Hi,
The recent talks about air superiority (or the lack of it) in Dirtside
inspired me to try my hand at representing fighters opposing enemy ground
attack missions. These are rough draft rules only, and I won't get a chance to
playtest until after Xmas. I'm posting them so that I can get some input from
the list while I revise them. Please keep in mind that these are still very
abstract, and are not intended to be a detailed air combat simulator (after
all, there is always Air Superiority...). The concept of maneouvrability has
been ruthlessly lifted from
the ideas of 'Ndege "vectored thrust" Diamond'. ;-)
Any criticism (good or bad) is appreciated, so long as you remain
civil...
Air Superiority in Dirtside II
==============================
Dirtside II has no rules for air-to-air combat. This implies that
at the time of the battle, one side has already obtained air superiority. On
the modern (and presumably the future) battlefield, sometimes it is necessary
to attempt air mission even when there are enemy fighters in the vicinity.
These rules add another level on top of the existing aerospace operations
rules.
Several factors will affect the effectiveness of air-to-air combat.
In Dirtside terms, we will simplify all of these factors into four.
These are: pilot quality/training, electronics suite quality,
aircraft maneouvrability, and weapons quality.
In order to execute air superiority missions, the player must
specifically task one or more of his/her aerospace fighters with
an air superiority mission. The player does this when activating the craft.
Conducting Air Superiority Missions
===================================
For game purposes, air superiority missions are divided into three distinct
stages: spotting, interception and engagement. After declaring an air
superiority mission, the player may attempt to spot unengaged targets. For
each of the enemy's unspotted aerospace units, an opposed roll is made. The
spotting player rolls a die based on his command chit: D6 for GREEN, D8 for
REG, D10 for VET, shifted up for a grade 1 pilot and down for a grade 3 pilot.
In addition, he rolls a secondary die for his electronics suite: D6 for
NONE(rudimentary), D8 for BASIC, D10 for ENH and d12 for SUP. The aerospace
unit being spotted rolls its signature die. If either of the spotter's dice
beats the unit being spotted's die, then that unit has been spotted.
The spotting player may then choose to "lock-on" to _one_ of
the spotted units. Units locked onto the previous turn do not need to be
spotted again, and the player may choose to ignore the
spotting stage if he has a unit locked-on from the previous turn.
Once a unit has been locked-on, the spotter may attempt to
intercept the unit that it has locked-on. At this point, the target
may attempt to disengage. An opposed die roll is made, with the attacker
rolling his quality die, shifted up or down for pilot quality as above. The
defender wishing to disengage has a primary die figured exactly as for the
attacker, as well as a secondary die based on his aerospace vehicle's
maneouvrability rating. If the defender's roll is higher, then he has
successfully disengaged, and both aerospace fighters are considered activated
for the turn. Otherwise, the defender is considered to have been successfully
intercepted.
Once the target has been successfully intercepted, the two aircraft are
considered to be within GMS range. At this point,
the intercepting aerospace craft may fire any air-to-air
GMS that he has. This is resolved exactly as for ground-to-ground
or air-to-ground GMS fire except the target gets a secondary die
based on its maneouvrability rating, provided that the target elects to
perform evasive maneouvres. If the target does not elect to perform evasive
maneouvres, then it may attempt to return fire with its own
air-to-air missles.
Instead of (after?) firing missles, the attacking fighter may elect to engage
his target. This represents the pilot engaging the enemy with cannons and
other direct fire weapons, i.e. dogfighting. At these ranges, pilot quality
plays a critical role in success. An opposed roll is made to determine which
of the two pilots managed to maneouvre his aircraft into position for the
critical shot. Both pilots roll their quality die, shifted up or down for
pilot quality as above. In addition,
the die type is also shifted for maneouvrability ratings. SUP maneouvrability
shifts the die up by one, BASIC maneouvrability shifts
the die type down by one. These shifts are _open_ shifts, so
a VET 1 pilot in an aircraft with SUP maneourvability will get a D12, but his
opponent will also have his die type shifted down by one. The winner of this
roll gets an automatic hit against the loser with one of his weapon systems.
