| Comparing Equipment for Success |
| Written by DOC |
| Saturday, 21 February 2009 16:37 |
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From the forums I spotted a thread about the new Hurricane Mk.IIc fighter bomber the RAF have, and replied regarding the Luftewaffe counter that is replacing the Bf110C-4/B on the German side when we release the v1.30 patch to the game. The original poster (tigger6) was wondering if the Germans were going to get a plane like the Hurricane Mk.IIc fighter bomber the British get to fly in the game. While we will be adding more new equipment as time goes by (we've been doing it for 7 years now) it is important to understand that we will always draw that equipment from the historical record and that it will never "match up" perfectly the same one thing to another. At all times you have to learn to use what is in the game on it's own performance terms even though in the future more new stuff will be added, because it too will not be "the same" as anything else the other side has. Everything has it's own historically based performance attributes and this is the soul of a weapons simulation. While there is a lot of game going on in Battleground Europe giving you a huge range of things to do, in terms of weapons and equipment performance it is entirely a simulation more than a matched game. The game is a creature built around that simulation heart, allowing you to learn about the actual weapons and equipment and employ that knowledge to gain the advantage in the combat situations you will face during your campaign as a member of your armed forces. Here's what I wrote in reply to tigger6 regarding the Hurricane Mk.IIc, and the German fighter bomber currently placed to do CAS for the German side in Battleground Europe. The Hurricane Mk.IIc and the Bf110F-B are completely different aeroplanes. One is a slow single engined figher armed with 4 x 20mm Hispano cannons that can manage a very tight turn and carries 2 x 500 pound general purpose bombs, built by Hawker Aircraft in Britain. The other is a heavy twin engined Zerstorer armed with 2 x Mg151/20mm Mauser cannons and 4 x Mg17 7.9mm machine guns, which while faster than a Hurricane Mk.IIc by nearly 20mph doesn't turn as well but can manage to outclimb it, and carries 2 x SC250 551 pound high charge bombs, built by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, later called Messerschmitt, in Germany. The Hurricane Mk.IIc has a top speed of 332mph. It has 91 rounds of 20mm for each of it's guns, all firing together so while it has the highest firepower weighting in the game it is expended quickly. Once the bombs have been expended it can turn tighter than any other single engined plane in the game except the Hawk-75, Hurricane Mk.I, and surprisingly to some the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka. The Bf110F-B has a top speed of 349mph. It carries 200 rounds of 20mm for each of it's Mg151 cannons, which means 2 and a half times the firing duration (trigger time) of the Hurricane Mk.IIc, although with half as many actual cannons, being centerline mounted are however probably easier to score hits with at all ranges. Once the bombs have been dropped it still remains a heavy aircraft in a turn with a slow rate of roll. Having 2 engines of reasonable horsepower means it can manage to better the Hurricane in a climb race, but the differance is not great. In it's defense it has a good instantaneous turn rate but bleeds speed alarmingly quickly if the turn is sustained. It is best used in teams of 2 or more as a hit and run fighter, extending against the Hurricane with speed and climb and coming back for a new attack. The battery of 4 machine guns adds a bit of punch to it's firepower when added to the cannons, since they too are centerline mounted and at most combat firing ranges will hit close to or with the 20mm cannons. The F-B varient of the Bf110 has the heaviest frontal armour (windscreen) of any plane in the game at 57mm thick, but lacks an engine in front of the pilot providing the protection that might give. The Hurricane pilot needs to rely on diving altitude to offset it's slow speed, and then hope to sucker the Bf110 pilot into a turning duel, which the Bf110 can never win. If the Bf110 pilot refuses to enter a turning duel he can dictate the terms of the fight using his greater speed to the advantage. This same approach to knowing your weapons and their individual capabilities versus the enemies weapons is applicable to basically all the weapons and equipment of Battleground Europe. Whether you're in a tank, or a crewed anti-tank gun, or flying a fighter in air combat, the same knowledge, skill and experience you use to triumph in one type will help help you to do so in any type. You just have to learn it's strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponents. Since the performance and ability of all weapons and equipment in Battelground Europe is simulated from the historical record, that information you need is available everywhere with just a little dedicated research. Naturally the more you study it the better armed you will be to use it to your advantage. This is how, when you are playing the game ... the good get good and the dead get dead. |
One of the things we see all the time in the forums (and in game chat too) is players not "getting" how to use their equipment successfully against the enemy, the most important criteria being that everyone has equipment that is historically different and not the same as the other guy is using against you. Since we simulate weapons and equipment on historical performance attributes it can never be the same on each side. Using those differences to your advantage is the name of the game, and that requires knowledge of how the equipment differs on each side.
A recruit in a Hurricane MK.I can beat a pro in a FW190-A4 if he turns with him etc.