Creative Commons: Letting Your Imaginations Soar! > Community Rules, Designs, Scenarios and More

An idea for the mechanics of Aeroplanes

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MadDogMaddux:
So I thought I'd post a basic idea for how aeroplanes could be included in the game in such a way as to fit well both with the aesthetic and the timeline.

First off, a few notes:

1) I'm starting with the beginning point of "What would be a fun addition to the game" and going from there to "How can that be justified inside the game universe" rather than trying to extrapolate the historical development of airplanes based on the discovery of Electroid.
2) I decided to use the Vickers F.B.5 "Gunbus" as the basic model for an early plane. The F.B.5 first flew in 1914, but I would propose that with the advent of Electroid before the turn of the century and its practical application, there may have been MORE military push for the development of aviation weapons. Especially military programs without access to Electroid, yet, may have been scrambling for a means by which to compete with the Leviathan. Considering that the HMS Leviathan flew at the British Exposition of 1908, it seems feasible to me that the development of aeroplanes for war could have been more rapid.
3) I don't think that the presence of conventional aircraft needs to necessarily be exclusive from Electroid based aircraft. Worktroll and others have pointed out that there is not yet developed an electrical source capable of generating the necessary current for Electroid flight on as small a scale as an individual aircraft, but I would assume that the development of such things might be in the wings thanks to folks like Tesla and Edison.

So, the rough draft of the rules, as I envision them.



1) Aeroplanes fly in squadrons which fill one hex. A squadron may consist of several planes, maybe six, but for gameplay purposes, they move as a squadron.
2) Aeroplanes, armed only with something akin to a Lewis gun, do not have armor penetration capability, so they do not roll damage dice against Leviathans.
3) Aeroplanes do not have standard firing arcs, but can only fire in a straight line down the hexrow they are facing.
4) Aeroplanes have a much shorter attack range, reflective of roughly 800 yards (the approximate effective range of the Lewis gun, I couldn't find a direct correspondence between hexes and yards specifically listed. Can anyone clear that up for me? Maybe 3 hexes?)
5) Due to their speed and maneuverability, Aeroplanes move AFTER Leviathans.
6) Attacks by Aeroplanes take place AFTER all Leviathans make their attacks.
7) When resolving attacks by Aeroplanes against Leviathans, a squadron of Aeroplanes roll 3 white location dice. If any location die rolls a location that has already been destroyed, follow standard game rules for Critical Damage (Lieutenant's Manual, p. 21)
8) When resolving attacks by Leviathans against Aeroplanes, simply roll the location die. In the event of a hit, cross off one of the Squadron's location dice. When all three dice are crossed off, the squadron is destroyed.
9) When resolving attacks by Aeroplane Squadrons against other Aeroplane Squadrons, the attacker recieves DOUBLE his current Location dice. If attacking from directly behind at a range of 1 hex, the attacker recieves TRIPLE his current Location dice.



The culmination of these rules should produce a basic concept of Aeroplanes which have a role in the field of combat, but who are entirely dependant on the Leviathans to be able to damage another Leviathan.

The fact that the Aeroplanes attack AFTER the Leviathans means that the Leviathan has a chance to direct its fire at the attacking squadron and limit its effectiveness BEFORE the Aeroplanes fire.

Doubling and Tripling the Location Dice for Aeroplanes firing on another Squadron of Aeroplanes is meant to simulate the fact that their weapons are more specifically designed to attack small targets that are moving around a fair bit.

As far as progression of technology goes - it might be better to start off the early Bi Planes with only 2 Location Dice for Damage and Integrity, and then grant later planes more location dice, etc. Eventually, technology may grow to the point where aircraft use weapons that do actual damage - but I definitely don't expect so as early in the timeline as Leviathans begins....


I definitely welcome any thoughts, comments, or contributions. This is a Creative COMMONS, after all. Who knows, maybe we can add something fun to the game together?

The image used above (and attached) is copied from the Lieutenant's Manual .PDF and should only be used withing the bounds of the Creative Commons License.

ApokalypseTest:
if they roll three location dice and automatically penetrate in already destroyed locations, especially after the leviathans fire, I predict them to be extreme Lev Killers. Even a Lev firing on another onewith a completely opened section is rarely causing as many breaking the keel rolls.

