(SB01001.0) TIGER BY THE TAIL
(Fall Y168) by Randy Blair, Michigan

Apex's Count Leyraf had a score to settle with the Kzinti Count's son, Cat-With-Iron-Claws after the two had a major standoff earlier that year in (SH78-Sacred). Leyraf convinced Arch Duke Frinkor to allow the entire Apex County fleet to attack the very battle station where Iron Claws would be. Leyraf was only interested in retribution against his Kzinti enemy, however, and taunted him with an approach battle. The Battle Station commander sent out his squadron of fighters while Iron Claws powered up his ships to roar in anticipation of battle. Unbeknownst to each other, each had contacted the Cluster Cartel to rent an Orion mercenary to help fight. The Orion had two payments to pick up, and only the winner of the auction would get the help. This is an approach battle in hex 1004.

(SB01001.1) NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3; the Kzinti, Lyran and Orion player.

(SB01001.2) INITIAL SET-UP:
KZINTIS: BC KHS-14 Milky Way, CL+ KHS-9 Shaman, and DD KHS-4 Dragon within 2 hexes of 4012 all heading F, speed 15, WS-III
12xAAS within 3 hexes of 3412, heading F, speed 8.

LYRANS: CA 221 Vertex, CL 224 Pinnacle, DD 227 Utmost, and FF 229 Summit within 2 hexes of 0410 all heading C, speed 15, WS-III

ORION: LR Operandi in 2229, heading A, speed max, WS-III.

(SB01001.3) LENGTH OF SCENARIO: The scenario continues until all forces of either the Kzintis or the Lyrans have been destroyed, captured, or have disengaged.

(SB01001.4) SPECIAL RULES
(SB01001.41) MAP: The map is fixed; it does not float. Any unit leaving the map has disengaged and cannot return. The Kzinti units can only disengage off the xx01 or 42xx map edges. The Lyran units can only disengage off the 01xx map edge.
The Orion LR can disengage from any direction.
Units which disengage in unauthorized areas are considered destroyed.

(SB01001.42) SHUTTLES AND PFs: No fighters have chaff or warp booster packs.

(SB01001.421) There are no MRS shuttles in this scenario. However, one of the AAS fighters is a two-seat fighter (J4.43).

(SB01001.43) COMMANDER’S OPTION ITEMS
(SB01001.431) The Lyrans have 5 transporter bombs. The CA has 2 while the remaining ships have 1 each.

(SB01001.432) All drones are "medium," i.e. speed 20. The Kzinti BC has one type IV and two type I drones per rack.

(SB01001.433) No ship in this scenario normally carries a Prime Team (G32.0), but such Teams are sometimes assigned to various ships. Players may experiment with Prime Teams, perhaps as a balance factor.

(SB01001.434) The option mounts for the LR are all Ph-1. It also has a cloaking device.

(SB01001.44) REFITS: The Kzinti CL has the C-12 refit, no other refits have been applied to any units in this scenario.

(SB01001.45) DIRECTED DAMAGE: Neither Kzinti nor Lyran ships may disengage until the opposing flagship is destroyed. This restriction is lifted if the ship in question is crippled AND their own flagship is destroyed. This does not apply to the fighters.

(SB01001.46) ORION RULES: The Lyrans dropped a small dummy transporter bomb with a payment inside for the Orion Pirate in 0209. The Kzintis likewise dropped a payment in 4211.

(SB01001.461) The Lyran and Kzinti players both roll one die secretly and put it under an opaque cup or use some other mutually agreed method to conceal it from the other players.

(SB01001.462) The Orion ship must gather the two payments either by tractoring them in, or by transporter, and must join the side of the one who paid the most. If both sides paid equally, the Orion player may pick which side he wants to be on.

(SB01001.463) If the Orion ship takes any damage from one side (including t-bombs), he immediately joins the other side.

(SB01001.464) The Orion ship may not fire on any unit, except a seeking weapon targeted on his own ship, until BOTH payments have been gathered.

(SB01001.465) The Orion player is under no obligation to reveal who won the auction until the scenario is over, but is required to attack the loser.

(SB01001.466) The Orion player may disengage anytime after he has picked up at least one payment. He must disengage if he is crippled.

