Air Combat
in the Jet Jet Age
Rulebook AIM-9B Sidewinder Sidewinder
1956 R-3S “AA-2A Atoll”
R.530 EM
1962
1962 Red Top
AIM-9D Sidewinder Sidewinder
1964
1965 AIM-9E Sidewinder Sidewinder
Shafrir 2
1967
1968 AIM-7E-2 Sparrow Sparrow III
(early) AIM-9J Sidewinder Sidewinder (early)
1970
1972 “AA-2D Atoll” R-13M “AA-2D
R-60 “AA-8A Aphid”
1973
1974 R.550 Magic
AIM-7F Sparrow Sparrow
1975
1976 Skyflash
AIM-9L Sidewinder Sidewinder
1978
1978 Super 530F
AIM-7M Sparrow Sparrow
1979
1982 AIM-9M-1 / AIM-9M-2 Sidewinder Sidewinder 1982
Python 3
1982 R-27R “AA-10A Alamo”
AIM-9P-2 Sidewinder Sidewinder
1983
1985 R-73 “AA-11 Archer”
Magic 2
V ALLE & M ARKGRAF
1985
1986 AIM-120A AMRAAM
1991
Designer
Signicant Contributors
Illustrations
Tony “Killjoy” Valle
John “Origami” Coley J. D. “Pluto” Webster Joy “ ” Cohn Gorka Martinez Mezo Developer Lee “Prune” Brimmicombe-W Brimmicombe-Wood ood Jerry “Cherry” Marty Olivier Dufour Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf Karl “Viking Bøy” Mueller Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf Ken “Cadet” Burnside Editor Tjepke Heeringa Lee “Prune” Brimmicombe-W Brimmicombe-Wood ood Ethan “Rush” McKinney Mark “Top Wop” Bovankovich Cover Michael “Handles” Waters Tutorial Development “Breakfast ” by Joy “ ” Cohn Rob “Hot Shot” Pruden Kenneth “Fringe” Ellis Derivative work uses a USAF photo. Tom “Betsy” Russ We want to thank the many people who contributed to the development of Birds of Prey –Air Combat in the Jet Age . In addition to those listed here, there are many who playtested online, added to the discussion on the Airbattle list, looked up a helpful bit of data or simply gave encouragement. We apologize to those who aren’t named here explicitly.
Research and Other Help
Ad Astra’s Tutorial Playtest
Antonio “Betún” Pinar Peña David “Piranha” Lentini Greg “Underdog” Wurster Jay “Pitot” Davis John “Origami” Coley Kevin “Long Shot” Serani Michael “Scotty” Scott Miguel Mourato Neill “Pucker” Brower Pete “Bermuda” Keller
Adam Hickey Bill Speer Jim Johnson John Kantor Ken Watanabe Mircea Pauca Morten Lund Rick Appling Simon “Hound” Hunt Stora “Yo-Yo” Harris and D. Scott Palter
Message from the Designer
Yankee Air Pirates Los Angeles Playtest Group David Ells Ethan “Rush” McKinney Jay Vadnais Vadnais Lee “Fritz” Chmelsky Michael “Tailwheler” Slater Neill “Pucker” Brower Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf Tjepke Heeringa Tom “Betsy” Russ
“I want to thank everyone who’s been patient and encouraging for the more than 10 years it took to take this game from a dreamy goal, to something some thing you can buy and play. play. I would especially like to thank Mark “Top Wop” Wop” Bovankovich for setting me on the path of building a paper air combat game with real-world performance, Karl “Viking Boy” Mueller for daring to inspire me by suggesting that it might not be possible, Rob “Hot Shot” Pruden for insisting the result be accessible to the average air combat gamer, and J. D. “Pluto” Webster for demanding that I do the whole thing right, not just cobble something into his game system. And last but by no means least, Phil “Shaken” Markgraf for taking great models an turning them into a real product.” — Tony “Killjoy” Valle published by
Birds of Prey –Air Combat in the Jet Age
Ad Astra Games
Copyright ©1997-2013 Tony N. Valle & Philip A. Markgraf. Tilt blocks and box miniatures developed by Ken Burnside/Ad Astra Games and are used with their kind permission. Ask “Darkstar” your questions ques tions on the forums at: http:// http://www www.adastragames.com .adastragames.com Be sure to register your game (for free stu) s tu) at: http:// http://services.adastragames.com
P. O. Box 389 Pelican Rapids, MN 56572 (218) 863–1784
[email protected]
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Table of Contents Box Contents
4
Key Game Concepts
5
3D Operations
8
Booklets, Table-Top Components, Move-Aids, Play-Aids, Aircraft Data Cards, Missile Data Cards Rulebook Approach, Game Components, Dice and Probability, Rounding, Using Tables and Nomographs, Scale, Position & Altitude, Range, Speed, KEAS & Mach PHAD (Pitch, Heading and Attitude Display), Bearings, Aircraft Attitude, Angle Determination, Determination, Aspect
Flying in the SoP
12
Sequence of Play Activity Point Recovery (SoP 01) Declarations (SoP 02)
13 14 14
Flight Phase (SoP 03)
16
Flight Eects (SoP 04)
28
Spin Recovery (SoP 05) Departure (SoP 06)
30 31
Gun Combat (SoP 07)
32
Missile Combat (SoP 07)
34
Damage
35
Order of Flight Determination (SoP 08)
37
Visual Sighting (SoP 09)
38
Sensors (SoP 10)
40
Administrative (SoP 11)
44
Aircrew Tasks
44
Aircrew
48
Special Rules
50
Turns, Ticks and Segments, The Form + Stores Drag Table
Set Throttle, Select Weapon, Set Sensor Mode, Declare an Initial Gunshot, Declare a Missile Snapshot, Position Manual Swing-Wing, Swing-Wing, Setting Decoy Program Determine Initial Aircraft State (Meta-Step Ap) Plotting (Meta Steps Bp through Ep); Straight Flight, Turning Flight, Multi-Turns, Incomplete Turning Segment, Minimize Carry, Movement Vector, Plotting a Turning Segment, Negative Loads, Pointing, Unloaded Flight Barrel Rolls, Rolling Performance (Meta Steps Dp through Ep), Average Load, Engine, Form Drag, Turn Drag Movement (Meta Steps Fm through Jm) Orient Box Mini, Update Tiles (Meta-Step Im), Gravity, Net Speed Change Overspeed Eects, Structure G Eects, Crew G Eect (Overall), Straining, Crew G Eects Order Order,, G Onset, Crew Fatigue, Recovery from Grey-Out of Black-Out, Recovery from LOC, Recovery from Crew Fatigue
Departure, Spinning
Engagement, Aspect, Guns Defense, Pipper On, Firing Launch and Boost, Boost-Maneuv Boost-Maneuver er Capable Missiles, Follow-on Missile Launch, Snapshot Launch, Missile Flight, Follow-on Missile Flight, Missile Attack, Missile Defense Aircraft Systems, Damage Capacity, Damage Control and Progressive Damage Determining Initiative, Making Fix Attempts, Establishing Initiative and Movement Classes Searching, Maintaining Spots, Maintaining Friendlies, Padlocks, Blind Arcs Infrared and Optical, Radar, Electronic Support Measures, Integration, Radar Track, IRST Track, HMS/HMD/Datalink Cue, RWRs, EO Sensor, GCI Datalink Damage Control and Progress Progressive ive Damage Padlock, Tally, Tally Friendlies, Spin Recovery, Visual Search, Quick Search, Fix, Strain, Guns Engagement, Guns Defense, Missile Defense, Control, Communications Receipt, Sensor Hando, Damage Control, Radar Operation, Hands O Switch Action, Cockpit Actions GLOC Protection, G-Training, Wounded, Unconscious (LOC) or Killed, Uncontrolled Aircraft, Non-pilot ight
Jettisoning External External Stores, Stores, Fuel, Supermaneuver Supermaneuver,, Collisions, Collisions, Ejection, Post-Battle Fate, Fate, Weather Weather,, Manual Swing-Wing, Automatic Swing-Wing, Engine Out, Compressor Stall
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Box Contents Booklets ADA 31000-RB Rulebook (cover (cover is an illustrated time-line time-line of the missiles in the game box) ADA 31000-SC Scenario Booklet (cover is an illustrated time-line time-line of the aircraft in the game box) color in Deluxe edition, otherwise gray scale ADA 31000-TU Tutorial Booklet (cover is the game box illustration)
Table-Top Components Two 37” x 24” double-sided map sheets Three ten-sided dice Tilt-blocks: one bag of red and blue components Altitude-tiles: two bags color-coded components two each in the Standard edition, four each in the Expanded and Deluxe editions ADA 31000-A Box-mini sheet two each in the Standard edition, four each in the Expanded and Deluxe editions ADA 31000-B Box-mini sheet one each in all editions ADA 31000-Y Small sheet of Superfortress counters one each in all editions ADA 31000-Z Small sheet of additional initiative counters
Move-Aids ADA 31000-C Red Aircraft/Systems Control Cards ADA 31000-D Blue Aircraft/Systems Control Cards Performance/Turning urning Nomographs ADA 31000-N Performance/T
one each in the Standard edition, two each in other editions one each in the Standard edition, two each in other editions two each in all editions
Play-Aids ADA 31000-E ADA 31000-F ADA 31000-G ADA 31000-H ADA 31000-I ADA 31000-J
Sequence of Play / Pips & Tasks Aid Visual Visu al Sighting Aid / Crew G-Eects Aid Infrared Missile Sensors Aid / Radar Sensors Sensors Aid Gun Combat Aid / Damage Eects Aid Missile Combat Aid / Stalls & Departure Aid Miscellaneous Aids / Initiative Aid
Aircraft Data Cards -ADC01 -ADC04 -ADC07 -ADC10 -ADC13 -ADC16 -ADC19 -ADC22
MiG-15bis “Fagot-B” Hunter FGA.Mk 9 MiG-21F-13 “Fishbed-C” F-8E Crusader Crusader II Lightning Lightnin g F.Mk 6 MiG-23MS “Flogger-E” MiG-29 9.12 “Fulcrum-A” “Fulcrum-A” Su-27 T-10S T-10S “Flanker-B” “Flanker-B”
ADA 31000-ADC01 – ADC24 -ADC02 -ADC05 -ADC08 -ADC11 -ADC14 -ADC17 -ADC20 -ADC23
F-86F Sabre Sabre (early) MiG-19S “Farmer-C” MiG-21MF “Fishbed-J” F-4J Phantom II F-5E Tiger Tiger II Mirage F1EQ Mirage 2000C S4 F/A-18C F/ A-18C Hornet (early)
-ADC03 -ADC06 -ADC09 -ADC12 -ADC15 -ADC18 -ADC21 -ADC24
Missile Data Cards MDC1 MDC2 MDC3 MDC4 MDC5 MDC6
-A AIM-9B Sidewinder -A AIM-9L Sidewinder Sparrow III -A AIM-7E-2 Sparrow -A R-3S “AA-2A Atoll” -A R.530 EM -A Super 530F
-B -B -B -B -B -B
MiG-17F “Fresco-C” F-104A Starght Starghter er Mirage IIIC F-4E Phantom Phantom II (early) F-14A Tomcat JA 37 Jaktvigg Jaktviggen en F-15C Eagle MSIP II F-16C block 30 Fighting Falcon
ADA 31000-MDC1 – MDC6 AIM-9D Sidewinder AIM-9M-1/-2 Sidewinder AIM-7F Sparrow R-13M “AA-2D Atoll” R.550 Magic Magic 2
-C AIM-9E Sidewinder -C AIM-7M Sparrow -C Skyash “AA-8 Aphid” -C R-60 “AA-8 Top -C Red Top -C Python 3
-D AIM-9J Sidewinder (early) -D AIM-120A AMRAAM -D R-27R “AA-10A Alamo” -D R-73 “AA-11 Archer” -D Shafrir 2 Sidewinder -D AIM-9P-2 Sidewinder
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Key Game Concepts Rulebook Approach The Birds of Prey Rulebook presumes that you have read the Birds of Prey Tutorial Tutorial , , which introduces terms and gives examples of concepts in play. play. This rulebook provides concise rules without the additional explanation needed to teach them for the rst time.
“Darkstar, picture?”
Aircraft Data Cards (ADCs) contain game information about specic aircraft. The front contains data needed for game play play,, while the reverse has information for setting up scenarios using the aircraft. Missile Data Cards (MDCs) contain game information about specic missiles. Four are printed on each sheet, which may be separated into individual MDCs.
In addition to the Birds of Prey Tutorial , , there is a volunteer group online to answer questions and help you learn the game. This team uses the callsign “Darkstar” (this being an AW AWACS callsign used in exercises and simulation.) You can contact the team online on the forums at: www.adastragames.com or the playtest group at: groups.yahoo.com/airbattle Also check out the Birds of Prey homepage, at: www.airbattle.com
Play Aids show the processes and modiers used to determine the outcome of game events other than basic ight.
Please feel free to ask “Darkstar, how do I…”
Game Components Birds of Prey: Air Combat in the Jet Age includes the following components:
Control Cards (CC) each track the state of up to two aircraft, their systems, and any missiles they launch. The front of the sheet is the Aircraft Control Card (ACC) , , while the reverse is the Systems Control Card (SCC). Red cards are for players facing the east map edge and blue cards are for those facing the west map edge.
e ach sheet is the Performance Nomograph Cards contain visual calculators. The front of each Nomograph , while the reverse is the Turning Nomograph.
Box Miniatures Sheets are die-cut, full-color cardstock sheets that include all of the on-map markers for aircraft (box miniatures) and missiles (tent miniatures), as well as miscellaneous counters. Box miniatures are fold-up boxes with representations of an aircraft’s top, bottom, front, back, and right and left sides. Tent miniatures are fold-up tents with side views of a missile. Counters are single-sided square markers used to mark noteworthy events or show initiative states. Tilt Blocks are plastic pieces with a notch used to position box miniatures at 30º and 60º increments of pitch and roll. Tilt blocks are red or blue to match the control cards. Altitude Tiles are plastic squares that stack under the tilt blocks to indicate the altitude of the aircraft. Altitude tiles are white (1 altitude step), light blue (5 steps), d ark blue (25 steps), or black (100 steps). Maps are two-sided hex sheets with compass roses. They are designed to be set side by side to extend the play space. Unless otherwise indicated, Birds of Prey scenarios use the sides of the maps with the smaller hexes. Dice in Birds of Prey are rolled singly to generate results of 0 to 9 or in pairs to generate percentile results from 00 to 99 (reading the result of one die as the tens digit and the other as the ones digit). The dice are in dierent colors, to dierentiate between the tens and ones digits.
Arts & Crafts Phase Box-miniature assembly instructions are found in the Birds of Prey Tutorial Tutorial. You’ll also nd how best to write on and erase marks from the play aid laminated surfaces.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Dice and Probability Making a Pips Pips Roll Using Pips Column 3, nd the result for a rolled 75. Move to the 3 column and nd the rst value that is equal to or greater than the rolled value, in this case 91. Then track across that row to the column at the extreme left or right to nd the result, here a 2.
Pips Table 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 t l u 8 s 9 e R10 p 11 i P 12
1 77 97 99
2 60 90 98 99
3 36 73 91 98 99
4 22 55 80 93 98 99
A rolled 73 would have generated a 1 result.
Zero, not my hero Unlike some games, a zero is low in Birds of Prey and not made into a ten. Similarly,, percentile rolls Similarly of two zeros generates a zero, not one hundred.
Red, then Blue You’re welcome to use any convention you like for determining which die of a percentile set is the tens and which is the ones, as long as it is stated before rolling.
Two kinds of die rolls are used to resolve probabilistic events: d10 and Pips Table rolls. Modiers may be added to or subtracted from the result. A d10 roll uses one 10-sided die and results in a number from 0 to 9 (in Birds of Prey , the zero face is read as ‘0,’ not ‘10’). A Pips Table roll uses a percentile dice roll and the Pips table in the play aids. Read down the appropriate Pips Column to the rst number in the table that equals or exceeds the percentile roll, then read the value at the left or right end of the row to determine the result (also known as the pips). For pips columns of 25 or greater, generate a pips result by summing the results from pips column 24 and the pips column of the remainder (desired column – 24). Only roll once. A pips roll with a column of zero or less results in automatic failure. A modied percentile roll of zero or less also results in a failure regardless of column (can occur in a gun attack).
Rounding In Birds of Prey , fractional values are usually rounded rounded to the nearest whole number value. A value of 0.50 or more rounds up to 1, while a value of 0.49 or less rounds down to 0. Some rules have specic rounding instructions that override this general case. Speeds and changes to speed measured in knots are always rounded to the nearest value divisible by 5. So, 12.5 rounds to 15, while 12.4 rounds to 10. Load, Average Average Load, and Turning G are always rounded to the nearest value divisible by 0.5 G. So, 7.25 rounds to 7.5, while 7.24 rounds to 7.0. Always round values when writing them in boxes on the control cards, not at other othe r times.
Using Tables and Nomographs When looking up a result on a table, if the exact input value does not appear, appear, always use the next higher value. (Example: on the 2 column of the Pips Table, Table, rolls of 61 to 89 use the next higher value, 90, giving a result of 1.) Similarly,, when a nomograph input value falls between two tick marks, Similarly m arks, always use the next highest value on the scale. Nomograph Results that fall between two tick marks are always rounded to the nearest value shown on the scale, following the normal rounding rules. If you can’t tell which is nearest, round to the higher of the two adjacent values. (Don’t spend a lot of time ddling to nd the exact t). Some nomographs have two scales for the same value on one or more axes, such as the low speed and high speed scales on o n the Turning nomograph. Always Always use the corresponding input and output scales in these cases. The alternate scales are printed in dierent d ierent colors and are oriented similarly (each to the left of its axis, for example). When there is a choice (such as between low-speed and high-speed scales), use the scales that produces the line that is more perpendicular to that axis. (Nomographs become less accurate as the line crosses the axis at an acute angle.)
Scale Each Flight Point (FP) represents 400 feet, and each hex is 400 feet across. One nautical mile is 15 hexes, while a kilometer is approximately 8 hexes. Altitude is measured in Steps of 200 feet, with zero being Sea Level. Altitude in steps is equal to 5 times the altitude in thousands of feet. Each game-turn is 6 seconds long and is subdivided into 10 “ticks” of 0.6 seconds each.
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Position & Altitude Position is dened by a hex location on the map. Aircraft positions are marked using a box miniature and missile anchor positions are are marked using a tent miniature, with or without tilt blocks depending on the th e aircraft’s attitude. Place any aircraft and missile miniatures inside hexes, never on edges between hexes. Other locations or events may be marked using a at at counter. Altitude Tiles indicate the altitudes of each aircraft or missile miniature. Place altitude tiles under the tilt blocks of an aircraft or directly under any miniature that is not using, or does not need, a tilt block.
