Ultimate Furball Update 4
In which more shots are shot, demented recklessness is almost (but not) rewarded, and Captain Dechoirs' Fokker appears downright cursed.
Theo Dacabe (darkpaladin109): War Balloon (P:4,G:3,A:5)
Altitude: 4
Floating at 1, heading South
>Move towards the solitary plane and fire on it with one of my miniguns before it notices me.
The plane is some distance away, but you huff and you puff and you ride the finicky air currents to make up for lost time, and actually manage to approach the circling aircraft with acceptable quickness.
[Enemy Aw.Fail] The airplane's crew must be blind not to see your approach, or else they don't think a fancy-colored hot air balloon could ever be a worthy target or a credible threat. [Aw.Success] The plane, a Russian Po-2 scout biplane, just keeps on lazily flying through the air, its pilot and tail gunner observing the surroundings. You decide to throw them both a nice welcoming party in the form of a hail of bullets.
[Minigun: Gunnery 3+2(range)+1(moving target)=6:Roll=9] Hit! Using Right Side table:
Body: 5 Structure left, CRITICAL HIT on Control Wire
Nose: 3 Structure left, no critical
Body: 4 Structure left, CRITICAL HIT on Tail Gunner
Body: 3 Structure left, CRITICAL HIT on Tail Gunner
Tail Gunner is dead.
The burst of high-caliber rounds from your minigun tears through the unarmored frame of the Po-2, sending bits of metal and wood (a lot of wood) flying. The open porch of the tail gunner all but explodes into woodchips and gore as you nearly scythe the plane in half lengthwise, but somehow the machine remains together.
The Po-2 suddenly dips sharply down. You can't see the expression on the pilot's face, but it's probably somewhere between surprise and horror, as he realizes his aircraft no longer responds to pitch. Left without controls and weapons, the pilot does the only sensible thing and bails out of the stricken Po-2, his white chute unfurling far below your gondola as the aircraft tumbles into the ground.
You have scored 4 kill points, earning 1 score point.
Many WW1-era planes are fighting closer to the ground. You hear the rumble of many engines from above. There are clouds far to the southeast. A small dogfight is happening towards the far northwest.
Mobility: 1
Responsiveness: 1d6
Toughness: 8
Weapons: 4x Minigun (separate 90-degree arcs), 1x Stinger launcher
Minigun: up to 4 damage in 1 point clusters
Stinger: guided (IR), 8 damage in 4 point clusters
Ammo: 19x Minigun burst, 8x Stinger Missile
No armor
Structure:
Balloon: 6HP, 2 criticals (Valve, Fin)
Gondola: 8HP, 6 criticals (Minigun, Minigun, Minigun, Minigun, Pilot, Rigging)
Value: 4
Captain Henri Dechoirs (Digital Hellhound): Fokker V.6 Triplane (P:4,G:4,A:4)
Altitude: 4
Flying at 2, heading East
>What's life without a few risks - head after a Russian biplane and let the machineguns sing. The Germans won't fire on a Fokker, right? Right?
[Resp.Fail x2](wat.. shoddy German machinery? That or my d6 doesn't like you.)
You try to pitch up and enter the fray, but the abuse you've put your Fokker through suddenly catches up to it. The engine sputters and loses power, refusing to accelerate. It takes you some time of frantic fiddling with controls to persuade your plane to respond to input again (it seems the throttle stick has come loose), and you are forced to putter helplessly below the ongoing fight in the meanwhile.
There is a dense cumulus cloud to the west. There is a tight dogfight between early-WW2 Russian and German aircraft above you. Many planes seem to be fighting down below, but you can't see them very well.
Mobility: 4
Responsiveness: 4d6
Toughness: 8
Weapons: 2x Machinegun (fixed forward), 2x50kg bomblet, sharpened wings
Machinegun: up to 2 damage in 1 point clusters
50kg bomblet: 12 damage in 6 point clusters, hard to aim (heavy penalties against moving targets)
Wing blade: 8 damage in 4 point clusters to enemy. 2 damage to wing.
