S3#107 - Big Week - ETO Feb 1944

Game Settings

  • Luftwaffe Players(gold) - 27 est
  • USAAF Players(green) - 40 est
  • Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
  • Clouds - random clouds
  • Radar – 60 mile radius, grey dots, in-flight arrow. Minimum alt is 500 ft.
  • Flak - AAA limited to 30,000ft in height.
  • Allied Airfields(green) - England and 2 airstart fields on mainland(L44, S58)
  • Luftwaffe Airfields(gold) - Mainland Europe except 2 fields(L44, S58)
  • Fuel Multipler - set at 1.0 for all planes.
  • Rebuild Time - 300 mins
  • Game Length – 180 mins
  • Lives – 3 lives per frame, 1 per aircraft type assigned.
  • Game Scale - 1 squad = 1 historical unit and 1 frame = 1 set of operations.

Basic Rules

Initial Format - changes after in bold italics.

1. Frame Timeline - pilots should report in at least 10 mins before T+0 to get organized and receive any last minute order changes.

  • T+0 - Pre-Dawn(04:00), flight enabled for all aircraft.
  • T+160 - Last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP. Torps\bombs must hit before T+160 to be counted.
  • T+180 - Dark(12:00), all squads must be in tower or land in the dark.

2. Pilot Lives - Pilots have three lives to live during a frame. Only those aircraft indicated for each squad on the A/C table qualify for the three lives. Ask the CM to reset you when you loose one of your lives non-operationally. Players may switch aircraft types during a frame but once they loose a life(aka bail, ditch or die) in an aircraft type they cannot use it again in that frame. This is pilot's honor. A significant change in the S3s but hopefully will allow more fighter pilots fly strike and give us more bomber\strike aircraft sorties each frame. Without bomber\strike pilots the S3s are just an old-fashioned squad duel.

3. Operational Restrictions - each side may only conduct operations in the area outlined in the game map. The two Allied airfields on mainland Europe cannot be approached by the Luftwaffe and is indicated by an obvious operational line. Only industry targets indicated by white circles can be bombed for points.

4. Allied Airstart Fields - two Allied fields(L44, S58) have 20,000ft airstarts to start and get back into the fight quickly. The Luftwaffe cannot cross the operational line protecting them. These are to allow multiple and deeper missions into Germany. Hopefully they help to simulate the large formations of USAAF aircraft present at this time.

5. German Airstart Fields - five German fields(M67, M85, L63, M82, L27) have 25,000ft airstarts to start and get back into the fight quickly. These are on the edges of the battle area and will give the smaller number of Luftwaffe fighters a chance to get back into the fight quickly hitting the enemy forces as they withdraw west.

6. Ord\Aircraft Restrictions - none

7. Aircraft Minimum Fuel - all aircraft must take at least 100% internal fuel with or without drop tanks.

8. Squad Aircraft - each pilot may fly aircraft listed for their squad on the A/C table. Once you loose a life in 1 aircraft type you must switch to another. The Allied fighter units have the option to fly the B17G or P38J as their one of their aircraft types. The Luftwaffe fighter units have the option to fly the Bf109G6\R6 or Bf110G2 as one of their aircraft types.

9. Squad Basing - squads may begin play at any friendly airfield. Step limits are ignored for this series.

10. Aircraft drones - every player that uses an eligible bomber a\c in a frame may take up to 3 wingman with their lead aircraft.

11. Improved FMs - new FMs are being developed from last year so it is best to test them out beforehand as they will handle differently than in 2016-17. Bombers and most strike a\c are the quasi-FMs we have been using for a couple years now.

12. Bomber Hardness - bufftuff will be at 1.0 with effective otto in this event. Bomber hardness continues to be an issue and needs further testing.

13. BDA - only those German aircraft industry targets with a white circle on the map can be bombed. To score points at least 90% of all structures must be destroyed. Once ruled destroyed the target is removed from play. Aluminium plants score the highest points followed by ball-bearing and avionics. If all such targets are destroyed before the series ends bonus targets will be added.

14. German flak - additional AI flak will be added to represent the strong defences present at the time in Germany.

15. Safe Ditch - if you run off the field and ditch within 10 miles(52800ft) of the tower the ditch is NOT awarded a kill. It is assumed that aircraft and pilot can be salvaged.

16. Ditch Forced Exit - you have 5 seconds to exit a ditched aircraft. This stops trying to outlast a kill message, drawing ack fire or passing along intel at a nearby field.

17. Penalty Planes - players that commit errors in basic rules and do not attempt to correct the error during play will have a penalty plane assigned to them for the next frame. They must fly 3 lives in that aircraft type. Examples of penalty plane errors include teleporting fields when not allowed by special rules, gunning from ships or flak positions. If a player immediately addresses the error they will not be assigned a penalty plane but always inform the CM so the log entry will be ignored. It is up to each squad to make sure the penalty planes are flown.

  • Axis Penalty Planes - Bf110G2
  • Allied Penalty Plane - B17F

18. Victory Points - points are awarded to each side in three categories; A/C kills, Industry Target Destruction and Pilot Losses. Relative points is available in the summary for this event.

19. Victory Conditions - The side with the most VPs at the end of the series wins.

20. S3 Clarifications - the S3 staff reserves the right to make a ruling on questions or game situations not answered completely or missed by the rules. For further clarification please post on the S3 forum or email Jabo.

[ Aircraft - Series Map - Player Rules ]