Range Range between positions is counted in ight points. When counting horizontal range, each hex counts as one ight point. Slant range takes altitude dierences into consideration. The slant range depends on the horizontal range in hexes (H) and the t he altitude separation in steps (V) between two locations as follows:
If V≤H, slant range is H If V>H, slant range is (H+V)/2
Speed, KEAS & Mach Every aircraft has a Speed measured in knots (nautical miles per hour). Track speed to the nearest 5 knots; speeds cannot fall below 0 nor increase above 1000. Speed determines the number of Flight Points an aircraft has in a game-turn, which determines how far it will move with each tick. The Speed-to-FP Table on the Turning Nomograph Card performs this conversion. Movement through the air produces dynamic pressure, which is the source of all the aerodynamic lift and drag experienced by the aircraft. In the game, dynamic pressure is measured in terms of the speed at sea level that would produce the same airow airow.. This value is called “ knots equivalent air speed” (KEAS). An aircraft traveling 400 knots at sea level will also be at 400 KEAS. As the altitude increases and the air thins, that same 400 knots produces a lower and lower KEAS. KEAS determines the aircraft’s maximum allowed lift, its form drag, and its turn drag using the Performance nomograph. nomo graph. The ratio of an aircraft’s speed to the speed of sound is its Mach number. Since the speed of sound varies with temperature, and the temperature tem perature of the atmosphere falls with altitude, the Mach number for a given speed will increase with altitude (up to approximately 36,000 feet, where the temperature becomes basically constant up t o 80,000 feet.). Mach numbers below 0.9 in the game are called Slow (these are subsonic speeds). Mach numbers between 0.9 and 1.0 are called LT LTD D (for “low transonic drag”) while those between 1.0 and 1.1 are called HTD (for “high transonic drag”). These ranges correspond to form drag values printed on the aircraft data cards. Round Mach values above 1.1 to the nearest tenth (1.2, 1.3, and so forth), with a maximum of 3.0.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
3D Operations The PHAD’s Cousin Other Ad Astra titles use the AVID , which was derived from an earlier version of the PHAD. If you’re coming in to air combat from the AVID, here’s a highlight of the signicant changes. Convention: The spaces on an AVID are called windows. The PHAD refers to them as cells. Geometry: The AVID’s amber ring (00 degree pitch ring) is rotated 15 degrees from the PHAD’s. This means the 00 pitch ring’s cells don’t line up with the hex grain, but also means that all PHAD cells have exactly 6 adjacent cells to them, which makes angular distances between cells more consistent. Presentation: The AVID uses color coding to indicate pitch angles; the PHAD uses tinting of the overall control card’s base colors to the same eect. (Except on the 30 degree pitch ring, which is yellow on both PHADs). The AVID AVID also uses u ses a more cylindrical display; believing this made edge-to-edge transitions much simpler to teach. The PHAD’s use of hexes wa found to be faster when counting distances, particularly for keeping the aircraft attitude marks three cells from one another.
PHAD: Pitch, Heading, and Attitude Display The Pitch, Heading, and Attitude Display (PHAD) is used to determine orientation, movement, and bearings in three dimensions. The PHAD represents a sphere as viewed from above, consisting of mainly hexagonal cells arranged in four concentric rings. Each cell has a heading and a pitch value (for example, 030 +30). A cell’s pitch value is dened by the ring it occupies. The center hex is a ring by itself, cor responding to 90° of pitch. The successive surrounding rings correspond to 60°, 30°, and 00° pitch. Except for the outermost ring, each ring serves double do uble duty, duty, representing both positive and negative pitch values. Items on the PHAD are circled to indicate they t hey are in a level or positive pitch ring (at or above the horizon). Items in a negative pitch ring (below the horizon) are not circled. The 00° (level) pitch ring includes items that t hat are slightly below the horizon, as this ring corresponds to every pitch from -15º to +15º. Unlike the other rings, the cells of this ring are not hexagons. All of the pitches in the 00º ring are considered “level.” The heading value for each cell is printed within it. Each heading value corresponds to a “wedge” on the map. There The re are 24 such wedges that are 30° wide: 12 “normal” headings in the ±30° rings (000, 030, 060 … 300, 330) and 12 “oset” headings in the t he 00° ring (015, 045, 075 … 315, 345). There are six wedges in the ±60° rings that are 60° wide, indicated by an “E” for “expanded”: 000E, 060E, 120E, 180E, 240E, and 300E. The ±90° cells correspond c orrespond to all heading values and are therefore labeled “All +90” and “All -90.” Every aircraft in play uses its own PHAD. Two PHADs appear on each Aircraft Control Card to allow players to y two aircraft at once.
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Bearings A bearing line is a direction in three dimensions, expressed as a PHAD cell. It is derived from two positions, usually two aircraft or an aircraft and a missile. “Shooting a bearing” is the process used to determine det ermine the unique PHAD cell that the bearing line falls in. Shooting bearings is essential to sound air combat maneuvering and to the mechanics of the game. Bearings have a start and an end point, and the player determining a bearing is called the “shooter” and is often assumed to occupy the start point. The end point is often referred to as the “target.” Shooting a bearing requires three steps: 1) Determine the pitch ring of the bearing 2) Determine the heading of the bearing 3) Resolve any heading ambiguity Bearing Pitch Ring Find the horizontal (H) range in hexes and vertical separation (V) in steps between the start and end positions. The pitch ring is positive if the end is higher than the start, negative otherwise. The T he pitch ring is found as follows: If H≥2V, pitch is 00°
Else, if 5H≥3V, pitch is 30° Else, if 7H≥V, pitch is 60° Otherwise, pitch is 90° The Visual Sighting Aid contains the Vertical Arc Limits table, which will let you nd the pitch at longer ranges with a simple look-up. To use this table, nd the row for the exact number of hexes separating the two objects and then go across from left to right until you nd the rst value equal to or greater than the altitude dierence between the two objects. Read the pitch o the top of that column. If the range is 8 hexes or less and the vertical separation is 16 steps or less, use the 3D Movement diagram instead. Find the dot corresponding to the H and V values, and read the pitch ring from the color coding. For bearing determination, a dot touching an edge between two cells is in both cells and the shooter chooses with one to use. (This takes precedence over the result of the formulae above and the vertical arc limits table.) Bearing Heading Headings must correspond to PHAD cells, so allowed headings are determined by the pitch ring of the bearing: ±90°: heading is “All” (the heading doesn’t matter) ±60°: Extended (‘E’) headings ±30°: “normal” headings (end in ‘0’) 00°: “oset” headings (end in ‘5’) Determine the heading by looking at the line between the start and end positions and comparing it to the 2D (Map) Movement diagram. If the range is greater than 8 hexes, determine the closest normal heading (for 30° and 60° pitches) or use the bounding hexrows (for 00° pitch). Ambiguity If the heading or pitch sits on the boundary between two values, the shooter chooses which one to use. For the reciprocal bearing, the other player makes their own independent choice for the ambiguous situation. PHAD Distance The distance between two bearings on the PHAD is always the shortest count from one cell to the other. If one cell is in a positive pitch ring and the other is in a negative pitch ring, the path must pass through a cell on the equator (in the 00° pitch ring) before counting to the other cell.
Look the other way When shooting bearings, it’s useful to provide the reciprocal bearing to the target to speed up play play,, as the bearing will always be the exact opposite. For example, if the target of your bearing is in 210-60, the reciprocal bearing is 030+60. That reciprocal would be the target’s bearing to you.
Recording a Bearing Note a bearing on the PHAD by writing the target’s identier (usually a number) in the bearing’s PHAD cell. Circle the bearing if the PHAD cell is in a positive or 00º pitch ring.
Bearings in AVIDland The algorithms used to shoot a bearing on the PHAD are dierent from the ones for the AVID, AVID, because the AVID AVID uses the same increment for altitude as it does for hex size, while the PHAD uses a vertical distance that is half the horizontal. This allows the formulas for comparison to be more representative of 30 degree angles, and maps more readily to the vertical move tool. This is a place where the PHAD aims for precision and the AVID AVID aims for lower arithmetic overhead. (Birds of Prey cuts arithmetic load with the 3D move aid and the vertical arc limits chart.)
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Aircraft Attitude More AVID AVID Diferences Remember that the AVID AVID is Ad Astra’s derivative of the PHAD, used in space games such as Attack Vector: Tactical and Saganami Island Tactical Simulator . There are six attitude markers on the AVID, AVID, while the PHAD uses three in most situations. Separation of the development communities, led to the AVID and PHAD using the exact opposite map orientations and conventions for indicating that an orientation symbol is on the top or bottom of the spherical reference frame. (Birds of Prey uses a standard mathematical convention of circling vectors that head up out of the page.)
Three PHAD cells dene an aircraft’s attitude (its orientation in three dimensions): Nose, Canopy,, and Wing (actually the Right Wing). Each of these cells is always three cells away Canopy from both of the others. Use the symbols below to indicate each of these cells on the PHAD, depending on pitch ring: Positive Negative or 00º Pitch Pitch Nose Canopy Wing (right)
+
+
^
^
–
–
(A common system of notation minimizes errors and makes it easier for other players to read an aircraft’s attitude and to nd the key cells quickly.) An aircraft normally moves in the direction of the Nose cell. Aircraft ying with very high angles of attack (are pointing), or that have departed controlled ight, may move in a dierent direction. When this occurs, add two more symbols to the PHAD: Positive Negative or 00º Pitch Pitch Velocity Lift
€
€
∆
∆
The Lift cell is always three PHAD cells c ells away from both the Velocity Velocity and Wing cells. The Velocity cell is always three cells away from the Wing cell. Except in these special circumstances, the Velocity cell is the same as the Nose cell and the Lift cell is the same as the Canopy cell. An aircraft moves in the direction of the Velocity Velocity cell, which usually means the direction of the Nose cell.
Angle Determination Nose and Velocity Velocity,, Canopy and Lift Remember that unless the aircraft is in a special circumstance that causes them to separate, the Velocity mark is identical to the Nose mark and the Lift mark is identical to the Canopy mark. Velocity = Nose Lift = Canopy The special circumstances are pointing, spinning and supermaneuvering. (Supermaneuvers will be covered in a follow-on product. Think Raptor.)
There are a number of angles important to playing Birds of Prey that express the relative position, orientation and motion between two aircraft. To To calculate an angle, count the PHAD cells between the specied marks and/ and/or or bearings. Trace the shortest route pospossible from one cell to the other other,, counting the destination cell but not the cell c ell of origin. If one mark is in a positive pitch ring and the other is in a negative pitch ring, trace the route to a cell in the 00° ring before tracing it to the destination cell. The result (between 0 and 6) is the value of the angle. In all cases “the aircraft” in question is the one you’re measuring the angle from, even when comparing the distance in PHAD cells to an orientation mark on the target AoN (Angle o Nose) the distance from the aircraft’s Nose mark to the bearing. AoC (Angle o Canopy) the distance from the aircraft’s Canopy mark to the bearing. AoT (Angle o Tail) the distance from the bearing and the target’s Nose mark. t arget Velocity Velocity marks. TCA (Track Crossing Angle) the distance between the aircraft and target LCA (Lift Crossing Angle) the distance between the aircraft and target Lift marks. Reciprocal AoN the AoN from the target to the shooter. Reciprocal AoC the AoC from the target to the shooter. Example: An aircraft‘s Nose is at 030 +30, its target‘s Nose is at 090 –30, and the bearing from the aircraft to the target is at 060 +30. The AoN is 1. The AoT is 2 (counted through the 00° pitch ring). The TCA is 3.
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Aspect Body Diamond diagrams show various arcs and regions relative to an aircraft. The principal function of the body diagram is to t o nd the relationship between an aircraft and other aircraft, which is called Aspect. An example body diamond is shown below below.. A n g l e o f f C a n o p y
Angle off Nose 0
1
2
3
4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Body Diamond
5
6
A n g l e o f f C a n o p y
Angle off Nose 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Advantage Arc
Any bearing line from an aircraft lies in one of t he 28 boxes on this diagram. To To determine which, nd the AoN and AoC. This combination co mbination is the Aspect and is written as two values within square-brackets, as: [ AoN, AoC ] Find the column for the AoN and the row for the AoC on the body diamond diagram. The intersection of these two is the correct body diamond d iamond square. The dark grey squares above show physically impossible angles, due to the fact that the Nose and Canopy are always three cells apart. The gold cells (medium grey, when not printed in color) show the advantage arc, which is especially important for xing (part of the order of ight process). Finally,, to help understand what the body diagram represents, a small image of an aircraft Finally has been superimposed here. It shows that the cell at the left represents the Nose, while the cell at the right is the tail. Straight up along the Canopy is the cell at top, and straight down the belly of the aircraft is the bottom-most cell. The centermost cell at [3,3] runs down the wing line. The body diamond is symmetrical from the left to the right of the aircraft, and does not need to make a distinction between the two. The playaids show a number of body diamond diagrams with various modiers or highlighted arcs. All are basically the same as this one and players need o nly remember that the aircraft Nose is on the left and the Canopy is at the top to remember that the AoN runs left to right and the AoC runs from top to bottom. The lower-right side of the body diamond doesn’t match the other three corners, as three added calls are valid: [4,6], [5,5] and [6,4]. This T his is caused by a path around the PHAD at certain attitudes where the spherical path is fourteen cells, rather than the normal twelve. In almost all cases, the added cell acts identically to the one to its immediate left.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Flying in the SoP Turns, Ticks, and Segments
Other handy notes When lling out the Form + Stores Drag table, it is also handy to circle your WL (wing-load, from the aircraft’s weight) on the top axis of the performance nomograph, your Max-Lift (found on the ADC) on the right axis, and your Max Safe Load on the left axis. These values rarely change during play, but are used frequently.
No Afterburner? Afterburner? If your aircraft has a non-afterburning engine, it is very unlikely it will y at supersonic speed. You probably don’t need to ll out the elds for the various Mach numbers. Only ll out the elds for Slow, LTD and HTD.
The Bug and JSOW The ADC stores tables list a set of typical stores for the aircraft. We’ve tried to include all air-to-air weapons carried by the type, plus any fuel tanks and pods that are specic to the aircraft. After these items, we add as many known air-toground stores as space permits. For many types this list is incomplete. For example, the F/A-18C ADC does not show its ability to carry JSOW
Aircraft plots and executes its moves in segments , not one tick at a time or a whole gameturn at a time. A segment may be as short as a single tick, as long as a whole game-turn (10 ticks), or any number of ticks in between. There are four kinds of segments: straight , , turning , unloaded , and barrel roll. Straight segments do not change an aircraft’s pitch or heading (the Nose cell does not move on the PHAD). Turning segments change pitch and/or heading, and cause the Nose cell to move, except in the case of partial turn segments (which can only occur as an aircraft’s nal segment of movement). Unloaded segments can occur as controlled maneuvers (un(unloads) or as uncontrolled ight (stalls and departures) and ; unloaded segments resemble turning segments, where an aircraft unloads long enough, has its Nose pitch down to a “lower” PHAD cell. Barrel roll segments displace the aircraft perpendicular to the direction of ight and may also move the Nose mark toward or away from the Wing cell. Every segment has a Segment Duration of 1 to 10 ticks, which may be freely selected by the player (in straight and some unloaded segments) or determined by game mechanics (in turning, other unloaded, and barrel roll segments). The total duration of an aircraft’s segments must add up to 10 ticks each game-turn. (A plotted segment that would cause an aircraft to go past the tenth tick gets cut o during movement.) To execute a segment, use the Speed-to-FP Table Table to determine how many ight points to move, mo ve, which is called the Segment Length. Sum the total ticks the aircraft has stepped through (including this segment and all previous segments) and cross index that with the speed of the aircraft. The result is the cumulative number of FPs the aircraft will have spent up through the end of this segment. To nd the number of FPs to expend in this segment, subtract the FP value for the tick that ended end ed the previous segment (or zero, if this is the rst segment) from the FP value for the tick ending end ing the current segment.
The Form + Stores Drag Table For each aircraft, ll out the Form + Stores Drag table in the middle of the Performance nomograph before beginning play. play. For each Mach number (or named range), nd the matching Drag value in the Form Drag table on the ADC. Add the aircraft’s total Drag Points from stores to each basic Drag value and record the totals in the table. Stores points and drag points from stores are not the same. The Stores section on the reverse of the ADC shows many of the external ext ernal stores that the aircraft can carry and how many stores points each item costs when carried at the particular station. Total Total the stores points of all stores carried by the aircraft. The Drag Pt. per Stores Pt. entry gives the conversion from Stores points to Drag Points. For every full unit of Stores points, add 1 drag point to the aircraft’s Form Drag (in other o ther words, drop fractions). to tal of 15 Stores points. It adds 2 Drag Example: An aircraft that gets +1 per 6.0 carries a total Points to its Form Drag value at every speed. Some stores entries show how many of o f an item the aircraft can carry on a station, followed by the stores points per item. Multiply the number of items by the stores points per item to nd the total stores points. In a few cases, a particular item’s Stores Point value varies de pending on the station where it is carried. This generally represents recessed, conformal or wingtip stations versus standard pylons.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Sequ Sequen ence ce o Pla Play (SoP 01) Activity Point Recovery
all aircraft
(SoP 02) Declarations
all aircraft
Set throttle (AB, Mil, Idle) Set radar mode Select weapon Set DDS program Declare initial gunshot and record parameters Declare a missile snapshot attempt Select manual swing-wing position
(SoP 03) Flight Plot class A Aircraft without fixes plot all aircraft in class move class a Fixed aircraft in Plot class A move each in initiative order Plot class B * Aircraft fixing an aircraft in the previous group plot all aircraft in class move class b * Fixed aircraft in Plot class B move each in initiative order * Repeat the cycle of Plot class and move class until no fixing aircraft remain move class y Unfixed aircraft move each in initiative order move class z Unspotted aircraft (with sight of an opponent) move each in initiative order Flight Special Actions (Advanced) G-Onset as each aircraft completes its plot Performance as each aircraft completes its movement Missile Flight following target (and firer for RH movement) movement
(SoP 04) Flight Effects
all aircraft
Structure G-Effects Crew G-Effects (Advanced) G-Onset checked during aircraft plot steps, not during flight effects (Advanced) Crew Fatigue Recovery from Crew G-Effects
(SoP 05) Spin Recovery
all aircraft
(SoP 06) Departure
all aircraft
(SoP 07) Combat Initial Gunshots Missile Attack Normal and Tracking Gunshots Missile Launch Second IR Missile Slaved Sensor Acquisition (non-IR missiles use aircraft radar) Second Missile Launch
each aircraft in initiative order each aircraft in initiative order each aircraft in initiative order each aircraft in initiative order each aircraft in initiative order each aircraft in initiative order
(SoP 08) Initiative Initiative Rolls Fixing and assigning
all aircraft each aircraft in initiative order
(SoP 09) Visual Sighting
each aircraft in initiative order
Aircrew in grey-out or black-out declare FoV before own sighting attempts Adjust order of flight due to changes in sighting (newly unspotted, newly spotted, lost sight of fix target)
(SoP 10) Sensor
each aircraft in initiative order
Attempt conversion of previous turn Stabilized Sensor acquisitions into tracks Sensor Track Maintenance Mainten ance Sensor Acquisition
(SoP 11) Administrative Change manual swing-wing position Update wing load and stores drag
all aircraft
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Activity Point Recovery (SoP 01) Crew Quality and Pilot Quality We often interchange these very similar terms. Crew quality (CQ) can be applied to any member of the aircraft’s crew, while Pilot Quality (PQ) refers to the person ying the plane at this time.
