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#Post#: 7674--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2021, 1:44 am
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I'm testing it solo.
#Post#: 7675--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2021, 3:20 am
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So, I've been working this morning on the changes to cards and
player aids.
(1) The Zone cards are shrinking to half-size. The intention is
that you no longer place flights in Zone spaces but on the table
near the zone card. Cards have been reoriented. In a FtF game
players sit opposite and have to read the cards sideways.
(2) The Lost zone gains a Weather setting display and Turn
track.
(3) I've done a major rethink on the actions in each zone and
the restrictions on card play. Restrictions have been removed
and the aim is to allow all cards to be played at all times. I
don't want a situation where I couldn't play a card for some
reason or other. I want to accelerate deck churn.
(4) I'm looking to increase deck size to 12 with a min hand size
of 4. This should accelerate the player through their deck at
least 1.5 to 2 times in the course of a scenario.
The following is stuff I'm contemplating:
(a) Refactoring Firepower values to be finer-grained to match
the finer-grained protection ratings. Right now late war gun
batteries lack punch.
(b) Increasing the chances of SA check failure as the scenario
progresses. It starts at 1-2 then increases to 1-3 on turns 3
and 4, and 1-4 on turns 5 and 6. (In other words, towards the
end of a scenario n00bs will just bleed away.) Rather like the
cohesion rolls in WL, SA rolls measure a bunch of frictional
stuff.
(c) The big one is how the active player is managed. I'm going
back and forth on this, but we may have a system where we roll
for the active player on each turn after the first. Then it
passes back and forth depending on success.
#Post#: 7676--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2021, 3:27 am
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First scenario play was the Thorney Island scenario.
Essentially, the Hurricanes were able to engage and tie up the
covering Bf 109s far too easily. the Hurris were at a
disadvantage throughout, but were a quagmire that kept the enemy
fighters occupied while one section got amongst the Stukas and
made hay, shooting four down for a single loss from defensive
fire.
For me, the major issues were the control the British player had
on the fight thanks to the active player back-and forth. That
said, I didn't do the sensible thing with the Germans and
disengage the 109s to re-engage and go after the fighters on the
Stukas.
Too often I conducted manoeuvres without use of cards. The
restrictions on card use were too easy to forget, even with all
the icons and notices. I'm simplifying this a lot in a way that
should introduce more back-and forth and interaction.
#Post#: 7677--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 12, 2021, 10:44 am
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I'm doing a reprofiling of the gun firepower, one that adds a
little more gradation to match the extra granularity of the
protection values. It's early days, but this is what I'm playing
with:[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 7678--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 13, 2021, 1:12 am
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So, one of the things I've been wrestling with is the
presentation of manoeuvre effects. Some effects are simple - do
one thing. Some are quite complex: Do A, then B, then C. Worst
cases are a string of four actions.
I've been presenting this in quite a wordy fashion on the zone
descriptions, but that's starting to look impenetrable in the
worst cases. So I'm taking a lesson from both Gloomhaven and
Atlantic Chase and presenting them as a series of abbreviations
and keywords. Then I'm stringing these together like so:
Wing > Atk SA > Contest > Move: Approach
So the string of orders here are: Wingman attacks, then Attacker
checks situational awareness > then contest initiative > finally
move the engagement to the Approach zone.
What I'm aiming for is easily digestible information that can be
read easily and quickly on the middle of the table, even in the
worst-case, most complex situations.
#Post#: 7679--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 13, 2021, 1:25 am
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On the new Firepower numbers I'm trying to give it a similar
treatment to the aircraft values in that they are essentially
'generational' Each generation of gun battery was designed for a
particular job:
Firepower 0 - Pre-war armament before the need for firepower vs.
modern bombers was appreciated (this also cover most defensive
fire armament)
Firepower 1 - Heavier batteries introduced pre-war - often the
largest that could be fitted to small airframes without a major
performance hit
Firepower 2 - First generation of armament specifically intended
to deal with modern bombers (i.e. 8-gun Spit); for the Soviets
this was often the heaviest battery they could install on their
light airframes
Firepower 3 - For the British this was an intermediate step on
the road to the preferred four-Hispano anti-bomber installation;
for the Americans this was the sweet spot for anti-fighter
action and jabo work
Firepower 4 - Optimal gun installations for anti-bomber and
anti-Sturmovik action, as well as ground attack
Firepower 5 - Ultimate anti-bomber gun batteries, though usually
came with a performance hit
#Post#: 7680--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 13, 2021, 1:29 pm
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Protection Ratings
I'm still playing with numbers at the moment, but the following
are proposed Protection values. These are premised on the USN
data that suggest a high survival rate from hits:
5 - Single-engine inline, no protection (CR.32)
6 - Single-engine radial, no protection (A6M2)
6-7 - Single-engine radial, light protection (A6M5)
7 - Single-engine inline, standard protection (Spitfire I)
7-8 - Single-engine radial, standard protection (F4F-4)
8 - Single-engine radial, upgraded protection (Fw 190A-5)
8 - Single-engine inline, heavy armour (IL-2)
8-9 - Single-engine radial, heavy armour (Fw 190A-8 Sturmbock)
7 - Twin-engine no protection (SB)
8 - Twin-engine standard protection (He 111)
9 - Twin-engine heavy armour (Hs 129)
9 - Four-engine standard protection (B-17)
#Post#: 7681--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 13, 2021, 5:33 pm
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I'm making good progress on the rules changes. I still hope to
have new files up by the weekend.
#Post#: 7682--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 14, 2021, 3:10 pm
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So, I think I'm on top of all the changes. I'm going to sit on
the materials for the next day or two before I release them,
just in case anything comes up.
Interestingly, I went through another overhaul of the core
mechanics today to simplify them further. I shall assemble
another playtest kit from scratch soon and give it a try.
#Post#: 7683--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Game
By: pilotofficerprune Date: September 15, 2021, 1:37 am
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Some final problems I wrestling with today are:
(1) The realisation that defensive fire is OP in one critical
aspect. I now have a fix for this.
(2) Adding a rule to cycle new environment cards into player
hands.
(3) Sorry, but a battery of four MK 108s is so off-the-charts
powerful it has to be a Firepower of 6.
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