Knights of the Skies: an Arms Race Game
Kolechia ThreadVerusa ThreadThe year is 1915, and the Great War rages in Europe. After a succession crisis in Verusa and a popular revolution in Kolechia, these two nations have returned to warring for control of the small continent of Aurelia in the South Atlantic. The war in Europe is no longer fought only on land and at sea: in the air, warplanes report valuable information on enemy movements, and duel whenever they encounter each other. After hearing of the success of Allied observation aircraft in turning the German tide at the Battle of the Marne, both nations have scrambled to build up their air forces to control Aurelia.
However, it has been discovered that the general in charge of building the fledgling air force has bought inferior planes from abroad and pocketed the difference for himself. He has been disposed of, and in his place you – a group of engineers – have been brought in to oversee the design of our new air force.
What Is This?Put simply, this is an Arms Race game in which you, the players, have control over designing, building and deploying the air forces of two opposing nations. The rules are
copied from heavily inspired by Draignean’s Cinder Spires Arms Race, with some slight modifications. The key differences of Knights of the Skies from other Arms Races games are as such:
Victory and/or Glory! The goal of this game is not only to win battles and push the other side back, it’s also to amass as much prestige and power for your fledgling air force as necessary. If your prestige falls to the point where the air force is seen as not worth its cost, you will be replaced, and that side will be considered to have lost the game!
Ground is for the Ground Pounders: In a similar vein, losing territory is hardly your concern, as long as the army can’t find a way to blame you for it. In fact, your side can lose ground and still have an increased budget, assuming your prestige warrants it.
Abstraction in Production: This game’s only resource is
production points, which represent industrial production. The budget of PP fluctuates from turn to turn, dependent on your prestige and the current state of the war. PP is spent on progressing projects and producing and maintaining squadrons and equipment. In the beginning of the game, neither side has its economy on a war footing, and PP budgets will increase to represent greater spending on defence. As both sides progress toward total war, the rate of increase will slow, and there will be increased competition from both the army and the navy for the air force’s budget.
Not-So-Friendly Rivalry: Both the Army and the Navy are established services with many decades of history, while the air force is months old. There are factions of officers within the army and navy that doubt the need for an air force, especially one that uses resources better spent on their own forces. Expect opposition to any attempts to improve the status of the air force as an independent command, and bureaucratic shenanigans wherever your domains overlap. Good outcomes might be something like the Key West Agreement on a clear division of responsibilities; bad outcomes would be IJA/IJN levels of interservice assassinations.
Free-Spirited Pilots: Your pilots do not appreciate a group of engineers trying to teach them how to fly a plane. There will be
no “tactics” designs in this game like the finger-four formation, and the focus will be on physical designs instead. In general, your pilots will fly their planes according to what the plane is designed for.
The Nations:The
Republic of Kolechia stretches from the fertile plains of the Kutzov river basin in the north, to the cold boreal forests of the Kolenin peninsula to the south, with the capital city between them. The Republic borders the Principality of Midako to the east, and the Kingdom of Verusa to the northeast and southeast, with the southeast border being on the southern island of Okinso. Its form of governance is a
socialist republic.
The
Kingdom of Verusa consists of plains and savannah around the Greater Lakes region in the west, and thick jungles on the Villantene peninsula to the east, with the capital city between them. The Kingdom borders the Principality of Midako to the west, and the Republic of Kolechia to the northwest and southwest, with the southwest border being on the southern island of Okinso. Its form of governance is a
constitutional monarchy.
The
Principality of Midako is a neutral nation located in the dense forests along the coasts of the Sea of Midako, which is the only mutually accepted name for the body of water between Kolechia and Verusa. Although sandwiched between Verusa and Kolechia on every side, and a quarter their size, the Principality has thrived as an intermediary between the two in their frequent wars, staying independent by the scheming of their princes. Midako controls a majority of merchant traffic in the Sea of Midako, with Midako-flagged ships trading between Verusan and Kolechian ports to east and west. Its form of governance is an
absolute monarchy.
