Transport planes

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Okay, I’ll toss this out for consideration;  if we’re to limit the number of infantry the transport-only plane can carry to one, could it be one unit as opposed to one infantry?  Would it be reasonable to allow it to carry one artillery or one tank (with the caveat that where it is dropped is where it stays until the next turn)?

Thoughts…

[baron Münchhausen]

@SEP:

Okay, I’ll toss this out for consideration;  if we’re to limit the number of infantry the transport-only plane can carry to one, could it be one unit as opposed to one infantry?  Would it be reasonable to allow it to carry one artillery or one tank (with the caveat that where it is dropped is where it stays until the next turn)?

Thoughts…

From an historical POV, air transport wasn’t as develop in WWII.
Think about the fact that Goering wasn’t able to just provide enough supply (food, ammunition and first aid kit) to Stalingrad Von Paulus’ 6th Army.

But from a game perspective, it could probably be balance with cost and some risk of flying above enemy’s AAA unit.

The danger is to change the game from a main naval transport ones to a mainly Air Transport ones.
The central territories are the main stakes. Being able to reach it faster, is a game changer against Axis.

In my game, for instance, Air Transport (A0 D0 M5 C8, can be destroyed by AAA but not the Infantry unit, which always land safely) can only move 1 Infantry from departure TT to another, then AT can come back or stay there, if it is a friendly territory.

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@Baron:

In my game, for instance, Air Transport (A0 D0 M5 C8, can be destroyed by AAA but not the Infantry unit, which always land safely) can only move 1 Infantry from departure TT to another, then AT can come back or stay there, if it is a friendly territory.

So your Air Transport only costs 8, is there a limit to how many you can buy in your game?  What made you choose M5 rather than 4 or 6?  How is all that working for you?  Really thinking of adding this to the 1942.2 but want it to be a balance HR as well as a viable one.

And I appreciate everyone’s input  :-)

[barney]

The para tech wouldn’t be a bad way to go. Bomber, in this case transport, can carry 1 inf into battle. 2 with heavy bmbr tech. Must stop upon 1st enemy TT.

NCM could move 4. I think I’d let them drop off and fly back in ncm. 2 there, drop off, fly back. Price is kinda hard. Maybe start with 12 and see how it goes. Agree with limit per country. 84 board is a lot smaller than global so yea maybe 1 and 2 for US as per wittman’s suggestion.

Definitely liven the game up a little. : )

[baron Münchhausen]

@SEP:

@Baron:

In my game, for instance, Air Transport (A0 D0 M5 C8, can be destroyed by AAA but not the Infantry unit, which always land safely) can only move 1 Infantry from departure TT to another, then AT can come back or stay there, if it is a friendly territory.

So your Air Transport only costs 8, is there a limit to how many you can buy in your game?  What made you choose M5 rather than 4 or 6?  How is all that working for you?  Really thinking of adding this to the 1942.2 but want it to be a balance HR as well as a viable one.

And I appreciate everyone’s input  :-)

I have not enough play-test with it to give a warranty ATP at 8 IPCs is not too cheap.
5 move provides more long range Non-combat move while still restrict the long distance back and forth to only 2 TTs away (as any Fgs).
The 5 moves allows more mobility to change from 1 starting TT to another for the next turn, without getting the powerful 3 TTs back and forth of bombers.

[barney]

Solid reasoning on the 5 Baron. Maybe 2 inf carry or 1 arty. Arty can ncm only. IDK if small artillery or AT pieces were air transported or not. It seems like they would’ve been. But once again IDK.

[Argothair]

I’m having trouble imagining how I would make good use of a transport plane – what kinds of situations would they be best in? I could see them being a decent way of getting some infantry from London to Africa if the Nazis control the sea lanes, but it would have to wait until next turn to make the return trip. If the transport planes had a range of 6, I could see them being useful for Pacific island-hopping or for raiding the money islands, but the range of 5 makes island-hopping very challenging unless you let transport planes land on carriers.

[baron Münchhausen]

@Argothair:

I’m having trouble imagining how I would make good use of a transport plane – what kinds of situations would they be best in? I could see them being a decent way of getting some infantry from London to Africa if the Nazis control the sea lanes, but it would have to wait until next turn to make the return trip. If the transport planes had a range of 6, I could see them being useful for Pacific island-hopping or for raiding the money islands, but the range of 5 makes island-hopping very challenging unless you let transport planes land on carriers.

Probably very game fictional idea to conquer Islands with paratroopers.

On 1942.2 map:
5 moves allows to make 1 single travel from West US to Eastern Australia and from Eastern Australia to India.
Or from UK to Moscow in 1 turn.
Or from Eastern USA to UK in 1 turn.
Or from Eastern Canada to Archangel.
All this is impossible with a 4 moves plane.