Reset the available activity points (APs) of all conscious crew members to the full value for their Crew Qualities. (Unconscious and dead crew members lose all APs!) Crew members may not accumulate APs from turn to turn. Crew Quality
–2
–1
0
+1
+2
+3
Activity Points
5
5
6
7
7
8
Declarations (SoP 02) Crew members declare actions in this phase that cannot be changed later in the gameturn. System settings retain their state from the previous game-turn, if not set in this turn’s declaration phase. Unconscious and dead crew members cannot make declarations. Some declarations have an associated task and require activity points to perform. The Crew column on the Aircrew Tasks play aid shows whether any crew member may perform the task and make the declaration, or only the pilot.
Set Throttle The crew member ying the aircraft (typically the pilot) sets the throttle to Idle, Dry Dry,, or Afterburner (if available). An exact Engine Output value need not be selected at this time. Setting the throttle does not require activity points. If not set in the Declarations phase, the engines operate at the throttle setting from the previous game-turn.
Select Weapon An aircraft may have any one weapon type selected. Each missile type is considered a separate weapon type. If an aircraft carries sub-variant weapons of the same basic model (for example, a mixed load of AIM-9L and AIM-9P Sidewinders), select one of the subvariants. The aircraft will then re that sub-variant until it is exhausted and will then automatically select the other sub-variant. This also applies to radar and IR versions of a missile type, like the AIM-4 Falcon. The aircraft will re all of the missiles of the same (selected) seeker type and will then automatically select the missiles of the other seeker type. Many Soviet missile types with both radar and IR versions will instead alternate seeker types, rst ring an IR missile m issile and then a radar missile (the MDCs will note these missiles). A few aircraft select part or all of their gun battery when selecting Guns. An aircraft with “Hot Guns” may re its guns while another anot her weapon is selected. A missile must be selected in the Declarations phase in order for it to be operated in the Combat or Sensors phase of the current game-turn. An aircraft may select Guns at any point before the Combat Phase (SoP 07) . Select Weapon Weapon is an Oensive Systems Cockpit Action.
Set Sensor Mode Each sensor on an aircraft can be set On or O and some may be set to a specic mode. Setting a sensor mode must take place in the Declarations phase in order for it to be used in the Sensors phase of this game-turn. Set Mode is a Sensor Systems Cockpit Action.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Declare an Initial Gunshot An aircraft in position for a gunshot that did not attempt a normal or tracking gunshot in the preceding turn may declare an initial gunshot. This gunshot is resolved in the Combat Phase (SoP 07) . Immediately record the Target, Target, TCA, LCA, and range for the shot. Declaring an initial gunshot requires the shooter to use the Guns Engagement task.
Declare a Missile Snapshot An aircraft that has xed a target in Snapshot parameters may declare the intention to make a snapshot. Snapshots also require that the missile be selected and the target within the extended FoV of that missile. An FoV that ends with a plus-sign increases its FoV by one for snapshots. If the missile’s FoV does not have the plus-sign sux, its extended FoV is the FoV listed on the MDC. The snapshot capable must have some sensor aware of the target at this point, that is capable of handing-o to the missile. This will often be a HMS/HMD system. The player must record the Target Target and the ring aircraft’s starting Nose position. (Use the Initial Shot box on the ACC to contain this information.) Declaring a missile snapshot requires the shooter to use the Weapon Launch action (an Oensive Systems Cockpit Action), whether the missile is actually red or not. The shooter will likely need to perform a Sensor Hando task to cue the missile onto its target.
Position Manual Swing-Wing The pilot of a swing-wing aircraft may change the wing position. Wing Wi ng position changes take eect eec t in the Administrative Phase (SoP 11) , provided that the restrictions indicated on the ADC are met during the game-turn. Automatic swing-wing aircraft do not need to declare wing position changes. However, a pilot can override an automatic swing-wing with a Position Manual Swing-Wing Swing-Wing action, which both places the wing in manual mode and sets it to a specic position. The automatic swing-wing will then operate as a manual swing-wing until the pilot sets the swing-wing back into automatic mode using a Position Manual Swing-Wing Swing-Wing action. Position Manual Swing-Wing is a Conguration Cockpit Action.
Setting Decoy Program A crew member may set a DDS (Decoy Dispenser System) to dispense the same number of decoys every turn until it runs out of decoys or a crew member uses a Setting Decoy Program action to turn o the program. Once a DDS program is set, it no longer requires action by crew members to continue dispensing decoys. The similar Manual Decoy Release action only dispenses decoys in the turn it is employed. Setting Decoy Program is a Defensive Systems Cockpit Coc kpit Action.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook High Speed Aircraft traveling fast enough may have KEAS values above 600, which is the upper end of the scale. These aircraft should us the High-Speed KEAS scale instead and put the notation “Fast” next to the Q-mark as a reminder reminder.. Fast aircraft use the blue values for Max G and Turn Drag.
Flight Phase (SoP 03) Each aircraft’s ight is broken into Plotting and Moving. The order of these operations is determined in the previous game-turn’s Initiative Phase (SoP 08) . Plotting is performed entirely on the play-aids and is done simultaneously by all aircraft in a given Plot Class. Plotting results in a set of movement segments which are recorded on the Plot PHAD (top center of the ACC). Movement translates t ranslates the plotted segments into aircraft position and attitude changes on the game map. Movement is done in initiative order within Move Classes. Steps for the Plot and Move M ove operations have hints to lead players through their execution. Each plot step is marked with a “p” subscript, while movement steps are marked with an “m” subscript. Aircraft generally run through the steps of the Plot and Move operations multiple times (once for each segment).
Determine Initial Aircraft State (Meta-Step A p) All aircraft determine their Initial State, which requires nding some basic performance parameters. Players should do this at their earliest e arliest opportunity, opportunity, regardless of plot class. c lass. Aircraft traveling slowly Span speed (from the ACC) and altitude (also Find KEAS from altitude altitude and speed (Ap1) Span may have the Q-Mark in the shaded areas to the on the ACC) with a straightedge and make a mark on the KEAS axis. Use the matching lower left of the scale scales on the speed and KEAS axes (for speeds up to 240 knots use both right-side scales; called the Controllability otherwise, use both left-side scales). Record KEAS on the ACC. Region. These areas are Span altitude (from the ACC) and KEAS (found Find Mach from altitude and KEAS (Ap2) Span labeled “Marginal (1)”, in step Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Mach axis. Use the matching “Low (2)” and “No (3)”, scales on the KEAS and Mach axes (either both right-side or both left-side scales; use representing increasingly the scales the produce the line more perpendicular to the axes). When using the left-side unstable ight as energy scales, if the mark intersects a color-shaded regions on the Mach axis, record the name asdiminishes. If the Q-Mark sociated with the color: Slow, Slow, LTD (Low Transonic Transonic Drag), or HTD (High Transonic Drag). intersects one of these regions, the aircraft is Otherwise, record the Mach number on the ACC, rounded to the nearest tenth of a Mach. M ach. subject to all penalties of Span wing load (from the ACC) and Make Q-Mark from from wing load and KEAS (Ap3) Span the region as described in KEAS (found in step Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Q-Mark diagonal the Departure chapter chapter.. line. The Q-Mark is the intersection of the drawn line across the diagonal, d iagonal, and must remain in place throughout the entire Flight Phase. Speed-to-FP reminder Do not attempt to round the Q-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal The Speed-to-FP Table line are values for Engine ∆Speed and have nothing not hing to do with the Q-Mark. is additive. Using the Because the wing load is used extensively extensively,, you may save time t ime by circling or otherwise row corresponding to marking the correct value. Update it as required by weight changes, should they occur. the aircraft’s speed and Find Aero Load Limit from Q-mark and maximum lift ( Ap4) Span the Q-mark (found in counting from the segment’s starting tick, count step Ap3) and maximum lift (found on the ADC) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Segment Duration the Aerodynamic Load Limit axis. Find the nearest n earest value and record the Aero Load Limit in columns to the right on the ACC. to nd the segment’s Plotting (Meta Steps B p through E p) ending tick. The Segment Length is the FP value During a plot phase all aircraft in a Plot Class plot simultaneously. of the ending tick minus Each game-turn is broken into 10 ticks. A tick is the smallest unit of time in the game. the value at the starting A game-turn’s plot is broken into one or more segments. A segment has duration of 1 to tick. Circle the value at 10 ticks and the durations of an aircraft’s segments each game-turn must total 10 ticks, the ending tick and line through those to the left. exactly. A segment’s starting tick There are four types of segments: straight, turning, unloaded, and barrel roll. is the ending tick of the An aircraft travels a number of Flight Points (FP) in a game-turn that is determined by the previous segment, or an aircraft’s Speed. The total number of FP per game-turn is shown in the 10-tick column of imaginary zero column at the Speed-to-FP Table. the start of the game-turn.
Low Speed
Air Combat in the Jet Age Because the number of FP is only divisible by the number of ticks in the ten and twenty FP rows, equal duration segments for a given speed often have dierent FPs. Determine the Movement Vector , which will be either a cell or edge between two cells. Record each segment’s FPs on the Plot PHAD at the movement m ovement vector. The Plot PHAD is the only place where a mark is legally placed on a cell edge. (You may temporarily note bearings on a PHAD cell edge, but you must choose which side of the edge it actually falls on. Note this by placing the bearing mark touching the edge, on the chosen side. If you give the bearing to an opponent, give it as an edge because your opponent can choose to have the bearing fall on either side of the edge.)
Straight Flight Straight ight refers to ight without changes in pitch or heading. It may be conducted at any pitch angle. When straight segments are at 0° or ±30° pitch, the aircraft is loaded at 1 G, must pay turn drag for that load, and counts the segment as load 1.0 for average load. Straight segments at 60° or 90° pitch count as load 0.0 for average load. Based on the pitch ring occupied by the Record the load (“Turn Gs”) for the segment (Bp5) Based aircraft’s Nose, determine the load (either 1.0 or o r 0.0 G). Select the duration of the straight segment in ticks, up Select the segment duration (Bp7) Select to the number of ticks t icks remaining for this game-turn. Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, nd the FPs for the segment on the Speed-to-FP Table. For each tick in this Record the segment on the Averag Averagee Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For segment, record the load (either 0.0 or 1.0 G) on the Average Load table. The movement vector for a straight segment is the current Nose cell. Record the FPs for the segment in the Nose cell on the Plot PHAD. If rolling, update the Canopy and Right Wing marks on the Move PHAD Marks Marks (Cp) If Aircraft PHAD.
Turning Flight To the novice, pitching and turning seem unrelated. In practice, jet ghters turn by rolling to put the Lift vector vect or in the intended direction, then the n rotating the aircraft around the axis joining the wingtips. In unbanked ight, this changes the aircraft’s pitch. When an aircraft is banked onto its side, this rotation simply changes heading to produce a level turn. At a lesser or greater bank angles the rotation changes both bo th pitch and heading, producing an oblique turn. A segment involving pitching/turning is called a “turning segment,” because it always changes the aircraft’s Velocity Velocity mark (its Velocity Velocity or Nose cell), whether this changes pitch, heading, or both. Moving the Nose cell requires collecting Turn Points (TPs), which involves using the Turning nomograph. To use the nomograph, lay a straightedge connecting co nnecting the aircraft’s current Speed (not KEAS) with the desired d esired number of Turn-G’s Turn-G’s and make a mark where this crosses the central diagonal line, called the “T-mark”. Then, position the straightedge so it passes through the T-mark and the segment duration in Ticks. The number of TPs accumulate in this segment can be read o the top scale, where the straightedge crosses it. The Earth’s gravity aects aec ts Turn-G’s. Turn-G’s. Pulling the Nose higher requires overcoming gravity. gravity. Conversely,, when the Nose is pulled down, gravity assists the turn. The eect is modeled Conversely by the thick colored borders around the 30° pitch ring on the PHAD, called G Lines. These indicate that gravity comes into play whenever the Nose is crossing into or out of the 30° or 0º pitch rings in either direction. d irection. If the Nose is moving to a higher (more positive) pitch ring, the Turn-G is 1.0 less than the Load Used. If the Velocity Velocity is moving to a lower (more negative) pitch ring, the Turn-G is 1.0 g more than the Load Used. This means that the Turn-G Turn-G for an aircraft may change from segment to segment even if the Load Used
Fluid Nomography Nomography In practice, this procedure is very uid and doesn’t always follow this linear process. Players often make several T-marks corresponding to different Turn-G values so they can compare them. They also often trade TPs for time (Ticks) using the nomograph rst one way and then the other. This is perfectly legal, even encouraged! As you become more comfortable with the game mechanics, you will nd yourself naturally doing the same.
(Advanced) Inverted Flight Straight segments longer than three ticks with nose mark in 0º or ±30º pitch ring and the canopy mark lower than the nose mark (in a pitch ring closer to –90º than the nose.) count as negative 1.0 load.
Using the Vertical Eective vertical turning is a trade of speed and altitude. Turning in the 30º pitch ring uses fewer TP per cell than the same turn along the 00 ring. When the Nose is in the 60º pitch ring, a 6TP PHAD cell move yields a 60 degree net heading change. (You’ll (Y ou’ll soon learn that the freedom of maneuver in the vertical comes at a price. Remember- energy is never lost, it simply changes form. The price of a climb to turn in the vertical is refunded when the pilot initiates a dive.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Turning Example 1 T Turn urn Amount 120º Segment Length 9 Start Nose 045 +00 End Nose 285 +00 Right Wing All +90 Movement vector is the center-most cell or edge, which yields 345+00. Multiturn segment length is 7 FP (from 9FP vs 120º.)
Turning Example 2 Turn Amount 60º Segment Length 5 Start Nose 150 –30 End Nose 180 +30 Right Wing 240 –30 In a 60° multi-turn, the multi-turn segment length equals the base segment length, or 5 FP. The movement vector is 165+00, halfway between the start and end Nose positions on the path three cells from the Wing.
Turning Example 3 T Turn urn Amount 120º Segment Length 9 Start Nose 090 –30 End Nose 180 –30 Right Wing 330 –60 An aircraft conducting a 90° multi-turn in the –30° ring (using 15 TPs) from 090–30° to 180–30° has a segment 7 FPs long. It will move 7 FPs in a turning segment from 120–30 to 150–30, which are the two cells closest to the center of the path between the start and end positions of the Nose.
remains constant. So, an aircraft pulling 6 g’s (Load Used = 6) while pulling the Velocity Velocity up from 0° to +30° would have only 5 Turn-G’s. Turn-G’s. As the Nose continued going up from +30° to +60°, the Turn-G would remain 5. But once the Velocity crossed into +60°, the turn from +60° to +90° would be at 6 Turn-G’s Turn-G’s because the Velocity would not be crossing a G-line. This may require additional T-marks on the nomograph to account for changing conditions over the course of a maneuver, even when maintaining a constant load. Moving the Nose from one PHAD cell to an adjacent PHAD cell normally requires 6 TPs. Because of the geometry of a sphere, a special case applies when turning from one 30° cell to an adjacent 30° cell. c ell. This only requires 5 TPs, and is indicated on the PHAD using small diamonds containing a ‘5’ as a reminder to players. This only applies for turns within the 30° ring, and does not apply to turns into or out of the 30° ring in either direction (those require 6 TPs like all other turning.) To execute a turning segment, a player collects the necessary TPs (5 or 6 per cell turned). Any additional TPs may be carried using the TP Carry track on the aircraft control card. Any existing TP carry is always added to the total TPs collected in the current segment. TP carries are retained through straight and unloaded segments. The T P carry can be voluntarily discarded by the player player,, and if an aircraft rolls its Canopy two or more cells during a segment, any TP carry is automatically lost.
Multi-Turns Players can save time and eort executing turning segments that move the Nose multiple cells, instead of several 30° segments. This is called a multi-turn but it is really the normal turning process. To To perform a multi-turn, an aircraft collects sucient TPs T Ps in a segment to satisfy the requirement of 5 or 6 Turning Points (TPs) multiple times. An aircraft that collects 12 TPs would be able to make a 60° multi-turn, while an aircraft that collects 15 TPs while turning in the 30° ring could c ould make a 90° multi-turn. Multi-turns are only allowed if the Turn-Gs do not change throughout. If a multi-turn crosses some portion of a multi-turn crosses a g-line, but other portions do not, the player must either break the segment into multiple segments of constant turn-G, or apply the greatest Load needed to generate the constant Turn-G. Breaking the segment up is more work for the player, but often minimizes the induced drag from the turn. The FP length of a multiturn of 90 degrees or more does not equal the length of the segment because the move cuts across the circle the aircraft is actually following. The Turning Flight Points Nomograph (in the center of the turning nomograph) performs the FP factor calculation by drawing a line from total segment length though the amount of turning to nd the turning ight points for the move. At very low altitude, a multi-turn may hide that the aircraft’s path would pass through the ground. If there is some question of this occurring, a player may need to check by running the multi-turn as a serious of individual 30º turn segments. If asked to do so by other players or if they suspect this is the case, a player is obligated to check. c heck. If the ground is not intersected, use the original multi-turn segment for the plot.
Incomplete Turning Segment If, at the end of a game-turn, a turning segment can not generate enough turning points to move the Nose No se at the selected Turn-G, the aircraft ies an incomplete turning segment. The generated TP are recorded as TP Carry and the segment is plotted like a 30º turning t urning segment, but do not change the position of any PHAD marks at the end of the segment.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Minimize Carry Every turning segment should have the shortest duration possible that turns the desired number of facings at the selected Turn-G. Any ticks past this duration become part of the next segment.
Movement Vector For any turn, whether it is starting around the rst 30º of facing or moving the Nose multiple cells, has a movement vector where the segment’s FP is plotted and eventually event ually own and an end position for the aircraft’s Nose. The end Nose position is a cell that is the number of cells turned (1 per 30º of turn) away from Nose, that is on a path three cells away from the Wing. The direction of displacement heads towards the Canopy for positive g turning (the usual case) or away from the Canopy when performing a negative g turns. Incomplete turning segments use the end Nose position for a complete 30º turning, but do not change the position of any PHAD marks at the end of the segment. The movement vector is the center-most cell or edge between two cells that lies on a path between the start and end Nose position, and that is three away from the Right Wing mark. If the Nose is moving an odd number of cells, the movement vector will be on an edge between cells. It will be in a cell when the Nose is moving an even number of cells.
Prefer Multiturns Multi-turns should be your preferred method of turning. Look for these opportunities and use them, as they both to speed-up play, and avoid rounding penalties on the Ticks axis. Multi-turns actually generate more accurate results, by lowering the amount of rounding.
