Ammunition

Flechette [FE]

This is a new type of ammunition suitable for use against zeppelins. Actually, it is a reintroduction of a very old type of ammunition, used since the first days of black-powder cannon; the canister round. In the more modern development, the projectile is pre-fragmeneted to shatter when it hits air, and to fly at the target in a swarm or small projectiles. It is not much use against planes, but great against zeppelin gas cells, parachutes and civilians. Understandably, many pilots won't use it, and others shoot users on sight.

Flechette rounds do damage using the Magnesium template, but with no burn time. They ignore normal maximum range of the gun and range penalties to-hit; instead, they lose one caliber of damage for each hex of range beyond one; a fifty caliber round at three hex does the damage of a 30 caliber round.

Against soft targets, such as zeppelins, people, and parachutes, they have additional effect. Any hit on a parachute ruptures it, dropping the user to his death. On a zeppelin gas cell, quadruple damage is inflicted (only double damage against a military zeppelin).

Magnesium [MG]

After some calculation, I have found that a good way to add uncertainty to magnesium ammunition, while at the same time preserving game balance, is to roll each turn for each place where a magnesium fire is still burning, after burn damage is inflicted. On a die result of 1 to 4, the fire goes out. Roll separately for each column, regardless of whether the magnesium is all from one source or not.

This simplifies the damage allocation process, as there is no need to keep track of the number of rounds each magnesium fire has left. Use some special method to mark burning squares, and roll for each fire after it has inflicted damage.

In this way, a magnesium fire can burn for more than five rounds, and the average burn time is actually 2.67 rounds rather than the standard 3, but otherwise it is a fair approximation of the usual method.

Below is a table of the probabilities involved, and the percentage chance that a fire will inflict the indicated damage (or more) with the old and the new method. As you can see, the percentages are more spread out using the new system, so a fire is more random in it's effect.

Paint [PT]

Mainly for use in competitions, but also used by some native american and like-minded pilots to 'count coup', paint ammo is completely harmless.

Use the Magnesium damage template, but the areas covered are not actually damaged, they are simply covered with bright paint.

In a competition, a location on a plane is considered 'destroyed' when as many columns or armor are covered with paint as the aircraft has rows of armor on that location. Three different locations on the plane 'destroyed' in this fashion makes the plane count as a kill.

When counting coup, it is common practice to have a single load of paint in the guns, but all later shots use regular ammo. Thus, if the enemy persists in attacking after you have 'counted coup', your guns are ready for action.

High Explosive Rounds [HE]

High Explosive rounds are filled with a small amount of explosive; they penetrate the outer skin of the plane and detonate inside, hopefully causing damage to internal systems.

High explosive rounds use the dum-dum [DD] damage template. The change is that high explosive rounds cause a check for widowing (rules of air combat, p 38) after the impact of each round instead of at the end of the salvo.