Jetcopters in combat behave almost like any other vehicle. Due to their size they can have differing fire arcs, and they have differing damage thresholds, but basically they are
the same.
Because jetcopters don't have to use the road and lane boards, always use the range ruler when shooting at and from them. The range is calculated from the side of the firing
counter to the closest point of the target counter.
Jetcopters generally have the same arcs as their ground based brethren, although for the jetcopters that are three lanes wide, their front arcs are also three lanes wide, which
obviously gives them an advantage.
When shooting at ground vehicles, there will sometimes be times when multiple sides of a vehicle are available to be shot at, such as the roof or rear of a car. When this
happens, roll 1d6. On an even result, the side (front, whatever) is hit, on an odd result, the roof is hit. Jetcopters will never be able to hit a cars floor, although this reverse is not true.
Some jetcopters mount their side mounts in a 90-degree weapon mount. This severally restricts their forward and rear arc of fire, but does allow them to engage targets parallel to
the jetcopter, which could be useful, especially if the target doesn't have any weapons that can fire back.
To recreate this arc, use a 90 degree pintle mount arc (White Line Fever, pg. 26), but to the side of the jetcopter instead of the front or back. Always trace this arc from the center of the jetcopter counter.
If using the advanced rules for Fire Corridors (White Line Fever, pg. 12), then the side and front mounts have a fire corridor of one lane within the jetcopter, and one lane outside - just like the normal rules, which means though, that for large jetcopters, the central lane is not accessible to all weapons.
Shooting jetcopters is relatively easy, provided you have weapons in range, arc and able to point up towards the jetcopter. Most of a cars weaponry has very limited fields of
traverse, and unless the
vertical swivel mounts are bought, a car can only aim at targets at their level, which means a jetcopter flying at NOE altitude.
If a car does have such a mount though, then they may fire at targets at certain altitudes, provided the jetcopter is a certain distance away. This reflects that fact that the gun doesn't have a perfect arc of fire. Use the following table to determine the distance a target has be at for it to be a valid target, and also the modifier to hit for the target to be at this altitude. Cars with total vertical swivel mounts don't have to have their target to be a certain distance away, but do have the modifier to hit.
| Altitude of Target | Minimum Distance to Target | Modifier to-hit |
|---|
| NOE | None | None |
| Low | 2 | -1 |
| Medium | 5 | -3 |
| High | 10 | -5 |
In additional, use the following modifiers when shooting at jetcopters:
| Target flying | -1 |
| Target is side of standard/large jetcopter | +1 |
Jetcopters take damage in the same way as normal vehicles, and they use damage thresholds as normal. They take criticals in the same too, just using a differing Target Matrix.
| Jetcopter | Starting Level | Incremental Levels |
|---|
| Small Jetcopter | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 |
| Standard Jetcopter | 30 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Large Jetcopter | 50 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
Where a jetcopter is shot at is very important, and there will be times when a jetcopter will have a side and its floor (or) both as potential targets. When this happens, roll 1d6. On an even result, the side (front, whatever) is hit, on an odd result, the floor or roof is hit.
With altitudes and jetcopters, some strange shots can occur, and thus it is generally a wise thing to stock up on armour in locations that wouldn't normally be hit.
Aerodynamics:
Roll 1d6 on the following table.
| Die Roll | Result |
|---|
| 1,2 |
Vertical Control Surfaces:
It now costs the jetcopter double the normal amount to gain or lose altitude. |
| 3,4 |
Rotor Hit:
Roll on the Rotor critical hit table. |
| 5,6 |
Control Surfaces:
All turns now have a -5 mph safety margin. |
Bodywork: As for cars.
Crew: As for cars, but depending on how many crew the vehicle holds will depend on which crew get hit.
| Die Roll | Two Seater | Three Person | Four Man | Five Man |
|---|
| 1 | Driver | Driver | Driver | Driver |
| 2 | Driver | Driver | Gunner 1 | Gunner 1 |
| 3 | Driver | Gunner 1 | Gunner 2 | Gunner 2 |
| 4 | Gunner 1 | Gunner 2 | Gunner 3 | Gunner 3 |
| 5 | Gunner 1 | Gunner 2 | Roll Again | Gunner 4 |
| 6 | Gunner 1 | Gunner 2 | Roll Again | Roll Again |
Obviously you'll have to figure out which gunner is which is which before the roll is actually made. Use the standard critical hit location for crewman.
