TenSARS
08-04-2010, 05:13 PM
Project Aces
In Search of the Next Ace of Aces
An RP Inspired by Sky Crawlers and Ace Combat
IC Here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5734)
The First World War was for defending one’s allies and pride
The Second World War was to stop an evil that would sweep the world in madness.
The Third World War was to stand up for one’s ideals.
The Fourth World War will be cheered on by millions of screaming fans.
Story:
It’s the year 2036. The world has just recovered from their third world war. Unlike the First and Second world wars which only lasted four and six years respectively, this war stretched for about thirty years.
In an alternate history, the war on terror had begun and escalated beyond anything imaginable. Terrorist wings expanded into every nation of the world before they were found out. And the resulting conflict was beyond anything the world had ever seen.
The two evenly matched sides were thrown into war against each other in a conflict that engulfed the world. No land was left untouched. Nothing was left unscarred. Soon the lines began to blur. By the end of the war, no one knew who the aggressors were or the victims. Who had sided with who, and for what reasons? But one thing was for certain. The Terrorists lost. It was not however without its lasting scars. For fifty years, literally every man woman and child lived under the looming shadow of total war. And by the end of it, there was only one guaranteed outcome.
The world had become dependent on conflict to survive.
Arms companies had expanded themselves to deal with either the terrorist forces, or that of their intended victims. Everything was now controlled by these companies who manufactured weapons for the purposes of war. Once the war on terror had drawn to a close, there were whispers and horror stories of an imminent recession. The economic crisis had hit as the demand for war ended. There threatened to be more violence as the unemployed began to riot and start uprisings. Then salvation appeared.
The arms companies, not wanting to go out of business set up deals with each other to continue fighting. But this time, it wouldn’t be for the purpose of survival, ideals or conquest. This would be a series of gladiatorial battles, known to the viewers as Project Aces™.
The arms manufacturers would stage beautiful aerial battles and dogfights between hired pilots to prove their supremacy, with the winner’s prize being glory and immortality. They would be streamed to viewers on a pay per view basis. The profits kept the them in business, the economy remained happy because money was flowing, and the masses had a new sport to keep them entertained.
Style of Battles
Some of you may have realized that aerial battles with modern and futuristic hardware would be rather boring, considering that missiles have enormous range, and are considered to have 100% accuracy.
However technological advances in the area of electronic jamming, thanks to the creation of the short lived, fast travelling Sunaarashi particle, have managed to guided missiles less effective at actually closing in on a target and tagging them, so now aerial battles are no longer about who is more or less able to bring ordinance to bear on an enemy from beyond visual range. The Sunaarashi particle was discovered by Japanese scientists working for the JASDF, looking for a way to protect their ships from missiles. What they discovered was a way to emit an artificial particle which creates abnormal currents in metal wires, which in turn can be used to confuse unshielded electronic devices such as microchips. To shield electronics from these particles, the most important factors are the size of the casing and the physical size of the circuit. This means that aircraft are naturally shielded from Sunaarashi particles, but missiles will be heavily affected.
Every plane has its own 1500-3000 meter radius Sunaarashi sphere, which will disrupt any electronics which are not sufficiently shielded. As missiles enter this ECM radius, their tracking becomes more and more sluggish until it enters the 500-1000 meter range, where its detection range will become 50 meters: it’s destructive radius, and will detonate near the first enemy target it finds. Because it is not economical to make shielding for missiles, the behaviour of missiles has now been altered. To compensate for the jamming, missiles are now designed to track the motion of targets, instead of the current location. This means that missiles will now attempt to lead their flightpaths instead of just going straight for the target’s engines or centre of it’s radar signal.
Essentially, this means that a high speed missile dodge is a distinct possibility, and that in the process of firing a missile, the Sunaarashi particles must be stopped for a split second during the launch.
Planes on the other hand, are shielded from the effects of enemy ECM, even at less than 20 meters range, which allows them to continue functioning as normal.
Because of the increased effectiveness of ECM without a corresponding improvement in ECCM, now pilots are forced to fight within visual range. Thus Old School Dogfights has been resurrected with the distances being a lot bigger still, and the moves are a lot move violent.
The chance of death is very real in these battles, but ejecting or otherwise bailing out is still the most likely possibility. However, treat every bail out with respect, because the resulting injuries from doing so can be life threatening, or even career ending.
Dogfighting
Because aircraft are able to fly in three dimensions, one may think that there are virtually no limits on how one can move in the air, so I’ll clear this point up now Manoeuvring an aircraft is not as simple as just pointing your nose and turning on your engine. Maintaining control and movement of an aircraft is obviously very important for a pilot, whether they’re dogfighting, landing, or just doing a routine flight. In Dogfighting, it is especially important to understand how an aircraft, and the pilot’s body, handles at the limits.