Ammo: 26x Machinegun burst, 2x 50kg bomblet
No armor
Structure:
Nose: 4HP, 3 criticals (Propeller, Radiator, Engine)
Body: 6HP, 6 criticals (Engine, Pilot, Machinegun, Machinegun, Control wires, Control wires)
Left wing: 6HP, 3 criticals (Control wire, Aileron, Wing blade)
Right wing: 6HP, 3 criticals (Control wire, Aileron, Wing blade)
Tail: 6HP, 4 criticals (Elevator, Stabilizer, Control wire)
Value: 6
Jeffrey Gamble (Harry Baldman): Paraglider (P:3,G:4,A:5)
Altitude: 2
Gliding at 1, circling around
>Ha-hah! My plan is working! Fly higher, try to move above those attacking planes and then land on one. If successful, commence hijacking.
[Resp.Success] Fueled by the crazy idea forming in your head, you spur the controls and fly into a favorable wind, picking up speed to match with the approaching fighters. [Piloting 3+2(matching velocity)+2(slower machine)=7:Roll=11] You get a perfect lineup to the incoming leader's SPAD.XIII, but this leaves you wide open to being raked by his and his wingman's machineguns.
[Enemy Piloting 5+1(agile target)=6:Roll=5]
[Enemy Piloting 5+1(agile target)=6:Roll=11]
SPAD.XIII Wingman:
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5+1(agile target)=6:Roll=9] Hit! Using Rear table:
Motoglider: 8 HP left, CRITICAL HIT on Control Surface; 7 HP left, CRITICAL HIT on Engine.
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5+1(agile target)=6:Roll=2] Miss!
Motorized Paraglider suffers 1 Toughness, 1 Mobility, 1d4 Responsiveness damage.
Surprised by your sudden maneuver, the SPAD leader misses his approach, your paraglider too high above its course to engage. His wingman is at no such disadvantage, however. The two Vickers machineguns open up on your little craft with their classic dakka-dakka-dakka, bullets zipping past you in surprising amounts, tearing off some of your steering surfaces, and permanently silencing your engine. By some luck, you are yourself unscathed, and your new predicament only fills you with excessive amounts of resolve.
[Piloting 3 + 1(controls damaged) + 2(crazy maneuver)=6:Roll=4]
Unfortunately, resolve alone cannot help you in this situation. You manage to pass over the SPAD biplane, but you can't control your flight well enough to stay in line with it, and the difference in speed is still too great. The biplane zooms past, its pilot unaware of the stunt you just wanted to pull.
You are gliding on the edge of a large fight between French, Russian, and German biplanes. You have control problems, and your engine is dead. Two SPAD.XIII's are circling around to take another pass at you.
There are several large furballs with many different planes around: here, to the east, and southeast. There is a large cluster of dark clouds to the far south.
Mobility: 2
Responsiveness: 2d4
Toughness: 5
Weapons: 1x Double Elephant Gun
Elephant Gun: 2 damage
Ammo: 26x .50cal cartridge
No armor
Structure:
Parawing: 8 HP, 2 criticals (Line, Line)
Motoglider: 7 HP, 5 criticals (*Engine*, Propeller, Pilot, *Control Surface*, Control Surface)
Value: 2
Lef-tenant Donald Wilkson (WhitiusOpus): Supermarine Spitfire MkXVI (P:4,G:3,A:5)
Points: 1 (0/9)
Altitude 4
Cruising at 4, heading East
>Pull up to regain altitude, and head away towards the clouds to the east.
[Resp.Success] You realize what a dangerous situation you've landed (well, not quite
landed) yourself into, and put your engine into maximum throttle, beginning a brisk and energetic climb, bearing eastward. [Aw.Fail] You seem to have gotten out of there without anyone noticing your presence.
You leave the edge of the large dogfight, approaching the cluster of dark clouds. The clouds are pouring a drizzle around their lower edge, with what seems like the makings of a storm brewing up further to the east. The wind is picking up.
You are next to a cluster of dark cumulus rainclouds. There is a storm brewing towards the far east.
There is a large fight between WW2 American and Japanese carrier-based fighters to the west. A few high-speed silvery machines seem to be playing tag far above you to the east-southeast. There is a fluffy cloud bank to the far west.
