Update No. 25
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Sep 27, 2022 at 09:57:20 PM
On this occasion, we inform the backers that we're working diligently on this project. We have encountered some difficulties that are slowing us down, so we cannot give specific estimates about the start of shipping.
Due to the obvious delay, we considered the possibility of making the game (rules and elements) within the framework of what was promised at the beginning of the campaign, and after delivering the rewards to all backers, we would finalize an expanded second edition that would contain all the additions that we have developed and announced in the meantime. However, we established that the Kickstarter backers should immediately receive a complete, full version of the game. When we think like businessmen - it's bad for us, because it induces additional costs and problems in organizing the work due to a lot of idle periods. Thereby, we are at the risk that the backers will lose their trust in us due to delayed shipping period, but we, as authors, certainly want the first edition of this game to be the best possible version, and it would be fair to you, backers, to get the full version of the game right away. The practice in our previous campaigns was to actively engage the backers in the process of creating the final version of the game, and again, during this campaign, we adopted many of your suggestions and adapted them to our vision, so, in a way, you are also part of the creative team. That's one more reason we want you to get the full version. The extremely favorable reviews we received for the previous project (AoD:WWI) oblige us in a way to make this new, more advanced game also an excellent product.
The introduction of new game elements (detailed actions Air - Surface and Surface - Air) allow simulating almost all possible actions of air forces during WWII. The possibilities for playing in the most diverse scenarios are almost unlimited. All these new elements in the game do not affect our motto MCMD /Minimum Complexity - Maximum Diversity/. Simply put, many rules are optional and the players who prefer shorter and smoother games do not have to apply them. Again, true enthusiasts and connoisseurs of the history of air battles will have all the elements to try out all the great and demanding tactical variants.
We are aware that you are all anxiously waiting for your copy of the game, and that your displeasure due to the delay is completely justified. We hope that you will have enough patience to allow us to complete the work on this project in full focus, without additional tensions. Furthermore, we are sure that at the end of this, everybody will be satisfied with the result.
Rules development: Actions against ground targets
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 03:39:05 AM
While all our staff is on vacation, we, the authors, are working on the rules. We are not very satisfied with the pace, because there are some unforeseen private matters that occasionally disturb us. However, the most important reason why we need extra time to complete the work on the rules is the fact that we’re adding some options that were not originally intended.
In the game AoD:WWI, the rule for bombing targets on the ground is very simple – it is enough for a plane carrying bombs to fly over a certain zone. The moment in which the bombs are dropped is not important, nor is there any criterion for determining the accuracy of the bombing. A similarly simple rule applies to torpedoes. Task zones have a simple shape of a rectangle or a silhouette of a ship. For the game AoD:WWII, we originally envisioned this segment of the rules to be similar as the previous game. To backer's questions on that topic, we replied that we would represent the actual targets on the ground in more detail in our future series of war games – Tactical Battlezone (which will be a continuation of our old games:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173124/naval-battle
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174592/helicopter-and-tank-battle-game
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174595/tiger-meet).
Considering that we’ve greatly improved the rules for movement and air combat compared to AoD:WWI, the rules for engaging ground targets would be disproportionately simple and plain. Additionally, it is also a fact that aircraft improved their capabilities for actions on ground targets compared to the WWI period, and this especially applies to tactical procedures. Close support from the air to troops on the ground was established as a very important segment of warfare. At the beginning of the war (in the blitzkrieg period) the Germans were the best at it, and the main tactical procedure was precise bombing of point targets with dive bombers. On the other hand, the Allies perfected the use of fighter-bombers for these purposes during the war (by the end of the war, the Germans also began to massively use fighter-bombers instead of dive bombers). On the Eastern Front, the Soviets had a different approach, as their idea was to use the Il-2 armored attack aircraft…
In addition to the traditional dropping of bombs from the air, strafing was also used very often in order to attack targets on the ground. It has already been mentioned that bombs were dropped while diving (usually at a 60° angle, and some aircraft as steep as 90°). Of course, classic bombing from medium and high altitudes was also perfected during the war. All of this forced us, the authors, to write the rules for actions against ground targets in much more detail and to bring them in line in terms of complexity with the rules for movement and combat in the air. However, these rules will still be represented exclusively from the aircraft perspective – there will be no movement of ground/water units nor will they be represented in any other way other than being targets (or AA guns with their zones of action).
We have to introduce some additional elements into the game components. We are keeping the 3+3 rectangular task zones, and the silhouettes of the 3+3 ships will be in different sizes. In addition, we are introducing another 9+9 zones that cover only one point on the board and represent point targets (a bridge, enemy firing position, some troops, etc.). Corner markers (13+13 pieces) are used to mark large zones on the board which need to be bombed, photographed, or patrolled.