Engine: As for cars.
Fuel: As for cars.
Landing Gear:
Roll 1d6 on the following table.
| Die Roll | Result |
|---|
| 1-3 |
Damaged:
All landing rolls are at +1. |
| 4,5 |
Seriously Damaged:
All landing rolls are at +3. |
| 6 |
Destroyed:
All landings will result in a crash. |
Rotors:
Roll 2d6 on the following table.
| Die Roll | Result |
|---|
| 2-7 | No effect
|
| 7,8 |
Damaged:
+1 to all future rolls on this table. -5 mph to all manoeuvre safety limits. |
| 9,10 |
Severely damaged:
+1 to all future rolls on this table, and roll whenever the jetcopter has to make a control roll. If the control roll says to make a rotor check, then add +1 to this roll. -10 mph to all safety rolls. |
| 11,12 |
Destroyed:
Every phase the jetcopter moves, it falls one altitude level with no cost in forward motion, and will ram the ground when it hits. |
Weapons: As for cars.
There may be a time when the jetcopter has no functioning engine, but still has its rotors. And is in the air. Obviously not a great situation, but a survivable one. Provided the jetcopter wasn't out of control and provided also the jetcopter isn't suffering from no driver results, then it may attempt to land. Other manoeuvres are not possible, and will give a +3 to any control roll the jetcopter has to make.
The jetcopter will lose 10 mph of speed per move, treated as a free braking action. The jetcopter must make an altitude test every move with a +2 modifier (as if the vehicle had no driver), and must make a control roll every time this happens.
Once ground level has been reached, the pilot must make a landing roll.
Here we discuss other factors and special considerations of the jetcopter that make it unique.
Bombs are simply dropped by a jetcopter onto the target. They may be used at any altitude, although they take time to drop, so care must be taken to make sure the target is
present.
When a bomb is dropped, its drop position will be directly underneath the jetcopter. If the roll misses, then the bomb will scatter as per a grenade. Mark the location of the
bomb with a marker.
If a bomb is being aimed at a moving vehicle, then there is an additional -1 to the to-hit roll. The bomb takes time to fall depending on how high the dropper was and at what altitude the target is:
| Target Altitude |
| Dropper Altitude | Ground | NOE | Low | Medium | High |
|---|
| NOE | 0 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Low | 1 | 0 | NA | NA | NA |
| Medium | 2 | 1 | 0 | NA | NA |
| High | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Bombs can be dropped at targets whose altitude is high, as high altitude represents a large area.
When the bomb goes off (which is impact), all normal effects take place depending on the bomb. See the bomb description for more details.
When passives are used, the jetcopter must be at NOE altitude. The counter should be placed underneath the jetcopter counter. At any other altitude the passives will scatter so much to be unusable, and the backwash of the jetcopters rotors and engines will disrupt smoke.
Spikes and mines can also be used in a very limited anti-jetcopter role. In this case the jetcopter merely empties the weapon on top of the target, and hopes that the damage will
cause disruption to the enemy rotors. To be able to do this, the target jetcopter must be directly below the firer, and at 1 altitude less (thus is the firer is at low altitude, the target must be at NOE). Make a normal to-hit roll, and if successful, the target takes +0 damage, and also must make an immediate rotor check.
A jetcopter carrying under-slung cargo can have that cargo shot at while its in motion. Shooting at the cargo is at a -2 ACC modifier and if hit, all damage will affect the cargo. Missed shots will not hit the jetcopter. Damage results will depend on the cargo being carried - vehicles being carried will take damage normally.
If a jetcoper is carrying under-slung cargo, then there is a chance that it will be hit anyway on critical results, simulating fragments hitting it, the odd bullet from a burst weapon and so on.