Mobility: 5
Responsiveness: 4d6
Toughness: 9
Weapons: 2x Machinegun (fixed forward), 2x 20mm Cannon (fixed forward)
Machinegun: up to 2 damage in 1 point clusters
20mm Cannon: up to 4 damage in 2 point clusters
Ammo: 24x Machinegun burst, 10x 20mm Cannon burst
Armor:
Nose: 1HP
Body: 2HP
Tail: 1HP
Structure:
Nose: 4HP, 3 criticals (Propeller, Radiator, Engine)
Body: 8HP, 4 criticals (Engine, Pilot, Control wires, Control wires)
Left wing: 6HP, 5 criticals (Aileron, Flap, Machinegun, 20mm Cannon, Control wire)
Right wing: 6HP, 5 criticals (Aileron, Flap, Machinegun, 20mm Cannon, Control wire)
Tail: 6HP, 4 criticals (Elevator, Stabilizer, Control wire)
Value: 9
Josephine Lee (Tiruin): Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" (P:5,G:4,A:3)
Altitude 3
Flying at 4, heading West
>Chase after and down that Pe-2. Make it disabled enough not to fly-in the least.
[Piloting 5=5:Roll=5] You turn your Zero back towards the disengaging Pe-2 in a lazy arc, coming at its rear from an angle and raking it with your guns. [Enemy Aw.Success] The crew of the plane sees your approach, and the bomber begins to turn to throw off your aim.
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5 + 1(bad angle) + 1(target evading)=7:Roll=11] Hit! Using Rear table:
Right wing: 2 armor left, 1 armor left.
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5 + 1(bad angle) + 1(target evading)=7:Roll=2] Miss!
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5 + 1(bad angle) + 1(target evading)=7:Roll=6] Miss!
[20mm Cannon: Gunnery 5 + 1(bad angle) + 1(target evading)=7:Roll=7] Hit! Using Rear table:
Tail: 2 armor left; Right wing: no armor left, 7 HP left, no critical.
[20mm Cannon: Gunnery 5 + 1(bad angle) + 1(target evading)=7:Roll=12] Hit! Using Rear table:
Tail: No armor left, CRITICAL HIT on Control Wire; 6 HP left, no critical.
More bits of metal and wooden panels tear off from the plane's wings and tail section. You notice the Pe-2 lurch suddenly, its rudders swaying back and forth in the wind - must've hit something important. The crew, for their part, show no signs of bailing out just yet, and the gunner in the topside bubble greets your hostile approach with as many bullets as he can squeeze out of his single machinegun, aided by his comrade in the right-side port.
Pe-2 Gunners:
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5 + 1(unstable position) + 1(moving target)=7:Roll=3] Miss!
[Machinegun: Gunnery 5 + 1(unstable position) + 1(moving target)=7:Roll=6] Miss!
All their shots miss, some by a less comfortable margin than others.
[Aw.Success] You glance back to look at the two French fighters pursuing you. They appear to have been distracted by several Bf-109's, and while they're probably likely to reengage you the moment they spot you, right now they are too tied up to follow.
There is a very big fight between a Russian/French bomber convoy and a German fighter squadron here. You are attacking a disengaging Pe-2 fighter-bomber.
There is a smaller dogfight to the northwest. There is another group of aircraft fighting high up towards the far southwest. You think you see a faint gleam of a few planes flying closer to the ground, far to the northeast.
Mobility: 5
Responsiveness: 3d8
Toughness: 10
Weapons: 3x Machinegun (fixed forward), 2x 20mm Cannon (fixed forward)
Machinegun: up to 2 damage in 1 point clusters
20mm Cannon: up to 4 damage in 2 point clusters
Ammo: 18x Machinegun burst, 8x 20mm Cannon burst
Armor:
Nose: 1HP
Body: 1HP
Tail: 1HP
Structure:
Nose: 4HP, 4 criticals (Propeller, Radiator, Machinegun, Engine)
Body: 8HP, 4 criticals (Engine, Pilot, Control wires, Control wires)
Left wing: 6HP, 5 criticals (Aileron, Flap, Machinegun, 20mm Cannon, Control wire)
Right wing: 6HP, 5 criticals (Aileron, Flap, Machinegun, 20mm Cannon, Control wire)
Tail: 6HP, 4 criticals (Elevator, Stabilizer, Control wire)
Value: 9
(Rolling "just enough" to pass a check usually leads to half-successes. Guns hit for a random amount of damage instead of maximum, and different penalties can be incurred based on what the check was for.)
edit: just noticed Jeffrey should get a bonus due to the responsiveness roll, but that still means that only the leader misses the approach, and he still gets hit in the engine. I'll go edit the results.
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Topic: RTD Testing Thread: 5 Positions open. Science doesn't die. (Read 60258 times)