Traits in Blood Red Skies 1 - Turning

I thought it may be interesting to share some thoughts on Traits and the like in Blood Red Skies. Part one is about traits that effect turning.

There are currently only three Traits that relate to turning, Tight Turn, Rapid Roll, and Biplane. Lets look at them one by one.

Tight Turn (TT). Probably the most useful trait in the game, at least for novice players (and me!), accounting for more shot down Me109Es than any other factor in BRS. TT allows you to take your "normal" 45 degree turn at any point in your move, not just at the end. Planes with TT such as Spitfires, Zeros and Yaks find it much easier to set shots up, get into tailing positions, or even just get into the safety of clouds. It is a damned useful trait. Additionally for the more advanced players TT acts as a bonus card for a number of doctrines. Of these Aggressive Tactics is probably the most potent, allowing you to take an additional 45 degree turn at the start of the move, in effect giving you a 90 degree turn at the start, or two 45 degree turns. Defensive Tactics is in vogue at the moment with players who are using the optional "Deflection Shot" rule. Defensive Tactics can turn a rear shot into a deflection shot (though it can't prevent becoming disadvantaged through tailing) or a deflection shot into a head to head. I'm not so sure of its value however as a canny opponent can use the turns of Defensive Tactics to break up your formation, and it is at heart a defensive option. TT costs 3 points.

Rapid Roll (RR). Often seen as a poor man's TT, RR allows you to take your turn at the start of the move ONLY, rather than at any time like TT. As such it is clearly not as flexible as TT, and is often overlooked. Where RR shines for me however is the synergy with doctrines. In addition to Defensive Tactics RR combines with Slashing Attack, allowing a bonus firepower dice (Edit - I need to RTFM) hits to become Crits when you dive into an attack. In the new Meta with deflection shots needing Crits this is a big deal, or my particular favourite Low Altitude Performance, which means you will never be disadvantaged after activation, and you can climb from disadvantaged to advantaged in one turn. This has a number of benefits - such as allowing you to burn advantage to dive even when you start disadvantaged, or if you are lucky, set up a shot that your opponent doesn't think is possible. Not bad for 2 points.

Biplane. This is a new Positive Trait, officially only introduced in Air Strike. Biplane allows you a free 45 degree turn at the start of your activation. In theory this could stack with Tight Turn and Aggressive Tactics to give you a 135 degree turn! The down side is this is an "always on" and comes with some disadvantages - you can't climb for advantage within 9" of an enemy and your dive is restricted to 3" not 6". Biplane doesn't have any synergy with particular doctrines. As Biplane has both positive and negative aspects it is a free trait.

Lastly there is one other turn based Trait that may be making an appearance. Andy Chambers has always felt that Tight Turn is a bit of a blunt instrument that doesn't reflect some aircraft handling - particularly those that either have exceptional slow speed handling or some mechanical options such as manoeuvre slats that only work at slow speed. The classic example is the Zero, which turned very well at slow speed but became quite heavy on the controls as speed increased. To solve this he is thinking of introducing a new trait "No Stalling" (NS). NS will allow a plane to move between 1" and half speed and turn at any point in that range - basically a half speed TT. This may  get applied to the A6M2 Zero in the new Midway starter set, but others that could potentially benefit would be the P38Js with their redesigned dive flaps, Me109Es with their manoeuvre slats, or the Fairy Firefly with its Fowler Flaps. Personally I don't like the name, but I do like the capability this trait will bring, and anyway, Andy gets the final vote :-).  This is quite a big change and may wait to Blood Red Skies Version 2, where some re balancing of stats is probable, so don't get too excited yet.

I hope you fond that interesting and useful - if so, or if you disagree, please post a comment below.

Next we can move from the horizontal to the vertical, and look at the Traits that work with diving and climbing.

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I'd also recommend the Lead Pursuit podcast which is full of BRS "stuff".