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Diamondback
01-20-2011, 14:44
This is something that I wrote up for part of one of the little "bedtime stories" the LDGE and I exchange every night when she asked me to write her something with a quick game in it, and I thought I'd post it for thoughts, debugging and possible use:

REQUIRED PIECES:
Two balloons
Two aircraft, roughly balanced to each other and to players' relative skill

OBJECTIVE:
Knock down the other player's balloon, and escape back off your edge of the map.

SPECIAL RULES:
If your plane is shot down, you're not out of the game--you respawn at your map-edge after two turns. If you drop the balloon and then get shot down, you have to "touch base" at the balloon's former location before you can start your "departure flight".

Any thoughts? Flames to /dev/null ... but "improvement" feedback would be appreciated, bear in mind this was originally about five minutes of quickly trying to think something up and get it shot off so my gal and I could get to the "fun stuff";)... so my thinking may not have been up to my usual sociopathic cold precision.

Aero825
01-20-2011, 15:06
Hey!!! There's a PC game called "Red Baron Arcade" that has a multiplayer mode called "Capture the Blimp", where you have to Capture the other side's Ballon a escape to your side! Your PSYCHIC I tell you! PSYCHIC!!!

Aero825
01-20-2011, 15:08
Oh, and I'm gonna try that with my dad and post the outcome. What size gaming area?

Diamondback
01-20-2011, 15:16
Oh, just regular "kitchen table game", call it anywhere from 36" square to 48" square and it can be revised if necessary. (I'd think bigger map means more challenge because you have to get farther without being shot down...

Hmmm, maybe I should amend it to lift that game's mechanic where once you've "shot" the gasbag enough you have to drag it home, and if you get nailed you have to come back and pick it up, but the other guy has two turns to start towing it back.

Maybe also a "One Flag CTF" variant with a neutral blimp in the center? That one might be easier... hmmm, now you're giving me ideas for "WoW Flying Football" or something like that!LOL

As for "psychic", not possible--that requires a functional frontal lobe, and I'm just above clinically braindead in the frontal (which leads to some fun snark thrown down on idiots sometimes--it also helps that the other three lobes have been "overclocked" to pick up the load).

Aero825
01-21-2011, 13:33
I have a few more questions. Where exactly are the balloons located? Do you play altitude? Do the balloons get pulled to the ground? What direction are the balloons facing? Details please.

Thanks.

Diamondback
01-21-2011, 13:56
Good questions. I was thinking balloons deploy anywhere in the 1/4 of the map's length closest to that player's edge (can be changed to 1/8 if necessary), and default is no altitude rules in effect--but if you're towing the blimp and using Altitude Rules, you must make your capture from the same altitude as the blimp. You can try to pull your own balloon to ground, but if somebody gets to it and makes a successful "snag" first, that cancels the pulldown.

Further refinement thoughts are always welcome--like I said, this started 'cause I needed something quick and dirty.

Aero825
01-21-2011, 13:58
Is the pulldown canceled permanantly for the rest of the game? Also, where is the balloon facing?

Diamondback
01-21-2011, 14:05
That'd be simplest, but I'm thinking for realism, if you can recapture your balloon and tow it home you can resume pulldown once it's back over its "nest" or if used in conjunction with trench rules a friendly trench. (Can't continue it just anywhere 'cause there aren't any ground crew to pull it down outside the nest, right? And if some maniac with a plane snags your balloon, are you gonna hold on and be dragged along? Me, I wouldn't...)

Aero825
01-21-2011, 14:12
What direction is the balloon facing? Also, what altitude are the craft starting at, planes and balloons?

Aero825
01-21-2011, 14:14
And collisions, are they in play to?

Diamondback
01-21-2011, 14:21
Collisions are in play, starting altitudes are each player's choice IF Altitude Rules are chosen to be used (obviously, if not there's no pulldown option), direction I'd say each balloon is pointed at the center of the opponent's map-edge but once under tow changes to match the towing plane's previous movement.

OH! Towing: When towing the blimp, you may not use Steep maneuvers. [STRIKE: and you are restricted to Slow speed--misremembered Speed, WWII-only] To start the tow, you must be within 1/2 ruler (should this be 1/4?) of the targeted blimp miniature.

Aero825
01-21-2011, 14:30
Speed is WWII only. Sorry! And can you just leave the balloon where it is and put a counter on the "towing" plane, so you don't have to re-place the balloon if the towing plane gets shot down.

Diamondback
01-21-2011, 14:33
Noted and edited, thanks--does the "No Steeps" sound reasonable for indicating what kind of maneuverability-killer doing a Gasbag Drag would be?

Aero825
01-21-2011, 14:44
Yeah, that sounds good.

Aero825
01-21-2011, 14:59
Here's how we're playing:

Match #1:Camel vs. Fokker Dr.I, 2 ballons, 6 in. (1/8) from the center of the edges. Rules: No altitude, 48 x 48 playing surface. Once a balloon has been destroyed, the enemy plane must pass within 1/2 ruler's distance from the balloon, which is kept in the same place until the game is over. The balloons are not being pulled down. Once the balloon has been taken down once, it doesn't have to be destroyed again,the plane must just pass over it. A blank counter is placed on a towing plane, which can't perform any steep maneuvers until they reach the edge of their side, and when this happens, they win.

