Setting up a two player campaign - a few questions

[fidelis]

Hey guys,

I'm about to set up a campaign mode for my girlfriend and me to bring in some development aspects to the game. So this campaign will be played as a two player campaign.
I've checked the campaign section and downloaded a lot of files which offered me great ideas about creating campaigns and how to deal with wounded and shot dowm pilots. So I already have a framework set up in my mind, but some details need to be worked out. So your experience is needed!

I wanted to set up a campaign with limited resources. For instance each player has a squadron of 12 pilots (I want to use the pilots from the files section as cards. The back is used for keeping track of achieved victories, ace skills and wounds). The players assign the pilots to the planes involved in the scenarios and achieve strategic victory points SVP (the rules are mostly taken from the custom campaign rules by by Tony Crewdson). So for now I have the following questions and your suggestions concerning gameplay might help.

1) The end of the campaign can be set by
- achieved SVP over the played missions
- a player is running out of pilots
- number of missions

All of the three options make sense. What would you suggest?

2) How Many pilots are needed?

I can hardly say how many pilots you lose per mission in average. But 13 might be too few. Taking into account that gaining an ace ability requires 5 victories. Which brings me to the next question:

3) Should I reduce the required victories for ace abilities?

I mean being an ace should be something special. But in the unlikely event of making the most possible experience with only two pilots, the outcome would only be two ace abilities.

I know each of these questions can be answered either way, so what I am looking for is your expierience in playing campaigns. What did you enjoy the most and which ideas turned out bad?

Getting your pilots trained and more expierenced seems to add a new dimension to the game. I'm excited how the gameplay will change once you have long term goals and you have to decide whether to risk losing a pilot or to play it save and get defeated for this time.

It would be nice if some veterans would share their experience.

Edit: Sorry, I wanted to put this thread in the "campaign discussions" section. I failed

[flash]

Hi Benjamin, I would suggest having a standing flight of six pilots with unlimited replacements (your losses can be tied into VP), and play a set number of missions. I say this as a bad day at the office could end your campaigning too quickly.
The cards decide how many pilots you lose, could be none could be loads depending on your style of play; in OTT ED we have results that force you to break off - engine damage, high wounded pilot cards that take the 'godlike' control out of your hands a little.
Don't reduce the Ace status - if you survive to get five kills you know you will have earned it ! I wish you luck with it

[gully_raker]

G'day Benjamin!
Why not have a look at the rules for the OTT Early Doors solo Campaign.
You could use the rules for that campaign without any changes for two players.

[fidelis]

I double checked the OTT rules and came across the dice mechanics for landing and getting captured. I somehow missed these rules while reading it the first time. Now I arranged the different rules I found in the way I wanted the game to be and will give it a try. There is so much to find as a newbie, I was a little bit lost so I asked for hints. Being advised to read the OTT rules again helped here.

Now in my set up each Player has six pilots he can manage as he likes. The Secenarios are set up with plane and pilot restrictions so that nobody can throw in all six pilots at once. Seems to be quite similar or even the same as OTT, but I changed some rule details to make it easier. After playing two scenarios three pilots in total have to skip two scenarios or less. Losing a pilot seems to be quite unlikely even if shot down which is nice. Forcing a pilot to skip several missions is punishment enough.