Firstly, there’s the issue of energy. It may seem obvious to some, but an aircraft has two important types of energy that aren’t related to fuel and are readily interchangeable:
-Kinetic Energy: how fast the plane is moving
-Potential Energy: how high above the ground the plane is
The reason these two factors are important is because all aspects of an aircraft’s handling are related in one way or another to the plane’s speed:
In a car, if you are travelling too fast, you’ll make a wider turn. It’s the same in a plane: travel too fast, and your turning circle widens. If you turn too sharp, your speed will drop. If you make a series of rough turns you’ll wear your speed down.
Control of speed is important not only because of making turns, but also because there exists a minimum speed that a plane has to hold before it stalls. That minimum speed and the plane’s behaviour as it drops below that speed will change depending on the level of pitch, roll, and yaw.
In addition to stalling due to a loss of speed, there is also stalling due to increasing angle of attack too high, preventing sufficient air flow over the wings to provide lift. Basically, this is pulling up too fast. Though some aircraft are able to take advantage of stall like this to perform certain post stall manoeuvres in some situations, as a general rule, stalling in this manner is a bad thing.
So once we’ve established all of this, we can conclude the following things: an aircraft with more energy has an advantage over one which has less, because it will be able to perform more manoeuvres before it risks stalling and presenting an easy target. Gaining energy is difficult to do in the middle of a dogfight without putting oneself at risk either by flying in a relatively straight line for too long, even if you really max out the thrust.
In terms of gaining a scoring a kill by guns or missiles, having the target at your 12 o-clock is what you aim for, but you can’t just make a turn straight in towards the enemy aircraft. The enemy will be moving, and will be trying to get a good shot at you too. Therefore good grasp of geometry, energy differences, specification differences, weapon differences, and piloting style and skill differences are all important to your chances of success.
For example, an aircraft with good top speed will try to keep it’s own speed up whilst making wide high speed turns at long range, turning towards them and attacking them with missiles whilst making head on passes, with the chance for using guns few and far between. In contrast, an aircraft with better turning and stability at low speeds will try to force a close range dogfight and try to kill them with guns, hopefully after moving into their 6-o’clock, whilst using the threat of missiles to help deter the enemy from just simply turning up the thrust and running away.
For specific aerial combat manoeuvres, well there’s too many to list here, but Google is your friend, and really, ACM in a real battle would be at least partially improvised according to what the pilot was comfortable with, the situation at hand, and their mental state.
Happy flying
Aircraft Selection
The setting is the year 2036. It therefore is natural that there would have been advancements in aircraft technology, and therefore planes like the F22 and F35 would have had more variants and even successor models, whilst prototypes would have been put into mass production. In addition to this, because the main goal of the battles in Project Aces is entertainment, discontinued or rejected prototypes are also being looked at again for production. However, even 40 year old aircraft see service today with minor adjustments and additions to account for the newer technology. So this means you’ll be allowed to use real world aircraft, no matter how exotic or rare they really are. You can just tune up the older ones.
If you would like a list of aircraft the Aircraft List for Ace Combat 5 is a good place to start (http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_aircraft_in_Ace_Combat_5)
However, I am putting a ban on characters starting with a super plane i.e. a plane which has no real life predecessor model or basis. The reason for this is very obvious.
Plane Roles
Naturally, as this is an RP focusing specifically around dogfights, we have to come to the idea of plane selection, but for some of us the first thing that will come into our heads when we think of fighter aircraft is ‘Raptor’ or ‘Eagle’ followed by a blank silence. And as I’ve put a near blanket ban on starting out with a Super Prototype for thematic and not killing the RP with a Mary Sue reasons, many of you may be stumped as to what type of aircraft to pick.
That’s not a problem.
Due to the way that the Legends and Heroes Leagues are structured, one does not have to pick a fighter. Multirole aircraft are intended to do better in those battles, because of the wide array of weapons they can mount, and their overall versatility.
Multirole Aircraft include
-Panavia Tornado (the original multirole)
-Rafale M and Rafale B
-F/A-18 Hornet
-Eurofighter Typhoon
-BAE Harrier Jump Jets
-And More
Many aircraft originally intended to be fighters managed to embrace a multirole function when it turned out they could have bombs and extra fuel tanks mounted.
Fighter aircraft are highly manoeuvrable low armour aircraft designed to specifically fight against other aircraft with maybe some secondary/limited air to ground attack. Typically what people think of when the topic of military aircraft is brought up.
In Project Aces, Fighter Aircraft will be the ones which see the most use by far in the All Stars league.
Fighter Aircraft include
-MiG 29 Fulcrum
-Su-27 and it’s many variants
-F-22 Raptor
-And more
Interceptor aircraft are more defensive orientated aircraft which are designed to engage a target and force them to stay away from whatever they’re being forced away from. Generally to fulfil this role, they have a good top speed and long range radar to track a target.
Interceptors in project aces will be used mostly in Legends league battles on a defensive role as well as strategic bombing.