Plotting a Turning Segment Select a load for the segment. If the turn will cross a Select the load for the segment (Bp5) Select G Line, adjust the load to nd the Turn Gs. If not, Turn Gs equal the selected load. Record the Turn Turn Gs in the box for step 5. and Speed (found in step Make the T-Mark T-Mark (Bp6) Span Turn Turn Gs (found in step step Bp5) and Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the T-Mark diagonal line. The T-Mark is the intersection of the drawn d rawn line across the diagonal, and must remain throughout the segment. Do not attempt to round the T-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal are for determining FPs in multi-turn segments and have nothing to do with the T-Mark. Select the duration of the turning segment in ticks, up to the Find Turning Turning Points (Bp7) Select ticks remaining for this game-turn. Span this Segment Duration and the T-Mark (found in step Bp6) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Points axis. Record the number of Turning Turning Points produced in the box for step 7. Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, nd the FPs for the segment on the Speed to FP Table. Table. If this this is a multi-turn of 3 cells or more, nd the FPs for the segment (Bp9) Span Span the FPs for the segment (found in step Bp8) and the number of cells in the multi-turn on the diagonal line with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Flight Points axis. Record the Turning Turning Flight Points in the box for step 9. For each tick in this Record the segment on the Averag Averagee Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For segment, record the load (selected in step Bp5) on the Average Average Load table. Then record the Find Turning Turning Points Points FPs (or Turning Turning FPs, if step 9 applied) for the segment on the Plot PHAD (on the ACC). In practice, you will If this is a turning segment with a single turn, record the FPs on the border between the often run this step starting and ending cells. If this is a multi-turn, see that rule for the proper positioning of backwards, starting with the FPs. the number of Turning Move PHAD Marks Marks (Cp) Update the Nose and Canopy marks to reect their new PHAD Points you need for the position. If rolling while turning, update the Canopy and Right Wing marks after updatsegment and running a ing due to turning. line from that number through the T-Mark to nd a Segment Duration.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Negative Loads
Advanced Rule
Negative Loads occur when the t he aircraft “pushes”, generating lift towards the bottom of the aircraft instead of “pulling” to generate lift along the Canopy vector. Negative Load turns are conducted just as ordinary turns, except that the Nose vector vect or moves away from the Canopy rather than toward it. Negative Loads are treated as positive values for calculating average load. When negative loads are used in a game turn, multiply the DpG value by 1.5 when nding nd ing Turn Turn Drag. When using a mix of Negative and Positive Loads in a single game turn, Flight Eects must be checked against both the greatest positive load and the greatest negative load. Neither aircraft nor pilots are designed to accommodate Negative Loads, so there are additional eects rolls that must be made any time Negative Loads are used. Aircraft may not release or jettison external stores while under negative loads. Rail launched missiles may be employed, but dropped and ejected missiles may not. Some ADCs will note the chances of various problems occurring while the aircraft is under negative loads, such as the engine aming out. Unless stated specically on the ADC, the Safe Load of an aircraft is -3.0 negative load.
Pointing
Advanced Rule
When an aircraft ies at a high angle of o f attack, the Nose may point ahead of the aircraft’s direction of travel (as represented by the Velocity Velocity mark). In these situation, we add the Velocity and Lift marks to the normal three marks on the PHAD (Nose, Canopy, Canopy, and Wing). The aircraft moves in the direction of its Velocity Velocity cell, but its sensors, canopy c anopy modiers, and weapon arcs are all based on the position of its Nose cell. Pointing occurs in the last segment segm ent of movement when the aircraft’s load-derived lift value (dierent from the Lift mark) is in the gold shaded region of the ADC’s AoA Eect table. (Find the load-derived lift value, following the procedure for step Ep14 in Turning Segments, by drawing a line across the performance nomograph from the Load Used, through the Q-Mark to nd lift). When an aircraft is pointing, the Nose and Velocity cells are one cell apart. After any PHAD mark movement from the last segment, move the Nose and Canopy marks as if the aircraft were pitching one cell, leaving the Velocity mark in the Nose mark’s starting cell and the Lift mark in the Canopy mark’s starting cell. The Canopy and Lift marks must end one cell apart, three cells away from the Wing cell, and three cells away from the Nose (for the Canopy cell) or the Velocity (for the Lift cell). Pointing remains in eect until the start of the next game-turn’s movement movemen t phase. At this point, move the Nose to the Velocity Velocity mark and the Canopy to the Lift mark.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Unloaded Flight
Advanced Rule
Unloading consists of ying so that the wings generate little or no lift causing the aircraft to y a ballistic path with no turn drag from the wings. Departed aircraft may be directed to y an involuntary Unloaded segment. segm ent. An aircraft with its Nose cell at + or –90° may not y an Unloaded segment voluntarily. voluntarily. An aircraft with its Nose cell at + or –90° that must y an involuntary Unloaded segment (such as during Spin Gyrations) instead ies a Straight segment, during which it cannot roll. An unload segment can not have its nose pass through the –90º pitch, although the nose no se can end here. To y an unloaded segment, segm ent, the player chooses a Load of 0 (zero) and selects a duration. During the unloaded segment an aircraft loses altitude steps equal to the duration of the segment (in ticks) divided by 3 (round normally). Also, gravity causes the aircraft’s Nose to pitch down. The aircraft acquires 20 Pitchdown Points (PdPs) for every tick of segment duration. When the total equals the aircraft’s speed in knots, the Nose will pitch down. do wn. If the aircraft is suciently slow, slow, one or more pitch downs may occur during a segment. segm ent. Determine the Pitchdown-Amount by dividing the PdPs by the aircraft speed and carrying any remaining PdPs into a later segment. (Do not round the pitchdown-amount.) Find the Pitchdown-Target , by selecting with a cell that is pitchdown-amount cells below the nose, with the same heading. If pitchdown-amount is zero, use a value of one o ne while nding the pitchdown-target. If there is any ambiguity in the nose position, use the method described below in “Pitching Down” to nd the exact cell. The Movement Vector is the center-most cell or edge between the nose and pitchdown-target. If the last tick of the game-turn is part of an unloaded segment, record any unused PdPs in the Pitchdown box on the ACC. An aircraft loses all of its PdPs the moment that t hat it begins any segment that is not an unloaded segment. Select the duration of the unloaded segment in ticks. Select the segment duration (Bp7) Select For voluntary unloaded segments, select a duration in ticks. The minimum duration is either 5 ticks or the ticks needed for the aircraft’s Nose to pitch down, whichever is less. Involuntary unloaded segment use the duration d uration mandated by the departure rules. Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, nd the FPs for the segment on the Speed-to-FP Table. Record this on the movement vector. For each tick in this Record the segment on the Averag Averagee Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For segment, record the load (0.0) on the Average Average Load table. Uncommanded unloads may specify a load, which is used instead of 0.0. Then record the FPs for the segment on the border between the starting and ending cells on the Plot PHAD (on the ACC). Move PHAD Marks Marks (Cp) If the aircraft pitches down, update the aected PHAD marks. Rolling is prohibited when unloading. Record an altitude loss equal to segment duration divided by 3 (round normally) and record any unused PdPs in the Pitchdown box. Pitching Down When an aircraft pitches down, adjusts the aircraft’s PHAD markers as follows. First, move the Nose and Velocity Velocity (if separated) marks pitchdown-amount cells closer to the –90° ring while maintaining their current headings. If the current heading cannot be maintained (such as when pitching down from +30° to 0°), the player selects one of the two alternative headings, but the Nose and Velocity marks must maintain the same distance from one another another.. Next the player determines the next vector to move by determining whether the Wing or Canopy is closer to 0° pitch (the horizon). If they are equidistant from the horizon, use the Wing Wi ng vector. This second vector is moved the t he shortest possible distance across the PHAD that will bring it to a distance of 3 cells from the Nose. If there are two possible choices for the destination, choose the cell that is closest to the original pitch ring of the vector vect or.. Finally,, the player adjusts the third vector (Canopy or Wing) to bring it to a legal location Finally 3 away from both the Nose and the second vector vect or,, along the shortest possible path.
Unload Basics An aircraft unloads for 6 ticks with the nose at 000+30 and speed 360. The aircraft acquires 120 PdPs (6 ticks x 20). As this is less than speed 360, the aircraft does not pitch down. Had the aircraft been ying a woeful speed 60, it would pitch down two cells. They nd the pitchdowntarget at 015+00. Finding a 5 FP segment length, this is recorded on the edge between 000+30 and 015+00. Furthermore, they record a 2 step altitude loss, for the ve ticks divided by two.
Pitch Down Example Consider an aircraft with the following orientation: Nose 030+60 Canopy 150+30 Wing 090–30 Velocity 000+30 To conduct a pitch down, the player rst moves the Nose to 030+30 (preserving heading). The Velocity must be moved to 015+00 because dropping it to 345+00 would change the distance to the Nose. The wing and Canopy are both one ring from the horizon, so the wing is moved next. It is moved to 120–30 since a move to 105+00, while 3 cells away, is also a change in the pitch ring and this change must be minimized. Finally Finall y, the Canopy is adjusted to be three away from both the Nose and wing, which moves it to 150+60. The nal orientation is: Nose 030+30 Canopy 150+60 Wing 090–30 Velocity 015+00
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Barrel Rolls
Finding the the Duration Duration In practice, you will often run step (Bp7) backwards, backwards, starting with the number of Turning Points needed to complete the barrel roll and running a line from that number through the Roll-Mark to nd the Segment Duration.
Advanced Rule
An aircraft performing a barrel roll rolls constantly while maintaining a “pull.” Unlike a turn, the roll constantly changes the direction of the Lift vector, so the aircraft ends up yying in roughly the same direction as when it began the barrel roll, but oset laterally. laterally. The direction of this oset depends on both how far the aircraft rolls and the whether it rolls to the left or right (from the looking forward in the cockpit, perspective). An aircraft must complete a barrel roll segment in a single game-turn (no carrying across game-turns). Choose a half (180°) or full Select the degree, direction, and load for the segment (Bp5) Choose (360°) roll and declare the direction of the roll (left or right). Select a Load of at least 2.5 for the segment and record it in the box for step 5. Span Turn Turn Gs (found in step Bp5) and Speed (found in step Make the Roll-Mark (Bp6) (Bp6) Span Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the T-Mark diagonal line. The Roll-Mark is the intersection of the drawn line across the diagonal, and must remain throughout the segment. Do not attempt to round the Roll-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal line have nothing to do with the Roll-Mark. Select the duration of the barrel roll segment in ticks, up to the t he Find Turning Turning Points (Bp7) Select ticks remaining for this game-turn. Span this Segment Duration and the Roll-Mark (found in step Bp6) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Points axis. Record the number of Turning Points produced in the box for step 7. Completing a half roll (180°) requires exactly 9 TPs, marked m arked with the green half-circle arrow. arrow. Completing a full roll (360°) requires exactly 18 TPs, marked with the green full-circle arrow. arrow. You You cannot carry over barrel roll turning points from game-turn to game-turn. Find the FPs for the segment segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, nd the FPs for the segment segm ent on the Speed to t o FP Table. Table. Verify the necessary roll capability Using the load selected in step 5 as the Greatest Load Used value, determine the Lift L ift Used during the segment (follow the procedure for step Ep14). Check the ADC and determine whether the aircraft can produce 6 points of roll (for a half roll) or 12 points of roll (for a full roll) during the barrel roll segment. You You can use any roll rate during a barrel roll. See Rolling, below, below, for the details on roll rates. If the aircraft cannot roll enough to perform the barrel roll, either return to step Bp5 and choose a dierent Load or abandon the t he barrel roll and y a dierent type of segment in its place. For each tick in this Record the segment on the Average Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For segment, record the load (selected in step Bp5) on the Average Average Load table. Then record the FPs on the Plot PHAD as follows: Full Barrel Roll: place FP in the cell that is three from the Canopy Canopy,, one from the nose no se and either two (if right) or four (if left) from the Right Wing mark. Half Barrel Roll: place FP on the cell-edge between the Nose mark and the th e cell three from the Canopy and either two (if right) or four (if left) from the Right Wi Wing ng mark. Full Barrel Rolls do not change the PHAD marks. Half Barrel Move PHAD Marks Marks (Cp) Full Rolls change the PHAD marks as follows: Right: Move the Nose mark one cell to a position two from the Right Wing mark (one cell right) and three from the Canopy mark, then move the Right Wing to be three away from the other two. Finally, Finally, roll the aircraft six cells in the clockwise direction. Left: Move the Nose No se mark one cell to a position four from the Right Wing mark (one cell left) and three from the Canopy mark, then move the Right Wing to be three away from the other two. Finally, Finally, roll the aircraft six cells in the clockwise direction.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Rolling Rolling (also known as banking) rotates an aircraft around its length. The N ose stays xed, but the Canopy and Wing marks move together. A right roll moves the Canopy mark toward the Wing cell. A roll in the opposite d irection is a left roll. Aircraft have roll rates that vary with the current Lift. Each point of roll rate represents both the Wing and Canopy marks moving a single PHAD cell, per FP (not tick!) own in a straight, or barrel roll segment. The accumulation of cells to be rolled in a segment is referred to as Roll Points (RP). Rolling occurs at the end of a segment, in the Move PHAD Marks step. If rolling Marks (Cp) step. while turning, rolling is performed after the turn has been updated on the PHAD. Rolling is performed before pointing is performed. To Roll, move the Canopy mark roll points or less cells, to a cell three away from the Nose cell. Then, move the Wi Wing ng mark so it is three cells away from both the Canopy and Nose cells, as always. The Wing mark should move the same distance as the Canopy mark.
Select the Type of Roll Rolling, especially while pulling many Gs during a turning segment, c an cause the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. This propensity is tracked with Departure Points (DP), which are held until the end of the turn to check for Departure. Associated with this is a set of shaded areas on the lower-left of the Q-Mark axis called the Controllability Region. Aircraft with their Q-Marks in the Controllability Region are so low on energy that they become increasingly unstable. See the Departure rules rules for details. Aircraft have three dierent roll rates listed for each Lift value, which are: Safe Rolls (listed in the Srr column in slightly smaller green text) can be performed without generating DP, DP, even if performed in the Controllability region. Normal Rolls (listed in the RR column, in white or black text) generate 1 DP for every 2 points of roll performed in the Controllability Region. c olumn, in slightly smaller orange text) generate Boosted Rolls (listed in the Brr column, one DP for every FP on which they are performed and 1 DP for every 2 points of roll performed in the Controllability Region. Sustained Rolls All of the listed roll rates are “Initial Roll Rates” and count for the rst FP of rolling. Subsequent FPs generate 1.5 times the listed roll rate. Snap Rolls An aircraft may generate the Sustained Roll Rate on the rst FP of rolling by using a snap roll. Each roll point generated above the Initial Roll Rate causes 1 DP. DP. Rolling While Turning Rolling is restricted in turning segments. While turning, the aircraft may only roll 0, 1, or 2 cells during a segment. If the Normal Roll Rate entry appears in white on a dark green background, the aircraft may accumulate 2 RP per turning segment. If the background is light green, it may accumulate 1 RP in a turning segment. If there is no background color, the aircraft may not roll while turning. (Aircraft may not use their Safe or Boosted roll rates while turning.) Rolling While Unloaded Aircraft may not roll during Unloaded segments.
Finding the Roll Rate Roll Rates are shown on the ADC’s AoA Table Table and are indexed by lift. To nd the roll rate for a given segment, take the lift of the segment by drawing a line on the performance nomograph from the segment’s selected load, through the Q-Mark to the Lift axis. This procedure is identical to step E14, except that it uses the current segment load instead of the greatest load used during the entire game turn. Remember that most straight segments, particularly short rolling segments, are own at 1.0 load.
Of Incomplete Turns Rolling while turning only occurs at the end of complete turning segments. Rolling is not permitted at the end of an incomplete turning segment or at a mid-point of a multi-turn. (The end of a multi-turn is a legal point to roll, as this is the end of a complete turning segment.)
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Performance (Meta Steps D p through E p) As aircraft maneuver they change speed. These speed changes are complex, based on numerous factors related to the t he aircraft’s speed, weight, wing area, Mach number, throttle setting, external stores, and angle of attack. The Performance nomograph handles all of these factors for you, condensing them down to simple addition and subtraction.
Average Load L oad Calculate the Average Load (Dp11) Sum the loads of all 10 ticks, then divide by 10 to nd
the Average Average Load for the game-turn. Record the Average Average Load on the ACC. The players in a game may agree to use the greatest Load used on any tick as the t he Average Average Load. This saves a step, but sacrices some accuracy. accuracy. (All players should use the same convention. A player using average load, when the rest of the players do not, will enjoy an unfair advantage.)
Engine Find KEAS from altitude altitude and speed (Ep12) On the ADC Engine table, nd the rst Alt
O the Charts It is possible for a plane to have a Form Drag value greater than supported by the nomograph. If this occurs, perform the Form ∆Speed calculation for the greatest Form Drag that generates a result and then add the result for running the Form ∆Speed operation with the remainder remainder.. If the Form ∆Speed result goes o the top of the chart, redraw the Q-Mark using the High-speed KEAS axis and nd the result on the High-speed Form ∆Speed axis.
Of Max Aero Load Max Aero Load (Ap4) is is a guideline to keep you from using a Lift greater than Max-Lift. If Lift Used is greater than Max-Lift, the aircraft automatically departs controlled ight with a Departure Check of: – (d10 roll / 2) Calculate Turn Drag using the values for Max-Lift.
value greater than or equal to the aircraft’s starting altitude in steps. There are two entries to the right of this t his value, giving the Engine Output for AB (afterburning) and Dry (nonafterburning) throttle settings (aircraft without an afterburner have only a Dry column). The value corresponding to the current throttle setting is used for the engine speed change procedure. On the Performance nomograph, span the Engine Output and the aircraft’s Wing Loading with a straightedge and make a mark on the diagonal Engine ∆Speed axis. Find the nearnearest value and record it in the Engine ∆Speed box on the ACC. The player may choose to take less thrust (use a lower Engine ∆Speed value) to moderate airspeed. If the throttle setting is afterburner, the chosen Engine ∆Speed value may not be less than the maximum thrust that would be produced by using the Dry setting.
Form Drag Using the Form + Stores Drag table on the Find KEAS from altitude altitude and speed (Ep13) Using Performance nomograph, look up the aircraft’s Mach region or Mach number in the Mach column and nd the corresponding form drag value in the Drag column. (Any Mach number below 0.9 is considered “Slow.”) “Slow.”) On the Performance nomograph, no mograph, span the Drag number and the Q-mark and make a mark on the Form ∆Speed axis. Find the nearest value and record it in the Form ∆Speed box on the ACC. An aircraft can employ its Speedbrakes to generate additional form drag. The player may add a value between 0 and the ADC Brakes value to the Form + Stores Drag value at the current speed. This combined value is used as the form drag value to nd Form ∆Speed.
