The following formulas were used to design the statistics for the
aircraft in Blue Max. Maneuver schedules were created using a more
subjective method comparing each aircraft with others knowing the
characteristics of the aircraft and matching them to hex-based
maneuvers.
Square footage of both wings divided by 10 = # of boxes. For monoplanes
with small wing surfaces (ex: Fokker D-VIII) multiply this by 1.5 to adjust
for difficulty to hit the single wing.
Fuselage
1 box for every foot of length.
Tail
Includes vertical stablizer and horizontal tailplane. Small = 4 boxes : Medium = 5 boxes : Large = 6 boxes. This is somewhat
subjective by the designer.
Speed
One hex of movement=95mph at 15,000 feet then goes up by 5mph per hex.
Time
One turn = 3-4 seconds.
Fuel
Fuel is used as a limiting factor to prevent everyone from spending
the whole game at top speed and is derrived from the planes endurance.
It also provides an end point that is equal to about 2 minutes of action.
It was a general rule that if a pilot lasted the first 2 minutes of combat
he would survive the fight.
Altitude
Altitude bands are listed below. Aircraft who have maximum altitudes that
cross between 2 bands or are close to the maximum for a band (within 500 ft.)
are given the lower of the two bands and a + rating. Some creative license is
taken in giving + ratings to aircraft noted for an exceptional ability to
climb at high altitudes (Ansaldo, Fokker D-VIII).
0 - 5,000 ft. - VL - Ground
5,001 - 10,000 ft. - L - Low
10,001 - 15,000 ft. - M - Medium
15,001 - 20,000 ft. - H - High
20,001 ft. and up - VH - Very High