I'm in the process of making a RPG supplement where the players are basically plane mercenaries hired by a nation in a civil war. My question is what year or years would be the best to set it in? Ideally I'd like there to be a large selection of jets but combat to be more close-in missile dogfighting if that makes sense. The game is warbirds if anyone's curious
Dogfighting?
Korean war
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This poster would be 100% correct, except that he self /thread'd and is thus a homosexual.
/tthread
The f-35. Why do you think it's being pushed so hard, anon?
1970-80s
Missiles and guided weapons exist and they work well enough, but they are not overpowered enough to make guns and iron bombs completely obsolete
It offers greatest balance between individual and team skill vs advanced technology.
Checked
I was tempted to say Korean war but since you mentioned missiles I'll agree with .
Game looks promising. I'm curious how you'll pull off guiding a missile while also controlling the aircraft.
It really depends on what capabilities you want them to have... which also means, how complicated/realistic do you want stuff (especially EW) to be?
'50s: Lots of leftover high-performance prop planes around, but missiles are *extremely* limited in performance, and pretty hard to come by (most early AAMs don't even *begin* to enter service until the late '50s). Lots of MGs, plus a few revolver-style cannons with limited magazines. Supersonic fighters are rare, and probably limited to superpower NPCs. Unguided FFARs are good for a laugh; see: "Palmdale, Battle of".
'60s: Prop planes disappear from everything but ground-attack and spotting roles. MGs pretty much disappear, replaced by revolver and rotary cannons. Missiles start off poor, and slowly improve, but BVR is extremely rare and IFF is questionable at best. You can scare the pants off of your players by driving a UFO (really a NPC A-12) by at FL700 to take some pictures.
'70s: Lots of interesting stuff hits the skies, but most of it is now too expensive for the Third World. Instead, you'd see a lot of '50s and '60s stuff, plus the occasional Mig-23 or maybe even some F-4s. Missiles are better, but still limited.
'80s: All of the late Cold War designs are in full production, and a number of them have foreign sales. Still not common in Africa, outside of the Mig-23 and occasional Mig-25. The AIM-9L totally changes dogfighting. EW becomes extremely important; either have a plan to make it fun, or don't allow high-end planes. SARH missiles get good enough to actually be used in BVR, as long as IFF works. You can still find '50s jets in places that can't afford anything else.
Now, you can just set the game in an anachronistic setting like Strangereal and call it a day; that would let you smash together designs and technologies however you liked. Want F-15s that can't get a kill unless they get on an enemy's 6? Go for it.
Great summary. And yeah if OP wants serious historical accuracy it'd be a challenge. Putting a bit of thinking into some slight divergences at least that justify more of a mix might be more fun so long as it's well plan and flows naturally.
For me it's around Vietnam or at least before the 1980s when BVR combat started really becoming a widespread thing. You had sidewinders and other short range guided missiles as well as HARMs and free fall dumb bombs for SEAD work. It's after this point air combat becomes significantly more distant and more reliant on sensors rather than maneuverability. At this point the thought of engaging an enemy plane in the air with guns wasn't seen as impossible so it's a bit more fun if you want players actually dogfighting.
I advise you to pay attention to such a game as "Star conflict", focus on its gameplay, but work carefully on the balance and not spoil it as the developers of this game did
if you really want a HUGE amount of aircraft is between 1950s-1970s. there was a massive amount airframes produced that were also quickly replaced due to leaps in tech during the time.
here is the website i use anon. use it well
http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/SAC.htm
Mid sixties because you have the correct tech for max cool and because there are a bunch of plausible hot zones for this kind of plot. Additionally, you have thousands upon thousands of MiGs and western jet fighters up for sale, but also some OP state of the art missile fighters and a bunch of obsolete WWII aircraft. You also have helicopters, SAMs, and some cool experimental tech.
Think about this: one side gets the upper hand by buying a squadron of MiG 15s, and the other side raises the stakes by getting some MiG 19s. I'd read a thriller about such a conflict.
You might dig through the /tg/ archives for "Planes and Mercs". It was a really popular subject several years ago, and there were dozens of threads on ideas for home-brewed rules and plot threads.
Vietnam. Lots of different airframes in service around the world, missiles work, but are still dodgy which is easier to work with dice.
There literally has not been a dog fight in the current generation. No, simulations don't count.
I'd say place it in 1970/71
Early 80s
Agreed
I'd say 70s to 80s, like the og Area 88. Planes from the 50s and 60s (F-104 Starfighter, A-4 Skyhawk, F-4 Phantom II, MiG-19, MiG-21, Mirage 3, Fiat G.91...) are still common and cheap, while the more modern stuff like the MiG-29, F-16, F-15 and Mirage 2000 are only available to the best PMCs and first world nations.
you just want area 88 with the names filed off
If you're looking for some inspiration I can recommend Strike Commander (PC video game), Mercenary Air Squadron (board game) and as other suggested Planes & Mercs.
A pretty interesting time could also be the period between WWI and WWII as there were so many different types of planes from different countries. Of course, this would mean no missiles.
The '30s were a glamorous time for adventure in the skies; you had all sorts of possibilities, and aircraft (especially the engines) were rapidly evolving.
DCS will have a load of Cold War planes and servers soon
perfect
pre-BVR era, dodgy sidewinders