In addition to the plastic elements mentioned above, this game will also contain various round cardboard markers that will be used to more precisely define whether a task has been completed (bombing, taking photos, dropping paratroopers, etc.).
All these additions that we introduce to the game will be synchronized with other rules. Although we didn't intend it in the beginning, this game will offer a comprehensive representation of the whole aviation warfare from the WWII period. With all this, the options for creating scenarios increase drastically. We are working on the rules with great enthusiasm, and we believe that the final version will leave the gamers very satisfied.
Rules development: Inertia
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Jul 04, 2022 at 01:45:34 AM
In one period, there was a standstill in the work on the rules due to justified private reasons, but now our author's team has continued work on writing the rules. In this update we present one of the novelties in the rules. It was partially announced during the campaign (speed markers), but in the meantime the ideas were refined and improved, and a completely new element is added:
Inertia
In AoD:WWI there is an optional rule to track the movement speed of each aircraft. That rule restricts firing if the difference in the speed of the shooter and the target is too large. Application of this rule requires that the speed of each aircraft in each round be recorded on a paper. That recording significantly slows down the game and the optional rule is probably rarely used by players.
For the game AoD WWII, we announced the introduction of speed indicators that in a simple way show how fast each aircraft was moving in the previous round. After some backers asked us will we take inertia into account, we were inspired to further develop the idea of limited acceleration. We had some initial ideas but we weren't sure it would work as intended (it could end up being too tedious to play with). Now we found a way to make it simple (easy calculation), which is in accordance with our MCMD principle, although it will be an optional rule.
When this rule is used, the movement speed calculation does not start from the basic speed number (written characteristic on the token and Control Panel), but from the number shown on the speed indicator (the aircraft velocity from the previous round). That number can be increased or reduced as desired, but only a little bit (limited acceleration and deceleration): from -4 to +2 (with some exceptions). After that, a movement die is rolled and other speed modifiers (climbing, load, damage, weather...) are applied to determine the final movement speed. To make the calculation easier, we are introducing a "speed calculator" – a panel with a slider used to easily apply acceleration and other modifiers.
In this case, only the fastest blue die and the green die are used. Slower blue dice are not needed, because an aircraft may slow down as wished (but only gradually). The green die (full throttle) can also be used for faster acceleration, not only for maximum top speed. The basic speed number is used to determine how far an aircraft may accelerate (you can't add +2 on the speed indefinitely – only up to the basic speed number).
On the other hand, there must be a limit on how slow an aircraft may fly, so we are introducing a new aircraft characteristic – Stall speed. If the final calculation of movement speed ends up lower than the stall speed, the aircraft may enter a tailspin or it could avoid it by simply descending a few levels in a controlled manner.
Rules development: aircraft characteristics
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, May 31, 2022 at 11:52:21 PM
We continue to work on writing the final version of the rules. Compared to the Demo version shown during the campaign, we have introduced many changes related to the characteristics of the aircraft.
1. The "speed" values are mostly unchanged. The real aircraft maximum speeds are converted into in-game numbers according to a simple ratio, and range from 4 to 15. As already said, now there are six movement dice (5 blue and 1 green) instead of the initially announced five. Therefore, players will be able to influence the aircraft speed by choosing the dice, but the factor of luck will also remain. The movement dice are redesigned because of some new markings, see below.
2. Agility is the most tricky aircraft characteristic and the biggest challenge for us authors. There is no explicit value for agility in the data on aircraft types, instead these are mostly descriptive categories, like "excellent agility" and similar. There is available data about turning radius, but rare, inaccurate, referring to different altitudes at which turns are made, and they depend on other factors that are not uniformly taken into account for different types of aircraft. It is necessary to read many books, especially those written by pilots, and based on that, make the right conclusions and assign values for the agility for each aircraft type.
We are very limited by the geometric features of the board (six directions). Back in the AoD:WWI project, we found that the agility "II" (max two turns by 60°) is a minimum with which an aircraft is useful. On the other hand, the value of "IV" is usually more than enough to bring the aircraft to the desired position. In the AoD:WWI game, the gyroscopic effect gave some planes the ability to change direction 5 or 6 times in one go (with certain restrictions), but these are extremes and anything beyond that is completely unnecessary and undesired in the game. We have the task of assigning only a small range of agility to very different aircraft types – from slow and agile biplanes to fast jets. But we managed to find a solution to that problem in an original way.