Turn Drag Find the highest value re Find Lift Used from from Q-Mark and Greatest Greatest Load Used (Ep14) Find corded on the Average Average Load table; this is the Greatest Load Used (record it in the Greatest Load Used box on the ACC). On the Performance nomograph, span Greatest Load Used and the Q-Mark (made in step Ap3) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Lift axis. Record Lift Used on the ACC. Find Turn ∆Speed from Greatest Load Used and DpG (Ep15) In the AoA Eect table on the ACC, nd the Lift Used in the Lift column. Find the corresponding DpG (Drag ∆Speed per G) value and record it on the ACC. Multiply DpG by Average Average Load to nd Turn ∆Speed and record it on the ACC.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Movement (Meta Steps F m through J m) During a movement phase all aircraft in an initiative class move in Base Initiative order. order. Every segment has both Determine the Exact Altitude Change for the Segment (Fm) Every horizontal (hexes) and vertical (steps) parts. The 3D Movement (Fm) aid on the t he Aircraft Control Card is used to determine how many hexes and how much altitude change result from the segment. The play aid consists c onsists of a diagram with color-coded wedges corresponding to all pitch angles. The orange cell in the center marks the position of the aircraft at the start of the segment. segment . To nd an allowed move, starts at the orange cell c ell and counts out one cell for each FP of segment length within the wedge corresponding to the pitch ring of the aircraft’s current Velocity Velocity cell. If a dot is cut by two colored c olored pitch wedges, it is a legal position for either. After selecting a legal cell, choose either its center dot, or another dot of the same color touching the cell, as the end point of the move. (Moves of one FP in the ±60 pitch ring only have a light-colored dot on the edge of the cell, and aircraft in those pitch rings may not move to the dot at the center of the cell). Each dot represents a combination of horizontal (hexes) and vertical (steps) movement. Find the altitude change for the dotted line passing through the end point. (Odd-numbered altitude changes are not labeled, but still have unique values.) Return to the end point and read up or down the row of cells to nd the Movements Points (horizontal movement) for this segment. Record the altitude change by crossing Record the Altitude Change for the Segment (Gm) Record out the appropriate number of steps on the Altitude Change Track (Gm), immediately right of the 3D Movement aid. Do not erase previous changes; record positive changes on the “+” track and negative changes on the “–“ track. (At the end of the aircraft’s entire move you will add these up.) Once the number of Determine the Exact Horizontal Movement for the Segment (Hm) Once hexes moved is determined, the 2D Movement (Im) aid is used to adjust the position of the aircraft on the map. The PHAD cell of the current Velocity Velocity mark is used to determine a wedge of possible destinations, just like the color-coded fans on the 3D Movement aid. An aircraft may be moved to any legal hex within this wedge at the correct distance from its current location. The 2D Movement aid shows alternating colored bands corresponding to legal moves for normal headings: those ending in a ‘0’. The wedges for oset headings (those ending in ‘5’) are the regions between the colored lines radiating from the center orange hex. These wedges are labeled in black boxes with highlighted numbers for normal headings, and in colored numbers for oset headings. The extended headings (those ending with an ‘E’) are not shown separately. separately. They consist of the appropriate colored wedge, extended out to the purple lines on either side. So the 330E heading consists of everything between the line running out to the 300 label, and the one running out to t o the 000 label. An aircraft moving in the ±90 wedge may move horizontally in any direction, but may not “double back.” It must end the segment as many hexes from its starting hex as it had MPs for the segment. To move players use the hexes he xes for the current segment determined on the 3D Movement playaid. To To nd a legal ending hex, a player starts on the central orange hex of the 2D playaid and counts out a distance equal to the number of hexes he must move. Any hex in the correct wedge at the t he correct distance is an allowed destination, with exceptions as noted in the rules that follow. follow. A hex lled with two colors or with a side-colored line passing through it is a legal move for either wedge.
Examples Abound If any of looks seems complex, the tutorial has detailed examples to walk you through learning these operations. (It is not as dicult as it might seem at rst. Seriously Seriously.) .) In fact, we recommend new players read and play the tutorial, before reading the rulebook.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Orient Box Mini, Update Tiles (Meta-Step I m) Reorient the box miniature to match the PHAD and update the stacking tiles to show the new altitude of the aircraft. Use the following process when orienting the box miniature: If the aircraft’s Nose mark is in the +90 or –90 pitch ring: 1) Place the box miniature miniature sitting on its tail (if its Nose cell is at +90 pitch) or on its Nose (if its Nose cell is in –90 pitch). 2) Point the box miniature’s Canopy face to the heading of the Canopy Canopy mark. Otherwise: 1) Point the box miniature’s nose face to the heading of the aircraft’s aircraft’s Nose cell. 2) Set the box miniature’s pitch to match the pitch of the aircraft’s aircraft’s Nose cell. If the Nose cell is in the 00 00 pitch ring, no tilt tilt block block is needed for pitch. If the Nose is in the –30 –30 or –60 –60 pitch ring, place the Nose face of the box miniature facing into the tilt block. Similarly,, if the Nose is in the +30 or +60 pitch ring, Similarly ring, place the Nose face of the box miniature facing away from the tilt block. 3) Set the box miniature’s roll to match the aircraft’s aircraft’s Canopy and Wing Wing cells. 3a) If the aircraft’s Wing Wing cell is in the 00 pitch ring or if the Canopy is in a +90 or –90 pitch ring, no tilt block is needed for roll. If the Canopy Canopy cell is in a positive pitch ring, place the box miniature on its its bottom face. If the Canopy Canopy cell is in a negative pitch ring, place the box box miniature miniature on its canopy face. 3b) If the Canopy mark is in the 00 pitch ring, no tilt block is needed for roll. Roll the box miniature onto a side face so that the Canopy Canopy face face points points in in the heading of the Canopy cell. (Do not change the heading of the box miniature.) 3c) Otherwise, you need a tilt block to show roll. If using a pitch tilt block, place the roll tilt block’s notch side into its face. Use whichever Canopy or Wi Wing ng mark is in the thirty-pitch ring to help place the box miniature into the roll tilt block. Stack the correct number of altitude tiles under the tilt blocks or directly under the box miniature to show the aircraft’s altitude. All aircraft in the game may use the same base altitude to minimize the use of altitude tiles and to make it easier to calculate relative altitudes. Record any base altitude in the Tile Base Altitude Altitude box at the top of each ACC. Subtract the Tile Base Altitude from the actual altitude of each aircraft to determine how many stacking tiles to place under that aircraft. Altitude tiles are stacked like poker chips and are in the following denominations: Color Altitude Steps Black 100 Dark blue 25 Light blue 5 White 1 Stack the largest denomination in use by an aircraft on the top of the stack and graduate down to the smallest denomination deno mination on the bottom of the stack. You can then easily make small changes in altitude by adding or removing tiles from the bottom of the stack.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Gravity Find the net change in the aircraft’s altitude Find KEAS from altitude altitude and speed (Jm16) Find from the Altitude Change Track Track on the ACC. On the ∆Speed Due to Gravity table, nd the row corresponding to the aircraft’s speed and read across that row to the rst entry greater than or equal to the altitude change. The number at the top of the column is the speed change in knots. The sign of the speed change is the opposite of that for the change in altitude: a net climb (positive) produces a loss in speed (negative), while a net dive (negative) produces a gain in speed (positive). Record the value, with the appropriate sign, in the Gravity ∆Speed box on the ACC.
Net Speed Change Add up the Engine, Form, Turn, Turn, and Gravity ∆Speed values to get the net change c hange in speed (Net ∆Speed) for the aircraft. Add the aircraft’s Speed from the start of the turn to the t he Net ∆Speed to nd the aircraft’s End Speed. The End Speed becomes the aircraft’s new Speed for next turn; record the new Speed on the ACC. If the new speed is below 40, the aircraft immediately loses one altitude step, sets its speed to 40, and receives 4 additional Departure Points for the upcoming Departure Check. Add the aircraft’s Altitude from the start of the turn to the ∆Altitude to nd the aircraft’s new Altitude for next turn. Record the new Altitude on the t he ACC.
Shoot ‘em If You Got ‘em Once you nish moving, you should shoot bearings to any opponents that have already moved. If you announce your move is complete on the map before nishing up performance, they may shoot the bearing for you, while you dot the i’s and cross the t’s. And once you’ve moved, take the bearings of the other opponents as their moves complete (See the sidebar on reciprocal bearings to learn how to share your bearing with the plane at the other end.)
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Flight Eects (SoP 04) During ight an aircraft’s maneuvers may exceed the safe limits of aircraft and crew. crew. In the Flight Eects Phase players check what eects these excesses cause.
Overspeed Eects Aircraft have an Overspeed Limit. Unless otherwise noted on the ADC, this value is 800 KEAS. If the line on the Altitude-Speed-KEAS nomograph intersects the KEAS axis at a value equal to or greater than the Overspeed Limit (before rounding), the aircraft is subject to Overspeed eects. Rounding has no eect on this determination, only the physical localocation of the line. The shaded Overspeed Region on the KEAS axis shows the typical 800 KEAS limit. Check for Overspeed Eects by rolling on the Pips table using a Pips rating calculated as follows: Overspeed Pips Rating = (KEAS – Overspeed Limit)/40 (round up) The Overspeed table in the play aids indicates the eect of the Pips result: No Eect indicates that there were no eects due to overspeed this game-turn. Take n Damage causes the indicated number of damage points to the aircraft. Take n Damage and Criticals causes the indicated number of damage points to the aircraft, plus a single critical hit to each of the indicated subsystems (either Engine or Engine and Structure). play.. Aircraft Destroyed immediately removes the aircraft from play
Structure G Eects Overstress Points track weakening of the airframe due to G eects and increase the risk from subsequent Structure G Eect checks. Overstress points are cumulative and are never lost. If the Greatest Load Used during a game-turn is greater than the aircraft’s Safe Load at its current Wing Wing Load (shown on the ADC), the aircraft must check for Structure G Eects using the procedure on the Structure G Eects play aid. Structure critical hits add to the Greatest Load Used, so that an otherwise safe maneuver might become dangerous due to prior damage. The following eects are possible: No Eect indicates there were no issues due to Structure G eects this game-turn. th e aircraft. Airframe Overstress causes one Overstress Point to the Airframe Damage causes one damage point and one Overstress point to the aircraft. The aircraft then suers Structure critical hits equal to the Pips result from a roll on the Pips table. The Pips rating is the total damage points that the aircraft has suered so far, minus 1. play.. Aircraft Destroyed immediately removes the aircraft from play Unless specied dierently on the ADC, the Safe Load Lo ad for negative load is 3.0 G. Use the absolute value of the negative load for Structure G Eects (treat the value as positive).
Air Combat in the Jet Age Crew G Eect (Overall) There are two ways to incur crew G eects: general crew G eects, due to the load pulled during the turn, and G Onset (an advanced rule), when the load pulled increased from the previous game-turn. The crew G eects are carried from turn to turn and may only o nly be decreased during the Recovery Phase (SoP 05) . Crew G eect states are, from best to worst: gravity.. Normal The crew member is not suering any ill eects due to gravity crew member in grey out has a eld of view restricted to a single PHAD Grey Out A crew cell (of the player’s choice) and the six adjacent cells. The crew member may only Padlock aircraft and make visual searches and Tally attempts in the eld of view. view. The crew member makes Visual Search attempts with an additional –1 to the Pips rating, and makes Tally rolls with a –1 modier. The crew member loses awareness of all aircraft outside of the eld of view. Black Out A blacked-out crew member is still conscious, but has a eld of view re stricted to a single PHAD cell. The crew member may only Padlock aircraft and make Tally attempts in the eld of view. The crew member may not make visual searches and makes Tally rolls with a –3 modier. The crew member loses awareness of all aircraft outside of the eld of view. Loss of consciousness (LOC) means the crew member is rendered unconscious by the G forces. Unconscious crew members can take no action, may not y the aircraft, and lose all awareness. Make a Pips roll with a Pips rating of 6 plus t he crew member’s member ’s Fatigue points, minus 2 if using a positive pressure mask. The Pips result is the LOC value.
Straining At any time before making a crew G eect-related check (G Onset, Crew Fatigue, or Crew G Eects), a crew member may use the Strain task. The number of activity points spent on the task determines the modier to the check.
Crew G Eects Order If playing with the G Onset advanced rule, check for G Onset during the Flight Phase at the end of Plotting. (SoP 03) at During the Flight Eects phase, check c heck for crew G eects in the following order: 1) Crew Fatigue Advanced Rule 2) Crew G Eects (GLOC Check) 3) Crew G Eect Recovery
G Onset
Advanced Rule
If an aircraft’s Greatest Load Used this game-turn is 5 or more greater than Greatest Load Used last game-turn, check G Onset for each crew member using the Crew G Onset procedure. Straining applied in the previous turn can reduce the eects eec ts of G Onset. Please refer to the play aids for the full G Onset procedure.
Crew Fatigue
Advanced Rule
Each turn that a crew member Strains, roll a d10 and follow the Crew Fatigue procedure on the Crew G Eects play aid. If the result is less than zero, the th e crew-member gets a fatigue point. Fatigue points are tracked from turn to turn.
Negative G… Bad For all crew G eect checks, multiply negative load value by –3. (So -3.0 load is equivalent to 9.0 positive load.) Ignore aects of G-suits, G-training and straining. Crew G-Eect table 0+ Normal –1 to –2 Black-out –3 to –4 LOC 2x LOC value –5 or less LOC+W LOC+Wounded ounded 2x LOC value
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Recovery from Grey-Out or Black-Out Crew members who suered Grey-out or Black-out on a previous game-turn recover to normal when they suer no crew G eects (other than “Normal”) “No rmal”) for an entire game-turn. Otherwise, if the net eect pips are positive, the crew member recovers one step (from Black-Out to Grey-Out to Normal).
Recovery from LOC Reduce the LOC value by 1 in each Recovery phase. In addition, if there is a conscious crew member aboard, make a Pips roll with a Pips rating of 3 and reduce the LOC value by the Pips result. (This represents represents the other crew’s frantic intercom calls.) When the value reaches 0, the crew member regains consciousness with no awareness and no AP available. AP Recovery proceeds normally after recovering from LOC.
Recovery from Crew Fatigue Crew members who spend no APs on straining and suer no crew G eects (other than “Normal”) may reduce their fatigue points at the end of the Recovery Phase. Most crew members reduce their fatigue points by 2. Crew members using positive pressure masks reduce their fatigue points by 3.
Spin Recovery (SoP 05) High–speed departures and non-spinning low-speed departures recover during the Flight Phase (SoP 03) after ying their rst two ticks in an unloaded segment. Spin Recovery During the Recovery phase after movement, players may check to see if the aircraft has exited spin and resumed controlled ight. This process has four possible results. Enter Flat Spin / Deep Stall The aircraft enters an unrecoverable stall: remove the aircraft from play at the end of the game-turn.
Crew ejecting from an aircraft lost due to entering Flat Spin / Deep Stall do not suer the “aircraft destroyed this turn” modier (unless aircraft is destroyed in the interveninterven ing Combat Phase). Continue Spin, Weaken Departure Check The aircraft continues spinning and adds 1 to the Departure Check (departure check is negative, so this moves it 1 closer to 0). Recover to High-Speed Departure The aircraft enters High–Speed Departure during the next game-turn. Recover to Normal Flight The aircraft enters normal ight and suers one Overstress point. Attempting to recover from a spin is optional, and consumes all of the pilot’s remaining Activity Points. If the aircraft receives a “Recover to…” result, reorient the box-miniature as follows: 4) Move the Nose mark to the Velocity cell. 5) Move the Canopy mark the shortest shortest distance to a cell three away from the Nose cell. In ambiguous cases, choose the cell with the highest pitch. The player chooses among cells of equal pitch. 6) Move the Wing Wing mark to its legal cell three away from the Nose and and Canopy cells.
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Departure (SoP 06) Departure Points Aircraft may collect Departure Points (DPs) as they y y,, as listed on the Departure play aid and the ACC. An aircraft that accumulates any DPs during a game-turn makes a departure check at the end of the turn. If a departed (but not spinning) aircraft remains departed at the end of the turn, it may collect additional DPs during the turn for the maneuver imposed by the system, as indicated on the Departed Flight play aid. An incomplete turning segment counts as a single facing change for collecting co llecting departure points. (Turning (Turning points carried out of a completed c ompleted turning segment do not no t generate an additional departure point.) Departure Checks To maintain control of an aircraft, the pilot must make a departure check by making a roll on the Pips table. The Pips rating for the th e departure check is the Depart value from the ADC plus Pilot Quality plus Activity Points spent on the Control task. Subtract the accumulated DPs from the Pips Result to nd the Departure Result. Pips Rating = Depart (ADC) + PQ + AP Departure Result = Pips Result – Departure Points If the Departure Result is 1 or greater, the pilot maintains control and continues to y normally.. If the Departure Check is 0 or less, the aircraft departs and moves as described normally below.. below d eparture, depending on the aircraft’s Q-Mark. Departed Flight There are two modes of departure, High Speed Departure (also known as Maneuvering Departure) occurs when the Q-Mark is above the Controllability Region. Low Speed Departure occurs when the Q-Mark falls within the Controllability Region. Departed aircraft may not re weapons or x initiative until after they recover recover.. High-Speed Departure causes the aircraft to y a two-tick non-rolling unloaded segment at the start of the game-turn and then recover to normal ight for the rest of the gameturn. Each of the two ticks counts as 3.0 Load for nding Average Average Load. Low-Speed Departure causes a Spin Check. Roll a d10 and add the Departure Result value. If the spin check result is zero or more, the aircraft performs a High-Speed Departure. If less than zero, the aircraft spins. Too-Slow Flight If an aircraft’s new speed is below 40, the aircraft immediately loses one altitude step, sets its speed to 40, and receives 4 additional Departure Points for the upcoming Departure Check. This applies to departed aircraft.
Spinning While spinning, an aircraft will perform Spin Gyrations, as described on the Departure play aid, and its crew members lose all awareness and sensor tracks. The aircraft ies the entire turn unloaded and the Velocity mark falls pitches down 1 cell c ell towards -90, or remains in the -90 cell if already there. See the unloaded ight rules for instructions on how to move the Velocity vector. (This pitch-down is separate from the eects of any unloaded ight while departed.) If the Velocity mark is in the +90 cell, the Nose mark will determine the movement. In the Performance phase, calculate Turn Drag as though the aircraft had spent the entire game-turn at its highest non-pointing DpG value, and then double the Form ∆Speed result. Spinning aircraft always move rst in the order of ight (Plot c lass A, move class a).
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Gun Combat (SoP 07) Engagement Firing aircraft guns requires keen concentration by the pilot, represented by the Engage task. An aircraft may only re guns at a target that the pilot of the ring aircraft has engaged during that turn. An aircraft may only re it guns at a single target during a game-turn. A pilot may engage a target within a range of 30 FPs that either starts or ends the turn at AoN=0. See the Engage task for details. To attempt an Initial Shot , a rer must declare engagement by its turn in the Declarations phase. To attempt a Normal Shot or a Tracking Shot , a rer must declare engagement by the end of the Movement Phase. A pilot that declares an initial initial shot may not attempt another type of gunshot that turn. Sighting When Engaged Using the Engage task doubles the AP costs of all sighting tasks. At the player’s choice, engagement counts as either a Padlock of the target or a Tally Maintenance and a Fix Attempt against the opponent. A pilot may only engage a single target. When engaging a target, t arget, a pilot may not Padlock any other aircraft in the same game turn.
Aspect To employ guns a target aircraft must be within any of the numbered cells of the t he Gun Combat Other Aspect Table Table (below) at both the start and end the turn. If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 at the start of o f the Angle off Nose A n turn, an Initial Shot can be attempted at the starting 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 g l range. Like all gunshots, an Initial Shot is resolved in 12 e 0 o 1 14 10 – the Combat phase, so the ring pilot must record the f f 2 – – 15 12 10 LCA, TCA, range, and aspect to the target at the start C – – 9 12 1 6 1 3 1 1 3 a of the turn. Record this information in the Initial Shot n 4 14 – – – 8 o box on the Aircraft Control Card. Card. An initial shot must – – – p 5 be announced by a player in the Declarations phase y – 6 and doing so precludes making a tracking or normal Other Aspect Table shot in that turn. The Other Aspect modier for Initial shots is the aspect to the target aircraft after all movement. The range for an initial shot is the start of turn slant range minus the Relative Speed at that point (see the Gunshot Play-Aid for how to nd Relative Speed). If the range of the initial shot is less than zero, no shot is possible. If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 after all movement, a Normal Gunshot can be attempted attem pted at the ending range. The Other Aspect modier for Normal Shots is the aspect to the target aircraft before all movement. If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 before and after all movement and an initial shot was not previously declared, one Tracking Tracking Shot may be attempted at the ending range. The Other Aspect modier is 16 (the modier m odier for aspect [0,3]). The attack may be resolved with all modiers as either an Initial or Normal shot (plus the tracking shot modier), at the rer’s choice. All gun combat is resolved in the Combat phase. An aircraft can only make one gun attack during a game-turn.