(SB01001.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS: Use the Modified Victory Conditions (S2.201) for the Lyrans and Kzintis with the following modifications:

Add 100 bonus points for the destruction of the enemy flagship.
Subtract 100 points for the destruction of your own flagship.
Use (S2.22) for action against the Orion Pirate.

Tally up victory points for the Orion via (S2.21) and (S2.23) with the following modifiers:

For each payment picked up: +50
Own ship takes internal damage: -50
Own ship is crippled: -100
Own ship is destroyed: Automatic Devastating Defeat

(SB01001.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario can be played again under different conditions by making one or more of the following changes:

(SB01001.7) BALANCE: The scenario can be balanced between players of different skill levels by one or more of the following:

(SB01001.8) TACTICS

LYRANS: It's all about taking down the BC without losing your CA in the process. He'll have a lot of drones out there, particularly after the fighters launch theirs. Focus on killing the BC and drone defense in the beginning. Use your extra ship to your advantage. Keep your eyes peeled for that Orion, however, and don't let him get too close until he's fired upon the Kzintis.

KZINTIS: You're going to have to close and launch everything you've got at the CA, but be on the lookout for a weasel. Use the fighters to harass his support ships and hit the CA with all of your direct fire weapons. Watch out for the Orion!

ORION: Pick up the payments as fast as you can and try to blow up a cripple before you get out of there.

(SB01001.9) PLAYTESTER COMMENTS:

Show me the love, guys...
Please email me comments at Randy Blair
Thank you!

(SB01001.X) DESIGNER’S NOTES:

This is simply an approach battle in an F&E campaign, but with a bit of a twist.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME

See the Fiction story, "Tiger by the Tail".
To summarize, the Milky Way was destroyed by concentrated Lyran weapons, but the Vertex was crippled and Utmost and Summit were both destroyed. The Orion Pirate sided with the Lyrans and picked off the crippled Shaman while the Dragon and 4 fighters escaped.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 05:16 am: Edit

Why are the commander's options set? Most scenarios leave it up to the players.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 10:30 am: Edit

@Richard - I have to admit, the scenario is written based on elements in the story. In other words, that's what the ships had in the story. You can, obviously, do what you want, but I was trying to get folks to play this like it is, and send me a report based on that.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 10:51 am: Edit

This is a good scenario, interesting. Might even try to playtest it if I can get some time.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 11:18 am: Edit

@Ted - The fiction story is even better. Well, I would say that since I wrote it... I'm sure I'll get varied feedback once I put it up.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 07:25 pm: Edit

I think it's asking a lot for an Orion to trust
that a t-bomb beamed aboard will be fake and not actually a real one (which subsequently explodes).

In any case I don't think it's possible to transport a fake t-bomb from the map to onboard a ship.

Also, you didn't actually specify that amount rolled on the hidden die is the payment. That needs to be explicitly stated.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 01:10 am: Edit

@Richard - Yeah, you're right. I think in my mind, I meant that the payment used a small mine counter rather than a dummy mine, but that's how it came out. Actually, it's just a canister with the appropriate payment.

Also, I can't seem to edit my post, or I would change it. But yeah, definitely need to specify that it's a one to one ratio of pips to payment.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 11:03 am: Edit

Where is the story?

CL something?

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 12:06 pm: Edit

@Michael - No, it's fiction that I have yet to submit...here's a small, unformatted piece of the rough draft.

