One thing I noticed in my play test game yesterday, at least compared to Bag the Hun, is the feeble fire power which makes it difficult to score any significant damage. Using the revised fire factors in the expanded lists, I started out with only three dice, adding a handful for range and positioning, so few that an opposing saving roll often wiped out any potential hits. This made it extremely tough for the attacker, even when tailing at close range, although my terrible dice rolling also had an impact.
To remedy this, at least in part, I'm going to go back to using the fire factors in the original aircraft lists from the rules. These give a fire factor of two for each gun, so that a Sopwith Camel has a factor of four instead of three, for example. It's not much of an increment but enough to make a difference. I'm also going to give rear gunners with twin mounts a fire factor of four, instead of three, as I don't see the logic in a reduced rate of fire even though the number of guns is effectively doubled.
This minor tweak should give attackers a slightly better starting point when rolling for hits, countering the defensive dice roll of the target, which can be quite high if the target aircraft is very manoeuvrable. A more radical approach would be to double the fire factors in the supplemental aircraft lists, to give a fire factor of between four and six dice in most cases, but I'll leave that as a last resort if switching to the original fire factors doesn't cut the mustard.
A note with twin observer guns - they were heavy! Twin guns in the cowling were great, since they were aimed by pointing the aircraft. Twin guns on a pintle mount were more problematic, since the observer had to pivot and aim them. From a moving aircraft with a slipstream whipping past. It wasn't easy. I have a recollection I've come across references to crews losing one of the guns to improve ease of handling in a dogfight.
ReplyDeleteMy own rules don't make any double guns twice the strength of the equivalent single, and they reduce the firepower of pivot guns as well as they were harder to aim and maintain a sustained fire with.
Good points. I'm just concerned that the weak fire factors for rear gunners, especially when firing at tailing e/a head on, will make them too ineffective, with hits almost impossible. By bumping up twin rear hubs, which are not common anyway, it might give them more of a fighting chance. But I do take your point and you are absolutely right in questioning the effectiveness of twin mounted guns.
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