The essence of the solution is that agility does not have to be the same (fixed) in every move. Each aircraft has a basic agility number (for example "III"), and a certain probability of being able to make one extra turn by 60°. In this way, we are able to make fine gradations between aircraft types, and even between versions of the same type. There are three sub-categories for each agility number: low (1/6), moderate (3/6) and high probability (5/6). This is marked by one, two or three dots next to the agility number. The probability outcome is resolved by the existing dice roll, by looking at the markings (dots) now added to each movement die:
Perhaps the best explanation for this unpredictability, although it was written for AoD:WWI, is a comment on the BGG forum written by Oscar B:
"Yes, there is a degree of variability in the machines (engines, maintenance, etc) and the environment (weather) that the blue die simulates.
However, in my opinion, the blue die more significantly captures the reality that no pilot, no matter how skilled, ever executes the same maneuver the same way every single time. The stress of combat, the fatigue of acceleration, the haze of linseed oil on the goggles, the tracer fire across no man's land that catches your eye for a split second, the tunnel vision as you fixate on the enemy your are trying to pull behind, the sudden cramp in your right leg from compensating for the rotor spin after hours in the cockpit... all these factors and a thousand more mean that performance is a matter of probabilities, not mechanical procedures.
This unpredictable human factor is often overlooked in boardgames, which are forced to quantize fluid analog situations into systems we can compute with cardboard. Six headings. Altitudes in tidy increments of thousands of feet. Don't even think about the energy state of your aircraft as you count out on one hand the steps you can take.
It is Age of Dogfight's creative triumph, that through a simple elegant (and oft derided) mechanism of roll and move, they have managed to recapture the fluid unpredictable nature of the battlefield in the air. Where countless other air combat games devolve into interminable unplayable procedures, or snap into a rigid predictable sterile framework, the blue die allows Age of Dogfights to keep it simple *and* keep it fluid."
3. Aircraft cannot turn consecutively if flying faster than a certain speed. Also, after turning in one direction, an aircraft must move one more step forward before turning in the other direction. Now we are introducing an exception to this rule, for some slow and extremely agile planes (Fi 156 Storch, Lysander, Po-2, etc.), which will be able to turn consecutively with no restrictions. This is a special characteristic, which will be marked with a symbol:
4. Service ceiling is an information that is exact for each aircraft type. Converting to numbers that represent the in-game characteristics is very simple – for every 1000 meters the "service ceiling" value is increased by 1 (for example, 8000m = L8). However, when changing altitude (climbing or descending), each in-game altitude level represents only 100m. This is a compromise that we had to make, because otherwise there would need to be a huge number of altitude stands, part of which would be impractically tall.
So far, the rule was that when an aircraft is at its service ceiling, it cannot tilt its nose up. Now that is changed as we introduce a new rule "maximum ceiling" – each aircraft can climb one altitude level above service ceiling, but in that case it must tilt its nose down and thus descend immediately in the next round.
5. In the Demo version, each aircraft had a climbing and a descending speed (from 1 to 4 altitude levels, not including diving). However, we found that the gradation for climbing speed between aircraft was too rough, so we have decided to apply the same principle as for variable agility: there are 1–3 dots next to the "climbing speed" number, which determines the probability of being able to climb one extra level (which depends on the roll of movement die).
6. Durability (resistance to enemy fire) is also changed. Unlike the Demo edition, in which this value ranged from 1 to 6 and was represented by dots, in the final version it ranges from 0 to 10 and is represented by a purple number. We have also introduced new special features: "small target" and "large target", which affect the chance of hitting when firing at them.
7. We have revised the number of machine gun bursts each aircraft carries. Now it will be a more realistic span between different aircraft types – some will have only a few bursts, while some will have more than 10. We had to think of a new way to implement such a large number of bursts on a limited space on the Control Panels. When a slider reaches the end of the row representing bursts, it is changed for a slider in a different color and returned to the beginning for a second pass. This way we can fit twice as many bursts in the same space.
8. At the time of writing this update, we were thinking, 'when are some aircraft going to use such a large amount of ammunition?', and thus we are adding a new rule: "tracer burst". This means that each time when firing, the player has the option to spend more ammunition in order to increase hit probability.
9. As in AoD:WWI, an aircraft can also fire a "long burst" (which will be called "double burst" in AoD2). So, if a player wants to increase the chance of hitting (tracer burst) and causing damage (double burst) to the target, the firing aircraft can use as many as three times more ammunition than normal.
On the other hand, if an aircraft has strong firepower, it may be unnecessary to spend too much ammunition. Therefore we introduce another rule: "short burst" – an option to spend half ammunition by sacrificing half of the firepower. This rule can be combined with "double burst", by firing two "short bursts" in a row.
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With all these changes, aircraft tokens will look like this:
We will write about the remaining novelties in the next update, as we make progress in writing the rulebook.
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While the authors are working on writing the final rules, the workshop continues to produce components that have a finished design.
