Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

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I’ve got myself into a bit of a pickle.

 

Whilst introducing my players to the sky pirates during a museum robbery, the players are hard on the tail of the escaping sky pirates and their criminal mastermind, in his super-zeppelin.

 

One of the players, a gadgeteer, has just invented radar and wants to follow them in his war-surplus zeppelin, which I foolishly allowed to be moored to his private tower block (he’s filthy rich as well).

 

Another player wants to use the underslung plane on the gadgeteer’s zeppelin to chase and engage the super-zeppelin. This I have no problems with, as I have plans for him to engage with four fighters sent out from the super-zeppelin to stop him. He hasn’t asked if it’s armed yet

 

Now the problems/doubts I have are as follows:

 

1. Do I just let the super-zeppelin outrun the gadgeteer’s zeppelin? It’s a super-zeppelin after all. And the gadgeteer’s zeppelin is carrying a plane as well. Well for a short while anyway.

 

2. Are there any limitations I can put on the effectiveness of the gadgeteer’s radar? It comes out of his powers pool. At the moment I’m treating like very early radar so there are problems in interpretation and range.

 

This engagement was just supposed to be an introduction but it’s turned into a full blown scenario, and I’m not sure where to take it now. However I don’t want to go a confrontation with the criminal mastermind – I’d like that to be a few scenarios later. Anyone got any ideas how I can end the game without irritating the players or giving too much of the plot away?

[Edsel]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

I can easily see a highly-engineered, carefully built, super zepplin out running a quickly built gadgeteered zepplin. Weather could be your ally here as well. A larger super-zepplin is probably going to more able to deal with adverse weather conditions. Winds blow in different directions at different speeds at different levels.

 

A newly-invented pulp-era radar is not likey to be very sophisticated. Early radar didn't have the traditional circular screen display. They worked more like an oscilloscope. When you pointed it at the target you got a spike in the read out that indicated you were getting a bounce back from the target. The larger the spike the bigger and/or closer the target was. If the zepplin gets out of range of sight there is always the chance that a large passing gaggle of geese or something else might get in between the radar and the target. Your players could end up with a lock on the wrong target. Dropping to low levels will cause a lot of interference with ground clutter as well.

 

A big zepplin will have lots of engines. If it loses one or two it will be able to continue. If the character's zepplin has fewer engines then the loss of one will severly affect performance. Depending on how outlandish you are willing to go odd environmental conditions could cause engine problems. For instance volcanic ash or other particulate matter will clog up engines pretty quick.

 

Hope some of these ideas are useful.

[Mantis]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

All you need is a thundersquall. Big blob on radar, loss of visual contact, shouts of "Cap'n, Cap'n, she canna take mooch moore o'this!" if they try to fly into it after the pirates, and then drat, they got away, but we'll get them next time!

[Publius]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Turn that frown upside down.

 

I think that a stragically brilliant Masatermind like Skymaster would be very very interested in how someone is able to follow after him. This can become an added complication for the adventure, the Skyfortress gets further and further away, turns into a cloud bank and yet you manage to stay on it. Then suddently it starts getting closer, and then the planes come, or perhaps an autogyro with a few commando types bent on seeing what exactly allows you to trail him.

 

I have always envisioned Skymaster as a young Bill Shatner.

"With this technology... (plus an extra beat) I can rule (facial expression) the world."

 

p.s. Check the speeds, doesn't the Skyfortress go a lot faster than most normal Zepplins? I mean, it might become a non-issue.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

There's always the "endangered innocents" route, too. The super-zeppelin fires rockets at a mid-upper-level of a skyscraper, or one of the bad guy's planes (full of fuel) accidentally crashes into the skyscraper, causing a fire. It's too high for the fire department to battle quickly, and people above the burning level are trapped. Hey, good thing the heroes have a zeppelin (hope it's not filled with hydrogen) to snatch all those people off the roof! Don't forget heated air currents will try to push the zepp away, so this will take longer than they might first expect.

 

Alternately, the war-surplus zeppelin certainly wasn't hidden; it was moored in plain sight, so the mastermind should have been aware of it. Couldn't he have dropped off somebody beforehand to sabotage a few of the engines? Drained off oil + a few minutes at high speed = siezed-up engines.

[CthulhuAd]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Thanks guys! All your suggestions have been helpful. Still not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow night but its not as bleak as I thought it might be...

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

A storm front moves and and acts like chaff against the primitive Radar.

 

The Super Zepplin is too fast to catch and the Biplanes do not have the fuel as it gain altitude and vanishes into the storm clouds.

 

 

LOL

 

QM

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Note this will force the PCs to Gadget up their Zepplin and Air Craft. It should be fun, but where are they going to find the time?

 

 

LOL

 

QM

[Steve]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

I have always envisioned Skymaster as a young Bill Shatner.

"With this technology... (plus an extra beat) I can rule (facial expression) the world."

 

I suddenly had this image of Skymaster with a command crew taken from experts around the world: a Russian helmsman, a Scottish chief engineer, a Swahili radio operator, etc.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Nothing to stop the Skymaster's planes from shooting out some of the heroes' zeppelin engines, either.

 

Although the commando raid looks pretty cool to me, too.

[Basil]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Early radar sets were energy hogs. How's he powering it? I'd doubt the engines of a zeppelin could run a generator big enough. Certainly not with losing just about all propulsion.

