S3#97 – Fall Gelb 2; France - May, 1940

Game Settings

  • Luftwaffe Players(gold) - 45 est
  • Allied Players(green) - 56 est
  • Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
  • Clouds - heavy clouds above 28,000ft
  • Radar – 20 mile radius, grey dots, in-flight arrow. Minimum alt is 500 ft.
  • Flak - AAA limited to 28,000ft in height.
  • Luftwaffe Airfields(gold) - east of front
  • Allied Airfields(green) - west of front
  • Fuel Multipler - set at 0.75 for all planes.
  • Rebuild Time - 300 mins
  • Game Length – 180 mins
  • Lives – 1 life per frame
  • Game Scale - 1 squad = 1 historical unit and 1 frame = 1 set of operations.

Basic Rules

Initial Format - changes after in bold italics.

1. Arena Entry - When you go online you will see two logins to the S3 arena. The regular one is for fighter pilots and the other is for bomber pilots. Bomber pilots are those flying any eligible bomber aircraft that can take AI drones.

2. Start Times - each frame uses the following schedule;

  • T+0 - Dawn(04:15), flight enabled.
  • T+160 - Last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP.
  • T+180 - Dark(12:00), all squads must be in tower or land in the dark.

3. Operational Restrictions - each side may only conduct operations in the area outlined in the game map. England cannot be attacked during the series.

4. Ord\Aircraft Restrictions - there are no ord or drop tank restrictions. All aircraft may fly any loadouts available.

5. Aircraft Minimum Fuel - all aircraft must take at least 75% internal fuel with or without drop tanks.

6. Squad Aircraft - each pilot must fly the At Start Aircraft listed for their squad in the A/C table for the required number of frames indicated in brackets. If a pilot shows up for less than 5 frames then they adjust their rides accordingly. It is up to each individual pilot to be aware of and to follow this rule. If a squad is lucky and recieves reinforcements they may then fly these aircraft for the rest of the series and ignore the previous aircraft requirements.

7. Reinforcements - the side that losses a frame will have one squad reinforced by random die roll. They may choose to fly the reinforcement aircraft for the rest of the series and ignore normal squad aircraft requirements.

8. Squad Basing - each squad must base at a designated airfield during a frame using the following step allowances. They may rebase to an open airfield later in the night.

  • LAF - 4 steps
  • MAF - 3 steps
  • SAF - 2 steps
  • Tac - 2 steps

9. AI drones - every player that uses an eligible bomber in a frame may take up to 3 wingman with their lead aircraft. To do so they must use the bomber\GV login so they can jump between their drones making them more effective and immerse. All bombers both player flown and AI will have the same damage strength and count the same as regards to points. It is best to keep your AI with you and not have them attack targets as they are prone to get lost and then are easy targets for enemy aircraft. Proper formations need to be flown while using these AI drones. For take-off it is recommended to put your AI in trail as close as possible so they dont wander. After you are airborne the minimum distance between AI is 100 ft. Players need to be aware of their AI when running formations and try and not stack them against each other. Using slightly different altitudes helps in this overlapping. Any formation deemed to be too clustered will be asked to shake out their separation a bit. With lag and such it is difficult but please try and make your formation look as realistic as possible. All bombers and strike aircraft may take drones. Bomber pilots that wish to use the old system simply have to login using the fighter login and select the number of wingmen they want, 0 to 3. Using this system when you die you are finished for the night and cannot jump to your AI wingmen.

10. Shipping Targets - moving AI ship routines are important targets with their general locations\routes indicated on the game map. Expect a range of DDs, FRs and boats in these routines. FRs are notorious for lag collisions so use stand off weapons on these. Boats are the difficult to hit with ord so usually need to be strafed down.

11. FEBA Front - At the Foward Edge of Battle Area(FEBA) AI routines will contest two designated fields at the beginning of the frame. With the help of human interaction, these fields may be captured and the frontline moved. Expect to see various types of GVs attacking or defending in the FEBA. Actions in the FEBA will be taken into account for setting the front for the next frame. Support for the FEBA battle should be considered a key component of the frame with supporting attacks on fields launching FEBA routines. Fields attacked that are not designated FEBA will spawn defensive AAA vehicles(single 20mm halftracks) as part of their protection.

12. German Paradrops - Luftwaffe AI Ju52s will conduct paradrops on important targets during the series. German Frame COs will be advised at which locations so they can cover the operation.

13. 88mm Flak - a few scattered 88mm AI flak guns will be located behind both frontlines to provide warning bursts on approaching a\c.

14. Field Damage - all field locations closed during play will remain so for the series. UNLESS captured after which they reopen for the capturing side.

15. Engine Overheat - a random chance of engine malfunction will occur if you run your engine beyond the specified 145 degrees. Use the various WEPs wisely.

16. 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. This takes into account the distances between tac fields and their remote spawn points.

17. 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.

18. 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 to conduct a hair-raising mission behind enemy lines. If they survive they can teleport and replane in their regular ride. Examples of penalty plane errors include flying different a/c during a frame, 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 - Ju52
  • Allied Penalty Plane - C47

19. Victory Points - points are awarded for e/a losses, enemy pilot KIAs and POWs as well as destruction of surface targets. Relative points for objects is available in the summary for this event.

20. Victory Conditions - The side with the most VPs at the end of the series wins. BDA, ships sunk, closing fields, planes shot down and pilot losses all score points.

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 ]