Tiered Ace Abilities [2 Levels]

[Oberst Hajj]

My group and I have been hashing out a set of tiered Ace Abilites for use in our campaign and this what we have come up with so far...


When a pilot or observer shoots down five aircraft they become an Ace and can select a special ability. If they shoot down ten aircraft they become a double Ace and can select a second ability or upgrade their current ability to level II, and so on. A plane may have an Ace pilot with a non-Ace observer or vice-versa. If the observer is incapacitated, his abilities may not apply for the rest of that sortie.

Ace abilities are either active or passive. Only one active ability can be used each phase. The benefits of passive abilities always apply.

Some abilities can only be used every two turns. For these abilities, place a blank counter on your flight board and discard it when the ability is used.

The Ace abilities are divided into two groups. The abilities in the first group can only be chosen by pilots. Abilities in the second group can be chosen by pilots and observers.

Pilot Only Abilities

Acrobatic Pilot I
Active
The pilot can do an Immelmann turn without having to do the straight maneuver after it. The straight maneuver before it still has to be done. The player may use this ability once every two turns.

Acrobatic Pilot II
Active
Same as Acrobatic Pilot I but can do an Immelmann turn without having to do the straight maneuvers before it or after it.


Daredevil I
Active
The pilot can perform two steep maneuvers in a row. The player may use this ability once every two turns.

Daredevil II
Active
Same as Daredevil I but can perform three steep maneuvers in a row.


Evasive Maneuvers I
Passive
The pilot cannot be tailed, unless the tailing pilot is also an Ace.

Evasive Maneuvers II
Passive
When being shot at in consecutive turns, the pilot ignores the +1 rule.


Exceptional Pilot I
Passive
The player can add an extra copy of one card from his maneuver deck into his deck.

Exceptional Pilot II
Passive
The player can add one maneuver card from the maneuver deck of any plane from the same or earlier years to his deck. A two-seater cannot add an Immelmann turn to its deck.


Pilots and Observer Abilities

Deadly Aim I
Active
The Ace can use the Aim bonus (+1 damage) even if he did not shoot at the plane in the previous phase. The player may use this ability once per turn.

Deadly Aim II
Passive
If at close range, the Ace can use the Aim bonus (+1 damage) even if he did not shoot at the plane in the previous phase. This ability does not replace Deadly Aim I, it is in addition to it.


Dedicated Ground Crew I
Passive
The plane ignores the green jammed Special damage.

Dedicated Ground Crew II
Passive
The plane ignores all jammed Special damage.


Lucky Git I
Active
The pilot can ignore damage from a single card. The player must show the card to all other players. Shuffle the ignored card back into the community damage deck. An explosion card may not be ignored in this manner. The player may use this ability once per sortie.

Lucky Git II
Active
The pilot can ignore damage from a single attack. The player must show the card(s) to all other players. Shuffle the ignored card(s) back into the community damage deck. The player may use this active ability once per sortie.


Marksman I
Active
The Ace selects damage cards for his target. When the Ace fires at an enemy plane he draws one card from his damage deck and one card from the matching community damage deck, looks at them, and determines which card the enemy player keeps. At short range, the Ace draws an extra card from the community damage deck and determines which two cards the enemy player keeps. Shuffle the unused card back into the community damage deck. The player may use this ability once every two turns.

Marksman II
Active
The Ace selects damage cards for his target. When the Ace fires at an enemy plane he draws one card from his damage deck and two cards from the matching community damage deck, looks at them, and determines which card the enemy player keeps. At short range, the Ace draws an extra card from the community damage deck and determines which two cards the enemy player keeps. Shuffle the unused card back into the community damage deck. The player may use this ability once every two turns.


Quick Shot I
Passive
The Ace fires and resolves damage before pilots and observers without Quick Shot. Planes shot down do not fire.

Quick Shot II
Active
The Ace fires and resolves damage before the maneuvers in a phase are executed. The Ace does not fire again after maneuvering. Planes shot down do not maneuver or fire. The player may use this ability once every two turns.


Technical Eye I
Active
The player can look at the damage cards of one aircraft in firing distance. The player may use this ability once every two turns.

Technical Eye II
Active
Same at Technical Eye I but can look at the damage cards of two aircraft in firing distance.


Toughness I
Passive
The Ace draws one card from the type A community damage deck and adds the number to his base and current Health Points. If an explosion card is drawn, he draws one card from the type B community damage deck and adds the number to his base and current Health Points. If a second explosion card is drawn, he treats it as a “0”.

Toughness II
Passive
Same as Toughness I but draws two cards from the type A community damage deck.


Trench runner I
Passive
When attempting to evade capture, if the Ace draws a card with a Special damage symbol, he adds +1 to the number. If an explosion card is drawn, he treats it as a “0”.

Trench runner II
Passive
When attempting to evade capture, the Ace draws an extra card.


We would love to hear what you think of these... the good or the bad!

[Colmanspig]

sorry about my spelling and grammar in a bit of a rush.

