How are Pods Used

[Veldor]

These aren't mentioned in the manual. What am I missing? How exactly does one go about using them? Simply arm a plane with them? How are they deployed? etc.

These bandits are kickin my butt and I need some help!

[Dan Verssen]

Each ALE-45 will subtract 1 from enemy die rolls against the Hornet that are in its same area.
 
Each ALQ-119 will subtract 1 from enemy die rolls against the Hornet from any area.

[Veldor]

Thanks! Seems like they might come in really handy then in certain missions...

[NefariousKoel]

Do the defensive pods give your pilots an Air-to-Air penalty like AtG weapons do?

[Dan Verssen]

Yes, they are treated as non-ATA weapons for penalty purposes.

[Erik Rutins]

FYI if you click on the question mark to pull up the help info on the armaments screen it also explains all the armaments there.

[Wlkbout]

Sorry if this is a dumb question -- can't seem to find the answer.  Do all Hornets in the same area benefit from a pod or only the plane carrying it? 

[Dan Verssen]

Each pod only benefits the hornet carrying it.

[CptWaspLuca]

The fact pods are managed as AtG weapons sounds very strange and unrealistic for me.
In reality ALQ pods are standard equipment in AtA configurations, and they are absolutely aerodynamic: they have a negligible impact on AtA performances.
I love flight and simulators, and I ever equip one jammer if I can. The -1 malus is really unrealistic

[Bert44]

ORIGINAL: Dan Verssen

Yes, they are treated as non-ATA weapons for penalty purposes.

Very strange !
Because :
1st : Pods are not ranged in the "Weapon category" in the game.
2nd : Not very realistic to consider that a simple pod may degrade maneuvrability (like a bomb) and may jettison it..!

[StormcloudCreations]

It was an abstraction decision, and a decision to enable you to own the weapon needed to sacrifice to avoid event attacks more often. It was one of those "realism vs. gameplay" type decisions, and we went on the side of gameplay.

[CptWaspLuca]

I really don't like such unrealistic things; and I don't play in this manner with the Vassal module. You can still change the difficulty of the game in other manners, without sacrificing the realism.
Please give us at least some configurable realism options; you can put them in a configuration file, if you want, but let we play as with the Vassal version...
Pods are discarded as AtA weapons in the bandit event (very unrealistic!), but they give the AtG penalty... this is a non-sense.
An option to have pods handled as separate things, not depletable and not affecting performance would be really a gooooood thing for me.

[Bert44]

Ok it's just a game [8D] (but a 0 modif on a pod doesn't sacrifice any gameplay.)