Message text Who wins? The side that had the observation planes/balloons up long enough to gather the information needed for the ground war. Despite the bias for the glamor of fighter pilots, the only reason the aerial combats were necessary was to deny the enemy information obtained by aerial observation.
Perhaps the enemy is just trying to tie up your fighters in this sector long enough to allow observation in another sector. Perhaps by putting more holes in your planes (ahead in points) your plane misses a sortie while the additional damage is repaired.
Sometimes the valiant flier who gives his life downing 4 enemy is the real victor. Sure he is dead, but he kept the enemy fighters off of the observer aircraft long enough to effectively spot for the artillery barrage which allowed the offensive to succeed.
While command of the sky is the objective, the question is how long do you control the sky at the end of the game? Do you know when the next enemy flight is arriving? Did you use up too much fuel and ammo to maintain your patrol until you are relieved by friends? If you feel you control the skies because you have 12 fuel left, are you willing to start the next scenario heading home with only 12 fuel?
Ignoring the great equalizers (Pilot Killed and Fuel Tank Explosion), the majority of one-on-one games with good pilots end with neither side being shot down. (Try setting up 30 late war 2-player games with standard rules if you don’t believe me.) I would estimate that 40% of the victories are victories by superior fuel tank capacity. If a pilot out flies me and nearly shots me out of the skies, but has to break off because he does not have the fuel to pursue me across a 12x17 board, do I really deserve a “victory” because I started with 67 fuel to his 37 fuel?
Until Blue Max evolves from a game to a complete simulation (including altitude rules, cloud banks to hide in, AA defense to protect disabled planes) we must accept this as a game. As long as we accept the artificial game mechanics of fuel, we must accept that victory is determined by points. |
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