Examples:
-MiG 25 Foxbat and MiG 31 Foxhound
-F-14 Tomcat
-Saab J35 Draken
-Saab J37 Viggen
-And more
Bomber aircraft are aircraft designed to destroy ground targets from the air (duh) and have very limited air to air ability, typically linked to just simple self defence in the form of machine gun turrets. They’re not very manoeuvrable, but are somewhat resistant to gunfire.
In the Project Aces RP, bombers will have the largest Sunaarashi Particle field generators, but they will still be vulnerable to being intercepted by missiles and interceptors in general.
Project Aces Leagues
There are currently three leagues that pilots compete in. None of these is intended to be inferior to any of the others, and each caters toward different audiences and tastes.
Legends League
Legends League is the first league formed, and therefore the most warlike in nature. Two teams consisting of several squadrons are all taken to a pair of airbases and have to fight over control over several forward bases and checkpoints which give additional benefits when controlled such as electronic support, anti air support, and so on, in order to eventually advance upon the enemy’s main base to destroy it’s main checkpoint. Halfway through the first season the time limit of seven to fourteen days was imposed, depending on the size of the teams, with the winner being decided by checkpoints multiplied by kills if the time ran out.
The battles in the Legends League originally lasted several gruelling weeks, sometimes even months, and as the then more exciting Heroes and All-Stars formats were created, they were unable to hold viewer interest as the situation often dragged out into a stalemates seeing only occasional bursts of very minor action. However, there was still enough demand for a campaign based format, so the Legends League couldn’t be discontinued completely. Hence the major and controversial mid season rule changes which many believe revived the league by forcing more aggressive strategies.
Heroes League
Heroes League focuses mainly on Squadron vs Squadron combat. The style of battle is fast paced and dynamic, and generally conclude within thirty minutes, but it is possible for battles to last anywhere between five minutes to ninety minutes. Both teams are given access to an airfield which they can land on to re-arm and refuel. The winners would be the ones who managed to destroy a bunker about a mile out from the enemy team’s airfield, or by shooting the entire opposing squadron down, with tie breaks in the event of running out of time being decided by number of enemies downed followed by whoever took the first kill.
Due to the mixed pace of the battles and wide range of tactics that can be employed by the teams, this format has gained popularity amongst the younger fans who enjoyed the battles which were great shows of strategy, tactics and skill between the pilots. The Heroes League was spawned around the same time as the All-Stars League, which both provided faster paced action and competition, forcing leagues to make their matches more interesting. The Heroes League has seen relatively few rules changes, but a notable recent alteration allows one man squadrons to fly in league matches.
All-Stars League
All-Stars League features one on one and two on two matches which are the easiest for broadcasters to show, due to the action being focused in one area. The objective was simple: shoot down the other team before they do the same to you. Because matches are so fast and action packed, All-Stars League programmes often manage to fit about ten engagements within a two hour slot. This is the only league where all of the global radio chatter is broadcast to viewers. Another unique point is that All-Stars League doesn’t allow use of an airfield during matches, nor does it have a tie break condition: battles continue until either a victory condition is met, or both sides run out of ammunition.
Initially named the Duellist League, All-Stars League was intended as a minor league where newer pilots would fight initially, before being scouted for the bigger teams and squadrons. Due to it’s profitability and unique appeal, the league was renamed to All-Stars to reflect upon the fact that this was where individual personalities really came through to the viewers, and showed each pilot’s individual skill clearer than either of the other leagues, something which is known to appeal to viewers who want to settle debates and fans dedicated to certain pilots.
Players
Player characters will fill the role of a new squadron. The RP will document each of the RPers as they struggle through life as a new age gladiator; valued as far as they can win matches and shoot down enemies. This will also chronicle their personal lives between sorties and downtime.
The first batch of players will be part of the Einherjar squadron: a newly formed squadron lead by Fox-Kun’s character Tami Holub, and the sister squadron to the Valkyries.
PM Profiles to me, then post them in the OOC when I accept them. I'll put them on the front page, with a link to the post so that you can update profiles as the RP develops.
Profile Template
Username:
Character Name:
Personal Callsign:
Squadron Callsign:
Age and Birthday:
Sex:
Appearance:
Personality:
Biography:
Theme Songs (Optional)
Other:
Plane Model: ((Fictional planes still need a model number and name. Just make one up))
Appearance/Colour Scheme
Emblem
Notable Characteristics:
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings
-Fuselage
Mountable Weapons
Character Profiles
Username: TenSARS
Character Name: Azzan Hassan
Personal Callsign: Razor
Squadron Callsign: Seraph 1 - Flight Lead
Age: 31
Birthday: 30th August
Sex: Male
Appearance:
Personality: Very quiet and level headed. Quiet voice.
Biography: Azzan Hassan was born in a war torn Israel. He was born before the major offensives had neared the middle east, but with Israel being Israel, they were under constant threat of attack.