With rules as written, theyare a must inevery fleet, which makes them a no no game design wise

MadDogMaddux:
They do not automatically confirm a critical in already destroyed locations. They follow the rules for Criticals on P. 21 of the Lieutenant's Manual, which states that FIRST they must re-roll the location. If they roll the same slot, THEN they penetrate.

I've given them more location dice due to the fact that on a strafing run (presumably with incendiary ammunition), Aeroplanes have a bit more finesse available to them for aiming towards a breech location.

Think of it this way:
Firing broadside, both the HML Raven and HML Hertsfordshire have two attacks, or two chances to score a location hit.
Firing against the Type 1 Pelletier, with SI 18 and 5 miss slots, either British ship has 2 shots, each with a 1 in 6 chance of hitting an already destroyed location on the Pelletier, presuming there is already one existing.
If either ship hits the destroyed location, it must then re-roll to confirm the critical - again a 1 in 6 chance to hit it.
If either ship hits the destroyed location AGAIN, the controlling player rolls 2d10 plus a minimum of 7 (1 for each miss slot, 1 for the destroyed location hit, and additionional 1 for each miss slot or destroyed location on the side of the attack).
This means that the Pelletier's keel is broken with only one destroyed location by any one attack with successive rolls with odds of 1-in-6, 1-in-6, and 11 or more on 2d10.

The HML Raven dies nearly as easily, with an SI 20, resulting in a roll of 13 on 2d10 breaking the keel after critical confirmation.

The thing that protects these ships from constantly dying immediately is the requisite 1-in-6, 1-in-6 rolls. I think that maths out to a 2.7% chance to even get a Broken Keel roll with only one damaged location.

So, one squadron of Aeroplanes gets (as I have it written above) 3 chances, each at 2.7% odds, to destroy the Pelletier or HML Raven with one hit, provided they roll high enough on the 2d10 roll.

Mitigating their slightly higher chances (due to the extra location die) of scoring a crit is the fact that Leviathans fire first. This means that any Leviathan fires at, and hits, an Aeroplane squadron even ONCE, the squadron's chances of scoring a critical hit are lessened to equal to that of a broadside from a Type 1 ship. Moreso if there are multiple hits. Additionally, the squadron is automatically destroyed on three hits. So during the time in the game BEFORE there are any significant breeches to a ship, the player controlling Aeroplanes must guard their location against random fire (most ships will have at least one arc not engaged against other Leviathans) which will have a 1-in-3 (33%) chance of reducing the squadron's effectiveness. During this time, the higher movement points will prove to be more of a challenge than a blessing. Especially if (ooh!) we make sure to include a MINIMUM movement number for each squadron.


Now, to be fair, once a Leviathan starts to take massive damage from other Leviathans, it IS going to be very succeptible to Aeroplane Squadron attacks. But then, the Aeroplanes will have to have survived the battle that long.

ApokalypseTest:
uhm,

right, forgot the confimation rolll.

With the rules as played during Gencon, leviathans need to breach the armor before they get a crit roll. The planes don't. In case of the pelletier its a 1/6 followed by a 1/5 roll (misses are ignored on the confirmation roll, which makes sense since you actually hit the ship already) and thats for one open location - if we talk three or four, it gets mutch worse. I have seen svereal ships during Gencon live because penetration rolls failed - especially against battleships and type 3 s that have enough natural armor. With the planes as they are right now and the current version of the rules, planes kill a battleship easier than a cruiser.

The chance of not hitting the planes with three guns at all is still 4/6^3 assuming a 3 gun broadside. Thats still a good 25% chance of whiffing.

Jim1701:
Sorry, this makes airplanes WAAAAY to powerful.  This is supposed to be a game of armored battleships slugging it out.  This would turn it into who fields the biggest cloud of gnats wins.  As Apokalypse already posted, with one destroyed location it wouldn't be so bad but Battleships are obviously designed to take a beating but these planes can just come in on a side with 3-4 destroyed location and have a pretty good chance of killing it.  Especially if the attack is to 3-4 squadrons. 

I also have to agree that these planes are too hard to kill as well.  Ships would have to add AA weapons to their loadout giving a lot more rolls.  It would take forever just to shoot down one squadron using the current ship designs.  I would hate to see all the original designs immediately obsolete. 

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