The hum of the force field abruptly ended, and the Klingon marine sergeant bolted upright from his prone position on the metal floor of his cage. He knew he didn’t have much time to escape before it came back up again.
Not attempting to be silent, he ran to the end of the cage, which opened up to a vast, dense jungle. He knew it wouldn’t be long before his captor would be coming down to hunt him, so he had to think quickly. Although he possessed no weapons, he knew that a Klingon’s best weapon was his mind, so he stood next to the wall of his cage and surveyed the jungle carefully.
He could scarcely believe it when his keen eyes fixated on a glint of metal lying on the ground about ten yards ahead of him. Such a prize needed to be claimed promptly, he thought.
Shoving aside angry thoughts of his capture and imprisonment and the thirst for revenge begging to be slaked, he slowly crept up to the beckoning piece of metal on the ground. He listened for movement, for breathing, in the humid, hot air of this place. Sweat from both fear and excitement dripped down on his bushy eyebrows while his teeth bared in an angry grimace.
The metal object was only a few steps away, and he thought he heard a whoosh sound coming from his right. It was faint, almost imperceptible. He backed up against an alien tree to his left, and kept his eyes trained on the dense foliage in front of him, listening carefully and scanning for any movement. The metal object, which from where he stood appeared to be a long broad knife, sat waiting to be taken and used violently upon his captor.
Not hearing or seeing anything further of any importance, he quietly padded over the weapon and picked it up, glancing around.
Suddenly, a large array of sharpened wooden spikes attached to a heavy log swung down upon him. Throwing himself on the ground, the muscular Klingon warrior rolled out of the way of the swinging trap, mentally cursing himself for nearly falling for the primitive trap. Prone on the ground, he noted that his right shoulder had been grazed by one of the spikes as they passed over him.
Jumping upright as the log reached the end of its journey and began to descend back toward him again, he realized he had plenty of time now to avoid getting hit by the log, and hurried toward the safety of a nearby tree. The wound in his shoulder was more painful than he expected, but shrugged it off while he savored the cool metal blade in his hands. He immediately felt better about his circumstances, and looked around for a way out while the spiked log swung back and forth, losing energy with every oscillation.
Knife poised for battle, he carefully stepped out from his temporary place of safety and walked further down the clear spot of the jungle. The pain in his shoulder inexplicably was increasing terribly and he took a moment to put his fingers over the wound. His fingers were covered both in blood and a oily yellowish fluid.
He cursed the gods for not being more careful. The spikes had been coated with Kraz’t, a Kzinti meat tenderizer used on captive animals for their inevitable consumption. In the sparse seconds he spent examining himself and cursing his luck, he didn’t see the giant cat leaping out of the foliage behind him. Fully nine feet tall and festooned with long iron claws, the leaping Kzinti easily tackled the stunned Klingon to the ground and brutally turned him into a grisly mess.

******

The double doors to Detention Cell 8 opened quietly and Cat-with-Iron-Claws stood with his mouth clamped around the dead Klingon’s neck like an iron vise. Iron Claws was covered in blood and bits of flesh from his meal, and he was carrying it off to his personal quarters. Battle Station K-Zero offered him a few more luxuries than he had on his own ship, the battlecruiser Milky Way, one of which was a nice meat locker to store his kills from the Detention Cells
He particularly enjoyed K-Zero because Station Commander Cat-Who-Hunts made the eating of prisoners more of a sport than what was found at other bases or ships.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 02:03 pm: Edit

***BATTLE REPORT FROM A PLAYTESTER***

(unformatted because this BBS doesn't support cut and paste formatting)

This is a long one, so bear with me! We played this twice, although only counting the first as the 'outcome' because of a rebalancing we did.

As stated for the Orion control, at the beginning of each turn, a d6 was rolled and when a total of 12 or higher was made, that player then had the Orion ship come in at the starting hex of that ship (presumably just getting out of cloak and thus unnoticed). The first d6 was used to determine the EP actually spent for the Orion bid, the rest not counting other than for the total.

The first game was a quick bloodbath as the fact the board was a fixed map really gave me an overwhelming advantage as noted below.

Turn 1: I rolled a 1 for the Orion (go figure) and my dad rolled a 4, so things were looking good for him there. Both of our fleets were at speed 15, fighters at their max speed. Because of WS-III, ECM on my ships were set to 4 ECM/2 ECCM except for the CL+, which only used 2 ECM. My dad had between 2 - 6 ECCM, although some went into reinforcement and dumping extra energy into the ESG capacitors.