Have you thought of bringing in negertive traits of novice flyers? This would then serve to make aces better with ou any more tiers.

also has some basis in historical fact, in pilots biogs they all start off pretty poor. reach apoint then become very effective.

traits like 'poor shot' -1 damage. over come when flown a couple of missions or delt out 5 or ten damage cards?

'sitting duck' unable to make the fine live saving dodging methods. plane has 10%- or 20% less hit points. or use the 1+ damage rule some how.

'timid', keeps distance or has to take a moral test to stay engaged, when he has suffered 80% damage.

'reckless' this one would need some degree of role playing perhapes.

'trigger happy' runs out of bullets after secret or not preditermed level, say ten damage cards, or maybee less.

'god, only 1 hour on camels' new pilot, consider removing a card or two from the deck. only lasts for one mission. may need some thought!

pilots could have one or more. English RFC may have more than germans pilots, but be replaced in the squadrons faster.

[Oberst Hajj]

Cool ideas, but I'm hesitant to give negatives in a campaign that is supposed to be fun. I think new player would already be a disadvantage to people playing for a while. Through in the possible skill spread adding these bonuses and negatives into the game could bring... and new pilots might not have a chance at all.

[Colmanspig]

Well you have a better idea how these things would pan out in practice.
I imagine a flight would only have one novice in it at a time . my idea is that the squadron would pretty much have to carry its newier pilots. If you had a novice pilot, your aims would be , to get through the mission, stick to your flight leader.

it could bring in to effect new ace abiliites in the leadership and training spheres. To demostrate the abilities of say Boeleck (spelling) or Major Maddock. Ace abilities that would mediate and reduce the novices negertives. or reduce the xp needed to lose this handicaps. Maddocks skills would say reduce the novices shooting problems.

these are just fantasy ideas really i have no idea how , or if they would work or if they are even needed at all. Just having fun,i feel it may make you hav a warmer feeling for the the sub ace journeyman flyers, that would be created if you created novices.

[Oberst Hajj]

Sounds like really good ideas for a role playing style of campaign... something that has been talked about on this site before.

[Lowell Throttle]

These sound like interesting ideas - similar to what we had in Blue Max years ago.
It might not work well by putting new players of WoW at a greater disadvantage.

But then as flying games go WoW is really not a heavily rule laden game
and it would add some realism for a campaign in that pilots and crew do progress in abilities as they gain experience.

Campaigns and these kind of rules I think are are fun......

....I think I played F.I.T.S/Dawn Patrol longer that WW1 actually lasted! :D

[Jythier]

I think this could be pulled off in a great way that doesn't hurt new players. Basically, the negative abilities can apply to novice pilots - but each player starts with an experienced pilot, and a novice pilot. That way, there is a penalty if you get shot down and are out for 1 game, but without having to actually sit out - you just fly with your backup, who has a lot farther to go to become an Ace. The way I would do it would be this -

Accuracy (eliminates -1 on long range cards, 10 XP)
Immelman (allows pilot to Immelman, 10 XP)
Tailing (allows pilot to tail, 10 XP)
Aim (allows pilot to give +1 damage on consecutive shots, 10 XP)
Ace (10 XP, all others prerequisite, allows pilot to begin taking ACE skills)

1 XP for each shot (2 for short-range) and 10 for each kill, 20 if you kill an ace while you're not. Additional points are awarded for mission-based objectives (success as a team).

The campaign I was a part of actually started everyone as a novice but I think that's just harsh... also, if you're driving a two-seater, your backup is the observer, so the two-seater problem is already solved. Also, they're more likely to get killed that way with the observer cards so that they would reset to no skills. But a new player coming into this would have a decent starting point with a pilot who could be an ace, and just needs to kills/XP to buy an Ace skill.

I would play only with XP though, and forget all this nonsense about the number of kills mattering. Although kills are fun.

I would also recommend playing that the explosion card is in the deck, but doesn't instant-kill a player unless they are smoking, engine damaged, or on fire already.

[Colmanspig]

Like the idea of the Xp points . would have to playest out how much would be needed to pass what.

see i din't really see an issue with new WoW players having to fly as novices all the time. As i had an idea for a campaign misions players would given fliers for a mission from a stable of pilots from the squadron, of differing skill levels. say a squadron has 12 pilots avaiable for duty well only say 4 would be going upeach mission.


My woolie vision. is 4 players running two allied bases , and four players running two axis. Historic map printed off. two bases each side. structured missions time, stick to air supriority.

have it just structured, auto flights. or how about

each base to fly two patrols a day am (4 hours)and pm (4 hours)
pre determinged mission paths hidden from each other. use straight manuverdeck cards and token mini of slowest plane in the flight to simultaneously plot on map the paths of the patrols and missions.


I need to work out engagement rules. so when patrols get close enough to test for initative and fight. Having some idea about size and scale of the macro to normal gaming player surface. bonus for chaseing a patrol off ' move up a point on the air superotiry slider ?' gives some advantage. Prevents frequent timid disengagment, which could be a problem.

all players take part in the engagements to reduce or if lucky eliminate multiple controling of planes.
See an issue with predictable flight paths.

