From: thumann@netcom.com (Charles Thumann)
Subject: DSII Air Cover
To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 07:28:16 -0800 (PST)

I came up with the following abstract rules to govern Dogfights in 
Dirtside II and thought I'd share them:

EXPANDED DIRTSIDE II AEROSPACE RULES:

1.0 AIR SUPERIORITY/INTERCEPTOR AEROSPACE FIGHTERS

Aerospace fighters that are designed to attack other 
Aerospace craft as opposed to attack ground targets are 
dealt with abstractly in this system.  They are basically 
treated as a specialized version of Zone Air Defense, 
governed by the following rules:

a)  Air Superiority fighters are built just like Ground 
Attack Fighters, except rather then having conventional 
air-to-ground weapons they have air-to-air weapons.  
Air-to-Air weapons cost 2 times as much as the 
equivelant Zone Air Defense, but take up the same 
amount of CAPACITY.  That is a BASIC Air Superiority 
System=400 points, an ENHANCED System=600 points and 
a SUPERIOR System=800 points.

b)  Air Superiority fighters are not represented by 
models.  They are treated as Zone Air Defense of the 
equivelant quality level but have an unlimited range.  
That is, they can attack anything in High mode flying 
over the entire battle area, including things flying 
over off-board artillery located behind the players 
baselines.

c)  Air Superiority fighters may not engage missiles in 
the way that Area Defense systems may.  Air Superiority 
Fighters may only engage flying vehicles in High mode 
or other Air Superiority Fighters.

d)  Air Superiority fighters may not be engaged by any 
element other then an enemy Air Superiority fighter.

e)  If both sides of a conflict have Air Superiority 
fighters those fighters must Dogfight every turn 
until one or both sides are destroyed.  While 
dogfighting, Air Superiority Fighters may not engage 
battlefield elements--they may not engage Ground Attack 
fighters in High mode nor VTOLs in High mode.

f)  Dogfights are resolved as follows:  
1)  LOCK-ON: Both players roll for reaction tests 
simultaneously, just as if they were making a 
ground-attack run through anti-aircraft fire.  If 
both pilots fail or both pilots succeed, neither 
achieve a LOCK-ON.  In that case, the turn passes 
with neither aircraft scoring a kill.  If one 
pilot succeeds but the other pilot fails, the 
succeeding pilot achieves a LOCK-ON.
2)  EVASION:  The pilot with a LOCK-ON rolls a 
die, based on the quality of the Air Superiority, D6 for 
BASIC, D8 for ENHANCED, D10 for SUPERIOR.  The 
attacked Aircraft player rolls a die based on 
aircrafts Command marker-D6 for GREEN, D8 for 
BLUE, D10 for ORANGE, modified UP one die type for 
grade 1 pilot and DOWN one for a grade 3 pilot.
3)  ECM:  If the attacked Aircraft is equipped 
with ECM it gets a SECONDARY die roll based on the 
quality of ECM used (Basic=D6, Enhanced=D8, 
Superior=D10). 
4)  RESULTS:  If the ADS roll EXCEEDS the 
Aircrafts roll, then the Aircraft is HIT and 
possibly damaged.  Draw 2 chits for BASIC ADS, 3 
for ENHANCED, 4 for SUPERIOR.  All chits are valid 
except for special damage chips which are ignored.  
If the total damage EQUALS the ARMOR rating the 
aircraft is DAMAGED and must try to limp back to 
base (see pursuit, below).  If the result is 
GREATER then the ARMOR rating the aircraft is 
destroyed.
5)  PURSUIT:  An aircraft can pursue a DAMAGED 
enemy aircraft the next turn in an attempt to 
destroy it before it reaches base.  If it does so, 
the Pursuing craft is OUT OF THE GAME FOR TWICE 
THE NUMBER OF TURNS IT CHOOSES TO PURSUE (this 
represents the number of turns the aircraft is 
pursuing the damaged aircraft, as well as the 
number of turns the aircraft must spend after 
turning around to return to the battlefield).  
Attacks against damaged crafts are treated exactly 
as those against normal craft, except the damaged 
crafts ADS system is considered one lower then 
normal (Basic becomes no ADS, Enhanced becomes 
Basic, etc.)  

2.0  GROUND ATTACK FIGHTER MISSIONS AGAINST OFF-BOARD 
ARTILLERY

Ground Attack Fighters may try and seek out and then attack 
off-board artillery.  Treat Ground Attack Fighters as 
counter-battery artillery.  Only BLUE and ORANGE pilots can 
seek out off-board artillery; GREEN pilots are untrained to 
do so.  A BLUE pilot rolls a D6 every turn he or she spends 
looking for artillery, and a ORANGE pilot rolls a D8 every 
turn he or she spends looking for artillery.  Ground Attack 
Fighters MUST SPEND AN ENTIRE TURN OFF-TABLE searching for 
artillery to be able to roll.  A roll of six or greater 
indicates that the Ground Attack Fighter found the artillery 
and, ON THE FOLLOWING TURN, may attack the artillery unit as 
per a normal Ground Attack Mission.