Ponderings

Starfighters
I've been thinking a lot about my starfighter Eindekker variant. In Eindekker, turn management is crucial because you have only 10 turns to complete the mission and return to base before your fuel runs out. I tried a similar rule with my starfighter rules but it just doesn't seem to fit. I just think that -starfighters would have more than enough fuel for their missions so that running out is not a concern. However, if I remove the fuel restrictions, I will essentially remove all decision making by the player. Instead, the game will become a dice-rolling exercise (combat is simply opposed die rolls). While I don't mind rolling dice, I would like to have some tactical decision making.

So what is the solution to my quandary? I'm thinking of adding maneuvers to the combat. For example, perhaps I could add maneuver cards a la Down in Flames. The player would have a hand of cards; he would then play one for each of his starfighters in the turn. I would probably simply program the enemy responses. Adding cards would add more physical components to the game, making it harder to play on a virtual board.

Another idea is to make combat into a multiple round die rolling game (kind of like Yahtzee in space). The player would roll, then choose which dice to keep.

Anyway, I'm kind of stuck on this problem now. I'll need some more thinking.

Sports
I've been toying around with some different quick play sports games.

I created a simple dice-rolling football game. Each team gets 2 "possessions" per quarter, rolling 2D6 per possession (modified by Offensive and Defensive ratings). Results are as follows:

2-3 Turnover
4-6 Punt or end of possession
7-8 Field goal
9-12 Touchdown

I have since added additional rules. A roll of 2 or 4 give a +1 to the opponent's next roll (they gained good field position). One can opt to eschew the field goal and go for it (roll again with a -1 mod). I even have 2-point conversions.

Star League has also been getting my attention. I am in the middle of season 3. I created a spreadsheet to track the League's history but it made me want to finish seasons even quicker. I experimented with a game where each team rolls 1 die to determine the number of goals scored per half. I created a spreadsheet that can actually play an entire season in a second. OK, that's a little too fast. I'm now thinking of creating a new league. I would control one team; its games would be played using the Star League rules. Games for the other teams would use the season in a second rules. The only problem is that season in a second results in a higher score than Star League. I haven't progressed any further.