------------------------------ Bundle: 554 Archive-Message-Number: 6970 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 12:44:48 +1000 From: Rupert G. Goldie [-- REDACTED --] Subject: TNE first impressions Well I the boxed set finally came out so I succumbed and bought it and Brilliant Lances. I haven't had a good look yet through the main rules book so I can't comment on it much. Unfortunately the boxed set still had the first printing, so I got my little upgrade booklet to go with it. Has there been any more errata published as I believe I found a minor error with the PAW design in FF&S but no mention in the errata ? Being a design weenie from way back (Striker and High Guard were two of my favorite books from CT) I set out to build something from FF&S. As I hadn't seen any PAW bays in Brilliant Lances I figured I'd design one (I'll post the designs in a later message). I really like how we can design all sorts of weaponry now. The minor error I mentioned is to do with damage calculation. Meson guns and lasers explicitly say that 1/R^2 can't be greater than one, but the PAW design sequence doesn't. It makes sense that PAWs should be the same and the PAW spinal mounts in BL seem to follow that rule. I also played a game of BL with a couple of friends. As none of us had played it before it was fairly slow going to start with, but even after we had got the hang of the rules, the damage calculation part seemed quite time consuming. We all came to the conclusion that it would benefit greatly from computer assistance. The critical hits are also quite brutal. We played with a Chrysanthemum class Destroyer Escort versus three Gazelles. The Chrysanthemum didn't have any missiles (to simplify things) and didn't use the sandcasters (because I forgot 8-), but was able to waste the Gazelles because the 1000Mj PAWs were doing two critical hits if they hit hull without surface features. Before I finish, how could I comment on TNE without mentioning The Virus. I've never been quite as violently opposed to The Virus as some members of this list ;-), but I have to admit it is _really_ depressing looking at those before and after subsector listings and seeing all those XXX000-0 planets that used to be thriving societies. Rupert - -- Rupert G. Goldie, Research Scientist [-- REDACTED --] [-- REDACTED --] /\/\|| [-- REDACTED --] ------------------------------