Question about Aircraft Carriers & Fighters


  • Eh? I thought 3rd edition rules now allow defending fighters one movement point to find a landing zone if their carrier got sunk?


  • Drat! I posted, then the site crashed & everybody beat me to it. Oh well, Wild is correct–best way to handle these situations is to designate a landing point on your Combat Move for each of your FTRs. Keep these landing points in mind as you choose casualties (i.e. always choose the planes w/ the LEAST remaining movement points as casualties first!).

    And yes–in 3rd Edition rules, surviving defending planes have 1 M.P. to land on an adjacent friendly island OR land territory (or CV as the case may be). This prevents such illogical instances as a FTR on a(destroyed) CV in the West USA SZ not being allowed to land on adjacent Western USA.

    Ozone27


  • @Ozone27:

    Drat! I posted, then the site crashed & everybody beat me to it.

    Ha :lol: , that happened to me too, but on a different post (and it was long! :x). I suggest copying your message to wordpad for just in case before posting :o


  • :lol:


  • You bumped! :lol: :-?
    Whyed you bump me?
    –----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    “When men have minds set on victory, all they see is the enemy. When men have minds filled with fear, all they see is their fear.” - The Methods of the Minister of Wae, Fourth century B.C. Chinese military textbook


  • Another small detail to keep in mind is that you cannot make the combat move unless there is a legal landing spot for all the aircraft at the end of combat movement/before combat. For example, you cannot fly out 3 fighters to the carrier and expect one of them to be taken as a casualty. That would be illegal.


  • @ssolie:

    Another small detail to keep in mind is that you cannot make the combat move unless there is a legal landing spot for all the aircraft at the end of combat movement/before combat. For example, you cannot fly out 3 fighters to the carrier and expect one of them to be taken as a casualty. That would be illegal.

    Thanks for pointing that out again. Wild already said that above.


  • @Anonymous:

    Thanks for pointing that out again. Wild already said that above.

    I don’t think he covered the idea that all aircraft must have a landing spot before combat can begin. In that particular case it was clear what the rule is but I didn’t think he explained the whole story.

    When I’m making my combat moves, I tend to take back some moves and adjust others to make everything work out for the aircraft landings. For example, I might fly out 3 fighters to a single carrier and leave them there while I do some other combat moves. Then, before declaring my combat movements complete, I’ll go back and double check that all my moves are legal and possibly move in another aircraft carrier, move the 3rd fighter back, etc.

    In other words, you are not required (as far as I know) to make each combat move legal one at a time. You just have to make sure all the aircraft have legal landing spots before combat begins.

    Maybe the point is too subtle but I’ve run into people that believe each independent combat move must be legal at the time you make it.

    What do you think?


  • @Wild2000:

    It is legal for you planes to fly into a navy battle as long as there is a possiblity for the planes to land. Thus, if your attacking fighters moved 4 spaces to the battle, there has to be a carrier in the same SZ it can land on.

    This quote sure makes it sound like you need to determine if the aircraft have a legal landing space prior to when combat begins. I would think that a battle does not begin until the combat move is complete.

    I do not think there is anyone out there who will not let you tinker with combat moves until you make all of them legal.


  • When making legal combat moves, you always want to look out for the Best case scenario, meaning you assume that all three ftrs would survive. If there are no other spots to land than the carrier (say and island), then the move would be illegal.


  • @TG:

    When making legal combat moves, you always want to look out for the Best case scenario, meaning you assume that all three ftrs would survive. If there are no other spots to land than the carrier (say and island), then the move would be illegal.

    Would you then say that each aircraft combat move must be 100% legal when you make it?

    I lean towards letting a player do whatever they want to do with their combat moves during combat movement. If a player wants to make an illegal combat move (i.e. 3 fighters to 1 carrier) and correct it later then that’s fine with me. What’s important is that none of the combat moves are illegal when combat starts.

    Of course, you have to be reasonable and not let things get out of control as well which is why most people prefer to see landing spots marked as they go along. Still, I don’t believe the official rules intend that you make 100% legal aircraft combat moves as you make them. That’s just too inflexible.


  • Darn it… somehow I got myself logged out before posting this under my userid :-?

    @TG:

    When making legal combat moves, you always want to look out for the Best case scenario, meaning you assume that all three ftrs would survive. If there are no other spots to land than the carrier (say and island), then the move would be illegal.

    Would you then say that each aircraft combat move must be 100% legal when you make it?

    I lean towards letting a player do whatever they want to do with their combat moves during combat movement. If a player wants to make an illegal combat move (i.e. 3 fighters to 1 carrier) and correct it later then that’s fine with me. What’s important is that none of the combat moves are illegal when combat starts.

    Of course, you have to be reasonable and not let things get out of control as well which is why most people prefer to see landing spots marked as they go along. Still, I don’t believe the official rules intend that you make 100% legal aircraft combat moves as you make them. That’s just too inflexible.


  • Would you then say that each aircraft combat move must be 100% legal when you make it?

    Assuming if that’s the case, then “yes.” Aren’t the rules like that?


  • @TG:

    @ssolie:

    Would you then say that each aircraft combat move must be 100% legal when you make it?

    Assuming if that’s the case, then “yes.” Aren’t the rules like that?

    After another read or two through the rules I’d say the rules tend more towards each combat move being legal at the time it is made although it is never unambiguously stated that way.

    Still, when it comes to aircraft combat moves, I’ve personally made exceptions. When you have lots of aircraft involved in a large battle, it can get rather frustrating for some people when they need to worry about a landing spot as each move is being made. Instead, I let them move their aircraft around and then explain their battle plan after they are done.

    I suppose the conclusion is that it is actually a matter of personal taste.


  • Well I do admit it sometimes tough to land fighters from different territories after a major battle. The Battle of the Atlantic with the Luftwaffe is a perfect example of this. I this case, rather the assign movement points to each plane, I’ll probably let them land at optimal range.

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