The Sequence of Play:
There are 8 turns per year, with each turn split into the Design, Revision, Production/Deployment, and the Battle phases.
During the
Design Phase, you can propose
Projects and progress on existing ones. Each team has 5 dice to spend on rolls every turn, and can bank up to 4 dice to the next turn. To start a project takes 3 dice: one to roll time estimate, one to roll initial progress, and one to roll project expense. Additional dice may be added to ‘double-roll’ either time estimate or project expense. An example of a project is:
Falcon Triplane| 12/30 progress | 3 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 15 PP invested
Each die of progress rolled has a corresponding cost in
Production Points (PP) that must be paid. For every such ‘paid’ die, you can choose to
rush the project, which adds an extra die worth of progress (not subtracted from the 5) but has a 50% chance of adding a bug to the project or worsening an existing bug.
At the start of a project, the design rolls 3 dice for Effectiveness, Cost and Bugs. These will be the final rolls for the project if no revisions are made.
At 50% progress, you have the option of producing a
prototype and paying the associated cost in PP. Prototypes are either enough aircraft for one squadron, or enough equipment to outfit one squadron. In the case of aircraft, such a “prototype squadron” costs 50% more in maintenance. You can also opt to not produce a prototype to save on PP: unless clearly stated otherwise, prototypes will be produced for all projects. The advantage of prototypes is that you can gain an idea of how your design matches up to existing enemy designs in combat, while the project is not yet finished.
At 100% progress, the project is considered complete and ready for mass production, and you can order squadrons of the new aircraft or equip existing squadrons with the new equipment during the production phase.
There is also the option to make
Requisitions from the army or the navy for their existing equipment during this phase. Said equipment is limited to what militaries of the time can be reasonably expected to have, and requisitions are affected by the
state of relations between you and the army/navy – better relations mean that the army will be more willing to release the latest equipment for air force usage. Conversely, the army may outright refuse the requisition or provide you with an outdated machine gun instead of their latest model if relations are poor.
During the
Revision Phase, you can spend one die on making a
Revision. Examples of revisions are fixing a flaw that causes your planes to tear their wings off in a dive, or altering your existing fighter designs with the newly developed autocannons. It should be noted that it is possible to lower Cost through a revision, but it will result in either bugs or a reduction in effectiveness except on high rolls. Of course, you can turn this to your advantage by specifying exactly which aspects of the existing design should be traded-off for a reduction in cost. Revisions that fix bugs will be applied for free to all deployed planes and equipment, while revisions that add capabilities will only be applied to newly produced units. There are also diminishing returns for multiple revisions to improve a design beyond original specifications, but revisions to correct bugs are not subject to this limitation.
During the
Production & Deployment Phase, each team spends
Production Points on producing new squadrons and equipment, and on maintaining existing squadrons. Unspent PP will not be banked to the next turn. Squadron cost is given by the two cost numbers of the aircraft design, with 3/1 meaning that producing a new squadron of that aircraft costs 3 PP, while maintaining that squadron costs 1 PP a turn.
There is also the possibility of
changing aircraft type, which may affect the squadron’s
experience but allows you to get good pilots into the newest planes immediately. Experience may decrease depending on how the role of the squadron is changed: a fighter squadron transitioning to a fighter-bomber one only has a small drop in experience, but transitioning into zeppelins results in a squadron of rookie pilots.
You may also suggest
Deployments for the squadrons produced. Examples of deployments would be for bombers to target a particular industrial town, or for fighter planes to provide CAS for a particular offensive by the army. Note that suggesting deployments are only possible while the air force is independent – if the air force should come under command of the army, deployments will no longer be up to you to decide!
Finally, in the
Battle Phase, you simply have to wait for the reports on how your air force is performing on the frontlines. There is nothing to be done during this phase.
