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Old 11-27-2017, 12:33 PM   #1
Skarg
 
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Default GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

Are there rules in GURPS WW2 for how to play out air combat? Do they involve maps? Are they abstract? Anyone care to describe what they're like? I have looked at the Their Finest Hour GURPS WW2 module and saw stats for the aircraft for HT and armor and HP of parts of the planes, and move and weapons, and some flak rules that had the start of some interesting/appropriate ideas but then ultimately looked very abstract / incomplete / handwavey to me.

Suppose I wanted to run a campaign about fighter pilots with a main feature of play being dogfights... is there going to be gameplay anywhere near as interesting/complete/accurate as GURPS Advanced/Tactical combat on a hex map, or is it going to be all abstract mapless "roll a contest of skill to see who has the abstract upper hand"?

Is the best & most complete version of the air combat rules in GURPS WWII or in some other place?

(I tried to search here for "GURPS WW2 Air Combat" and got: "Search: Keyword(s): gurps, combat ; Forum: GURPS and child forums
The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search: ww2, air" which was of course not what I wanted.)
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Old 11-27-2017, 12:43 PM   #2
sir_pudding
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

You can just use the regular GURPS Vehicles rules, but you may run into playability problems due to the significant size and speed differences from man-to-man combat.

If you really want dogfights to be centerpiece actions in your games I would instead suggest using something like Achtung: Spitfire! and incorporate GURPS skills and injury to pilots.

Last edited by sir_pudding; 11-27-2017 at 03:13 PM.
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Old 11-27-2017, 12:49 PM   #3
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

There are dogfight rules, and general vehicles rules, in GURPS Vehicles (3e, easily ported to 4e). There are also "chase rules" in GURPS Action, Exploits (4e), and there is an issue of Pyramid which extends those Action rules to dogfights. These would be fully GURPS compatible and while still abstract, they work fine for most games.
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Old 11-27-2017, 12:57 PM   #4
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

Quote:
Originally Posted by safisher View Post
... there is an issue of Pyramid which extends those Action rules to dogfights.
That's "Dogfight Action!" in Pyramid #3/53. Currently discounted in the sale.
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Old 11-27-2017, 01:03 PM   #5
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

That would seem to be the opposite of what the OP is looking for.
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Old 11-27-2017, 02:40 PM   #6
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
That would seem to be the opposite of what the OP is looking for.
"Is the best & most complete version of the air combat rules in GURPS WWII or in some other place?"

I answered _that_ question.
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Old 11-27-2017, 03:23 PM   #7
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

Interesting, thanks.

Does GURPS WWII then not add much/any rules for aerial combat?

Hmm, checking GURPS Vehicles, I'm only seeing "aerial combat" at page 164, which has a nice detailed rule from aircraft strafing ground targets... and I am finding pretty much nothing about air-to-air combat... except wing/rotor/airbag damage. Oh, I see, there is the Vehicle Action section and its Flying Movement subsection... hmm... well that is a mapped combat system. Seems both detailed and generic, and it'd be interesting to playtest - what map to use would be an interesting choice given the speeds. Has anyone actually played out dogfights with it?

Adapting (or merging) a good WW2 air combat wargame to GURPS seems like it might make more sense.

I can imagine there existing a fairly detailed and interesting abstract air combat system, but is there one someplace? I remember browsing GURPS Lensman and seeing it attempted an abstract space-dogfight system - does anyone know how that compares to the "Dogfight Action!" Pyramid article? (I've seen the Action chase rules, and they seem like a start that could maybe be developed, but as written seem pretty lite and I'd imagine would want careful tuning & playtesting.)
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Old 11-27-2017, 03:29 PM   #8
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Default Re: GURPS WW2 Air Combat?

If you want a tactical hex map dog-fight, maybe try the spaceship combat rules in Traveller: Interstellar Wars?
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