Guns Defense A target that is aware it is being engaged (has sight of the engaging aircraft or receives an attack warning) can perform a guns defense task of 1 or 2 AP. AP. More AP gives a better chance of not being hit by a guns attack. The 1 AP guns defense allows as free Tally Tally
Air Combat in the Jet Age attempt against the engaging aircraft, while two AP guns defense as allows a free Padlock of the engaging aircraft. Guns defense doubles the t he AP cost of all other sighting tasks.
Pipper On Before shooting, the attacking aircraft must be maneuvered m aneuvered so that the gunsight (pipper) is brought on target. This maneuvering falls below the resolution of the PHAD and the hex-grid and thus is represented abstractly. To put the pipper on target, make a Pips roll following the procedure on the Pipper On play aid. A result result greater than 0 puts the pipper on target. If the pipper-on attempt in unsuccessful, no shot is red. The target defensive value depends on two angles from the PHAD, the Track Crossing Angle (TCA) and the Lift L ift Crossing Angle (LCA). TCA is dened as the shortest distance in PHAD cells from the rer’s rer ’s Velocity Velocity to the cell occupied by the target’s Velocity Velocity.. It is often useful to mark the target’s Velocity Velocity cell on the rer’s PHAD to make this easy to count. LCA is dened as the shortest distance from the rer’s Lift vector to the target’s Lift vector. (Remember the Velocity Velocity mark is normally in the same location as the Nose).
Firing When the pipper is on target and the range is less than or equal to t o the greatest range entry on the gun table of the ring aircraft’s ADC, the pilot may shoot. The rer consumes one shot with each ring. The number of shots that the gun may re during the game is listed under Shots in the gun section of the ADC. All attacks in the same sub-phase occur oc cur simultaneously. simultaneously. (The sub-phases are: initial shots, missile attack, normal and tracking shots. Normal and tracking is one sub-phase.) The gun-shot process is detailed on the t he Gun Combat play aid. Unlike any other roll on the Pips table, Gunshot resolution applies modiers to the d100 roll that is indexed on the Pips table (as opposed to modifying the Pips value or the Pips result). Because of this, the Gunshot Resolution procedure has a unique two-line layout. The target suers Damage Points equal to the Pips result. In addition to damage points, the target may suer critical hits. Make a Pips roll using the gun’s Crit rating (from the ADC) as the Pips value. The target suers a number of critical hits equal to the lesser of the Pips result or the Damage Points that the shot inicted.
Lining Up a Shot The modiers of TCA and LCA in the Pipper On can make or break a shot, the same as being in or out of phase with a bandit can do the same in the real world. When preparing to take a gunshot, consider the ramications of being greatly out of alignment with the bandit in nose or lift position, and consider maneuvering appropriate to the problem before you. They don’t call them “gun solutions” for nothing!
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Missile Combat (SoP 07)
Pair Launches Some missile systems supported launching two weapons simultaneously (versus the separated launch of a missile and a follow-on missile.) This capability will be noted on the ADC. In a pair launch, both missiles are launched and boosted simultaneously at the same target. Each missile makes its own launch roll and, if an IR missile set, the second of the pair must make a slaved acquisition attempt before attempting to launch.
The Odd Couple Soviet ghters were long thought by the West to support ring of similar missiles with dierent sensors (such as the R-23T and R-23R) at a single target if the ring aircraft has a radar track on the target. The RH missile must be selected and must launch successfully during the Combat phase. The IR missile uses the normal procedure for a follow-on IR missile shot. There is recent research that indicates the Soviets didn’t actually pair mixed sensor types of a missile for this sort of launching and the entire concept was just a misconception.
The sensor on an IR missile must acquire the target before the missile may be red. RH missiles require that the ring aircraft has a radar track on the t arget at the moment of launch and throughout their ight. AH missiles require that the ring aircraft has a radar track on the target at the moment of launch, but maintain their own track after that. Missile pairs of the same type (or matched m atched IR and RH pairs of Soviet-made missiles) may each attempt to acquire and launch at a single target. The rst missile m issile makes its acquisiacquisition attempt in the Sensor phase. If the rst missile successfully launches in the t he Combat phase, the second missile may make its acquisition attempt; if the acquisition attempt succeeds, the missile may launch. If the sensor phase lock-on fails or if the rst missile fails to launch, no sensor attempt may be made during the combat phase. Second IR missiles attempt acquisition using the Slaved IRM Acquisition process. Second AH and RH missiles automatically acquire the target, so long as the launching aircraft retains a radar track on the target.
Launch and Boost Missile launch takes place in the Combat phase. Each missile must roll to launch successfully,, using the Missile Launch procedure on the Missile play aid. The Reliability number fully on the MDC may be modied by the scenario. If the greatest load used by the aircraft during Movement phase exceeded the missile’s Launch G, nd the dierence and write it in the Load over limit box (you will then double this value, per the procedure). If the launch roll succeeds, immediately y the missile in a straight segment FPs equal to the Boost Distance from the MDC. The missile ies in the direction of the launching aircraft’s Nose cell. The missile can choose among legal end positions just as if it were an aircraft. Place an anchor (missile counter) at the ending e nding position on the map. Record the hex, altitude, and boost direction d irection on the Systems Control Card (SCC, the reverse of t he ACC). Find the bearing and range from the anchor to target. Count the distance in PHAD cells from the boost direction to the bearing. If this exceeds the missile’s OBA (O Boresight Angle, from the MDC), remove the missile from play. play. Find the missile’s speed by adding the t he launching aircraft’s speed in FPs to the Missile Boost Speed (from the MDC). Look up this speed on the Speed/Bleed table, nd the corcorresponding Bleed value. If the ring aircraft was pointing, add the missile’s Facing Bleed value to the Bleed value, look up the revised Bleed value on the Speed/Bleed table, and nd the missile’s new speed. The Speed/Bleed table can run in either direction, depend de pend-ing on circumstances. Record the missile’s Speed and Bleed values on the SCC.
Boost-Maneuver Capable Missiles If a missile is boost-maneuver capable, its boost segment can be a turning segment that changes facing by up to OBA cells. The number of cells turned is selected by the t he player. player. The direction of facing change is not limited by Wing or Canopy mark and may be made in any direction from the launch aircraft’s nose cell. If the target is at AoN=0, the missile m issile generally ies a straight segment. Making a boost maneuver doubles the facing bleed during boost.
Snapshot Launch If the aircraft declared a snapshot attempt in the Declarations Phase, the target was in snapshot parameters at that time and the aircraft now has the target within the missile’s m issile’s FoV,, a snapshot attempt may be made. To make a snapshot, the missile sensor makes a FoV slaved IRM acquisition, adding the number of cells the launch aircraft’s nose moved in this game turn to Noise. If the missile sensor acquires the target, the missile is launched
Air Combat in the Jet Age Follow-on Follow-o n Missile Launch and Boost If a missile is successfully launched, an aircraft may be able to launch a second missile m issile in the same game turn. This second attempt is called a “follow-on launch.” This abstractly represents a launch taking place part-way into the next game turn. The missile will be boosted beyond the rst, but will travel a shorter distance in its rst turn of ight. If an aircraft attempts a follow-on missile shot, run the launch procedure is run normally. normally. If the follow-on launch is successful, the missile is boosted as if the Boost Distance was equal to the MDC Boost Bo ost Distance value plus half of the launch aircraft’s speed in FP (the tick ve value on the Speed-to-FP Table). The speed after launch for a follow-on missile is determined using the normal boost procedure.
Restrictions Restrictio ns on Follow-on Launch Single-shot missiles may not make a follow-on launch. Aircraft making a snapshot launch in the current game t urn may not make a follow-on launch. (Snapshot capable missiles, if launched normally, normally, may make a follow-on launch.) When initiating a follow-on launch, an IR missiles makes a slaved acquisition attempt against the target that the preceding missile was red at. If this succeeds, the missile may attempt its follow-on launch. If the acquisition fails, it can not attempt a follow-on launch this turn and the IR missile may not make any acquisition attempt in this game-turn’s sensor phase. RH and AH missiles use the aircraft’s radar lock for their launch and therefore may always be used in a follow-on launch.
Missile Flight IR and AH missiles move immediately after their targets. RH missiles move after both the target and the launching aircraft have moved and are lost if the guiding aircraft loses its radar track of the target. Once the target aircraft has moved, nd the bearing line and range from anchor to target. Also, nd the average of the anchor’s altitude and the target’s altitude at the end of movement. Count the number of PHAD cells from the Boost Direction to the Target Bearing. Multiply this distance by the Turn Radius for the Average Average Altitude (on the MDC). M DC). If this is greater than the current range, remove the missile from play (it was defeated kinematically) . Count the PHAD cells from the bearing to target at the start of the turn to the bearing to target at the end of the turn. Multiply this value by the missile’s Facing Bleed for the average Altitude (on the MDC). Add the result to the Missile’s Bleed value. Add the Missile Game-turn Bleed value for the average Altitude to the missile’s Bleed value. If the missile’s bleed exceeds 72, the missile stalls and is removed from play. play. Look up the adjusted Bleed value on the Speed/Bleed table and nd the missile’s new Speed. Record the new Speed and Bleed values on the SCC. Add the average of the starting and ending Speed values to the Distance and record the new Distance on the SCC. If the range to the target is less than the Distance, the missile attacks its target.
Follow-on Missile Flight On its rst turn of ight (the game turn after boosting), a follow-on missile uses the normal ight procedure, except that both missile game-turn bleed and missile cumulative distance are halved. On subsequent game turns, the follow-on missile is no dierent from any other missile.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Missile Attack When a missile attacks, both the missile and the defender generate result values. Follow the procedure detailed in the play aids. If the missile’s attack value exceeds the defense value, it hits. If the missile’s m issile’s attack value equals the defense value of a target that is not defending, it hits. If the missile hits, subtract the defense result from the attack result and record this value in the Excess Pips box of Direct Hit procedure. Warhead Rating Missile Damage is determined by making a Pips roll using the missile’s Warhead as the Pips rating The missile inicts damage d amage points equal to the Pips result. The attacker then checks for a direct d irect hit by following the Missile Direct Hit procedure. If a direct hit is achieved, the missile inicts one critical hit for every damage point. Otherwise, every odd damage point inicts a critical hit.
Missile Defense If the target was aware of the missile at launch or is warned of the launch by an ally’s radio message (the Warn subtask of the Defensive Systems Cockpit task) the target can defend against the missile. Unlike guns defense, Missile Defense does not aect the defender’s defender ’s sighting ability.
Damage Damage is determined by procedures on the play aids. For each damage point that an aircraft suers, mark o one box on the Damage track on the ACC. In addition to the damdamage points, the procedure for each weapon may inict critical hits. Weapon Weapon and warhead types determine how critical hits are randomized on the critical hit tables.
Resolve each critical hit with two die rolls. The rst d10 assigns the critical hit to an aircraft system (shown in bold), such as Structure. The second sec ond d10 gives the specic result for that aircraft system. Hits to the Controls system do not roll a second die; instead the rst hit gives the rst result, and the second hit gives the second result. Record the system and the specic eects in the Damage box. (You may need to use scratch paper to record the critical hits suered by heavily-damaged aircraft.) Critical hits on one engine have no eect on other engines. Assign each critical hit to a random engine, unless the warhead type assigns multiple critical hits t o one system.
Aircraft Systems Sucient critical hits to critical aircraft systems will destroy an aircraft. The [bracketed] value for a critical system is the number of hits to that system that will destroy the aircraft. The specic results suered by a critical system make no dierence, only the total number of hits.
Damage Capacity An aircraft is shot down when it receives total damage points equal to or greater than the Damage rating on the ADC, or if a critical (bracketed) system take hits equal to its bracketed value. After crew members attempt to eject, remove shot down aircraft from play. play.
Damage Control and Progressive Damage Damaged systems can cause additional damage to the aircraft unless attended to by the crew.. See the Administrative phase (SoP 11) for crew for the details of progressive damage and see Activities for details on damage control. cont rol.
Air Combat in the Jet Age
Order of Flight Determination (SoP 08) Determining Initiatives
Late Initiative?
At the start of each e ach Initiative Phase, all aircraft determine their Initiative. Determine Initiative for each aircraft by rolling a d10 and adding the pilot’s Crew Quality. Subtract 3 from the roll of any aircraft that departed, whose pilot has no visual awareness of enemy aircraft, or whose pilot is unconscious (this modier applies only once, regardregardless of how many conditions an aircraft meets). Add 3 to the roll of any aircraft that has not been spotted by any enemy crew members, but whose crew members have spotted an enemy aircraft. Any aircraft with equal Base Initiatives will roll o with unmodied d10 rolls until all aircraft have unique Initiatives. Each roll o adds a decimal place to the original Initiative. (For example, an aircraft starts with an Initiative of 5 and is forced into two roll-os, rolling a 3 on the rst and a 7 on the second. Its Initiative is 5.37).
Why is initiative where it is in the SoP? Most games have “Initiative” as the rst step of the turn; while Birds of Prey has it quite late in the game-turn. Placing initiative at the end of the game-turn simulates task starvation that can overwhelm pilots. The task points needed to make a x or spotting attempt may have already been used on straining and sighting prior to Initiative.
Making Fix Attempts After determining Initiative, pilots make Fix attempts in Initiative order, order, from lowest to highest. Each pilot may make only one Fix attempt, which costs 1 AP. AP. A pilot may not attempt to x a friendly aircraft. In order to attempt a Fix: The pilot making the Fix attempt must have visual awareness of the target aircraft. The bearing from the xing aircraft to the target aircraft must be within the orange “advantage arc” shown on the xing aircraft’s Canopy diagram. The Fix attempt succeeds if: ( d10 roll + xer Pilot Quality – AoN to target – AoT to target ) ≥ 1
Establishing Initiative and Movement Classes Aircraft plot and y in groups called initiative classes. Aircraft are placed into plot classes by xing other aircraft. Plot class is noted with an upper case letter and determines the order in which aircraft must complete their plot phases. The rst initiative class (plot class “A”) contains all aircraft whose pilots have not xed another aircraft (including all aircraft that have departed, whose crew members have no visual awareness of enemy aircraft, or whose pilots are unconscious). Each subsequent plot class c ontains all the aircraft that xed an aircraft in the immediately preceding plot class. Aircraft in a x loop plot in class “B.” A x loop is group of aircraft that are xing, and being xed by, by, other aircraft in the group, creating an endless loop. For example, Red 1 xes Blue 1, which xes Red 2, which xes Blue 2, which xes Red 1. A x loop may consist of two aircraft that have xed each other other.. Aircraft are placed into movement classes by xing other aircraft and by being xed by other aircraft. Movement class is noted with a lower case letter. letter. The rst movement class (movement class “a”) contains all aircraft that have been xed by other aircraft, but whose pilots have not xed another aircraft. Each subsequent movement class contains all the aircraft that xed an aircraft in the immediately preceding movement class. Aircraft which were not xed by any other aircraft, but have been spotted by an enemy move in the second-to-last movement class c lass (movement class “y”). Aircraft whose crew members have spotted an enemy aircraft and which have not been spotted by any enemy move in the last movement class (movement class “z”). Aircraft in a x loop that are also xed by an aircraft outside the loop move in class c lass “b.” All other aircraft in x loops move in class “y.” “y .” (If there are no xes, all aircraft will plot in class A and move in class y or z, dependdepending on whether or not they have been spotted.) Within Wi thin a movement class, aircraft move in order from lowest Initiative to highest.
Fixes in Gun Gun Combat When ghting with guns, a pilot using the engage or guns defense task may only x the aircraft that is the subject of that engage or guns defense task.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Visual Sighting (SoP 09) Visually sighting aircraft aects order of ight, and is a prerequisite for xing and for Visually many combat actions. Sighting has two aspects. First, a crew member may nd an ununspotted target aircraft in the sky using a visual search. A successful search result means that the target aircraft is spotted. Second, the crew member must maintain the spot every game-turn using either a padlock or a tally tally.. A spot usually may be maintained m aintained more easily than searching for the aircraft anew, anew, but if the spot is lost the target must be searched for again. Crew members resolve visual sighting in Initiative order, order, from lowest to highest (the owning player decides the order for crew members in multi-crew aircraft). [Players’ Note: In actual play, play, the order in which aircraft make spotting attempts seldom matters. matte rs. All players should resolve their Visual Sighting activities simultaneously, simultaneously, unless necessary necessary.] .] Each crew member spots aircraft and maintains spots separately. separately. A crew member declares and resolves one visual sighting action at a time. Following all visual sighting attempts, there may be adjustments made to the order of ight if aircraft become unspotted or unspotted aircraft become spotted. Some tasks directed at particular enemy aircraft (Guns Engagement, Guns Defense) double the AP cost of Visual Sighting tasks against all other aircraft. The Hands O Switch Task Task adds 1 to the AP cost of all Visual Sighting tasks. Searching Crew members may make any number of search attempts against any number of targets, limited only by APs. A crew member that fails to spot a target may c make search additional search attempts against that target in the same game-turn. A crew crew member searches for an aircraft by paying the appropriate cost in activity points (usually 2 AP for a normal search). Find the Search Value on the Search Value table (on the Visu Visual al Sighting play aid). Modify the search value to determine the nal Pips Column for the search attempt. Canopy Modier Find the Canopy Modier using the AoN and AoC on the Canopy body diamond on the searching aircraft’s ADC. Regular Regular searches may not be made in an aircraft’s blind arc (dened below). Dierent crew members in multi-crew aircraft may use dierent Canopy Diagrams. Target Aspect Find the Target Aspect modier by using the Reciprocal AoN and Reciprocal AoC on the Target Aspect body diamond on the Visual Sighting play aid. Visual Range Find the slant range to target; if the target is below the searching aircraft, add the altitude dierence. Blind Arc The lightly-shaded region of the Canopy body diamond, containing all of the cells with modiers of –4 or worse. Make a Pips roll; if the Pips Result equals or exceeds the th e Target Target Value Value (computed on the Visual Visu al Sighting Playaid), the crew member spots the target aircraft.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Maintaining Spots Every turn, crew members may use the Tally task to attempt to keep spotted aircraft spotted. For each previously-spotted aircraft, the crew member pays the appropriate Activity Point cost and determines the Tally Range. If the Tally Range is zero or less, the target is automatically tallied; otherwise, roll a single d10 and modify it as listed on the Visual Sighting play aid. A nal result of zero or more m ore keeps the target aircraft spotted. If the Tally roll fails, the crew member m ember may immediately spend 1 AP to make a Quick Search. Resolve the Quick Search as a regular Visual Visual Search attempt, except that a crew member may make a Quick Search in the blind arc on the Canopy body diamond. If successful, the target is spotted once again. If the attempt fails, or if the crew member declined to make a Quick Search, the crew member no longer has the target spotted (but may still attempt a normal search for it).
