Fight on a compromised plane

[hawkfu]

Hi, I am running a storyline where in a future installment the heroes are on a plane heading to their destination when the bad guy organization sends jetpack wearing agents to attack them. I picture a lot of shooting through the plane, blowing open the door, so on.

 

What I'm asking - any suggestions on how to handle combat in that environment?

 

Thanks,

Walter

[Scott Baker]

Having dealt with a number of scenarios on planes, and without any more information than what you posted, there are 3 areas I would suggest thinking about:

 

1) Confined space - Planes are small, even the largest passenger jet, especially for characters wielding super-powers. In those terms, they also aren't very tough. Consider the entire plane to be a target-rich environment, whether you are dealing with other passengers, or the fuselage, it could get very messy. AOE attacks are particularly bad (or good if that's your goal).

 

2) Other passengers - Not sure what size plane you are talking about, but you've got a captive audience in the plane. When the fight breaks out, there's nowhere for the bystanders to go. Figure out how many of them there are, where they are, and how they are going to react (in general) to a battle. Do they hunker down in their seats, trying not to get hit? Do they panic and start swarming the aisle? A combination?

 

3) Altitude - Brush up on your environmental rules knowledge. You've got multiple effects from altitude--falling, breathing, and cold. If all of the heroes fly and have life support, it may not be a problem for them, but what about the other passengers? Back to #1, think about the non-flyer taking a hit that knocks them out that hole that was blasted in the fuselage, sending them plummeting 30,000 feet to whatever lies below. Timing is everything when you are trying to catch someone in that situation (not only are they falling, but a plane under power is moving rapidly away from them as well).

 

I hope that at least gives you something to think about for your adventure.

[hawkfu]

Having dealt with a number of scenarios on planes, and without any more information than what you posted, there are 3 areas I would suggest thinking about:

 

1) Confined space - Planes are small, even the largest passenger jet, especially for characters wielding super-powers. In those terms, they also aren't very tough. Consider the entire plane to be a target-rich environment, whether you are dealing with other passengers, or the fuselage, it could get very messy. AOE attacks are particularly bad (or good if that's your goal).

 

2) Other passengers - Not sure what size plane you are talking about, but you've got a captive audience in the plane. When the fight breaks out, there's nowhere for the bystanders to go. Figure out how many of them there are, where they are, and how they are going to react (in general) to a battle. Do they hunker down in their seats, trying not to get hit? Do they panic and start swarming the aisle? A combination?

 

3) Altitude - Brush up on your environmental rules knowledge. You've got multiple effects from altitude--falling, breathing, and cold. If all of the heroes fly and have life support, it may not be a problem for them, but what about the other passengers? Back to #1, think about the non-flyer taking a hit that knocks them out that hole that was blasted in the fuselage, sending them plummeting 30,000 feet to whatever lies below. Timing is everything when you are trying to catch someone in that situation (not only are they falling, but a plane under power is moving rapidly away from them as well).

 

I hope that at least gives you something to think about for your adventure.

 

 

Yes! Thank you, Scott. This is helpful.

[Christopher]

Another thing is Wind once the hull is broken. 6E2 146 list's all the effects of Wind.

Even if there is not much wind for air gettign succed out, the plane is flying a high speed.

 

If combat breaches the hull, there might also be a loss of engines from Debris or Attack hits. With damage Fuselage and a missing Engine or two the airplane might need a Superman to keep in the air.

 

The best bet for the heroes is to fight outside, using fliers or clinging to stick to the hull.

The best bet for the Villains is to get inside. And Maybe bind a hero or two with saving passengers to uneven the odds in thier favor.

 

Note that the example Vehicles in 6E2 196 as designed for heroic games, not so much for superheroic ones. But even for heroic games Airplanes are incredibly Flimsy.

You might want to reduce the damage to the plane from weapons with beam limitation. For the same reason a Bullet won't bring down a wall, it will be hard to bring down a Jumbo Jet unless you hit something really important.

