Alternate 'Ace' Ability suggestions

[swarbs]

I've been keeping a sheet recording the kills of my the cards I have, and have been doing so for the dive-bombers as well, but their kills go up so slowly, and the ace abilities included in Dawn of WWII don't hold too much promise for the bombers anyway.

If I kept track of my bombers' successful bomb runs, perhaps 10 targets hit could equal an ace bomb ability. Can anyone think of a few abilities that would fit the bill in increasing bomb accuracy or something? Can anyone think of a few other standard (for fighters) ace abilities that could add to a game? The pilot development potential of this game has me thinking a campaign could be really fun.

[Oberst Hajj]

Seth, have you checked out my Ace Skills in Knights of the Air campaign rules? It is for WWI, but you could adapt it over to WWII very easily. As for a bombing skill, what about making a partial hit count as a full hit for the ace bomber?

[swarbs]

Thanks Col. I'll get over to look at your WWI ace skills.

Partial hit to full hit sounds like a good possibility, call it 'accurate'. I suppose you could also allow Dauntless or Val pilots to use the Stuka's vertical dive as a bonus, call it 'Daring Diver' or perhaps something else that's not so corny sounding. I'll keep digging/thinking.

[Oberst Hajj]

The Val and SBD already have the dive bombing ability along with the Stuka, unless you are talking about something else?

[swarbs]

The Stuka apparently has the option of using a unique 'vertical' dive bombing ability where the bombs actually fall on the area covered by the card which seems like an advantage.

[Oberst Hajj]

Okay, I just reread the vertical bombing part. With altitude added in, that is an advantage. I would say that you could award that to the other dive bombers. You could either replace Dare Devil or the Exceptional Pilot with this one, or you could add it to a dive bomber only list and call it "Ground Pounder" or something. If you wanted to make it tiered, you could scale back the number of forward cards by one "band" that the bombs go before they hit for level 1 of the skill, and for level 2 use the vertical rule as printed.

[swarbs]

A very good idea. I've been looking at your WWI tiered list and will try to adapt them to WWII. Ground Pounder, thats a good name.

[ara398]

Hi Guys!

why not call it the 'Rudel' effect?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel

Precis from the above link: ...According to official Luftwaffe figures, Rudel flew some 2,530 Stuka combat missions (a world record), during which he destroyed almost 2,000 ground targets (among them 519 tanks, 70 assault craft/landing boats, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, and 800 other vehicles) as well as 9 planes (2 Il-2's and 7 fighters). He was also responsible for the sinking of the Soviet battleship Marat, two cruisers and a destroyer. He was never shot down by another pilot, only by anti-aircraft artillery. He was shot down or forced to land 32 times, several times behind enemy lines.

Regards,
Adrian

[Oberst Hajj]

Wow, that's an incredible story!

[swarbs]

Well here's a few possibilities I worked up to benefit the bombers, though they could equally apply to fighters who had done well at level bombing. Comments/suggestions appreciated. As you can see I've stolen Col. Hajj's tiered system of ace advancements because it's a brilliant idea.

Flying Loaded I
This ability is only useful when playing with the Full Load optional rule. This pilot, when his plane still has to drop his bombs, retains his plane’s normal climb rate and needs to play only one non-steep maneuver between steep maneuvers.

Flying Loaded II
This ability is only useful when playing with the Full Load optional rule. This pilot ignores the effect of the Full Load rule.

Accurate Bomber I
When this pilot’s bombs hit the ground, if the bomb card overlaps even part of the target card, this pilot is granted full damage (or full victory points) for this attack just as if the bombs overlapped the red dot on the target card.

Accurate Bomber II
In addition to the effect of Accurate Bomber I, this pilot’s bombs deal one extra damage (or are worth one extra victory point) when they hit the target.

High-Altitude Drop I
This ability is only useful when playing with the altitude optional rules. When bombing from above altitude 1, this pilot’s bombs hit the ground one turn before they usually would.

High-Altitude Drop II
This ability is only useful when playing with the altitude optional rules. When bombing from above altitude 1, this pilot’s bombs hit the ground two turns before they usually would.

[Oberst Hajj]

Those all sound good to me.