Auto-Tally value (from Tally Range Take the Visual Range and subtract the target’s Auto-Tally the ADC). comm unications, it is reasonably easy to Maintaining Friendlies Thanks to low-level communications, keep track of friendly aircraft in a dogght. Crew members can use the Maintain FriendFriend lies task to gain visual awareness of all friendly aircraft, so long as each aircraft has a working radio (the sighting aircraft needs a working radio to make any tallies and the other friendly aircraft need working radios to be tallied). t allied). Aircraft Aircraft without working radios must use the regular sighting rules to spot friendly aircraft. Aircraft must use the regular sighting rules to spot friendly aircraft without working radios. crew member may select any one aircraft that is already spotted and pay 2 to Padlocks A crew automatically keep it spotted. The target is then padlocked. No Tally roll is made and no arc or aspect restrictions apply. apply. Declare a crew member’s m ember’s padlock, if any, prior to resolving that crew member ’s sighting and spot maintenance attempts. A crew member may not padlock an aircraft if the Visual Range is more than 10 times the aircraft’s Auto Tally Tally value. A pilot pilot who engages an aircraft may not padlock any other aircraft. d ynamic nature of air combat, aircraft that might be temporarBlind Arcs Because of the dynamic ily out of sight due to t o blocked lines of sight tend t end not to stay there. This makes Tallies Tallies and Quick Searches possible even if the target is below and behind the searching aircraft. However,, normal visual searches cannot be made in any direction with a Canopy modiHowever er of –4 or lower.
Adjust Order of Flight due to Visual Sighting Changes Under certain circumstances, changes in sighting adjust the order of ight. If a Fixing Aircraft Loses Sight of its Target Target the x is lost. Move the xing aircraft to plot class A. If the target aircraft becomes entirely unxed (i.e. no o ther aircraft x it), place it in move class y. If an Opposing Pilot Sights an Unspotted Aircraft place the newly spotted aircraft in move class y. If an Aircraft becomes Unspotted by All Opposing Pilots place it in move class z. In addition to not being sighted by any opposing pilots, remember that to be unspotted, the aircraft’s pilot must have sight of at least one opposing aircraft. Once any class changes have been made, make sure that aircraft in each move class are placed in base initiative order. order.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Sensors (SoP 10) During the Sensor phase, sensors that do not already have awareness of a target attempt Acquisition. Sensors that have awareness from the previous game-turn attempt Maintenance. Success indicates the sensor has awareness of the target, while failure indicates the loss of awareness by the sensor. A given sensor may only make one o ne attempt (Acquisition or Maintenance) against a specic target within a game-turn. While most sensors may only make an attempt against one target per game-turn, a few sensors may make attempts against multiple targets within a game-turn. Aircraft resolve sensor use in the order in which they will move. When an aircraft has multiple sensors, the owning player chooses the order in which to use them. A target must be viewable by a sensor for the sensor to attempt Acquisition or Maintenance. Each sensor has an arc that is dened by either a body diamond or an AoN value. If the bearing to the target is outside of this arc, the sensor cannot attempt to acquire or maintain awareness. Each sensor type has an arc diagram showing aspects critical to acquiring and maintaining awareness of a target aircraft. Once a missile is in ight and has completed its boost phase, its target is always “in arc” for the missile’s infrared or radar sensor (this is because missile ight is abstracted). The ending Aspect to the target (after all movement) m ovement) is used to determine de termine whether a sensor can be employed. For radars, the bearing to the target must be in an orange aspect cell on the diagram for the radar’s current mode. Bearings to unlled cells are not valid for the radar. All other sensors are rated in terms of AoN. Targets bearing at this AoN or less are within the sensor’s sensor ’s eld of view (FoV) and may m ay be sensed. An ADC may impose additional arc restrictions on the aircraft’s sensors. Sensors must initially acquire a target and on subsequent game-turns may attempt to maintain track of the target. Sensors that fail to maintain track of the target immediately lose that track. Sensor operations are generally performed in the Sensors phase. Infrared-homing missiles (IRMs) may attempt a special sensor acquisition during the Combat phase, immediately following the aircraft’s launch of another m issile. (Generally,, these missiles must be of the exact same type. ally t ype. Some Soviet-designed missiles made in matched sets of radar and IR variants are allowed to have the IR weapon acquire and launch with this operation). This acquisition attempt is cued by the sensor on the justlaunched missile, so it uses the Slaved IRM Acquisition procedure. If this acquisition is successful, the second missile immediately makes its launch attempt during the same Combat phase. Making a sensor attempt during the Second Missile portion of the Combat phase does not preclude normal sensor attempts during the Sensors phase. Missiles in ight must check sensor Maintenance. If a missile’s associated sensor misses the Maintenance check, that t hat missile is removed from play. play. IRM and AHM missiles have on-board sensors that are checked chec ked individually. individually. RHM missiles m issiles check both their onboard sensors and the launching aircraft’s radar and are lost if either sensor fails its Maintenance check. An RHM in ight uses the t he launching aircraft’s radar value and either the missile’s ECCM or the launching aircraft’s radar’s ECCM, at the choice of the player that launched the missile.
Infrared and Optical The seekers on IRMs are normally oriented in the aircraft’s direction of ight. Normal seekers and IRST systems can only make acquisition attempts at AoN=0 (in the aircraft’s Nose cell), but can maintain acquisitions out to the AoN listed on the on the MDC or ADC. Cued IR seekers and some IRST systems can search i within a dened AoN. While each IRM has its own sensor sensor,, only one missile at a time may have an active sensor. sensor. radar, HMD or Slaved Infrared Missile Sensors are cued by another sensor (typically radar, HMS) using the Slaved IRM Acquisition process. Cued sensors ignore other targets in
Air Combat in the Jet Age their FoV. FoV. Note that slaving an IRM to another sensor usually requires the pilot perform the Systems Hando subtask of the Sensor Systems Cockpit task. Only IR Missiles marked “Y” for Sensor Cued may be cued by another sensor. Boresight Infrared Missile Sensors are resolved using the IRM Acquisition process. If more than one target is in the AoN=0 acquisition arc, the IRM sensor will only attempt to acquire a single target specied by the player. A result result of zero from the IRM Acquisition process results in a false target lock. T he sensor becomes focused on something other than the desired target. The sensor may not make another acquisition attempt until the pilot performs the t he Dump subtask of the Sensor Systems Cockpit task. IRM Modes a pilot can switch the IRM between available modes (Boresight, Sensor Cued) using the Mode Change subtask of the Sensor Systems Cockpit Coc kpit task. The availability of these modes is noted on the Missile Data Card for each weapon. Once a mode is set for an IRM, all subsequent missiles of the same type are also set into that mode. An IRM without a mode set defaults to Boresight. IRST Sensors can acquire targets at AoN=0 and can maintain targets out to an AoN given on the Aircraft Data Card. If more than one target is in Fo V, the IRST sensor makes acquisition checks against all targets in its FoV. FoV. The player then chooses c hooses which acquisition to retain (all others are lost). An IRST sensor cued by another sensor can acquire targets out to AoN listed on the ADC. A cued IRST sensor only attempts to acquire the designated target, no matter how many targets are in its FoV. FoV. Maintaining Locks Like visual spots, IR seeker locks may be maintained after they are acquired. Their is a separate process for IRM Maintenance and IRST Maintenance. Sensor mode does not matter for IRM Maintenance. The target must remain within the sensor’s AoN for the sensor to keep the target acquired.
Radar Radar systems work much like IR systems. system s. They have arcs and rating values, they must roll for success to gain awareness of a target, and they the y must roll to maintain awareness of a target each game-turn. Unlike IR systems, there are two kinds of radar spots, called acquisitions and tracks. Acquisitions generally do not generate sucient information to guide radar homing missiles, while tracks do. A radar system may operate in any of the modes listed in the sensor information on the ADC. Switching between modes takes a Switch action during the Declarations phase. A radar that changes modes can maintain its acquisitions and tracks up to the limits allowed by the new mode. Each of the six modes has an abbreviation, used on the ADCs: Boresight (Bo), Dogght (Dog), Supersearch (SS), Single Target Track Track (STT), Search (Srch), and Track While Scan (TWS ). Search and Track While Scan are stabilized modes. (The properties of these modes are described at the end of this section). Stabilized radar mode arcs are dened in terms of the local horizontal instead of the Canopy orientation of the searching aircraft. The arc diagram for a stabilized radar mode does not use AoC on the vertical axis. Instead, it uses the pitch value of the bearing line. Stabilized modes cannot be used if the searching aircraft’s Canopy cell is at 0° pitch or lower,, if its Nose cell is at +60° pitch or higher, or if its Nose cell is at –60° or lower. For lower example, if the bearing to the target was 120+30° and the aircraft’s Nose cell was 150–30°, the pitch value of the bearing line would be +30° and the AoN would be 2, so the target would be at the intersection of o f the +30 Pitch row and the AoN 2 column on the Search or TWS arc diagram, placing it in arc. Radars ratings have two values separated by a lower-case “e.” The values are: [Radar value] e [ECCM value]
Birds of Prey – Rulebook acquire a target, the searching player veries that the line of bearing to the target is in the correct arc and generates a Pips roll, as directed by the play aids. ECM/ECCM and positional factors (lookdown) are grouped into a set of Track modiers. These modify the chance of successfully gaining and maintaining track of an aircraft. Among these is the Lookdown rating. If this value is greater than zero, make a Pips roll using the Lookdown rating as the t he Pips rating. The Pips results is the Lookdown Lookd own Modier. If the Lookdown rating is zero or less, or if none of the Lookdown conditions apply apply,, do not make a Lookdown Pips roll; the Lookdown Modier is zero. Tracks Each radar mode changes acquisitions into tracks in a dierent way. Boresight and dogght mode acquisitions become tracks immediately immediately.. Supersearch and TWS acquisi acquisi-tions become tracks after one game-turn. To change a stabilized mode acquisition into a track (other than TWS), the player must roll a d10 at least one game-turn after the acquisition. The roll is modied as indicated on the Radar Seekers playaid, and on a net roll of 0 or better, the acquisition becomes a track. Maintaining Acquisitions and Tracks Acquisitions and tracks are maintained in the Sensor phase. The target must be in the arc for the radar’s mode. For each target, roll a d10 and follow the procedure for the radar ’s mode (TWS, STT, or other) If the modied m odied roll equals or exceeds the target value, the radar maintains the acquisition or track. Otherwise, it loses awareness of that target. Clearing Acquisitions and Tracks Tracks A crew member may cause a radar to lose all of its acquisitions and tracks by using a Switch action act ion in the Sensor phase. Selecting the Closest Target Target Unless otherwise noted, radar modes prefer to select the closest target (or targets). If this is the case, select the target at the shortest slant range. If multiple targets are equally close, choose the target with the largest signature of those at the closest range. If insucient to make the selection, roll randomly to select amongst the targets of largest signature at the closest range. A radar that is cued by another sensor c an ignore closer targets to attempt to acquire or track t rack the designated target. Once a target is tracked, it is not lost because another target comes closer (unless the player decides to attempt acquisition of the new, closer target). Boresight Mode attempts to acquire the closest target. Boresight acquisition attempts may be made against targets at the t he start and ending positions. Once a target is acquired in boresight mode, it may be tracked out to AoN=1. Only one acquisition or track may be kept at one time. Making an acquisition attempt will cause the radar to lose any existing acquisition or track. Dogght Mode attempts to acquire the closest target. The radar may keep one acquisition or track at a time. Making an acquisition attempt will cause the radar to lose any existing acquisition or track. Supersearch Mode can acquire one new target per game-turn and can retain any number of acquisitions. The radar automatically tracks the closest acquisition. STT Mode is required for a radar to guide RHMs (it is not used for AHMs).A radar in STT mode may not no t make an Acquisition attempt and may track one target. An aircraft may only select STT mode if it already has a target tracked and in the STT arc. A radar in Boresight mode automatically shifts into STT mode when its aircraft res an RHM (this does not require a task). A radar in any other mode must make the change to STT mode in the Declarations Phase with a Switch action (as for any other mode change). TWS Mode A radar in TWS mode with fewer than four tracks starts the sensor phase by converting its closest acquisitions into tracks until it has no more than four tracks. If the radar has four tracks, its crew may then use a Switch action to convert an acquisition to a track, which causes the radar to lose one of the existing tracks (player’s choice). In the Sensor Acquisition sub-phase the radar attempts acquisitions on all targets within its arc
Air Combat in the Jet Age Radars in TWS mode automatically succeed when converting an acquisition into a track. Search Mode attempts acquisitions on all targets within its arc. In the Sensor phase of a subsequent game-turn, the radar operator may attempt to convert one acquisition to a track. Once a track is made, all other acquisitions are lost. No new acquisitions may be attempted until the track is lost.
Missiles RHMs and AHMs do not acquire acq uire targets on their own. An RHM pursues the target tracked by the launching aircraft’s radar. radar. AHMs receive target tracks from the carrying aircraft before launch and then track the target themselves after launch.
Electronic Support Measures Electronic support measures are devices such as radar warning receivers, missile attack warning systems, and passive RF detectors that t hat alert crew members to the electronic e lectronic environment around them. The eects of Electronic E lectronic Support Measure operation is specied in Integration, as RWRs.
Integration Many sensors can be cued by other systems, allowing them to be aimed at specic targets no matter how many targets t argets are in the sensor arc. A cued sensor attempts Acquisition using the Maintenance procedure with an additional ‘+1’ modier (for the better), rather than the Acquisition procedure. The Sensor Integration table in the play aids describes which sensors can cue other sensors.
Radar Track • • • •
Handover to Sensor Cued-capable IR missiles make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover Handover to IRST or EO/IR make IRST Maintenance roll to receive handover Display on HUD or HMD (not HMS) automatic Pass via datalink automatic
IRST Track • •
Handover to Sensor Cued--capable IR missiles make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover Display on HUD or HMD (not HMS) automatic
HMS versus HMD HMD There are two HelmetMounted systems used for interfacing the crew and aircraft systems. A Helmet-Mounted Sight (HMS) allows crew to hando awareness to aircraft sensors (including missile sensors) using the Sensor Hando task, but can not display tracks from aircraft sensors. A Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) works like an HMS, but also displays sensor tracks to the crew who can use the Tally Tally task to gain visual awareness of the target.
EO Sensor Some aircraft have an Electro-Optical Sensor (essentially a telescopic television camera) for use identifying targets at long range, that is not intended for dogghting. An EO Sensor can identify any aircraft tracked by the aircraft radar at the cost of 1 AP and doubles the AP cost of all other sighting. Identication gives the crew member the type of aircraft (major model, not the exact variant) and its operating nation (by the national insignia.)
HMS/HMD/Datalink HMS/HMD/Datali nk Cue • • • •
Handover to Sensor Cued-capable IR missiles make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover Handover to radar in Boresight or Supersearch mode make a Radar Maintenance roll (with a +1 modier) m odier) to receive handover Handover to IRST make an IRST Maintenance roll (with a +1 modier) to receive handover Display Datalink Cue on HUD or HMD (not HMS) automatic
RWRs •
Normal RWRs act like a comms warning warning task
GCI Datalink Some aircraft have a datalink for receiving data from Ground Control of Intercept centers. This type of datalink is not useful in a dogght. It may be used in a scenario setup to give initial sensor contact, working like a normal datalink in the game’s rst sensor phase,
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Administrative (SoP 11) Record any stores changes for aircraft, such as red missiles or jettisoned fuel tanks. ReRecalculate the weight of each aircraft that had stores changes or that expended a Fuel Point and update the Wing Load and stores drag of each of these aircraft. Change the wing positions of swing-wing aircraft according to the rules for their automatic swing-wing or manual changes specied in the Declarations phase. Erase any extraneous marks on the play aids and movement aids, including all of the calculations on the ACC. Record the new hex, speed, and altitude for each aircraft.
Damage Control and Progressive Damage Crew members may perform Damage Control on systems that suered critical hits on previous game-turns. The Damage Control task treats one system; circle the name of the treated system in the Damage box. A treated system that suers another hit must be treated again; erase the circle around the name of the system. For each damaged system which a crew member has not treated t reated with Damage Control, roll a d10 and apply the result from the Progressive Damage table.
Aircrew Aircr ew Tasks Pay for each concentration task each time a crew member uses it. Padlock A crew member may select any one aircraft that is already spotted and pay 2 activity points to guarantee it will remain spotted this turn. The target is then padlocked. No maintenance roll is made and no arc or aspect restrictions apply. Declare Visual Sighting phase, before any Maintain Tally or Search attempts Eect Target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual visual sighting sighting phase Cost 2 activity points Requirements Visual Sight of the target from from the previous visual visual sighting phase Restrictions Only one Padlock allowed during the sighting phase If engaging, may only Padlock the target aircraft If in guns defense, may only Padlock the attacking aircraft crew member may attempt to maintain a spot of a target. If a tally attempt fails, Tally A crew the crew member may attempt a single Quick Search for the target, using the same process as the Visual Search Search task. Also, a crew member may attempt to spot a target based on communications from friendly aircraft or from sensor information. Declare Visual Sighting phase Eect
maintains awareness of the target until the next game-turn’s visual sight sight-ing phase Cost 1 activity points Requirements Previous awareness awareness of the target, target, including from from a friendly radio call, or other sensor shown in the HUD (at AoN=0; only pilots have HUDs) or HMD display (at any AoN) Received comms from a friendly aircraft or from another crew c rew member in the same aircraft on the presence of the target or Datalink from a friendly aircraft with a sensor contact with t he target or Sensor contact with the target at AoN=0 and a HUD (pilot only) or Sensor contact with the target and a HMD.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Tally Friendlies A crew member may maintain awareness of friendly aircraft. If your aircraft has an operating radio, you may visually sight all aircraft in your own ight that also have operable radios with one Tally Tally Friendlies task, regardless of previous awareness. Declare Visual Sighting phase
Eect
Friendly aircraft are spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase Cost 1 activity points Requirements Functioning radio Restrictions Visual sighting arc limits imposed by crew-G eects restrict tally friendlies. Spin Recovery The pilot of a spinning aircraft attempts to recover.
Declare Eect Cost
Automatic, required of pilots target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase All activity points
Visual Search A crew member may select any one aircraft and pay 2 activity points to attempt to spot it.
Declare Eect Cost Requirements
Visual Sighting phase target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase 2 activity points The target may not be in the searching crew member’s blind arc (any cell on the Canopy diagram with a modier of –4 or worse).
crew member may select one eligible aircraft and pay an activity point to Quick Search A crew attempt to spot it. Declare Visual Sighting phase. If triggered by a failed Tally attempt, it must immediately follow that failure. Eect target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase Cost 1 activity point Requirements Failed Tally attempt Fix A pilot may select one eligible aircraft and pay an activity point to attempt to spot it.