[hawkfu]

more great factors to consider - thank you!

[Alewis478]

When pressurized blowing a hole in the fuselage is just as easy as the door. The door is not a weak spot at that point. So the villains could surprise the heroes by not coming through the door. Maybe even cling to the plane, cut a hole in the bottom and come through the baggage compartment to totally surprise them. The pilots will know as soon as you puncture through, they may even be able to tell while their clinging depending on how many villains there are. If the pilots don't know heroes are on the plane they probably wouldn't even announce it though.

 

Sounds like a fun scene.

 

Are there passengers on the plane? Heroes could be kept busy trying to save them.

[Houston GM]

What I'm asking - any suggestions on how to handle combat in that environment?

 

Explosive Decompression:

Have a plan for what happens when PCs/NPCs start punching holes in the fuselage. Everyone has heard of explosive decompression. The Mythbusters tested it once. A bullet won't cause explosive decompression. (The air will leak out the hole, but the hole won't expand.) A larger hole (the size of a window) will cause explosive decompression.

 

When I used combat on an airplane, I kept the entire fight low (under 10,000 feet), so there were fewer issues to complicate things.

 

What's the goal?

If it's a simple assassination attempt, the villains might just blow the tail off the plane, then attack any PCs who make it out of the falling plane.

 

Planes are fast:

Even if your PCs can fly, most don't fly at the speed of most planes. Assume the plane is going between 65 hexes and 128 hexes per segment. That's very hard to keep up with, especially if you're using powers that are 60-100 points. When I ran a scenario with a plane, the first major problem to solve was how to catch it. (I was nice. They started out ahead of the plane, so they only had to figure out a way to catch it as it shot past.)

 

Other options:

Instead of starting the encounter with the plane being attacked, start it with the PCs getting a warning: "Villain group is going to attack your plane in the air." Suddenly you've given them multiple ways to try to solve the problem.

[hawkfu]

Hi, I really appreciate the replies so far. Freakin' love this community.

 

I am in the middle of an ongoing scenario that has the heroes globe trotting to recover magic items before the villain group does. They are travelling by private jet and have recovered two of the 5 items.

 

This scene is the villain group attacking the plane Rocketeer style. Their goal is first to board the plane and recover the items then make their getaway. Probably try to disable the plane as they leave. The bad guys have their own plane following the heroes - so they jetpack over to the heroes plane to do their thing then jetpack back. The villains can't just blow open the plane until they secure the magic items.

 

There are 3 other normal on the plane with them.

 

Thanks again everybody who has taken the time to respond.

[Alewis478]

So mostly you need some pseudo-realistic physics for a plane with a man sized hole in it. The only real concern is the initial explosive decompression. The modifier "explosive" is used because its a lot of decompression happening very quickly, not because it's particularly violent. Anyone sitting next to the hole and not wearing a seat belt would be sucked out. It's about a half ton of pressure assuming you're over 30,000 feet, however, that only last for a couple seconds. After that the pressure stabalizes rather quickly, about 90 seconds in a commercial jet. So after the first few seconds you're relatively safe as long as you're not sticking your head out the hole.

 

The other thing that might come up is after the plane is disabled, assuming the wings are attached, you can glide about 15 feet for every foot that you drop. So they could have some decent landing options even with no power.

 

Just curious, does your plot assume the villains get away with one or more items or is it completely up in the air (pun intended!) based on the heroes response?

[hawkfu]

Just curious, does your plot assume the villains get away with one or more items or is it completely up in the air (pun intended!) based on the heroes response?

 

It's completely up in the air. This idea is a last minute addition to fill out a session. Plus I have been trying to put them through more unusual, exciting combat situations.

[TheQuestionMan]

Telekinesis STR13, Area Effect Radius, Non Selective, Only to Push/Shove Objects out of the Plane (-2) Does not effect targets with Clinging, Flight, or Desolid (-1/4), Does not work below 500 feet.

 

Resisted with STR like entagles and grabs. Casual STR to Resist if anchored