For Africa, UK will find that Gibraltar is a mandatory way-point.
Needing 2 turns to get back and forth is not so different than Naval Transport.

[SEP]

@Baron:

ATP at 8 IPCs is not too cheap.
5 move provides more long range Non-combat move while still restrict the long distance back and forth to only 2 TTs away (as any Fgs).
The 5 moves allows more mobility to change from 1 starting TT to another for the next turn, without getting the powerful 3 TTs back and forth of bombers.

What was your reason for choosing C8 as opposed to 10,11 or 12?  I’m assuming you can build more than one in your game?  I like the R5 as well.

[SEP]

@Argothair:

I’m having trouble imagining how I would make good use of a transport plane – what kinds of situations would they be best in? I could see them being a decent way of getting some infantry from London to Africa if the Nazis control the sea lanes, but it would have to wait until next turn to make the return trip. If the transport planes had a range of 6, I could see them being useful for Pacific island-hopping or for raiding the money islands, but the range of 5 makes island-hopping very challenging unless you let transport planes land on carriers.

1.  Makes the opponent take a hard look at how they reinforce.  If they leave a country wide open it provides the opportunity to air drop an infantry into it (behind enemy lines as it were) to capture.  Could be a mere annoyance all the way to causing a real problem.

2.  Allows the opportunity to get a few troops closer to/in the action quicker.

3.  Brings a whole new tactical consideration to Asia and Russia’s back door i.e. it allows Japan an opportunity as well as Russia/G.B. in reinforcing Asia differently.  Could allow the Allies an opportunity to hang on to the China territories just a bit better albiet at a cost in IPC for the Allies.

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Also gives everyone another reason to purchase AAA guns and place them in spots you maybe normally wouldn’t before.

[baron Münchhausen]

@SEP:

@Baron:

ATP at 8 IPCs is not too cheap.
5 move provides more long range Non-combat move while still restrict the long distance back and forth to only 2 TTs away (as any Fgs).
The 5 moves allows more mobility to change from 1 starting TT to another for the next turn, without getting the powerful 3 TTs back and forth of bombers.

What was your reason for choosing C8 as opposed to 10,11 or 12? I’m assuming you can build more than one in your game? I like the R5 as well.

It could be as well a 9 IPCs unit, to get a 1 IPC increment:
Air Transport 9 IPCs
Fighter 10 IPCs
Tactical Bomber 11 IPCs
Strategic Bomber 12 IPCs.

It probably cannot be the same price than a Naval Transport at 7 IPCs, hence at least 8 IPCs cost.

If you want it to be able to load and unload Artillery units, it should goes higher than 9 IPCs.
Because with 2 ATP, you can be able to rapidly deploy 1 Inf + 1 Art (a pretty good offensive/defensive match) almost everywhere in the center map.
USA has enough IPCs to provide them where it is needed.
I’m pretty sure that you gain a lot of flexibility.
Example, from Western USA, you can export such units into Soviet Far East on US2 (2*12 IPCs ATPs +7 IPCs Inf+Art= 31 IPCs)
And supply a steady flow of 2 Inf and 2 Art, on US3, going back and forth.

This would drastically change the game pace, IMO.

Think about how much time, it can take to do the same via Naval Transport… (and the need to have enough warships to protect them…)

Giving only 1 Infantry to load and unload for ATP is essentially providing a defensive unit with a lot of limitation when attacking by itself.
Some player input that Infantry paratrooper should get A2 in the first combat round.

[SEP]

@Baron:

It could be as well a 9 IPCs unit, to get a 1 IPC increment:
Air Transport 9 IPCs
Fighter 10 IPCs
Tactical Bomber 11 IPCs
Strategic Bomber 12 IPCs.

I like that line up.

I’m leaning towards the ATP just being able to load/deliver 1 infantry unit.  That way it provides an option w/o making it OP.  And that’s about right considering a transport ship is much larger than a plane, thus it should be able to do two units and the ATP only one.

I’ve ordered tac bombers (and mech inf) from HBG last night.  And I’ll use the classic bombers in the ATP role.  This way I’ll have a specific unit for each and no confusion.

Good discussion.

[CWO Marc]

@Baron:

From an historical POV, air transport wasn’t as develop in WWII.
Think about the fact that Goering wasn’t able to just provide enough supply (food, ammunition and first aid kit) to Stalingrad Von Paulus’ 6th Army.

The failure of the Luftwaffe to supply the 6th Army at Stalingrad had nothing to do with the state of development of air transportation in WWII.  The problems were that: 1) Germany didn’t have enough transport planes, 2) the range was too great, and kept getting greater as the Russians surrounding Stalingrad pushed westward, 3) the winter weather was atrocious, 4) the Russians had lots of AAA waiting for the German planes, and 5) there were too few –and eventually no – suitable landing areas under German control within the city.

