S3#106 - December Of Doom - PTO Winter 1941-42

Game Settings

  • Japanese Players(red) - 36 est
  • RAF Players(green) - 31 est
  • Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
  • Clouds - random clouds
  • Radar – 20 mile radius, grey dots, in-flight arrow. Minimum alt is 500 ft.
  • Flak - AAA limited to 20,000ft in height.
  • Allied Airfields(green) - Malaysia(FR1-2), Pearl Harbor(FR3), Luzon(FR4-5)
  • Luftwaffe Airfields(gold) - Thailand\China(FR1-2), IJN Fleet(FR3), Formosa(FR4-5)
  • 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. Three terrains will be used during the series; Malaysia, Luzon and Pearl Harbor. The front line will change during the series as the Japanese advance develops. Frame and terrain specific rules will be announced before each frame.

4. Ord\Aircraft Restrictions - Strike aircraft(SBD,TBD,Val,Kate) MUST carry ord in their mission profile other aircraft types can if they so choose so. You may dump ord if necessary and conduct regular operations but only as the situation warrants, do not dump ord on the runway just to fufill the requirement.

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

6. 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.

7. Squad Basing - to begin play each squad must base at their own airfield. Afterwards squads may replane anywhere as needed.

8. Aircraft drones - every player that uses an eligible bomber a\c(B25C17F or G4M1) or strike a\c(SBD, TBD, Val, Kate)in a frame may take up to 3 wingman with their lead aircraft.

9. 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. As of writing the only the Ki43 is using the old FMs. The other early war fighters featured are using the new FMs. Bombers and strike are the quasi-FMs we have been using awhile.

10. 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.

12. BDA - all fields closed during play will remain so for the series.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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 - Kate
  • Allied Penalty Plane - TBD

16. Victory Points - points are awarded to each side in three categories; A/C kills, BDA results and Pilot Losses. Relative points for objects is available in the summary for this event.

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

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 ]