This is a continuation of my Simplified Altitude Rules (SARs) with an idea for the much requested rate of climb for different planes.
The rate of climb used for this system is taken from page 13 of the Wings of War Burning Drachens. Andrea basically divided the planes listed there into four groups based their rate of climb.
In game terms, I feel that the different climb ratings for planes simulates one plane being able to pull away, out of firing range, from another slower climbing plane. It is easier to represent this in the horizontal axis then in the vertical, even with miniatures. As such, I think it reasonably except-able to have the planes change altitude levels at the same rate, but simply let the fast climbing aircraft cover more horizontal distance while doing so.
In my SARs I removed the climb counters and rate of climbs and simplified a climb as follows:
Normal Climb
2 card maneuver
This actually plays out quite well. The one draw back was a plane could almost always leave a fight by flight out of the max altitude level of that missions, effectively leaving the gaming table. To help bring this back in line with how the planes actually preformed, I am suggesting the following be applied.
All aircraft with a climb rating of 5 from page 13 of Burning Drachens continue to play the normal climb maneuver outlined above.
All aircraft with a climb rating of 4 from page 13 of Burning Drachens replace their standard climb card with the dive card from the G deck (card 2/2 of BD). The climb maneuver for these aircraft would now look like this...
All aircraft with a climb rating of 3 from page 13 of Burning Drachens replace their standard climb card with the dive card from the J deck (card 2/2 of BD). The climb maneuver for these aircraft would now look like this...
All aircraft with a climb rating of 2 from page 13 of Burning Drachens replace their standard climb card with the dive card from the H deck (card 2/2 of BD). The climb maneuver for these aircraft would now look like this...
If played out in a game, a SPAD XIII with a climb rating of 3 would be able to out run a Roland C.II in a climb and escape the "top" table edge. Reversing the roles, the Roland would have a very hard time escaping the SPAD if it tried to climb out. This simple mechanic is amplified by the fact that shooting at a plane one altitude level higher reduces the range by half a ruler. As long as the escapee starts the climb first, they will have a slight advantage, but not one so large that a faster climbing plane could not over come given they try to chase it down.
One of the things I really like about this system is, once you decide to use it, you do not have to keep track of any charts or counters... the maneuvers are built right into your deck... just like every other maneuver in the base rules!
I believe this same system could be used to simulate dive rates as well. We would just have to agree on a source for dive rates (not normally listed in aircraft stats) and then swap out the dive cards for dive cards from other decks.
Edit: We have actually been looking into dropping the required stall after these. That would bring it back inline with the standard rules in that the climb card is a red steep card.
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