Because of the fixed map, my dad realized that things were pretty grim as basically, he had no real room to avoid the drones. He thus stacked all of his ships in one hex so ESG's could be set to overlap at the ebst possible manner. The fighters being far enough away from my ships, I was able to move my fleet and fighters on either side of him as we moved closer. By timing my drone launches as they overlapped, I had my fighters launch 4 waves of 6 drones each stacked on top of each other coming from once side while my fleet had 12 drones in two waves (8 and 4 because of how I spaced my ships) coming from the other side. All of them were targetted at the Lyran CA. Simply put, having that many drones out in 1 turn was overbearingly unbalanced (even if my fighters where then reduced as faster admin shuttles at that point) as coming in from two sides he couldn't afford to drop a shield from any ship to lay a T-bomb and even with all of his ESG's up and using phasers, drones would get through.

The worst part for him was that at the end of turn 1, the drones were about 8 hexes away (they were fired late enough that there'd be some distance for my fleet ships to fire more drones at the beginning of the next turn to take advantage of the ESG's going down to previous drones). The fighters were about 13-14 hexes away from his ships and my fleet was 9-10 hexes away from him.

Turn 2: Speeds were different; dad went 20 while I went 24, all weapons possible on my ships were overloaded aside from the CL+ (which barely had enough energy to move and keep everything held). Dad rolled a 3 for the Orion total, I rolled another 1 (go figure).

As I expected, Dad moved into overload range and fired massive salvos of OL disruptors at the CL in the hopes of crippling it (he noted it as the easier target to take out, something I whole heartedly agreed on). I was lucky that only half of his Disruptors missed and while its #1 shield was busted, the CL still had 3 disruptors, 3 drone racks, and over half of its phasers remaining (including both PH-1's). Next impulse he drew a bit nearer, drones now only 4 hexes away, fired a few Ph-1's at the CL (eliminating a drone rack, sensor, another disruptor, and all phaser save a Ph-1 and a Ph-3). At this point, the CL lost a significant amount of power and would be a liability next turn, but for right now he was still trudging along. Next impulse, my dad burned his batteries for a fleet wide HET and turned around, now outrunning my drones. The turn was looking well in his favor until my forward destroyer moved just close enough to use its batteries to slap a range 3 tractor beam on the CA. While it was small, it caused enough of a drag effect that the drones closed in. My dad activated both of the CA's ESGs when DD tractored him, at range 0 and 1. My fleet fired more drones as it closed in. The CA could not survive that many drones coming in and at the end of the turn exploded as 16 drones slammed into its #3 shield. Overkill but the damage was done. With the turn nearing its end, my remaining Kzinti disruptors managed to take out the CL's #4 shield, but with no significant damage other than some minor phaser loss. With about 1/3 of his firepower reduced at the cost of crippling my CL (and technically all of my fighters drones'), the Lyrans turned high tail and disengaged the next turn. Note that we misread your Directed Damage rule and saw it as they may disengage when THEIR command ship is destroyed, not the enemies. Whoops.

As we discussed, if the map was floating, things would have been more balanced from the standpoint that my dad would have the strategy of being able to outrun the drones while recharging weapons. On the fixed map, he'd be hosed as he tried recharging ESG's and phasers after a good salvo of drones and would be overrun while attempting to do so, so he tried the risky hit and run to hopefully avoid damage while hurting one of my ships (which he was correct on). I got lucky that the Kzinti DD is amazingly powerful for its size (really, it's truly better than the unrefitted CL and still better powered and weaponed after the C-12 refit) and had the batteries to dump into a 3 energy tractor beam, something most destoyers really can't do.

Outcome: The Lyrans quickly approached for a game of cat and mouse, planning on making a precision strike and then outrun the mass of Kzinti drones while rearming. The longer the battle lasted, the better things were in his favor. Hoping to surprise the Kzinti, Leyraf put in a significant bid for the Operandi's service to come in and provide a necessary distraction while performing his gambit. However, in Leyraf's desire to punish his cursed enemy and hinder his firepower, he closed in too near and ended up getting tractored by the Dragon. He had only enough time to curse Cat-With-Iron-Claws once more before the Vertex exploded in a fireball as massed salvos of drones from Iron-Claws fleet and fighters breached its shields.

Now running from an enemy with a significant amount of combat power remaining and losing their Count, the rest of the Lyran forces returned back to friendly space to avoid being destroyed and/or captured and return for revenge another time. The Pinnacle in particular would return the damage it receievd ten-fold after its conversion to a Wildcat-class Battlecruiser later in the war.