As such, Azzan Hassan grew up with war, and like many others of his generation, could not comprehend what it would be like in a peaceful world. At the age of 18, he joined the Air Force where he would then complete his training with outstanding recommendations from all of his superiors.
It was about the time of his graduation from training that things had really begun to intensify. He was assigned to the soon to be famous 144th Fighter Division - Seraph Squadron. He flew countless missions with that squadron, which eventually became the spearhead of many operations in that region for the Counter Terrorist forces and was given the nickname of ‘Guardian Angel of the Promised Land’ by his allies, and ‘The Angel of Death’ by those that flew against him.
After completely destroying those who would threaten them in the area around Israel, Seraph Squadron, now with Azzan as their flight lead, soon found themselves being dispatched all around the world to place them in areas of battle.
When the war ended, Seraph Squadron was to be disbanded along with 80% of the armed forces, when news of the Sponsored Aerial Battles reached them. Because of an entire generation’s inability to understand a world without war, Azzan found himself taking in new pilots under his wing, training them for the upcoming battles, with the most promising candidates being allowed into Seraph Squadron itself.
Theme Songs (Optional) Wings of Unity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajz1d4oTdE0)
Other:
Plane Model: F-15C
Appearance/Colour Scheme White at the nose, with a steady gradient to black towards the tail and wing tips
Emblem Herp (http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/angel_art/seraphim.jpg)
Notable Characteristics:
The F-15C is an aircraft which is known for its great reliability. It was designed with aerial combat in mind, and it has exceeded expectations in the field, with stories of horrifically damaged aircraft managing to land safely, the most famous of which is that of Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi, who, after a collision during training, managed to land his F-15 with an entire wing missing.
Overall, the performance of the F-15 is balanced and strong. It’s manoeuvrable, it’s fast, and it’s tough but it’s not exceptional in any of those areas by the standards of 2036. The only area where the F-15 doesn’t perform too well is in the area of stealth, something. The weapons available for use on the F-15 reflect its versatile role. It is capable of performing air superiority, attacking ground targets, and intercepting enemy aircraft.
Azzan Hassan’s particular aircraft has been tuned to increase the engine output, at the expense of fuel consumption for the televised battles, and has two Internal Guns in both wing roots instead of the standard single gun in the right wing. The black and white eagle is a known and feared enemy among pilots, even if the pilot himself is famous for sparing the lives of those he defeats.
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings: 4x Missiles
-Fuselage: 4x Missiles, 1x Purgeable External Fuel Tank
Weapons
-2x 20mm Multibarrel Internal Gun, 900 rounds, mounted in the wing roots
-4x AIM-9 Sidewinders - Short Range Missiles
-4x AIM-120 - Semi Active Long Range Missiles
Username: Fox-Kun TenSARS
Character Name: Tami Holub
Personal Callsign: Foxie Ace
Squadron Callsign: Valkyrie 1
Age and Birthday: 20 June 2016 (20)
Sex: Female
Appearance: http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1007/d21/0404/736f843.png (http://tektek.org/avatar/38335106)
Personality: Try hard (since she has to live up to her fathers reputation), natural-born leader, honest, loyal.
Biography: Tamika Holub, known as Tami to pretty much everyone, is of Ukrainian ethnicity, but she spent most of her life in Israel, where her father, Viktor, was a pilot in charge of the Seraph squadron. When Tami was 16 her father’s jet got shot down, his body was never found. She grew up wanting to join the airforce and be a ace just like her father. When she turned 18 she joined and was put in charge of a fighter squadron after her family moved back to Ukraine. She has had to keep to the same standard as her father, but it is hard for her to do that and still be a regular young adult.
Theme Songs: Ride of the Valkyries
Other: She has a close friendship with the new leader of her father’s old squadron, she also gives each member of her squadron a cigar before they take off on a mission and they will always smoke it after they get back to the base. She is also fluent in Arabic, Ukrainian and English.
Plane Model: RF-12A2 Blackbird Mk.II (Combat variant of the SR-71 Blackbird)
Appearance/Colour Scheme: Navy blue with orange and red tribal style designs on the fuselage.
Emblem: Two crescent moons facing each other with a four pointed star in the center.
Notable Characteristics: Improved stealth paint, a full weapons payload.
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings: 6 on either wing
-Fuselage: three under the nose and three between the wings, the three between the wings are for any bombs that might be needed.
Mountable Weapons
1 14.5mm KPV Heavy Machine Gun under the nose
2 M61A2 Lightweight Vulcan Cannons, one either side of the machine gun under the nose
Up to 6 AIM-9M or AIM-9L Sidewinders under the wings
Fuel-Air Bombs might be placed between the wings along with ECMPs (Electronic Counter Measure Pods)
Played by Janshe 777
Link to profile (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=295862&postcount=2)
Played by DiDiT
Link to profile (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=300286&postcount=5)
Played by Vein
Link to profile (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=313382&postcount=9)
Assault Records - Or, List of NPCs
In Search of the Next Ace of Aces
An RP Inspired by Sky Crawlers and Ace Combat
IC Here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5734)
The First World War was for defending one’s allies and pride
The Second World War was to stop an evil that would sweep the world in madness.