The hit counts as close range for chit validities.
Weapon/Systems Costs
====================
Maneouvrability
> Tony Christney <acc@questercorp.com> wrote:
I try to be civil most of the time... :-)
> Air Superiority in Dirtside II
Actually, I would say that both sides are disputing air superiority. After
all, both sides can have aerospace vehicles! If one side has aerospace
vehicles and the other side doesn't, the first side has air superiority. If
both sides have aerospace vehicles, and one side doesn't want to use them for
fear of losing them, then the second side has air superiority.
> On the modern (and presumably the future) battlefield, sometimes it
Vehicle size class and signature, and weapon Fire control.
> In order to execute air superiority missions, the player must
What's an air superiority mission? Do you mean attempting to destroy an enemy
aerospace vehicle before the enemy aerospace vehicle activates?
In other words, an off-board enemy aerospace vehicle?
The rules I posted and that are available on my web site cover on table
interception quite well. They are also simple and easy to use.
> Conducting Air Superiority Missions
Actually, in reality and the several books I've got, modern aircraft pilots
usually know where their opponent/target/victim is already from ground
or airborne radar.
> The aerospace unit being
Can't my off-board aerospace vehicle land or go behind a mountain
range
or hill? :-)
> Once a unit has been locked-on, the spotter may attempt to
Wouldn't the enemy off board aerospace vehicles be flying in such a way as to
assist each other? AWACs and fuel tankers flying race tracks,
escort fighters for defence, other fighters and bombers in- and out-
bound? All of them in the right place to counter attack an intruding enemy
fighter which has to move from its own side, over the battle field, and into
the opposing rear?
> Once the target has been successfully intercepted, the two
Couldn't the other enemy friendlies that are close by help the target out by
counter firing their missiles at the attacker? If you've attacked with a pair
of aerospace fighters at a formation comprising the whole of the opponent's
aerospace fleet, wouldn't this be suicidal? Surely, any unactivated fighters
would be moved to intercept the approaching fighters? After all, the defender
have lots more time to react than the attacker!
> Instead of (after?) firing missles, the attacking fighter may elect to
This sounds like WWII where you had to see your target to shoot it down. In
the modern and future battlefield, this is unlikely to occur. But, using pilot
quality to help defend against GMS and direct fire weapons sounds
romantic/good/cool
to me. How about this system? For direct fire weapons, as well as rolling the
fire control die, roll the pilot's leadership number expressed as a die: (0:
D12, 1: D10, 2: D8, 3: D6, 4: D4). The defender rolls the vehicle's signature
die as normal along with a die corresponding to the defender's quality:
(Red/Elite: D12, Orange/Veteran: D10, Blue/Regular: D8, Green/Green: D6,
Yellow/unskilled: D4)
In summary, use the leadership rating to attack with, the quality rating to
defend with. If both sides all roll "1" on all their dice, both vehicles
collide and are destroyed. If the defender's highest die rolls higher than the
attacker, the tables are turned, now the defender is the attacker, and the
former attacker is now defending. Roll again. If the attacker's highest die
rolls higher than the defender, draw chits on the defender and apply damage.
Make morale checks as appropriate for the defender. The attacker can make
another attack immediately or depart back to base. Equal rolls mean roll
again. Those pilots using the Force, can roll a D20 instead of their fire
control or signature.
(Luke, use the Force! - Obi Wan Kenobi)(The Force is strong in this
one. - Vader)
Using GMS, the attacker rolls the GMS guidance die, the defender rolls their
ECM die and their quality dice as above. Those pilots using the the Force can
roll D20 instead of their aerospace vehicle's ECM die.
These rules will also work with my on-table aerospace vehicle
interception rules on my site.
> Weapon/Systems Costs
I think using Vehicle Size Class (VSC) and stealth might be more appropriate.
> Electronics Suite
I don't think this is necessary,
as battlefield reconaissance is near god-like already.
> Air-to-air Missiles
I would nearly agree with this. Optionally, give a fire control die type
reduction.
