[Dan Kochheiser]

Originally posted by President Elect Shang:
Sprint XO Missile: I don’t know what the h#@l is going on here. I tried it and the drone moved in and rammed without ever firing. I will take a closer look into this and see if I can figure out what the problem is. The default strategy I have for drone attack is ram/maximum weapons range. When I flipped them around the XO Sprint Missile fired but did not ram, then again it did not flee to the far edge of the map.

Auto Loader: That would be true except for two things. One the auto loader only takes up one hull space so it is great for filling in those extra spaces. And two, I just changed the price of the Cargo Hold so that ten auto loaders cost the same as one cargo hold. Now ten auto loaders not only take up the same space but cost the same. Either way the player will not get an advantage but can still us both effectively.

Weapon ranges: Yes I understand just what you are saying, but without having the texts to refer to you probably don’t realize how big of a problem that is. The true difference in ranges becomes apparent at more than 20 sectors. The daddy of the combat field should be the Heavy Bombardment Missile at a max range of 60 sectors. To mimic this I would have to cut all weapon ranges by one third. Not that I am against doing that but I would need some feedback on it from my co-author? Dan K what do you think? If I do this it will also mean that ship combat speed will need to be looked at. First however I think that the range issue should be addressed and tested, once that is done than the ship speed can be looked at.

If we are trying to stay close to cannon then the ranges are important to keep. Part of what makes Starfire what it is is the arms race that occurs with weapons and ranges. As the Higher Tech weapons get longer reaches and increased damage. THe speed remains a relative constant through out the Tech levels so Speed and Turning is something less of an issue as the biggest issue is getting range.

Supplies: I am thinking that supplies should be cut back to around 10 points per star instead of the current 20, thoughts and feedback?

What is the issue with supplies? In Starfire cannon, the only time you fall out of supplies is when that fleet gets cut off from the empire. Rare enough event in itself. Commerce raiding is real difficult because of the nature of warp points. So far, my fleets have been unable to run out of supplies, but also been unable to fully restock every turn. Though not strictly cannon, it does seem to work close enough to get the 'feel' of Starfire.

With all of the detailed testing that you and Dan are doing I feel that I can relax on my testing. This will finally give me the break I have been looking for to start working on the other as yet unfinished files. First though I would like to see you and Dan K start a dialogue here that I can follow, and the bumping of StarFire and Non-StarFire heads should lead to some good results.

I'm game...

Two disparete views generally will produce a more 'even' product.

Dan K