Rocket Boosters

	Design
	FASA
	Luft'46
	Wings of Honor
	Gadgets
	Factory
	Zeppelins

We at Flarecraft Aeronautical Equipment, a subsidiary of Flarecraft Aviation, Inc., are happy to provide you, the discriminating aircraft consumer, with the latest innovation in solid rocket propulsion. These sleek hardpoint-mounted pods provide a momentary boost to your aircraft's speed, making you, that's right, you, the fastest thing in the sky… if only for a brief time. What's that? You've heard stories about these things. Nonsense, those are just rumors spread by Howard Hughes. These booster pods are perfectly safe; no aircraft has ever had its wings torn off by these. Well, there was that one time.... but never mind. I can assure you, these are perfectly safe. Now, if you're ready to buy, I need you to sign this waiver first...

Speed Boosters

The semi-geniuses at FAE, Flarecraft Aviation's after-market parts division, have invented an ingenious way of augmenting an airplane's speed. These pods must be used in pairs, and are mounted on hardpoints on opposite sides of the aircraft (for safety reasons, they are usually carried on the innermost pylons). These solid-fuel rockets provide extremely high speed for a short time, but may cause serious damage to the aircraft because of stress to the airframe.

Game Effects:

The rocket pods are mounted on two of the aircraft's hardpoints, in place of missiles. They must be mounted and used in pairs, and each pair can only be used once. The rocket boosters are activated at the beginning of the movement phase, and immediately increase the plane's speed to 5, regardless of its usual maximum. This speed lasts for but one turn. .

If the pilot does not wish to use the full speed of 5 possible with the boosters, he can apply flaps, but this always requires a roll for over-deceleration, as the plane is considered to have a deceleration of zero while the boosters are running.

Steering Boosters

As anyone knows, velocity is a vector, and vectors can be added or subtracted from each other to change their direction. Ordinarily, planes change direction by using their wings and fins too steer, much as our forebears used to steer ships. This is an old and primitive method, that we here at Atlantic Aviation hope to improve upon shortly. But before Power Steering becomes universal, we advise the public of the existence of these steering rockets, temporary boosters that can give an idea of what the future has to hold.

Game Effects:

Steering boosters are one-use rockets that can help an aircraft to make much tighter turns than what is possible with mere wings. They are mounted as normal rockets, but used quite differently.

To use steering rockets, make a movement plot as normal, followed by a (P) or (S) notation for port and starboard rockets respectively. After all other movement is completed (including movement called for by failed maneuver rolls), the rockets will then turn you one hex-site clockwise (for starboard rockets) or counterclockwise (for port rockets). Of course, you must have a Rocket Steering Pod on the side indicated to use it, and it is expended with use.

Damage from Rocket Boosters

Using Rocket Pods of either type can be dangerous to your wings; roll 1d10 and subtract the plane's size code, with a minimum result of 1. This is the number of fracture templates the wings take as damage. With steering rockets, all the damage takes in the front of the wing in question, while speed boosters divide the damage randomly beween the wings (50%/50% for each fracture template). This damage occurs at the beginning of the turn in which the boosters are activated (after movement, before combat, simultaneously with FLAK).

These first and primitive rocket boosters also require the pilot to make a stun roll. It is supposed that later models could avoid this problem.