Declare Eect Cost Requirements
Initiative phase, when the aircraft’s initiative comes up. Determines initiative and move classes. 1 activity point Pilot must have the target of the x attempt spotted and in the aircraft’s aircraft’s advantage arc. Pilots of departed aircraft may not attempt to x aircraft. Pilots performing the engage or guns defense task may only attempt a x against the subject of the engage or guns defense.
crew member may attempt to t o resist G-eects. Strain A crew Declare Eect Cost Requirements
Flight phase, when executing the aircraft’s movement. Straining provides modiers on all G-eects checks. 1 or 2 activity points Only G-Trained G-Trained air crew may strain. Aircrew Aircrew with early G-training G-training may expend up to one AP straining. Aircrew with modern G-training may expend up to two AP straining.
Birds of Prey – Rulebook pilot may attempt to re guns at a target. Guns Engagement A pilot Declare Eect
Initial shot in declarations phase, normal or tracking shot in combat phase. Allows gunre at the target, either Padlocks the target or allows both a Fix attempt and a Tally attempt against the target. Cost 2 activity points Requirements Target is spotted by the pilot, range is 30 FP or less, and the aircraft aircraft either starts or ends the Flight phase with the target at AoN=0. Restrictions The pilot may not Padlock or attempt Fix against any aircraft other than the target of the Guns Engagement. May not use Guns or Missile Defense. Double the cost of all other sighting tasks. pilot with awareness of an engaging enemy may reduce that enemy’s Guns Defense A pilot chance of hitting with gunre. Declare Eect
Prior to resolving any gun attack. Modies the Pipper-On result of attacks against the aircraft by the subject aircraft. Spending 1 activity point on Guns Defense gives a free Tally attempt against the engaging aircraft. Spending 2 activity points on Guns Defense gives a free Tally Tally attempt or Padlock against the engaging aircraft. Cost 1 or 2 activity points Requirement: The pilot must have have spotted the engaging aircraft. Restrictions The Guns Defense task aects a single engaging aircraft. May not use Missile Defense or Guns Engagement. May only padlock the aircraft defended against. Double the cost of all other sighting tasks. Aircraft may only attempt to x the aircraft being defended against. awareness of an attacking missile may reduce that missile’s Missile Defense A pilot with awareness chance of hitting. Declare Eect Cost Requirements Requirements
Combat phase, when executing the missile’s attack. Missiles miss when the Defense result equals the Attack result. 1 activity point Awareness Aw areness of the attacking missile missile May not use Guns Defense or Guns Engagement.
me ssage from a friendly aircraft. Communications Receipt A crew member may receive a message Declare Eect
At the moment of use Receiving a message may provide awareness of an enemy aircraft or mis mis-sile, allowing activities that require awareness and avoiding some adverse modiers. Cost 0 activity points Requirements Working radio on the receiving receiving aircraft. Friendly aircraft or crew crew member in same aircraft has awareness and working communications. Restrictions If engaged (Guns Engagement) or defending (Guns Defense or Missile Defense), or if the crew member has no remaining APs, roll d10. On 3+ the message is received. Control A pilot may attempt to resist departure from controlled ight. Declare Departure phase, immediately before checking for departure.
Eect Cost
Modies departure checks. 1 or 2 activity points
Air Combat in the Jet Age Sensor Hando A crew member may pass a tracked target from one sensor to another.
Declare Eect
Sensor phase The receiving sensor attempts to track the target using the procedure specied under Sensor Integration in the play aids. Cost 0 to 2 activity points, depending on cockpit type Requirements A sensor sensor on the aircraft aircraft must have a track on the target aircraft. aircraft. Restrictions This is a hands-o switch action if the cockpit is non-HOT non-HOTAS. AS. If attempting a sensor hando to an IRM, the missile must have a “Y” for Sensor Cued. Damage Control A crew member may attempt damage control on one sub-system.
Declare Eect
Administrative phase The aircraft can no longer suer progressive damage from that subsystem. Cost 4 activity points Requirements The aircraft may y at no greater greater than 1.5 G load or damage control fails. fails. A crew member may not perform damage control on a system on the same game-turn that it suered damage. crew member may attempt to acquire or track targets with the airRadar Operation A crew craft’s radar. Declare Eect Cost Requirements
Sensor phase The radar may roll to acquire or track targets. 0 to 3 activity points Target aircraft aircraft must be in the eld of view view of the radar in its current mode.
crew member may perform any number of tasks or actions Hands O Switch Action A crew that require taking one’s hands o of the throttle and/or control stick. Declare At time of task or action Eect Cost Requirements Restrictions
The crew member performs the task or action. 1 activity point Only applies if the cockpit is non-HOTAS. non-HOTAS. Adds 1 activity point to the cost of each visual task (Visual Search, Quick Search, Padlock, Tally ally,, Tally Friendlies, Guns Engagement, and Guns Defense). This addition only applies once per visual task, regardless of how many Hands O Switch Actions the crew member performs.
Cockpit Actions The costs of Cockpit Actions vary with the aircraft’s cockpit type (shown in the Characteristics section on the ADC). Some cockpit c ockpit types allow a crew member to perform several actions in the same class for a single cost. Basic cockpit pay separately for each Cockpit Action task Regular, Improved, or Advanced cockpit for each Cockpit Action class, nd the most-used task in that class and pay a cost equal to the number of times that task was used. Improved and Advanced cockpits allow each crew member to ignore one cockpit action for purposes of determining AP costs each turn. For example, a crew member in an Improved cockpit who performed a warning call action, but no other ot her Defensive
Birds of Prey – Rulebook Cockpit actions come in four classes: Oensive Systems: weapon select (sw), launch (sw), shot call Defensive Systems: decoy release (sw), set DDS (sw), warning call Sensor: set mode (sw), designate (sw), recycle/dump (sw) Conguration: stores jettison (sw), tally call, general comm. Actions marked with “sw” require the crew member to use the Hands H ands O Switch Action task if the aircraft does not have HOTAS. HOTAS HOTAS is listed in the Characteristics section of the ADC: “Y” indicates that the aircraft has HOTAS, “N” indicates that it does not. Cockpit type also determines the cost of the Sensor Hando task. Crew members in Basic and Regular cockpits pay the cost once for each hando (each transfer from one sensor to one other sensor). Crew members in Improved Im proved cockpits pay the cost only once, regardless of how many handos they perform. Crew members in Advanced cockpits never pay to perform handos and so may perform as many handos as they like (in eect, a single sensor having awareness of a target allows an aircraft with an Advanced cockpit to attempt to hando to every other sensor on the aircraft, even including visual sighting by crew members with a HUD or HMD H MD who meet other requirements.
Aircrew During ight the aircraft’s maneuvers may exceed the safe limits of aircraft and crew. crew. In the Flight Eects Phase you yo u check for resulting problems. Individual crew members may be aected by excessive g-forces or aircraft damage, impairing their ability ability to perform their assigned duties.
GLOC Protection Several systems worn by aircrew and incorporated into the aircraft lessen Crew G-Eects. Reclined Seats installed in some aircraft diminish the height dierence between a crew member’s heart and head, lessening the eort to push oxygen to the brain. Because reclined seats make many tasks more dicult outside of a dogght, they are installed in only a handful of aircraft types. Early G-Suits use a series of air bladders in the legs of the suit to help push blood from the legs back up into the rest of the body. Mechanical systems in the aircraft inate the bladders in response to the aircraft’s maneuvering. These suits are sometimes called “Speed Jeans.” Modern G-Suits use air bladders on the limbs and torso to limit blood pooling in the extremities and help push blood up towards the brain. Computer-controlled Com puter-controlled systems in the aircraft carefully inate the bladders. Immersion G-Suits feature liquid-lled bladders that shift due to the load on the aircraft with no external input. This pressure forces blood out of the aircrew’s extremiextremities. Additionally, Additionally, the suit supports the shape of the torso and is less fatiguing than other G-suits. The immersion G-suit is typied by the Swiss “Libelle” G-protection system. Positive Pressure Masks are computer-controlled breathing systems that modulate the air supply pressure to do some of the work of breathing for the air crew. This limits fatigue and improves overall G-resistance and recovery from crew G-eects. The Positive Pressure mask is typied by the US “Combat Edge” breathing system.
Air Combat in the Jet Age G-Training Crew members can mitigate the eects of G-loads through training that familiarizes the crew with G-eects and teaches specic techniques of controlled breathing and muscle contraction, called “straining.” Untrained indicates the aircrew has had no training. Untrained aircrew may not “strain.” Early G-Training was typical for ghting forces worldwide during or shortly after World War II. Aircrew with early G-training may expend up to one AP straining. Modern G-Training was introduced to Western forces in the 1970s and soon spread worldwide. Aircrew with modern G-training may expend up to two AP straining.
Wounded A crew member may receive a wounded result due to combat damage or negative G load. Wounded crew members: • Cannot strain • Add one AP to all tasks cost • May not engage a target • May not x a target • Suer various die roll penalties listed in the playaids A second Wound result kills the crew member.
LOC (Unconscious) or Killed A LOC (unconscious) or killed crew member may make no declarations, may not perform any activity (including free cockpit actions), loses all awareness, and may not receive any communications (except that unconscious crew members may subconsciously hear the other crew member’s member ’s frantic intercom urges to wake-up, described in LOC Recovery Reco very.) .) Killed crew have no chance of recovery. If the unconscious or killed crew member is ying, the aircraft becomes uncontrolled.
Uncontrolled Aircraft If the crew ying the aircraft (generally the pilot) loses consciousness c onsciousness or is killed, the aircraft becomes uncontrolled. Uncontrolled aircraft y an involuntary unload segment for their movement and may not change the throttle setting. The speedbrake, if in use when the aircraft becomes uncontrolled, stops being used (does not add to form drag.) An aircraft that becomes uncontrolled due to G-Onset induced LOC has all segments of their plot, starting at the one causing LOC, replaced with an involuntary unload segment.
Non-pilot ight Some aircraft have a second crew member that may y the aircraft. Crew listed as “pilot” and “copilot” are always permitted to y the aircraft. Another crew member, member, such as a weapon systems operator (WSO), may only y the aircraft if permitted by an ADC note. In any game turn following the crew member ying the aircraft being incapacitated (LOC or dead) the other crew member permitted to y the aircraft may spend four AP to take control of the aircraft. This crew member may then y the aircraft normally, normally, starting in the following game turn (the aircraft will be uncontrolled for at least one game turn.) A crew member permitted to y the aircraft may take control c ontrol of the aircraft from a non-innon-incapacitated crew member using the same process, except that this does not leave a period where the aircraft is uncontrolled (unless the ying crew member loses consciousness due to G-Onset in the turn when the other is taking control.)
Involuntary Unload Remember that when ying at +90 or -90 pitch, an involuntary unload segment is own as a nonrolling straight segment.
Using Play When Uncontrolled The player ying an uncontrolled aircraft is allowed to use the “play” within the move-aids for the wedge the aircraft is ying in. 0,1 fully CCW 2,3 halfway CCW 4,5 mid-wedge 6,7 halfway CW 8,9 fully CW
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Special Rules Jettisoning External Stores Aircraft may jettison external stores during the Flight phase using t he Conguration Cockpit Action: Jettision Stores. Jettisoning may occur during either straight or turning segments of at least 2 ticks duration, during which the aircraft’s Lift vector must remain in the +60 and/or +90 rings. During a turning segment, the aircraft may not exceed a Load of 2.0 G. Stores may not be jettisoned if the aircraft is ying with negative load. Make the weight and stores drag changes in the (SoP 11) Administrative Administrative Phase. An aircraft may never jettison stores during a segment in which its Nose and Velocity marks do not occupy the same cell (due to pointing, supermaneuver or departure).
Fuel Aircraft carry limited amounts of fuel, listed on the back of the ADC in Fuel Points. When an aircraft receives enough cumulative Power from its Engine table, it expends a Fuel Point. Each turn, an aircraft accumulates points equal to its power setting. Add the points to the Dry carry or AB carry box, depending on the aircraft’s throttle setting this turn (track Dry carry and AB carry separately; they never add together or aect one another). When the accumulated points equal or exceed the Usage listed in the appropriate column of the Fuel row of the aircraft’s Engine table, it expends a Fuel Point and retains any points in excess of the Usage number as a carry. carry. Example: A half-loaded half-loaded F-15C has 67 fuel points on board. The pilot selects AB power at level 60 (12,000 feet), yielding 20 Power. Since this exceeds the AB Usage of 16, the F-15C immediately expends a fuel point, and carries the remainder of 4 (writing it in the AB carry box. Using the same power setting on the following turn, increases the AB carry to 8. Now the pilot pulls back into Dry for turn 3, getting 12 Power. This is less than the Dry Usage of 45, so no fuel is expended and the full 12 is recorded in the Dry carry box (Dry carry and AB carry are completely separate). If the aircraft stays in Dry power at this altitude it will expend its rst fuel point on turn 6, when the Dry carry c arry reaches 48 (the remainder of 3 will go back into the Dry carry box). Each Fuel Point weighs 100 pounds. During the Administrative Phase, recalculate the weight and Wing Load of each aircraft that expended a Fuel Point. Some scenarios will specify Bingo limits, or the amount of fuel that an aircraft must have remaining at the end of the scenario scen ario to return to base safely. safely. Aircraft whose remaining Fuel Points fall below the Bingo limit may m ay run out of fuel and crash, c rash, counting as destroyed aircraft for victory conditions. See the special rules listed in these scenarios.
Supermaneuver Supermaneuvers are controlled excursions of pitch or yaw that allow the N ose of the aircraft to be pointed along a dierent direction than the Velocity elocity.. Rules for supermaneuvers will appear in future expansions with aircraft capable of o f performing them.
Collisions Aircraft ending a turn in the same hex at the same altitude may collide. Each pilot makes a Pips roll; follow the procedure on the play aid. If the t he nal result is positive, the aircraft collide and roll for damage on the column of the Pips table for fo r two times the nal result. Each aircraft suers one critical hit for each DAM point suered.
Ejection Crew members may eject from an aircraft when it is destroyed or in the Administrative phase. Follow the Ejection procedure in the play aids to determine is the crew member ejects successfully. successfully. A crew member who fails two ejection attempts may no longer attempt to eject. Successful ejection is followed by the Post-Battle Fate procedure.
Air Combat in the Jet Age Post-Battle Fate The playaids contain a process for determining post-battle fate of ejected crew members. Roll individually for each crew member member.. Post-battle fate is for entertainment purposes and has no direct eect on game play. play.
Weather Birds of Prey is a game about dogghting, and dogghting is impossible in bad weather. Because of this, the only weather in the game is haze and clouds, which aect visual sighting. See the visual sighting rules and play aids for the eects of haze and cloud. Scenarios will specify the altitude ranges aected by haze or clouds.
Manual Swing-Wing Aircraft with manually operated swing-wings are noted in the ADC notes section. T he ADC ight data has added columns for performance at various wing positions. The ight data is used normally, normally, but must be read from the column for the current wing position. Changing the wing position in a Manual Swing-Wing aircraft is a Conguration Cockpit Action, and counts as a Switch Action (sw) even if the aircraft has HOTAS (it pays the full cost of the Switch Action as a hands-o activity activity.) .) Changing the wing position is announced in the Declarations phase, and the AP cost is paid at that time. Unless restricted by an ADC note, the wing may be commanded to any position, regardless of its starting position. The wing position is changed in the Administrative phase and any performance change takes eect in the following game turn. Some aircraft have ADC or SSR limitations that keep the wing from changing position if certain conditions are exceeded. If these limits are exceeded, the wing does not change position until the Administrative phase of the rst game turn when the limits are not exceeded. AP is only paid in the Declarations phase when the change was commanded.
Automatic Swing-Wing / Auto-Sweep Wing Aircraft with automatic swing-wings (also called auto-sweep wing) are noted in the ADC notes section. The automatic swing-wing is programmed to position itself based on the aircraft’s current mach number. Changing the wing position of a Automatic Swing-Wing aircraft is implicit and need not be recorded, beyond recording the mach number (Ap2). The ADC ight data has added entries ent ries for performance at various mach numbers, reprerepresenting the wing positions chosen by the aircraft. Most ight data is used normally, normally, but must be read from the section for the current mach number. There is a nomograph used to nd Drag per G (DpG) for step Ep15, as well as showing max-lift and pointing range for each mach value. To To use this nomograph, set a ruler on the ADC (don’t draw, draw, as the card is not laminated), with the Lift Used (found in Ep14) on the left scale and Mach (from Ap2) on the diagonal scale. Read DpG o of the right scale. Max-Lift is read o the right scale, at the blue triangle for each mach range. Pointing, if applicable, is shown with a gold bar descending from that triangle. The aircraft is pointing at any lift that touches the gold bar for the current mach.
Engine Out When an engine is lost due to damage or compressor stall, that engine’s output is zero. Engine output is proportional to the number of operating engines, thus the aircraft’s aggregate Engine Output is: Engine Output Output = ADC Engine Output * ( # operating engines / total # of engines) engines) Multi-engined aircraft that lose some (but not all) engines collect 1 departure point per throttle step (using the steps from the Compressor Stall rule) in the game turn an engine is lost. If the engine is lost due to damage, a departure check is made immediately.
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Birds of Prey Compressor Stall
Glossary
If an aircraft noted as “subject to compressor stall” has its Q-Mark in the controllability region and changes throttle setting, there is a chance c hance of compressor stall. For purposes of this rule, the throttle is broken into four steps: Idle: throttle declared idle in the declarations phase, Engine Output = 0 Normal: throttle set to Mil, Engine Output from 1 to (½ x Mil ADC entry) Mil: throttle at Mil, Engine Output Output from one greater than Normal to the Mil ADC entry AB: throttle at AB, Engine Output from one greater than Mil to the AB ADC entry Anytime the Q-Mark is in the Controllability region, and the pilot advances the throttle more than 1 step (from Idle to Normal to Mil to AB), he rolls on the Pips table with a column of two times the number of steps advanced. Result roll: 0–1 Throttle advances normally 2 Throttle advances only 1 step 3 Single engine Compressor stall, roll d10 to determine which engine stalls 4+ Two engines Compressor stall When compressor stalled, the engine is at Idle power and its throttle setting cannot change. To recover, recover, aircraft must equal or exceed 240 KEAS. Roll d10 plus Departure net value (if any) with successful restart on 1+. The restarted engine starts at idle power and may have a chance of compressor stalling again when the throttle setting is changed.
Afterburner (engine power setting) Aircraft Control Card ACC Aircraft Data Card ADC Aircraft Data Card ADC Active Radar Homing Missile AHM AtA Refuel Air-to-Air Refueling Capability Boresight (radar mode) Bo Boosted Roll Rate Brr Decoy Dispenser System DDS Drag per G DpG Dogght (radar mode) Dog Flight Point FP Ground-Controlled Intercept GCI Helmet Mounted Display HMD Helmet Mounted Sight HMS Hands On Throttle and Stick HOTAS Heads Up Display (only pilots have HUDs) HUD AB
IRM IRST MDC RHM RIO RR RWR SCC Srch Srr SS STT TP TWS WL WSO
Infrared-Homing Missile Infrared Search and Track system Missile Data Card Radar-Homing Missile Radar Intercept Ocer Roll Rate Radar Warning Receive Receiverr Systems Control Card Search (radar mode) Safe Roll Rate Super Search (radar mode) Single Tar Target get Track (radar mode) Turning Point Track While Scan (radar mode) Wing Load Weapon Systems Ocer
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