Dramatic SFB: Re FMJ Discussion

[Matt]

A couple things going on here, that I see:


One side sends ships, the other doesn't:

This is a case where it is *always* a victory for the guy who sent 
something and a loss for the guy who sent nothing. This has been a 
careful and reasoned decision, made during development of the campaign 
format. Here's three reasons for this:

1) The guy who sent nothing didn't care about the outcome, the other guy 
did care. For expedience-sake, the loser is the one who can't affect the 
scenario.

2) As a technical reason, the software has to have a winner for every 
scenario where a ship was sent (but it can drop scenarios where nobody 
sent anything.)

3) The guy who sent something can take his time to ensure the outcome is 
what he wants. A lone frigate against an FRD? Well, the FRD only has a 
couple of phasers, a drone rack, and no ability to maneuver. The Frigate 
just pounds on one shield for the next 30 turns. A POL vs a convoy? He 
just does the same things that Pirate LRs have been showing him to do 
lots and lots of times. A Frigate vs a Base? well, those scenarios 
almost always scale the base against the attacker. Mobile bases, on 
their own, are much more fragile than FRDs. A destroyer against the 
Death Star? Have you read the victory conditions of that thing??


Victory to the ships still standing on the field of battle:

This isn't always true. I've tried to make the victory conditions 
specific as to what needs to be accomplished. If you satisfy the victory 
conditions, you are the winner. Sometimes it really is a matter of "Go 
in. Blow up a couple of ground bases. Leave before getting mangled by 
the defenses."


There is a particular scenario (Hostile Militia) where the defender 
dropped in a bunch of infantry and left. The theory is that the soldiers 
can take care of the militia and hold off any attack by the attacker, 
until he gets tired and also leaves. I've called that scenario in favor 
of the ship who stuck around, for reasons I explained then. Because the 
issue is in continued discussion, I am modifying the victory conditions 
of that scenario so that the ground combat continues if the issue is in 
doubt at the scenario end. You will be able to see this tweak to the 
scenario when your respective campaigns next cycle their turns.


--Matt