Squadrons
The basic unit of your air force is a
squadron, which represents 12-24 planes depending on what type of squadron it is. An example of a squadron is as such:
122 Squadron | Windlance Bombers | 50kg ‘Dart’ bombs, Type III radios| Dive Bombing | Veteran | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 5
Currently assigned to support the encirclement at Basselton
Each squadron has a
name and a
plane type that the squadron is operating. After this is listed any
additional equipment the squadron is equipped with, which is equipment that does not come standard with the airframe. There is also the
role the squadron is operating as, which may be switched at will but is obviously limited by the type of plane. In this example, the bombers might also be set to level bombing, and may be of greater or lesser effectiveness depending on the design of the airframe.
Each squadron also has an associated
level of experience, which in this case is “Veteran”. Experience is tracked from 0 to 100, but in- game you will only get to see the experience levels. These levels are, in ascending order: Neophyte (<10), Rookie (11-20), Regular (21-40), Experienced (41-60), Veteran (61-80), Elite (81-90) and Legendary (>90). Experience determines the performance of a squadron in carrying out its assigned mission – more experienced pilots in less capable planes will be a match for less experienced pilots in more capable planes.
Experience increases a little each turn to represent passive training. If a squadron is engaged in combat missions, experience increases faster, proportional to the intensity of the combat. Experience also
decreases to represent plane and pilot losses in combat. Overall, if two sides are exactly equal, experience for both sides will increase slowly – which is why it is vital to design better planes and weapons for your side to break the stalemate! It is also important that you do not get caught in a cycle of sending out rookie pilots against enemy veterans, which serves only to build enemy experience at your expense.
Fighter squadrons that are engaged in combat have a small chance each turn of producing a named
Fighter Ace, a pilot with five or more air-to-air kills. Aces within a squadron improve the rate of experience gained, as they share their lessons with other less experienced pilots. They also have a slight effect on your air force’s
Prestige. Aces can be transferred between squadrons, and may also be killed in combat, removing the bonuses.
Finally, there is
Maintenance Cost, which is the amount in PP necessary to keep the squadron operational, and a description of the squadron’s
current Deployment.
Prestige, Status and Relations:
One very important factor that determines your success or failure is the air force’s
Prestige. This is a measure of how highly regarded your air force is, both among the general public and the military. Prestige increases when the air force makes significant contributions to land and naval victories, when new and shiny plane designs are rolled out, and when the papers publish the exploits of famous fighter aces, among others. The need to win greater prestige and glory for your air force should be a factor in every decision. Higher prestige means a larger PP budget is allocated to the air force, and may force the army and navy to acquiesce to your demands when you come into conflict with them. Also, higher prestige is a key consideration when the decision is made to elevate the air force’s status.
Status refers to the command status of the air force – or who actually has the authority to order the planes around. For Verusa, the King is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while in Kolechia the Council of Generals has supreme authority over the war effort. However, there are multiple degrees of command independence under these leaders. The four degrees are as follows:
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Subordinate Command: The air force is under the command of the army, with superior officers overseeing the operation of every squadron in concert with army objectives. While this gives a large bonus to combined arms operations, it disallows the independent deployment of squadrons according to your suggestions and gives the army control over your PP budget.
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Auxiliary Service: Both sides start at this degree. The air force is its own organisation answering to the top brass, and has the ability to make independent deployments. At this stage, the air force is roughly equivalent to the coast guard, marines, and local defence volunteers, and has no say on large-scale command decisions such as general offensives and doctrinal changes.
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Autonomous Corps: The air force is recognised as able to contribute in unique ways to the war effort and is given some input into the decisions of the high command, although this may in turn be overruled by the army or navy representatives. At this degree, you may also lobby the high command for certain boons, such as a temporary increase in PP to finance the development of an advanced fighter.
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Service Branch: The air force is the equal of the army or navy and has correspondingly greater input on the decisions of high command, along with the ability to table proposals to high command. At this degree, you may also call for army and navy resources to be diverted to the air force if justifiable, and design requisitions from them will not be refused.
Advancing up these degrees of command independence is largely a matter of prestige, along with your choices in the various random events that occur during turns. If relations with the Army and Navy are bad, they will attempt to block such progress.
