TXWard wrote:
Unless you know what the pilot instructions were for the Fokker D.VII, shouldn't apples be compared to apples? The "effective flying time" for the S.E.5a was 1-1/2 hrs., that of the Fokker D.VII was 1 hr. This gives the S.E.5a a 150% advantage over the D.VII, which is even better than the 140% in the game.
I originally came here to learn how to play because I was getting into Canvas Eagles - a game based on Blue Max using miniatures and altitude rules. In CE, ammunition is tracked like fuel, but the fuel boxes are the same as in BM. I disagree that the fuel boxes as shown are a problem, but that's just me.
My wording was inconsistent in the use of "effective flying time". I should have been more clear in indicating that both aircraft (and most similar aircraft) were expected to spend about one hour in the combat zone, regardless of their total endurance. That, however, is no longer what is important.
The problem that is emerging more clearly to me now is that I have been trying to work within and suggest modifications to a fundamentally flawed system. The fuel rules are an arbitrary and historically inaccurate method for controlling game length. I was seeking a way, within the existing rules, to produce more historically consistent games; games without the inaccurate restrictions on many (typically German) aircraft due to their fuel values being based on their maximum flight endurance rather than the way actual combats occurred. Attempting to justify changes based on historical data rather than historical events was a mistake, and I should thank Calsir for putting his finger on the heart of the problem - "Effective flight time is not effective combat time. They have nothing to do with each other."
Unfortunately, without a major rewrite of the rules (which I would neither advocate nor expect), there is still only one way to bring the game somewhat more into line with its historical background, and that is to increase the amount of fuel on the low-fuel aircraft.
While you, and obviously others may enjoy the tactical problems presented by the fuel rules (and that is just fine), those rules simply do not begin to reflect the reality of the combat which the game is supposed to represent. Although Blue Max is only a very, very rough "simulation" (to use that word very loosely) of World War I aerial combat, I personally would prefer that it be no more inaccurate than necessary.
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