The Third World War was to stand up for one’s ideals.
The Fourth World War will be cheered on by millions of screaming fans.
Story:
It’s the year 2036. The world has just recovered from their third world war. Unlike the First and Second world wars which only lasted four and six years respectively, this war stretched for about thirty years.
In an alternate history, the war on terror had begun and escalated beyond anything imaginable. Terrorist wings expanded into every nation of the world before they were found out. And the resulting conflict was beyond anything the world had ever seen.
The two evenly matched sides were thrown into war against each other in a conflict that engulfed the world. No land was left untouched. Nothing was left unscarred. Soon the lines began to blur. By the end of the war, no one knew who the aggressors were or the victims. Who had sided with who, and for what reasons? But one thing was for certain. The Terrorists lost. It was not however without its lasting scars. For fifty years, literally every man woman and child lived under the looming shadow of total war. And by the end of it, there was only one guaranteed outcome.
The world had become dependent on conflict to survive.
Arms companies had expanded themselves to deal with either the terrorist forces, or that of their intended victims. Everything was now controlled by these companies who manufactured weapons for the purposes of war. Once the war on terror had drawn to a close, there were whispers and horror stories of an imminent recession. The economic crisis had hit as the demand for war ended. There threatened to be more violence as the unemployed began to riot and start uprisings. Then salvation appeared.
The arms companies, not wanting to go out of business set up deals with each other to continue fighting. But this time, it wouldn’t be for the purpose of survival, ideals or conquest. This would be a series of gladiatorial battles, known to the viewers as Project Aces™.
The arms manufacturers would stage beautiful aerial battles and dogfights between hired pilots to prove their supremacy, with the winner’s prize being glory and immortality. They would be streamed to viewers on a pay per view basis. The profits kept the them in business, the economy remained happy because money was flowing, and the masses had a new sport to keep them entertained.
Style of Battles
Some of you may have realized that aerial battles with modern and futuristic hardware would be rather boring, considering that missiles have enormous range, and are considered to have 100% accuracy.
However technological advances in the area of electronic jamming, thanks to the creation of the short lived, fast travelling Sunaarashi particle, have managed to guided missiles less effective at actually closing in on a target and tagging them, so now aerial battles are no longer about who is more or less able to bring ordinance to bear on an enemy from beyond visual range. The Sunaarashi particle was discovered by Japanese scientists working for the JASDF, looking for a way to protect their ships from missiles. What they discovered was a way to emit an artificial particle which creates abnormal currents in metal wires, which in turn can be used to confuse unshielded electronic devices such as microchips. To shield electronics from these particles, the most important factors are the size of the casing and the physical size of the circuit. This means that aircraft are naturally shielded from Sunaarashi particles, but missiles will be heavily affected.
Every plane has its own 1500-3000 meter radius Sunaarashi sphere, which will disrupt any electronics which are not sufficiently shielded. As missiles enter this ECM radius, their tracking becomes more and more sluggish until it enters the 500-1000 meter range, where its detection range will become 50 meters: it’s destructive radius, and will detonate near the first enemy target it finds. Because it is not economical to make shielding for missiles, the behaviour of missiles has now been altered. To compensate for the jamming, missiles are now designed to track the motion of targets, instead of the current location. This means that missiles will now attempt to lead their flightpaths instead of just going straight for the target’s engines or centre of it’s radar signal.
Essentially, this means that a high speed missile dodge is a distinct possibility, and that in the process of firing a missile, the Sunaarashi particles must be stopped for a split second during the launch.
Planes on the other hand, are shielded from the effects of enemy ECM, even at less than 20 meters range, which allows them to continue functioning as normal.
Because of the increased effectiveness of ECM without a corresponding improvement in ECCM, now pilots are forced to fight within visual range. Thus Old School Dogfights has been resurrected with the distances being a lot bigger still, and the moves are a lot move violent.
The chance of death is very real in these battles, but ejecting or otherwise bailing out is still the most likely possibility. However, treat every bail out with respect, because the resulting injuries from doing so can be life threatening, or even career ending.
Dogfighting
Because aircraft are able to fly in three dimensions, one may think that there are virtually no limits on how one can move in the air, so I’ll clear this point up now Manoeuvring an aircraft is not as simple as just pointing your nose and turning on your engine. Maintaining control and movement of an aircraft is obviously very important for a pilot, whether they’re dogfighting, landing, or just doing a routine flight. In Dogfighting, it is especially important to understand how an aircraft, and the pilot’s body, handles at the limits.
