Friday 6 April 2018

Gunnery in Target Locked On


I've been thinking of how to fix the impossible gunnery problem in Target Locked On, where the modifiers to hit are all negative (-1) with the targets mostly requiring a base chance of 4+ or 5+ to hit, making it a pointless exercise if only two modifiers are applied. As one of these is the attacking aircraft having performed a manoeuvre and another is having a target at 30+ speed, you really have very little chance, if any, of even scoring a hit.

While this is fair enough in high speed modern dogfighting and explains why guns are rarely used, it doesn't make for a very rewarding gaming experience. To even the chances a little bit, I will be trying out a couple of positive modifiers which I think are realistic and justifiable both in game terms and in real life. These include:

+1 for being at close range (equal or less then 10cm)

+1 for being 'on the tail' (determined using the Forward / Rear fire template, placed on the back end of the targeted aircraft, with a line traced back to the attacking aircraft)

I am also wondering about leaving out the -1 for being at a different altitude, as I would have thought gun attacks would have to be made at the same relative height, unlike missile attacks? I'll try these adjustments out tomorrow, when I'm hoping to run at least a couple of games using my newly acquired Cold War card aircraft counters.

Incidentally, I've worked out the stats for the Il-28 Beagle, which has highlighted a problem with the points values in the Aircraft Builder system, as there are no points listed for medium 'tactical' bombers. The points values also seem a bit wonky for fighter bombers (whatever they represent?) and don't match up with those included for some of the aircraft in the lists, which is a real headache and slightly weird.

2 comments:

  1. I haven't tried these rules, but is there a modifier for pilot quality? Also, what about a modifier for advance fire control systems (better predictive target tracking)? Either, or both, of those could give you another positive modifier.

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  2. Hi Dave,

    Yes, you have to pass a pilot skill check before you can fire. Good idea on the fire control but not sure how it would work.

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