> At 16:10 12/22/98 +1300, you wrote:
[snip]
> Air Superiority in Dirtside II
Technically, this is true, however, it is highly unlikely that opposing
aerospace vehicles will ignore each other and only conduct ground attack
missions. This is the current situation in DSII.
[snip]
> Several factors will affect the effectiveness of air-to-air combat.
ECM doen't really reflect what I'm thinking of here. The electronics suite is
things like airborne radar, IR detection, optical enhancements,
etc. ECM is purely defensive, whereas most aerospace electronics are not.
In the rules, you will note that the quality/leadership marker is used
extensively, but in the DSII rulebook they are referred to as
quality/training for aerospace operations.
> aircraft maneouvrability, and weapons quality.
However, I want to be able to reflect the difference between, say, and
A-10 and an F-16. Size/signature doesn't really accomplish this.
Weapon firecon is actually what I am using as a measure of weapon quality;).
> In order to execute air superiority missions, the player must
Exactly. One side is trying to wipe out the others aerospace, and vice versa.
> The rules I posted and that are available on my web site
I don't have web access. Perhaps you could email them to me?
[snip spotting rules]
> Actually, in reality and the several books I've got, modern
Agreed. However, the pilot will still have to locate and identify the enemy
himself before he can conduct combat against them. Spotting is
not necessarily visual identification, but is also locating low-flying
enemy craft among the ground clutter, etc.
> The aerospace unit being
Sure. But landing is not a good option, as it takes the vehicle away from the
theatre of action. Going behind a hill, etc. is reflected as a disengagement.
> Once a unit has been locked-on, the spotter may attempt to
I guess it really depends on several things: how many aerospace vehicles
do you want to include in your battles, and how detailed do you wnat their
interaction to be? For a first draft, I chose to mostly go for one on one
battles between opposing aerospace units. Multiple interceptions, counter
interceptions, etc. will come in due time...
[snip]
> Couldn't the other enemy friendlies that are close by help the
See above. All of this will come in time. Right now I mainly want to find out
if the basic mechanisms are sound.
[snip]
> This sounds like WWII where you had to see your target to shoot it
And quite realistic. Normally, a pilot that chooses to engage his target
at close ranges is either a) very confident of his _and_ his opponents
abilities; b) out of missles; c) very brave. He may also have missles that are
really only effective from the rear aspects, so he has to maneouvre into
position. Maneouvre is probably the single most important factor
as far as missle defence goes. Even a B-52 will try to get out of the
way of incoming missles. Probably an effort in futility, but try telling
that to the pilot! Even ECM like decoys, flares and chaff rely on the pilot
maneouvring to get out of the missle's way.
> How about this system? For direct fire weapons, as well as rolling
D6,
> Yellow/unskilled: D4)
You see, I wanted something simple and deadly. I figured that in a 15 minute
dogfight, somebody is going to get a good shot off! This is analogous to
the way ground vehicles fight in urban areas, except that aerospace vehicles
need to maneouvre into position to get their shots off, and if one pilot is
shooting, then the other is not.
> Using GMS, the attacker rolls the GMS guidance die, the defender
See above. An A-10 and an F-16 would be modern equivalents to what we
might see on a DSII battlefield. Both are roughly equivalent in size, have
almost no stealth, but which is by far the more effective fighter?
The F-16 wins hands down, mostly because of its far greater
maneouvrability and speed.
> Electronics Suite
As mentioned above, the electronics suite is the radar, etc. organic to the
aerospace vehicle. Since currently its only role is to spot enemy aerospace
vehicles, I made it relatively cheap. I am still debating about whether or not
to use it elsewhere in the rules. It would have to fit naturally, of course.
> Air-to-air Missiles
And probably also a significant damage reduction. More likely the
air-to-air
would suffer a damage reduction against ground vehicles with maybe a minor
firecon reduction. Ground target GMS would suffer a severe firecon reduction,
but almost no damage reduction. To keep it simple, I just used the above rule.
It would be very, very rare for a modern pilot to fire his ARAAMs at a tank.
Similarly, a TOW is not much use against an F-22...
> Andrew Martin
Thanks for the comments, I will be digesting them more thoroughly over the
holidays!