Wing Combat

[Michael Saumure]

Just a question. I have finally had the chance to utilize the Wing Combat system and I am befuddled. I probably missed something, but if the Defense rating of a wing is 9 with a total size rating of 128 and the offensive rating of the opposition is 140 doesnt that basically mean that whoever shoots first completely obliterates the opposition?
(140-9=131, 131-128=-3, which equals annhilation) If that's the way it is supposed to work then okay, if not then please help me understand. Please, please, please,please.

[Steve Long]

I think you're doing something wrong, so let me walk through this and see if we're on the same page. For purposes of this demonstration, I'm going to assume both wings have average damage of 200 with their weapons, giving them an Offense of 10 (200/20, per SD 166).

So, both wings have Offense 10. However, we still have to account for the size difference. The larger wing is 12 ships larger than the smaller. To determine the effect of size, we divide the difference by 20 and add it to the larger's wing's Offense. 12/20 = .6, which rounds up to 1. So, the larger wing has Offense 11; the smaller wing still has Offense 10.

For purposes of this demonstration, we'll assume both wings have Defense 7. Thus, an attack by the larger wing does 4 points of damage; one by the smaller wing does 3 points of damage.

Does that clarify things for you?

[Michael Saumure]

That makes sense. I run another session this weekend. Another battle of the second K'zinti war in my storyline. It will tell me what I did wrong I hope.
Thanks for the answer.