We had a fun game last week at the club, playing the convoy scenario from V@S. The merchant ships seemed far too tough, and lasted longer than light cruisers.
I have some suggestions below and would appreciate any comments from others or the game designer.
Most of the hit locations are useless for merchant ships, see below.
The merchant ships (at the rear of the book) use the same formula, 1 hull point per 500 tonnes, as warships. The armed ones also have surprisingly large crews.
The hull points may be OK as written if the ship vulnerability is adjusted :
(1) all primary armament hits are automatic criticals
(2) all merchant ships apart from ex-Liners have the Poor Sub-Division trait, and all have the Light Structure trait.
(3) only armed merchant ships can use Special Actions or normal Damage Control rolls
(4) all other merchant ships need a 6 to achieve any damage control success
(5) all critical hits with useless locations become Hull/Crew locations instead
Playtesting required ! This may mean the convoy scenario needs adjusting, but should be a bit fairer to light cruisers.
I have some suggestions below and would appreciate any comments from others or the game designer.
Most of the hit locations are useless for merchant ships, see below.
The merchant ships (at the rear of the book) use the same formula, 1 hull point per 500 tonnes, as warships. The armed ones also have surprisingly large crews.
The hull points may be OK as written if the ship vulnerability is adjusted :
(1) all primary armament hits are automatic criticals
(2) all merchant ships apart from ex-Liners have the Poor Sub-Division trait, and all have the Light Structure trait.
(3) only armed merchant ships can use Special Actions or normal Damage Control rolls
(4) all other merchant ships need a 6 to achieve any damage control success
(5) all critical hits with useless locations become Hull/Crew locations instead
Playtesting required ! This may mean the convoy scenario needs adjusting, but should be a bit fairer to light cruisers.