Firstly, there’s the issue of energy. It may seem obvious to some, but an aircraft has two important types of energy that aren’t related to fuel and are readily interchangeable:
-Kinetic Energy: how fast the plane is moving
-Potential Energy: how high above the ground the plane is
The reason these two factors are important is because all aspects of an aircraft’s handling are related in one way or another to the plane’s speed:
In a car, if you are travelling too fast, you’ll make a wider turn. It’s the same in a plane: travel too fast, and your turning circle widens. If you turn too sharp, your speed will drop. If you make a series of rough turns you’ll wear your speed down.
Control of speed is important not only because of making turns, but also because there exists a minimum speed that a plane has to hold before it stalls. That minimum speed and the plane’s behaviour as it drops below that speed will change depending on the level of pitch, roll, and yaw.
In addition to stalling due to a loss of speed, there is also stalling due to increasing angle of attack too high, preventing sufficient air flow over the wings to provide lift. Basically, this is pulling up too fast. Though some aircraft are able to take advantage of stall like this to perform certain post stall manoeuvres in some situations, as a general rule, stalling in this manner is a bad thing.
So once we’ve established all of this, we can conclude the following things: an aircraft with more energy has an advantage over one which has less, because it will be able to perform more manoeuvres before it risks stalling and presenting an easy target. Gaining energy is difficult to do in the middle of a dogfight without putting oneself at risk either by flying in a relatively straight line for too long, even if you really max out the thrust.
In terms of gaining a scoring a kill by guns or missiles, having the target at your 12 o-clock is what you aim for, but you can’t just make a turn straight in towards the enemy aircraft. The enemy will be moving, and will be trying to get a good shot at you too. Therefore good grasp of geometry, energy differences, specification differences, weapon differences, and piloting style and skill differences are all important to your chances of success.
For example, an aircraft with good top speed will try to keep it’s own speed up whilst making wide high speed turns at long range, turning towards them and attacking them with missiles whilst making head on passes, with the chance for using guns few and far between. In contrast, an aircraft with better turning and stability at low speeds will try to force a close range dogfight and try to kill them with guns, hopefully after moving into their 6-o’clock, whilst using the threat of missiles to help deter the enemy from just simply turning up the thrust and running away.
For specific aerial combat manoeuvres, well there’s too many to list here, but Google is your friend, and really, ACM in a real battle would be at least partially improvised according to what the pilot was comfortable with, the situation at hand, and their mental state.
Happy flying
Aircraft Selection
The setting is the year 2036. It therefore is natural that there would have been advancements in aircraft technology, and therefore planes like the F22 and F35 would have had more variants and even successor models, whilst prototypes would have been put into mass production. In addition to this, because the main goal of the battles in Project Aces is entertainment, discontinued or rejected prototypes are also being looked at again for production. However, even 40 year old aircraft see service today with minor adjustments and additions to account for the newer technology. So this means you’ll be allowed to use real world aircraft, no matter how exotic or rare they really are. You can just tune up the older ones.
If you would like a list of aircraft the Aircraft List for Ace Combat 5 is a good place to start (http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_aircraft_in_Ace_Combat_5)
However, I am putting a ban on characters starting with a super plane i.e. a plane which has no real life predecessor model or basis. The reason for this is very obvious.
Plane Roles
Naturally, as this is an RP focusing specifically around dogfights, we have to come to the idea of plane selection, but for some of us the first thing that will come into our heads when we think of fighter aircraft is ‘Raptor’ or ‘Eagle’ followed by a blank silence. And as I’ve put a near blanket ban on starting out with a Super Prototype for thematic and not killing the RP with a Mary Sue reasons, many of you may be stumped as to what type of aircraft to pick.
That’s not a problem.
Due to the way that the Legends and Heroes Leagues are structured, one does not have to pick a fighter. Multirole aircraft are intended to do better in those battles, because of the wide array of weapons they can mount, and their overall versatility.
Multirole Aircraft include
-Panavia Tornado (the original multirole)
-Rafale M and Rafale B
-F/A-18 Hornet
-Eurofighter Typhoon
-BAE Harrier Jump Jets
-And More
Many aircraft originally intended to be fighters managed to embrace a multirole function when it turned out they could have bombs and extra fuel tanks mounted.
Fighter aircraft are highly manoeuvrable low armour aircraft designed to specifically fight against other aircraft with maybe some secondary/limited air to ground attack. Typically what people think of when the topic of military aircraft is brought up.
In Project Aces, Fighter Aircraft will be the ones which see the most use by far in the All Stars league.
Fighter Aircraft include
-MiG 29 Fulcrum
-Su-27 and it’s many variants
-F-22 Raptor
-And more
Interceptor aircraft are more defensive orientated aircraft which are designed to engage a target and force them to stay away from whatever they’re being forced away from. Generally to fulfil this role, they have a good top speed and long range radar to track a target.
Interceptors in project aces will be used mostly in Legends league battles on a defensive role as well as strategic bombing.