 

He flips on the radar, and the engines stall out. "You can chase him, or see where he's going --- until he's out of range."

[Spence]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

It actually isn't a big deal. Radar, especially old radar sees clouds. Really old radar saw clouds whether they liked it or not. Now a specific sharply defined object, say an aircraft has a greater return than a cloud, and being stronger can be sorted from the "background clutter" of clouds or "weather". But a Zep is NOT a sharply defined object. Zep's and Blimps blend in with clouds very well when looked at by search or weather radars. As Edsel said, early radars did not use PPI scope layouts. They use standard grided scopes with a spike to determine a contact, we call it an A-scan. It was up to the operator to calculate the distance from the time of signal return to radar range mile (or klick) and then match it to the physical position of the antenna for bearing. Trying to manually target the antenna array to point at the target not only horizontally, but vertically while simultaneously calculating range. All the while having the target disappear every time a cloud obscures it plus both the radar and the target are moving. Well the homemade radar would be great, right up until the target enters a cloud bank. Then it would effectively "disappear".

There was a reason early radar was restricted to very large arrays in ground stations. The early "night fighters" who "used" radar for intercepts were actually very nearly useless. The forward fixed array would allow a target to be detected as a blip directly ahead in a narrow cone. It only really worked against lumbering bombers that had to fly straight or hit their neighbors and the interceptors already had a good idea of their general location. The ground stations had already located the target bombers general heading and altitude, so the interceptor only needed to fly level in the direction and altitude of the target until he got a spike on the scope, which would be strait ahead. As soon as the spike indicated the range was close enough he could fire whether he saw the target or not. But since any difference in altitude or the attitude of the equipped fighter could point the narrow cone so it "missed" the target. It didn't really matter whether he hit or not, the target would shoot back. Once the target was illuminated, it was a sitting duck to either the fighter or ground batteries.

 

They were some brave people to fly at night in the black with such a primitive system.

 

But for the Skymaster. Not a problem, run into a cloud bank, change course, speed and altitude as soon as you are fully in, and you have given him the slip.

[McCoy]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Is the skeleton of the super zep metal, or to keep weight down did Skymaster use bent wood or some other non-metalic subatance? Will make quite a difference in radar cross-section.

 

Four fighters abord the super zep? If Skymaster or one of his henchmen have the gadgeteering roll, can tethers be attached in flight and the fighters give the zep an additional boost?

 

I think that a stragically brilliant Masatermind like Skymaster would be very very interested in how someone is able to follow after him. This can become an added complication for the adventure' date=' the Skyfortress gets further and further away, turns into a cloud bank and yet you manage to stay on it. Then suddently it starts getting closer, and then the planes come, or perhaps an autogyro with a few commando types bent on seeing what exactly allows you to trail him.[/quote']

Think that's the way I would go.

 

There's always the "endangered innocents" route, too. The super-zeppelin fires rockets at a mid-upper-level of a skyscraper, or one of the bad guy's planes (full of fuel) accidentally crashes into the skyscraper, causing a fire. It's too high for the fire department to battle quickly, and people above the burning level are trapped. Hey, good thing the heroes have a zeppelin (hope it's not filled with hydrogen) to snatch all those people off the roof! Don't forget heated air currents will try to push the zepp away, so this will take longer than they might first expect.

That one's good too.

[Narratio]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

And remember that, when flying through a skyscrapered city, don't try to dive down into the streets and loose them in the clutter... It don't work in a zeppelin.

 

Of course, setting this all up to take place in New york, 1933 would have allowed you to use a giant ape as a distraction. I'm telling you. location, location, location!

[CthulhuAd]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Last night worked out quite well.

 

The super-zep headed for the storm clouds coming from the North Sea gaining distance and height from the slower players' zep.

 

The master criminal sent four fighters back to mark and/or deter the following zep. A dogfight ensued with the sole player ace and four professionals. The player ace took out one bird with a strafe but was himself shot down with two hits - .50 cals are nasty. He had to bail out. We used the rule book dog-fight rules. It was the first time we had used them. I liked them. Ace player didn't.

 

One fighter was able to drop a tracking beacon on the players' zep, but it was later recovered, examined and terminated. However master criminal found out who his pursuers were as they were plastered all over the front pages the next day - ace player called the press before the police when he landed

 

The super-zep was able to lose the players' zep as soon as they entered the storm clouds. It will be coming back....

[Spence]

Re: Stopping a Zeppelin following a Zeppelin?

 

Is the skeleton of the super zep metal, or to keep weight down did Skymaster use bent wood or some other non-metalic subatance? Will make quite a difference in radar cross-section.

 

 

Starting in the late 60's and getting better resolution every year until you can count leaves today. But back in the beginning early radar at best "saw" spikes (a-scan) or blobs (PPI). Composition wouldn't have made that much of a difference when speaking of a Zep in the 30/40's. With PPI a operator "might" be able to pick out the zep among the louds if the Zep was in the open, since a cloud would show as a more "bloby" blob than the zeps "sharper" blob. But once the Zep went inside a cloud bank, the zeps blob would be hidden inside the clouds blob.

 

An a-scan operator would probably just see a bunch of spikes.

 

I have watched a modern (circa 1995, my younger days of adventure )active search radar in a bad North Atlantic storm not be able to pick a ship or a plane out from the clutter (clouds, rain, etc) and that was a modern "designed to do that" radar.