Operandi appeard on the Lyran side just in time to notice his buyer's demise, and after confirming that the credit transfer was cleared, cloaked back once more to avoid both Kzinti and Lyran retribution.

The tiger was, indeed, caught by the tail. EP spent by Lyrans: 4
Feel free to ignore the bit about the CL to BC conversion, but since that was one of the Lyran's greatest gifts in shipbuilding, I can whole heartedly see something like that occuring

For the second game, I replaced all of the fighters with an unrefitted Kzinti frigate (thus keeping BPV similar) and no T-bombs for my dad (he doesn't like using them anyway after a nasty game against hellbores...). Second time around, I kept my ships in a flying square pattern (FF with the BC behind it, DD and CL+ on either immediate side) while my dad placed his fleet once again in the same hex. He started off slower at a speed of 12 and during movement, split his ships into two groups (CA + FF, CL + DD) about 2 hexes away from each other and heading towards the edge of the board, facing D while I moved closer at a speed of 15 again. This time, I lead one massive pile group of 14 drones at the CL (to confuse him but still damage a ship with 2 ESG's) as I closed into him. Once again, I rolled like poo and dad rolled quite well for Orion bidding.

For turn 2, the Lyran ships continued 12 while I sped up to 20 (to follow the drones for a followup wave). Unfortunately, dad expected this and planned well. His ships continued to move away from me, I continued to push him into the corner until he made a high energy turn at the end of the turn to face back in direction A. Also, his ESG's were deployed throughout the turn, at a range of 0 on Impulse 4, 1 on Imp 11, and 2 on Imp 14 for each pair of ships, providing great drone defense. At the end of the turn, the first salvo of drones were a mere 5 hexes away from its target while a second, smaller wave at the same target was 8 hexes away. One thing he found odd was I launched all of my shuttles near the end of the turn and they covered the rear of my ship. My DD had an OL disruptor (done as I thought we'd close in this turn and could use batteries to OL the other and fired, but missed.

Turn 3, Dad received Orion control (he had a total of 13 by that point and I had a meager 5...) and came in at max speed to assault my rear. My ships slowed to speed 15 to OL weapons and put out some ECCM; my dad put the Lyrans at speed 24 and max ECCM. Using them as a diversion, the DD-CL pair moved to close into my units, ESG's destroying the first wave of drones (the remaining picked off by Ph-3's) and got to within 1 hex of my frigate. 3 OL disruptors (he missed one)and several Ph-2's crippled the frigate outright while my frigate and destroyer returned with 3 OL Disruptors and 4 PH-1's at the Lyran DD, ripping out its ESG and half of its weapons. The next impulse, the wounded DD moved forward still to my fleet while the CL turned tail, now actually outrunning my drones (barely). 4 of my admin shuttles were now in the same hex as the Lyran DD and used CCM to send another 15 damage into the open shield, ripping out the remaining weapons and reducing the ship to 1/3 of its power. At the same time, the CA fired its phasers at the FF and the CA and the FF fired disruptors at my destroyer. The #1 shield barely held that damage, but the frigate was reduced to 1 box of excess damage (luckily not destroying 2 shuttles and a small group of drones). The CA/FF turned tail, giving my CL and BC a shot to fire its weapons at the CA's #3 shield. Over 3 impulses, the shield was blown out, dealing minor power damage, removing all hull, half of the bridge/auxilary control, and both ESG's. However, my drones would never reach the CA and CL at that point as they had a good chasing game coming in. The Orion ship hit my flank and took out the BC's number 2 shield, but only caused minor damage, most important being the lose of a disruptor. The Orion in return was pelted in its #4 by the remaining admin shuttles, actually losing the shield and a cargo (just couldn't make the most of that single hit).

We called it quits at the end of the turn due to time, but the game was much closer this time around due to the smaller number of incoming drones. It was fairly even, for damage, although my dad would have been hardpressed to still outrun the drones for an entire turn while rearming. We agreed that the CL would recombine with the CA-FF and provide ESG shielding, although my drone output for the next turn would have been reduced as the BC had to reload at the point (pesky IV drones pre Y175 refit).

