First Game
- Thread starter moglwi
- Start date
Haven't you ever heard of a headwind? :lol: Yes, they are abstracted quite a bit for gameplay. I would have maybe doubled the speed regardless, as that way a destroyer could not "run away" from any of the aircraft in the game. I'm sure that the authors are generalising that spotting aircraft would be intent upon dodging flak and such would be moving in an evasive pattern while over a target ship (as well as circling while pointing at it, lol). I wish they could have a "station-keeping" speed of 7" while within 6" of the target, but moving from one location on the map to another allow them to climb to altitude and do maybe that 14" figure I mentioned earlier. As an offset to this mode, the spotter plane cannot give any "advise" to its parent ship :wink: . There never should be an allowance in the game for any aircraft to be outrun by a surface ship, ever :roll:. The closest combat aircraft in performance in the main rules is the Fairey Swordfish, with a speed of 13". The next fastest aircraft is the Devastator. Keeping in mind that these are both supposedly lugging heavy torpedoes I don't see a problem giving spotting aircraft their speed range. Therefore, I suppose if you wanted to "house rule" a linear speed of 14" when moving from the launching ship to the target (or chasing enemy destroyers around the table), I don't see a historical problem with that. Then when "on-station" and dodging AA fire it is limited to its "tactical" speed of 7", thus having limited impact on the existing rules. You might try that. 
:idea:
:idea:Fitzwalrus
Mongoose
That's an interesting idea, though IIRC there is no requirement in the rules for aircraft to move at all... you could just as easily leave an on-station Spotter "hovering" in one place, and simply assume it's circling there to maintain spotting position on the opposing fleet.
I do agree Spotters need to be faster, though. On our group's list of "things to do" are accurately-figured speeds for Spotter Flights, but we haven't played another game lately so we haven't gotten around to it yet.
(Don't you hate it when Real Life cuts into the important things in life, like gaming time? :twisted: :lol: )
I do agree Spotters need to be faster, though. On our group's list of "things to do" are accurately-figured speeds for Spotter Flights, but we haven't played another game lately so we haven't gotten around to it yet.
(Don't you hate it when Real Life cuts into the important things in life, like gaming time? :twisted: :lol: )
Fitzwalrus said:
Fitzwalrus, yes I wasn't saying that the players had to keep moving the spotter, just that the 'double-speed' condition didn't allow the die modifier to be used. Thus if a target ship was in fact outpaced, the spotter could be repositioned where that player thought the ship was heading. He would lose the die modifier for the turn it took to "reposition" the spotter. This way the original rule of 7" is not deleted, but rather clarified in order to add a slight strategy of "cat and mouse". This also serves to work in situations where there are interruptions in spotting which then adds a little spice possibly. At the same time, I don't see it as anything that would unnecessarily delay the game as it's rather easy to track. Thus, it becomes a band-aid "plus".
