[Plane Data Base.]

I think we should hold off posting the Alpha Leader Board until my pilots are on top.

[Theaters]

I don't think we know yet. We've kicked around a number of ideas, but a lot will depend on how well the game is received.

[Theaters]

Both ETO and PTO will be covered. Each nation will have a light and medium/heavy bomber available in the initial set of aircraft.

[Plane Set]

There will probably be 7 fighters and 2 bombers for each of the four nations.

[Plane Set]

The plan right now is to include aircraft from four nationalities: Britain, Germany, USA, and Japan.

The aircraft for each nation will include a mix from early, middle and late war. Aircraft from both European and Pacific theaters will be included, so you'll have a nice cross-section of aircraft to choose from.

[A Few Rules Questions for the Designer]

I don't have the Zero! rules in front of me, but at the top of Page 9 of the Rise of the Luftwaffe, it says:

"If your leader is engaged, you cannot play Attack cards against any aircraft (other than the one with which your Leader is engaged) until you break engagement (either through maneuvering or voluntarily giving up position at the beginning of your player-turn) and return to Neutral position."

[A Few Rules Questions for the Designer]

I don't know how often Dan checks this board, but since I had to translate all the rules into code, I'm fairly familiar with the rules.

Question 1: When a element has the leader shot down and the wingman "replaces" him, does the wingman take on the same position as the leader formerly held?

-- The newly promoted wingman starts at a neutral position.

Question 2: Say an advantaged/tailing element's wingman attacks the disadvantaged/tailed element's wingman. The target wingman draws his defensive minihand and plays responses. No problem. Now, later in that same turn, the advantaged/tailing leader attacks the same wingman. Does the disadvantaged/tailed draw a new mini-hand, or use what's leftover from the previous attack?

-- A wingman draws a new mini-hand each time an attack is declared on him, so yes, he would get a new hand. Note that the advantaged/tailing leader would lose his position and be returned to neutral if he attacked the wingman.

[Which Platform??]

Yes, Down in Flames will be for Windows only because it is built on the .NET Framework. I know there is work going on to have versions of the framework that will run on Macs and Unix systems (similar to having Java virtual machines for different platforms), but I'm not sure how far off that is.

[Plane graphics.]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "accurately modeled", but each animation in the game is based on a 3D model of a particular aircraft. Not some generic aircraft that has different skins. A Bf-109 will be recoginzably different than a Fw-190.

At the moment, we're looking at seven aircraft per nationality (US, UK, Germany, Japan) as the starting set, but that could change before final release. Each set will progress from early war to late war.

As far as the "damage model", the game is really more abstract than what you're thinking. Each aircraft has a number of ratings, one of which we call "Airframe" (the amount of damage it can take).

Remember, this is based on a card game, so each aircraft has a "front side" (undamaged) and a "flipped side" (damaged). When an aircraft takes a certain amount of damage they "flip" to their damaged side, and some of their statistics will be adversely affected. When they take additional damage, they are destroyed.

For example, the A6M2 (Zero) will flip to its damaged side when it takes 3 points of damage, and it will be destroyed with just 1 additional point of damage. The Spitfire V flips to its damaged side when it takes 3 points of damage as well, but can take an additional 3 points of damage before it is destroyed.

So, you won't see the level of detail where you get hit in the rudder and see bullet holes on that part of the aircraft, but it will be quite obvious when an aircraft has flipped to its damaged side.

[Game mechanics.]

That's pretty close to what we have planned. Play a "Half Loop" card and watch your aircraft perform that maneuver. Score a hit with "In My Sights" or "Out of the Sun" and watch the flashes and smoke as your target takes damage.

This isn't a flight simulator (nor was it ever intended to be), but we have put together some very nice animations and sound effects to spice things up.

[DiF questions]

Hi Larry,

I've been working with Dan as the programmer on this project, so I can shed a little light on some of your questions.

The plan right now is to include aircraft from four countries: USA, UK, Germany and Japan. For each of those nations, there will be a nice progression from relatively weak early war aircraft to the powerful and deadly late war aircraft.

The fun part is that you don't get to just jump in and fly the bad boys right off the bat. You create and name pilots who have to earn the right to fly better aircraft. As the pilots earn experience points, the better aircraft "unlock".

Campaign games are being looked at real hard right now. We know you guys are probably going to want them. We'll keep you posted.

There will definitely be computer (AI) opponents.

As far as what will be different from the board game, I've already mentioned the named pilots and the aircraft "unlocking". Pilots will also be able to earn skills, and of course, they may get killed (can you say, "start over").

We're still in alpha testing right now, so we don't want to get too specific on what will or won't be in the released version. That's why I didn't list specific aircraft or pilot skills.