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[ 11 posts ]

Boost to interceptors/change to flak
The_Real_Chris	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 5:30 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:45 pm Posts: 8139 Location: London	What do people think of the idea of not letting flak fire at interceptors? For me the biggest problem for my planes isn't my chances in shooting down the enemy, but getting shot up by their covering flak. The way epics gone with good air races having the best ground flak means interceptors are more and more of a dead end. _________________ If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com! 'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913 "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography." General Plumer, 191x
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Ilushia	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:48 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:50 am Posts: 1189	I don't know that 'not allowed to shoot them' feels quite right. But when carrying out an interception or CAP action, you're going to have interceptors coming in at top-speed trying to head off the bombers before they reach their target, or take them out after. I might suggest making all flak-attacks against such models suffer -1 to hit. No penalty against bombers, as bombers have to come in a bit slower to acquire ground-targets. Not sure this would have quite the desired effect, but it'd allow armies without much air-based AA to defend against enemy interceptors.
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The_Real_Chris	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:52 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:45 pm Posts: 8139 Location: London	Why not? Just represents intercepts happening off table (as they would consider the speeds involved!). _________________ If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com! 'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913 "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography." General Plumer, 191x
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Ilushia	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:10 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:50 am Posts: 1189	Well, one possibility which might work as well, though it might not be as highly refined as what you want, is the option of not having Interceptors on-field unless they're undertaking actual Intercept actions. CAP groups would make their attacks on the enemy before the enemy actually begins their approach move. But the enemy would always be allowed to fire back if they want to, but to do so they must give up their attack-run. That would represent an off-board dog-fight between squads. I don't know this would work quite as well, but it would prevent people who are flying Intercept missions on enemies and not using CAP from flying straight over enemy flak to make the attack. Under these rules what you might see is something like this: IG wins Initiative, activates Lightningbolts, puts them on CAP. Ork player activates Fighta-Bommas and choses to make an Attack Run. IG decides to make an intercept with his CAP-units. Ork player can now choose to either fight with the intercepting units or try to evade them and make the attack. If he chooses the prior then both sides get to fire to full effect. If he chooses the later then he'll get fired on then make the attack run. Later that turn, the IG player activates another group of Lightningbolts and decides to make an Intercept action. The Lightningbolts now have to actually fly over the active battlefield and risk taking flak. Possibly with the -1 modifier or maybe normal (unsure about how that'd work). This would, IMHO, be a good way to represent the off-board desparate dog-fights between two opposing squadrons. While the on-board stuff represents missions scrambled to try and prevent them from returning to base safely. So the enemy ships would have to first punch through the already-airborn enemy, then try and evade the newly-scrambled jets to get away.
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The_Real_Chris	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:19 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:45 pm Posts: 8139 Location: London	Do a search for my draft alternative air rules and you may be surprised _________________ If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com! 'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913 "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography." General Plumer, 191x
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Ilushia	Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:44 am
Brood Brother Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:50 am Posts: 1189	Went and found them on the SG boards. They look good, a few questions occur to me though. Do aircraft pick up blast-markers for being fired on from off-board AA guns? How do you decide the rules for removing those units from other formations (Hunters in the Space Marine army for instance)? Why would you have the resultant damage from the Dog-Fight just place blast markers, instead of actually destroying enemy aircraft as you do in normal assaults? Especially given the way those rules are written I'd expect to see a large number more aircraft involved in a given fight then you do right now. Finally: If you did implement those rules, would you adjust the size of the aircraft formations any? As I read those rules you can still only activate one intercept-formation to a single enemy formation making a bombing run or intercept action (I may not have read that right, the bit about activating them read a little weird to me), meaning usually you'll see two intercepters against two bombers, more often then not. I do really like those rules though. And it goes back to making Aircraft the best anti-aircraft weapons in the game, which is correct IMHO. After all, it's far easier to shoot something moving 2,000 KPH if you're ALSO moving 2,000 KPH in the same direction!
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The_Real_Chris

Post subject: Boost to interceptors/change to flak Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 11:08 am

Brood Brother Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:45 pm Posts: 8139 Location: London

I want to change 'em a bit - in essence tidy them up, move fights back onto the table (but have ground flak play no part etc). Do aircraft pick up blast-markers for being fired on from off-board AA guns? I can't remember off hand. I kept changing it back and forth while testing and I'm still not decided How do you decide the rules for removing those units from other formations (Hunters in the Space Marine army for instance)?

You don't. Formation goes off or stays on. Marines have an advantage in that they can air lift formations in from off table, making up for the lack of AA formation otherwise.

Why would you have the resultant damage from the Dog-Fight just place blast markers, instead of actually destroying enemy aircraft as you do in normal assaults? Especially given the way those rules are written I'd expect to see a large number more aircraft involved in a given fight then you do right now.

I tried this It wipes out the loser due to the small formation sizes and means everything is decided in the first couple of turns air wise. This way means they fly and fight longer.

Linked to that you can't really boost fomration sizes that much as then they impact on the ground too heavily.

Finally: If you did implement those rules, would you adjust the size of the aircraft formations any? As I read those rules you can still only activate one intercept-formation to a single enemy formation making a bombing run or intercept action (I may not have read that right, the bit about activating them read a little weird to me), meaning usually you'll see two intercepters against two bombers, more often then not.

Not written very well I think! You keep activating until you want to stop or fail. Formation size would be dependant on a whole host of things, including balance, power and other stuff.