More matches will be posted soon.

Aero825
01-21-2011, 15:31
Hey, I just had this idea, if a plane gets shot down 5 times, the game ends and the other side wins. Whatdaya think? Maybe there should be a health decrease every death or something. Open to opinions!

Aero825
01-21-2011, 16:10
The outcome of the experiment wasn't too good. With only 2 planes, there wasn't much encounters, and my faster Camel gained the upper hand as I attacked my dad's balloon, and despite his Fokker's desperate defense attemps, I severly damaged his balloon. But soon after, a series of collisions between my Camel and his balloon took my plane to the ground. The game just went downhill from there as I respawned and took his balloon down and back to my side. His slower Fokker couldn't get near my balloon before I had reached his. Maybe there should be a respawning gap or something.

My point is that 1 plane isn't enough. When one gets close to the balloon, the other is forced to defend, and eventually the damage accumilates and the game ends. You should add more planes, so that some can defend and some can attack. More action!

Diamondback
01-21-2011, 17:09
Good point--single plane for "One Flag CTF" only (which I need to write up), all others two or more? Weird, yours played out almost like the "bedtime story" I wrote my gal... (well, except for you not having to deal with her using every feminine wile and trick in the book in a futile effort to break my "Target Lock", anyway!) Precognition? LOL

For the marker, I had just figured "use the blimp mini"...

Then I need to figure out how to do kick-offs for "WoW Football"...

csadn
01-21-2011, 23:02
Any thoughts? Flames to /dev/null ... but "improvement" feedback would be appreciated, bear in mind this was originally about five minutes of quickly trying to think something up and get it shot off so my gal and I could get to the "fun stuff";)... so my thinking may not have been up to my usual sociopathic cold precision.

I have a similar idea on file, but I've never been able to play it. Differences:

1) The balloons have no defenses, and are placed with the rear edge flush with the table edge. (It's all up to the team to defend.)

2) Whichever specific unit deals the "death blow" to the enemy balloon is the one which must fly off its home edge to score.

3) If the unit defined in #2 is shot down before it gets off the table, the enemy balloon is returned to play with full hit points.

4) If an airplane is shot down, take the damage cards applied to it, shuffle them, and place them face-down. Each movement phase after it has been shot down, the plane's player draws the top card from the pile; once the deck is gone, the plane may re-enter the game at full hits. (Optional: Leave the damage cards face-up; the player removes cards starting with the *lowest* damage values; he may reenter as soon as he is at 1 or more hit points left.)

5) Ties are possible, if both acft. defined in #2 leave the board in the same movement phase, and are an equal distance off the board.

6) Play continues until one side has achieved a designated score.

Aero825
01-22-2011, 06:33
Hmm, I like it. Could you elaborate more? I didn't get how many planes, balloon altitude/placement/direction, details please.

MayorJim
01-25-2011, 12:20
Do you use the "deathstar" rule? If you're too close to the balloon (say half ruler or so) and the balloon explodes...everyone within that radius has a chance for damage as well...

Diamondback
01-25-2011, 16:36
If we're talking a "destroy" game, I'd say yes, if a hook-and-capture no. (In that case, your "damage" represents undoing its moorings rather than "lighting it up".)

csadn
01-26-2011, 14:29
Hmm, I like it. Could you elaborate more? I didn't get how many planes, balloon altitude/placement/direction, details please.

It's playable with any number of acft. and players; just make sure the sides are relatively equal. Balloons are placed in the middle of each team's "home edge", with the rear of the balloon on the edge (no blindsiding the balloon here). Anything else you might want to add -- terrain, altitude, etc. -- is up to you, and how much you want to complicate matters. :) (No "deathstarring", tho' -- the balloon is helium-filled. :) )

Hamburger
02-07-2011, 18:01
MMM, I'm with Hunter on this one, you are psychic. We played CTF and Football before, expect it became more "soccer" If a friendly plane was in a ruler distance you could "pass" the "ball" (chit) and to score you had to fly into a certain area. If shot down, you returned to your "goal" to respawn after few minutes/rounds/sodas later..... With CTF, we just used chits and the normal CTF rules, including "going to jail" and being "rescued"

Aero825
02-12-2011, 06:12
Wow, Charlie! That sounds like fun! I should try that some time.

Aero825
02-12-2011, 06:17
It's playable with any number of acft. and players; just make sure the sides are relatively equal. Balloons are placed in the middle of each team's "home edge", with the rear of the balloon on the edge (no blindsiding the balloon here). Anything else you might want to add -- terrain, altitude, etc. -- is up to you, and how much you want to complicate matters. :) (No "deathstarring", tho' -- the balloon is helium-filled. :) )

Thanks for the clearing up too Chris.

Hamburger
02-12-2011, 13:06
Er, um, continuing my post.... just whenever you get shot down is when you have to go to jail, to speed up play divide all HP's in half.

Diamondback
02-12-2011, 13:17
Can I suggest a rephrase to keep more in the spirit of the game? It's not "Shot Down" and "Jailed" (and I would suggest a Pilot Kill be an elimination), but you get "Critically Damaged" ("Critted" for shorthand) and have to "Return to Base for X turns of repairs". (I'd also suggest allowing a voluntary RTB available for less-than-critical hits, where you can draw a certain number of Damage cards per grounded turn and treat as "Negative Damage".)