[CWO Marc]

@SEP:

I’ve ordered tac bombers (and mech inf) from HBG last night.  And I’ll use the classic bombers in the ATP role.  This way I’ll have a specific unit for each and no confusion.

Alternately – or as a supplement – you could pick one or two copies of the A&A 1941 game and use its variant bombers as transport planes.  The down side, however, is that only the five main powers would get such planes in their colours, and that only two of them (the British and German bombers) would be correct design matches for their countries.

[baron Münchhausen]

@CWO:

@Baron:

From an historical POV, air transport wasn’t as develop in WWII.
Think about the fact that Goering wasn’t able to just provide enough supply (food, ammunition and first aid kit) to Stalingrad Von Paulus’ 6th Army.

The failure of the Luftwaffe to supply the 6th Army at Stalingrad had nothing to do with the state of development of air transportation in WWII.  The problems were that: 1) Germany didn’t have enough transport planes, 2) the range was too great, and kept getting greater as the Russians surrounding Stalingrad pushed westward, 3) the winter weather was atrocious, 4) the Russians had lots of AAA waiting for the German planes, and 5) there were too few –and eventually no – suitable landing areas under German control within the city.

Do you know if air transport were really able to have enough cargo hold for heavy load such as Artillery pieces?

[CWO Marc]

@Baron:

Do you know if air transport were really able to have enough cargo hold for heavy load such as Artillery pieces?

For practical gaming purposes, I think the best overall answer would be: no, artillery should not be considered air-transportable.  Some small field guns like the Japanese Type 92 Battalion Gun could probably be carried by plane, but my guess is that medium artillery and heavy artillery (speaking in very general terms) would be too heavy and too large for most (if not all) transport planes.  To be carried by a plane, a gun would have to be able to fit though its cargo doors, and would have to have smaller dimensions (in all three directions) than the internal dimensions of the plane’s cargo hold, and would have to be lighter than the plane’s maximum weight-carrying capacity (including lighter than what the floor of the fuselage can bear without collapsing).  Also note that artillery has a voracious appetite for ammunition, so carrying a gun somewhere by itself is only half the problem.

[Der Kuenstler]

I recently added airborne to our game as a regular unit. (not a tech)

The planes are actual transport plane molds from HBG, painted each country’s color. They cost 6 IPCs, move 4 and have no attack or defense. My pricing this way is because the TP has no attack or defense, so is basically useless unless moving troops around. TPs can take hits on defense but not fire back. Capacity is 1 troop per plane. This means that to use them, you are investing in a 6 IPC plane and a 4 IPC airborne troop, so it is 10 IPC per pop to get your airborne drops going.

These rules limit the airborne threat to shorter range targets like Crete and such, which is the historic way they were used. If you get Long Range Aircraft tech they can then go 6.

Our TPs can also non-combat regular infantry (1 per plane) around if they are not being used otherwise.  One mission total per TP per turn.

[SEP]

@CWO:

@SEP:

I’ve ordered tac bombers (and mech inf) from HBG last night.  And I’ll use the classic bombers in the ATP role.  This way I’ll have a specific unit for each and no confusion.

Alternately – or as a supplement – you could pick one or two copies of the A&A 1941 game and use its variant bombers as transport planes.  The down side, however, is that only the five main powers would get such planes in their colours, and that only two of them (the British and German bombers) would be correct design matches for their countries.

The classic bombers should do nicely and it will give me the opportunity to give them some use.  Thinking about it, if I need extra infantry I could use the classic units as well.  Although the colors aren’t spot on, it’s close enough so that they don’t get confused for the wrong army.  And since we’re adding several of the 1940 elements/units/rules to the 1942.2 game I can use the Classic Japanese fighters for the kamakaszi fighters.

[SEP]

@Der:

I recently added airborne to our game as a regular unit. (not a tech)

The planes are actual transport plane molds from HBG, painted each country’s color. They cost 6 IPCs, move 4 and have no attack or defense. My pricing this way is because the TP has no attack or defense, so is basically useless unless moving troops around. TPs can take hits on defense but not fire back. Capacity is 1 troop per plane. This means that to use them, you are investing in a 6 IPC plane and a 4 IPC airborne troop, so it is 10 IPC per pop to get your airborne drops going.

These rules limit the airborne threat to shorter range targets like Crete and such, which is the historic way they were used. If you get Long Range Aircraft tech they can then go 6.

Our TPs can also non-combat regular infantry (1 per plane) around if they are not being used otherwise.  One mission total per TP per turn.

How’s this working out for your games?  What are your thoughts on the C9 and M5 we’re discussing?