jygro wrote:Aircraft disks: I like the aircraft disks. I'm not sure why exactly they have a disk number. For a moment, I thought you had gone collectable! :)You haven't gone collectable have you?
Err... no... ?
Seriously, it depends on what you mean by "collectible". I'm certainly not advocating randomly-packed sets or anything (although it may be an option-- i.e., by a set of six random disks at a discount or something, just so that I can clear out the stock... ). But I am planning on a set of 100 planes for the initial release -- and I'm hoping people will like the disks so much that they hafta get'em all!
The only problem that I have in this section is the activation markers. I'm not sure that many games these days have this kind of "chit-in-a-cup" system anymore, but that doesn't mean it won't work.
Well, another option is to use the ARES/Defiance system of cards for activation order...
Flight Groups: Every game that I played for dogfights had each player 'flying' a single plane (and with 8+ players, the skies were full of planes!) so I am a bit wary about how flight groups work. This might be a personal taste more than anything, but IMO why would pilots in a flight group not split up to attack separate juicy targets and then use common sense the 'next' turn and chase after a second juicy target which might require 1 or 2 planes in the group to dive and the others remain at their current altitude?
This game is meant to involve each player flying as many as a dozen or so planes; it's not a "dogfight" game by any means. Because of this, I wanted to keep the number of markers on the table to a minimum -- restricting flight groups to a single altitude and a single maneuver is my way of doing that.
Turn rating: I'm sure that the "no carry over" rule is for ease of play, but if something has a high turn number and a low MP, it might never turn! Perhaps allow half of forward movement to carry over and a box on the aircraft data sheet for recording purposes (either 0 or half MP of a plane's turn rating carry over, always rounding down).
I've made sure that no plane will be in the position of being unable to turn. (obviously, many planes are unable to do a tight turn, and only a select few can do a half-loop)
Tailing: When I first read it, I thought it stated that one tailing plane got to take a free attack EACH time your opponent moved any plane! I was like sweet Jesbus that's deadly, but after rereading it, it isn't as bad as I had thought. Why only one plane tailing it however? Perhaps a little too rough if I can get a full squadron behind a plane.
I wanted to keep the game moving... but in theory I have no objection to letting multiple planes use the tailing advantage.
Stacking: What happens if I try a tight turn, fail and end my movement in a space already occupied by a second plane. Is there a collision or as a pilot, I take some evasive maneuver (suffering some penalty)?
Nothing so drastic -- I'd just make the moving plane stop when it makes contact with the non-moving one.
Firing and Altitude: I can understand that since altitude levels are so large in the game that there isn't any firing between them.
There can be an optional rule, I suppose.
Critical Hits: Where are the rules for critical hits? There is nothing finer then ripping a plane to shreads and laughing as the climb and level flight speed has sunk below the minimum movement required. Thus the only way the plane can legally fly is to dive slowly to its death!
These are the bare-bones rules -- I'm open to suggestions for more stuff...
Power Dive: Allowing a plane to power dive lowering its altitude by 2, but not without a price.
I wanted to add both the power dive and "zoom climb".