Untimately, the fixed map really puts a pickle for the Lyrans when the fighters are there, although I can see that the fighters would be severely hindered with their meager speed of 8 in a floating map as I couldn't close in without eventually leaving the fighters behind. While we noted the use of T-bombs against the fighters and drones, my spacing of the drones was made to minimize potential T-bomb casualties and dropping a flanking shield then turning away would mess of his hit and run, which was already made harder by my flanking movement. Untimately, we agreed that 12 fighters > a frigate in combat potential and with a fixed map and that many speed 20 drones, he was doomed.

Sincerely,
David

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 02:22 pm: Edit

I wrote David back and told him that his dad probably could have ED'd and kicked out a weasel for THAT many drones BEFORE getting tractored by the DD. Also, a t-bomb out of the hatch would have taken care of that stack of drones.

Although their outcome isn't even close to what the story tells, it's probably my fault for making it a fixed map instead of a floating one.

By Robert Gamble (Rgamble) on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - 11:35 am: Edit

Randy,

One thing I noticed while reading this was that if one side rolls a '1' for their payment they only have a 1/12th chance of being the winner of the auction (assuming the Orion player is 50/50 on who he would join if the result is a tie). In that case, if I rolled a 1, I might be tempted to just go and whack the Orion before it could get to the closest (to my fleet) payment, if the opportunity presented itself.

An alternative would be to have two pairs of dice, one color for Kzinti (let's say white), one color for Lyran (let's say yellow). Each player rolls one of each pair (a yellow and a white) and hides them. When the Orion picks up a payment, both players write down the number rolled for the appropriate payment and give them to the Orion who adds them up. If the number is between 1-6, that's the payment value. If it's GREATER than 6, the payment value is the number MINUS 6. What this means is, that no matter what one player rolls, he can't guess what the actual payment will be. (The number for each side will still be 1-6 with an even chance for each number, but there's no way for either side to guess what that number will be.. only the Orion will know until the end of the scenario). Maybe you want the dynamic of one side guessing that they would win or lose the auction, in which case, go ahead and ignore this.

A second comment regards SB01001.465.. It states that the Orion must attack the loser, but he can also disengage the moment he picks up at least one payment so in reality, could just pick up both, disengage, and gain a 'win'.

Regarding floating vs fixed map, you could use a variant I refer to as 'float around a point'. Usually this point is the center of the map if there are no fixed points (planet, base, etc). The map floats until the point would be forced off by the movement of a unit and then it acts as 'fixed'. ie, if a unit can't move and allow the map to keep the fixed point on it, then the moving unit disengages. The problem I see is that your pick up points for the Orion are quite close to the map edges so you might have to have three float points.. the two pick up points (which disappear when the Orion takes the payment) and the center of the map.

The reason I suggest this is twofold. The first is, what happens if the map floats away from a payment point? The second is, yes, the fixed map favors the Kzinti, but a floating map favors the Lyrans. A 'float around a point' map tends to even things up a bit... Keep in mind, I haven't even played this yet, so all my comments are just ramblings on a read through.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - 10:31 pm: Edit

@Robert - I didn't make clear the fact that the rolls for the payment were meant to be blind for all players. In the original fiction story, Leyraf was the only one who was supposed to have paid off the Orion, but WHISKERS tipped off Iron Claws, who also made an offer. The Orion played both sides, but wound up serving the Lyran.
Bear in mind that both the Kzinti and Lyran have a vested interest in making sure the Orion upholds his end of the bargain and would have no compunction against shooting at him at the first sign of treachery. Note that they are not restricted from being able to fire on the Orion at any time.

Yes, it is definitely possible for the Orion to do just that. I forgot to include in the victory conditions a -100 point penalty to the Orion for not firing on the losing side. (Note: At least one point of damage must be scored.)

Yes, three floating points would be somewhat complicated. In the story, obviously, it's a floating map, but Leyraf got cocky and ate a few drones because he didn't realize that destroying the fighter would NOT make the drones lose tracking. (He wasn't familiar enough with two seat fighters to know that they could pick up tracking from a destroyed comrade.)
I like the floating point idea, but I'm not sure how to make it work.
I suppose when you play it, you'll let me know?