Total madness. these are largley stream of thoughts . i like the ideas of having a level of game above. weird.

[sparty]

I'm not sure the daredevil skill doesn't unbalance the game a bit. Being able to pull off 3 steep maneuvers in a row means that most planes get an elevation change every turn which could be devastatingly powerful since it'd make it almost impossible to hit those people and they could pick and choose when to dive.

[Oberst Hajj]

Sparty, while the climb and dive cards are steep maneuvers, steep maneuvers are not climb and dive cards. Does that make sense? In other words, that skill does not apply to diving and climbing. It is similar to the stall not being a straight card.

[Jythier]

You still only have 1 climb card in your deck, so one per turn... can't climb and immelman in the same turn still... Colmanspig, I like the way you think! Basically, the players get to choose where to patrol and a moderator says whether they find each other... pretty cool, but I would think only for a two-player game, or a 4-player each player controls a patrol of 2 planes (so each player is flying every mission). Also, it would take a long time to do a whole game of it. But hey, whatever makes it fun!

[sparty]

Sparty, while the climb and dive cards are steep maneuvers, steep maneuvers are not climb and dive cards. Does that make sense? In other words, that skill does not apply to diving and climbing. It is similar to the stall not being a straight card.

Yeah after re-reading the rules and playing with them that makes sense. A buddy of mine came over and we played a couple games with the altitude rules and 4 planes. They were kind of useless in 1 on 1 games...it's way more useful in larger games from what I can tell because of how slowly you gain altitude.

[IRM]

Depends a lot on what planes you use, the likes of the Camel and Fokker Triplane have climb rates of 2. If you use 2-seaters, you'll find that their slow climb rate and the ability to attack them from below stop them from being overpowered (although I'm still dreading running into Brisfits :)), and ground fire is also deadly without altitude rules.

The climb rates are the main reason I don't use extra pegs or counters to let planes move outside the 0-3 height difference in th rules as written.

[sparty]

I just don't see the utility of the altitude rules in small engagements where 1 kill plus flying off the board will net you more points than your opponent flying his remaining plane off the board. It's just an instant win.

[IRM]

To quote the Red Baron film "There's a thin line between cowardice and cleverness":) It might be realistic, but I can see where it could be frustrating.

I suppose it's down to the victory conditions. Half of the straight dogfights in the rulebooks have the player who is shot down or flies off the table losing. The scenarios using points work as you described, but many of them have conditions which must be fulfilled before the attackers can disengage.

This's another good reason to use experience points and/or kill points in campaigns. Most players won't disengage if they think they can get a few points closer to earning a skill !

[rcboater]

Some thoughts:

Acrobatic Pilot: I would only allow non-steep maneuvers as substitutes for the straight.

Daredevil: The name implies a risk taker. Where's the risk in doing the extra steep maneuvers? Maybe add in a chance for a stall and loss of altitude as a negative. I also think that allowing 3 steep cards may be a bit much- even keeping in mind that the deck doesn't have that many to choose from. Allowing 3 steep maneuvers is sort of cheating the laws of physics....

Quick Shot 2: I don't like this one, though I'd have to think a while before I could come up with an alternative.....

Technical Eye: Seems like it might be a waste of time-- who would choose this when there are better options available?

Finally, I might think about making the assignment of the skills random. Most successful pilots had the latent abilty waiting to come to the surface. Frank Luke was destined to be a daredevil, not a marksman..

[Doug]

The idea of restricting the novice pilot on his first mission has some merrit as a lot of pilots on both sides were undertrained. The pilot could also be restricted in some of the manouvers that are alowed for his aircraft for example no immel turns!

[Adragan]

Some thoughts:

Acrobatic Pilot: I would only allow non-steep maneuvers as substitutes for the straight.

I totally agree with that and i used like this in my group..


Daredevil: The name implies a risk taker. Where's the risk in doing the extra steep maneuvers? Maybe add in a chance for a stall and loss of altitude as a negative. I also think that allowing 3 steep cards may be a bit much- even keeping in mind that the deck doesn't have that many to choose from. Allowing 3 steep maneuvers is sort of cheating the laws of physics....

I must say that cheating the laws of physics implies risk, but its true.. that Skill don't have a "real" risk.. Again in my group, we used a rule with it, "When you perform a Daredevil maneuver, if a enemy hits you, adds another token (DoW Players) of the high type, it accumulate to other bonuses" Due to the high risk that the pilot takes to do the maneuver, it exposes himself to a high chance of being damaged.

Also i must admit that its true that your deck doesn't have much steeps to do..


Technical Eye: Seems like it might be a waste of time-- who would choose this when there are better options available

Well we used it.. and its usefull when you have two planes at range.. and if the two are damaged, you can see one of them and think what plane you should shoot.. its like a 75% of knowledge to who you should fire..
Ok, when its only one plane that you are chasing it might seem a waste of time.. but you can use it (i used it) to know if your Ace must hit him a little bit more before let the rookie pilot finish him to gain XP easily..