I have thought of a game mechanic that would allow our planes to perform shallow dives during which they only lose one climb counter instead of a normal dive, in which they lose a peg plus all their climb counters. See what you think.
Assuming that the Altitude rules are being used, give each player one of the square, blue 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Markers' but not the 'Exceptional Pilot Ace Skill Marker'. When the pilot wants to make a shallow dive they place the 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Marker' on the dive card in place of the normal speed token. When the card and marker are revealed, it will show that it is a shallow dive and not a normal one. The plane moves the same distance, the speed marker on the consol is left at (or changed to ) Fast and the plane loses one climb counter. If it has none, then it loses a peg and receives back the number of counters in its climb rate minus one.
Shallow diving would be useful for getting below an opponents tail, avoiding collisions and for night fighters with Schrage Musick mounts.
If the 'Exceptional Pilot Ace Skill' rules are being used then give the ace an extra 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Marker' and the corresponding ace skill token with the additional instructions that the dummy card being used to repeat a maneuver must not be the dive card and they cannot perform three steep maneuvers in a row. The 'Recovery Counter Rules' would apply as normal.
Another use for the 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Markers' could be to distinguish between an 'Overdive' and a normal 'Straight' move after a normal dive. A 'Straight' with an 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Marker' would be an 'Overdive' and a 'Straight' with a normal speed marker would be a normal 'Straight'.
One problem is that the Rules and Accessories Pack only contains four 'Exceptional Pilot Speed Markers' but I suppose that if more were needed the square, blue dive-bomber markers could be given to non-dive-bombers as a substitute.
I have not had an opportunity to try this out in combat yet but I thought that I would still float the idea for your comments.
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