Examples:
-MiG 25 Foxbat and MiG 31 Foxhound
-F-14 Tomcat
-Saab J35 Draken
-Saab J37 Viggen
-And more
Bomber aircraft are aircraft designed to destroy ground targets from the air (duh) and have very limited air to air ability, typically linked to just simple self defence in the form of machine gun turrets. They’re not very manoeuvrable, but are somewhat resistant to gunfire.
In the Project Aces RP, bombers will have the largest Sunaarashi Particle field generators, but they will still be vulnerable to being intercepted by missiles and interceptors in general.
Project Aces Leagues
There are currently three leagues that pilots compete in. None of these is intended to be inferior to any of the others, and each caters toward different audiences and tastes.
Legends League
Legends League is the first league formed, and therefore the most warlike in nature. Two teams consisting of several squadrons are all taken to a pair of airbases and have to fight over control over several forward bases and checkpoints which give additional benefits when controlled such as electronic support, anti air support, and so on, in order to eventually advance upon the enemy’s main base to destroy it’s main checkpoint. Halfway through the first season the time limit of seven to fourteen days was imposed, depending on the size of the teams, with the winner being decided by checkpoints multiplied by kills if the time ran out.
The battles in the Legends League originally lasted several gruelling weeks, sometimes even months, and as the then more exciting Heroes and All-Stars formats were created, they were unable to hold viewer interest as the situation often dragged out into a stalemates seeing only occasional bursts of very minor action. However, there was still enough demand for a campaign based format, so the Legends League couldn’t be discontinued completely. Hence the major and controversial mid season rule changes which many believe revived the league by forcing more aggressive strategies.
Heroes League
Heroes League focuses mainly on Squadron vs Squadron combat. The style of battle is fast paced and dynamic, and generally conclude within thirty minutes, but it is possible for battles to last anywhere between five minutes to ninety minutes. Both teams are given access to an airfield which they can land on to re-arm and refuel. The winners would be the ones who managed to destroy a bunker about a mile out from the enemy team’s airfield, or by shooting the entire opposing squadron down, with tie breaks in the event of running out of time being decided by number of enemies downed followed by whoever took the first kill.
Due to the mixed pace of the battles and wide range of tactics that can be employed by the teams, this format has gained popularity amongst the younger fans who enjoyed the battles which were great shows of strategy, tactics and skill between the pilots. The Heroes League was spawned around the same time as the All-Stars League, which both provided faster paced action and competition, forcing leagues to make their matches more interesting. The Heroes League has seen relatively few rules changes, but a notable recent alteration allows one man squadrons to fly in league matches.
All-Stars League
All-Stars League features one on one and two on two matches which are the easiest for broadcasters to show, due to the action being focused in one area. The objective was simple: shoot down the other team before they do the same to you. Because matches are so fast and action packed, All-Stars League programmes often manage to fit about ten engagements within a two hour slot. This is the only league where all of the global radio chatter is broadcast to viewers. Another unique point is that All-Stars League doesn’t allow use of an airfield during matches, nor does it have a tie break condition: battles continue until either a victory condition is met, or both sides run out of ammunition.
Initially named the Duellist League, All-Stars League was intended as a minor league where newer pilots would fight initially, before being scouted for the bigger teams and squadrons. Due to it’s profitability and unique appeal, the league was renamed to All-Stars to reflect upon the fact that this was where individual personalities really came through to the viewers, and showed each pilot’s individual skill clearer than either of the other leagues, something which is known to appeal to viewers who want to settle debates and fans dedicated to certain pilots.
Players
Player characters will fill the role of a new squadron. The RP will document each of the RPers as they struggle through life as a new age gladiator; valued as far as they can win matches and shoot down enemies. This will also chronicle their personal lives between sorties and downtime.
The first batch of players will be part of the Einherjar squadron: a newly formed squadron lead by Fox-Kun’s character Tami Holub, and the sister squadron to the Valkyries.
PM Profiles to me, then post them in the OOC when I accept them. I'll put them on the front page, with a link to the post so that you can update profiles as the RP develops.
Profile Template
Username:
Character Name:
Personal Callsign:
Squadron Callsign:
Age and Birthday:
Sex:
Appearance:
Personality:
Biography:
Theme Songs (Optional)
Other:
Plane Model: ((Fictional planes still need a model number and name. Just make one up))
Appearance/Colour Scheme
Emblem
Notable Characteristics:
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings
-Fuselage
Mountable Weapons
Character Profiles
Username: TenSARS
Character Name: Azzan Hassan
Personal Callsign: Razor
Squadron Callsign: Seraph 1 - Flight Lead
Age: 31
Birthday: 30th August
Sex: Male
Appearance:
Personality: Very quiet and level headed. Quiet voice.
Biography: Azzan Hassan was born in a war torn Israel. He was born before the major offensives had neared the middle east, but with Israel being Israel, they were under constant threat of attack.
