FMA Aircraft: Guns

Hey All,

So I've written up a set of rules using the FMA mechanics for air combat and I
plan to play test them a bit Friday evening. I've written them assuming Mach
capable aircraft from the 70s onward though they can easily be used with prop
driven aircraft or early jets.

I'm looking at two philosophies for determining an aircraft's firepower and
impact for any guns mounted on the platform.

#1: Throw a quality die and firepower die for each pair of guns. Take the
highest two results and compare them to the target's die roll (which is
quality & defense die -- high value is used).  Beat 1 is a near miss
while beating 2 is a solid hit. For example a Korean War Sabre has six.50 MGs
so would throw quality and then 3 FP die.

#2: Come up with a standard firepower & impact for the the set of guns and
be done with it -- though this approach will have several weird die
combos.  For example a Mig-15 may have an exceptionally large Impact die
at close and medium range to model getting smacked by a 37mm shell but the
long range impact die will be significantly lower because of the severe drop
said 37mm shell experiences.

Psychologically players will probably enjoy #1 as it's a bucket of dice and
their odds of getting a decent result go up tremendously. From a
speed-of-play perspective I like #2 and will probably lean that way.

Opinions?

D.

Problem 1: In air to air combat (guns) there is not such thing a a 'near
miss'.It is either hit or miss, Missiles are almost always a near miss,
think of them assmart flak. Problem 2: Cannon damage is not related to range,
it is a product of the explosive in the shell. A long range hit from the
37mm will produce the same damageas a short range hit. Less probability of a
hit with the 37mm at longer range..

Bye for now,John L.<IO

On Tuesday, February 2, 2016 2:24 PM, Damond Walker
> <damosan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey All,

So I've written up a set of rules using the FMA mechanics for air combat and I
plan to play test them a bit Friday evening. I've written them assuming
Mach capable aircraft from the 70s onward though they can easily be used with
prop driven aircraft or early jets.

I'm looking at two philosophies for determining an aircraft's firepower and
impact for any guns mounted on the platform.ÂÂ

#1: Throw a quality die and firepower die for each pair of guns. Take the
highest two results and compare them to the target's die roll (which
is quality & defense die -- high value is used).  Beat 1 is a near miss
while beating 2 is a solid hit. For example a Korean War Sabre has six.50
MGs so would throw quality and then 3 FP die.ÂÂ

#2: Come up with a standard firepower & impact for the the set of guns
and be done with it -- though this approach will have several weird die
combos.  For example a Mig-15 may have an exceptionally large Impact
die at close and medium range to model getting smacked by a 37mm shell but the
long range impact die will be significantly lower because of the severe drop
said 37mm shell experiences.

Psychologically players will probably enjoy #1 as it's a bucket of dice and
their odds of getting a decent result go up tremendously. From a
speed-of-play perspective I like #2 and will probably lean that way.

Opinions?

D.

> On 2 Feb 2016, at 23:37, John Leary via Gzg <gzg@firedrake.org> wrote:

> Problem 1: In air to air combat (guns) there is not such thing a a

Rather than "Near Miss" for a beat-with-one-die result, call it a "minor
hit" - a few rounds chew relatively unimportant holes in the aircraft,
missing anything vital, but the pilot knows damn well that he's been hit and
will react accordingly…… a good solid hit (beats with both dice)
means that you have the chance of doing something serious to the target
aircraft.

Jon (GZG)

> Problem 2: Cannon damage is not related to range, it is a product of

In the rules, as written, a "near miss" can be a very light hit or tracers
whizzing past the cockpit. The end result is that the aircraft is flying
in what I call a Disadvantaged State with the defender getting a -1
shift
to their quality die until he/she get their sh*t together.  This
represents a number of things: the pilot is jinking the aircraft wildly, maybe
some light damage tweaks the flight model for a bit and it takes the pilot
working the stick to get things under control, who knows.

During their next activation the pilot must burn an action to negate the
modifier.

This kind of aligns with Jon's comment.

As far as cannon go - yeah I get it.  FMAS mechanics of old gave weapons
a firepower rating to represent the amount of lead they could put into the air
and impact or the amount of damage they can cause if a target was hit. Impact
would then be rolled against the target's armor.

In the aircraft case, and especially with the Mig example, the rate of fire,
shell drop, and speed of the cannon rounds were wildly different. My point
with the earlier message is that the dual 23mm and 37mm didn't necessarily
converge at the same point. So at close range the Impact die should probably
reflect the target getting stomped with 37mm shells. At longer range perhaps
the 37mm rounds had already dropped too far but the 23mm rounds were just
hitting convergence. In game terms this means that Impact would be reduced.

D.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 6:37 PM, John Leary via Gzg <gzg@firedrake.org> wrote:

> Problem 1: In air to air combat (guns) there is not such thing a a