  We let LPCs fire every other turn, and allowed heavy pulse cannons to
have up to 7 hits.


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