As such, Azzan Hassan grew up with war, and like many others of his generation, could not comprehend what it would be like in a peaceful world. At the age of 18, he joined the Air Force where he would then complete his training with outstanding recommendations from all of his superiors.
It was about the time of his graduation from training that things had really begun to intensify. He was assigned to the soon to be famous 144th Fighter Division - Seraph Squadron. He flew countless missions with that squadron, which eventually became the spearhead of many operations in that region for the Counter Terrorist forces and was given the nickname of ‘Guardian Angel of the Promised Land’ by his allies, and ‘The Angel of Death’ by those that flew against him.
After completely destroying those who would threaten them in the area around Israel, Seraph Squadron, now with Azzan as their flight lead, soon found themselves being dispatched all around the world to place them in areas of battle.
When the war ended, Seraph Squadron was to be disbanded along with 80% of the armed forces, when news of the Sponsored Aerial Battles reached them. Because of an entire generation’s inability to understand a world without war, Azzan found himself taking in new pilots under his wing, training them for the upcoming battles, with the most promising candidates being allowed into Seraph Squadron itself.
Theme Songs (Optional) Wings of Unity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajz1d4oTdE0)
Other:
Plane Model: F-15C
Appearance/Colour Scheme White at the nose, with a steady gradient to black towards the tail and wing tips
Emblem Herp (http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/angel_art/seraphim.jpg)
Notable Characteristics:
The F-15C is an aircraft which is known for its great reliability. It was designed with aerial combat in mind, and it has exceeded expectations in the field, with stories of horrifically damaged aircraft managing to land safely, the most famous of which is that of Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi, who, after a collision during training, managed to land his F-15 with an entire wing missing.
Overall, the performance of the F-15 is balanced and strong. It’s manoeuvrable, it’s fast, and it’s tough but it’s not exceptional in any of those areas by the standards of 2036. The only area where the F-15 doesn’t perform too well is in the area of stealth, something. The weapons available for use on the F-15 reflect its versatile role. It is capable of performing air superiority, attacking ground targets, and intercepting enemy aircraft.
Azzan Hassan’s particular aircraft has been tuned to increase the engine output, at the expense of fuel consumption for the televised battles, and has two Internal Guns in both wing roots instead of the standard single gun in the right wing. The black and white eagle is a known and feared enemy among pilots, even if the pilot himself is famous for sparing the lives of those he defeats.
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings: 4x Missiles
-Fuselage: 4x Missiles, 1x Purgeable External Fuel Tank
Weapons
-2x 20mm Multibarrel Internal Gun, 900 rounds, mounted in the wing roots
-4x AIM-9 Sidewinders - Short Range Missiles
-4x AIM-120 - Semi Active Long Range Missiles
Username: Fox-Kun TenSARS
Character Name: Tami Holub
Personal Callsign: Foxie Ace
Squadron Callsign: Valkyrie 1
Age and Birthday: 20 June 2016 (20)
Sex: Female
Appearance: http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1007/d21/0404/736f843.png (http://tektek.org/avatar/38335106)
Personality: Try hard (since she has to live up to her fathers reputation), natural-born leader, honest, loyal.
Biography: Tamika Holub, known as Tami to pretty much everyone, is of Ukrainian ethnicity, but she spent most of her life in Israel, where her father, Viktor, was a pilot in charge of the Seraph squadron. When Tami was 16 her father’s jet got shot down, his body was never found. She grew up wanting to join the airforce and be a ace just like her father. When she turned 18 she joined and was put in charge of a fighter squadron after her family moved back to Ukraine. She has had to keep to the same standard as her father, but it is hard for her to do that and still be a regular young adult.
Theme Songs: Ride of the Valkyries
Other: She has a close friendship with the new leader of her father’s old squadron, she also gives each member of her squadron a cigar before they take off on a mission and they will always smoke it after they get back to the base. She is also fluent in Arabic, Ukrainian and English.
Plane Model: RF-12A2 Blackbird Mk.II (Combat variant of the SR-71 Blackbird)
Appearance/Colour Scheme: Navy blue with orange and red tribal style designs on the fuselage.
Emblem: Two crescent moons facing each other with a four pointed star in the center.
Notable Characteristics: Improved stealth paint, a full weapons payload.
Weapon Hardpoints
-Wings: 6 on either wing
-Fuselage: three under the nose and three between the wings, the three between the wings are for any bombs that might be needed.
Mountable Weapons
1 14.5mm KPV Heavy Machine Gun under the nose
2 M61A2 Lightweight Vulcan Cannons, one either side of the machine gun under the nose
Up to 6 AIM-9M or AIM-9L Sidewinders under the wings
Fuel-Air Bombs might be placed between the wings along with ECMPs (Electronic Counter Measure Pods)
Played by Janshe 777
Link to profile (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=295862&postcount=2)
Played by DiDiT
Link to profile (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=300286&postcount=5)
Played by Vein
Link to profile (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=313382&postcount=9)
Assault Records - Or, List of NPCs