Relations are a measure of how the Army and Navy establishment regard your nascent organisations. Good relations will result in more favourable responses to requisitions, along with better performance in operations that require close cooperation between both services, such as close air support and artillery spotting. Bad relations mean that the Army and Navy will work to stymie the influence of the air force and divert resources away from it. The state of relations will depend mostly on the choices made in response to events, and to a smaller extent, on whether the air force is useful to army and navy operations.
Starting EquipmentPlanes:
-‘Rhino’ Biplane: A unarmed, single-seater reconnaissance plane. Very misleadingly named, as its fragile wood-and-canvas frame can’t withstand the slightest collision. On the other hand, it’s about as easy to turn as a charging rhino. At least it gets up to a good speed, powered by a six-cylinder rotary engine. Cost: 3/1
Pilots:
-Daring: For King and Country! Verusan pilots are more aggressive and willing to take risks in combat.
-Uniforms: Blue with purple accents. Pilots are commissioned with a ceremonial sabre, which they bring along for every mission, stored in a sheath in the cockpit.
Technology:
-Basic biplane design
-Basic monoplane design
-Wooden frame construction
-Basic control surfaces: wing warping, elevator and rudder
Resources:
-1 Air Academy: Trains new pilots how to take off. Landing is left as an exercise for the student.
-1 Experimental Aerodrome: Designs new planes and other air-related equipment. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-10 Production Points
Planes:
-Feather-1914 Scout Plane: A unarmed, single seater biplane. High stability makes it easy to fly, but also woefully inadequate for anything other than scouting. Lightweight wooden fuselage combined with a six-cylinder rotary engine gives it good speed in the air. Cost 3/1
Pilots:
-Coordinated: Strength in numbers! Kolechian pilots work well together and are better coordinated in combat.
-Uniforms: Red with silver accents. Pilots are issued a thick, flowing red cape which flutters gloriously in the wind, inspiring the men on the ground.
Technology:
-Basic biplane design
-Basic monoplane design
-Wooden frame construction
-Basic control surfaces: wing warping, elevator and rudder
Resources:
-1 Pilot Training Institute: Teaches new pilots what each lever does. When to pull each lever is up to the student.
-1 Developmental Airfield: Designs new planes and other air-related equipment. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-10 Production Points
-Infantry are issued bolt-action rifles and some are given stick grenades.
-Machine guns are the heaviest weapons of the infantry, creating formidable defensive positions.
-Artillery is used only to bombard enemy positions, and infantry advances are preceded by copious artillery barrages. Accuracy has been improved from successful aerial reconnaissance, but real-time spotting from the air is not yet possible.
-Portable radios are carried by two-man teams, and despite their newness, play an important role in battlefield communications.
-Armoured cars and the occasional motorcycle see use in fighting wherever there are roads, but infantry is still the bulk of any assault.
-Motorised trucks are used for some of the army’s logistics, but the majority is still carried by horses, which are sometimes used to drag artillery.
Navy:-Both sides have a single battleship which serves as the flagship of their navy. Foreigners who are caught referring to it as a “large cruiser” have their residency permit revoked.
-Most of the navy is made up of cruiser-destroyer squadrons powered by steam engines, operating close to shore.
-The naval war consists of shore bombardment and convoy escorting in the southern islands, with engagements taking place in shallow waters around the islands. Battles in the Sea of Midako are very rare, and are usually inconclusive.
I believe these can be summed up as: no being (too) salty, no whining, no accusations of GM bias and no spying. Violations may see you removed from the game.
As for complaints about historical/physical inaccuracy, you may submit one argument only about why another side's equipment is unrealistic, with sources if possible. I reserve the right to alter effectiveness in retrospect, but battle results will not be changed. Repeated badgering about one issue reduces the chances of me acquiescing to your complaints.
Miscellaneous Information-Battle reports will be posted here in the core thread, while individual sides' squadron/equipment lists, random events and decisions will be posted to their individual threads.
-I will be posting the first 'pre-game' battle phase, along with associated maps shortly. In the meantime, you can choose which side to design for, and ask for any clarifications on the game system.
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Topic: Knights of the Skies: an Arms Race Game - Early Summer 1916 (Read 14335 times)