| Fighter aircraft tier and rank table |
| Friday, 18 July 2008 11:48 |
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GERMAN FRENCH BRITISH SUMMARY: Tier 0 attributes German NOOB ride is best performer along with the British *VET* ride. This is the reverse of the general trend in game and offsets it's light armament to some degree, while reinforcing the NON RED vs BLUE nature of the game. Tier 1 GERMAN FRENCH BRITISH SUMMARY: Tier 1 attributes Everybodies VET ride not greatly dissimilar in top speed. British RAF get their first 20mm cannon ability but Germans still hold the climb card against all comers in both 109s. Turning fights are a wash depending on pilots skill. German n00bs still have the performance edge but newly ranked (one level up) n00bs in all countries now get the previous Tier 0 VET rides with all the abilities they missed in the previous tier. Tier 2 GERMAN FRENCH BRITISH SUMMARY: Tier 2 attributes SUMMARY: Everybody now has 2 n00b rides and have a "newly ranked n00b" (transitional n00b) improved ride ... in addition to 2 x VET rides one of them being a CAS unit and the other a "top vet rank" ride. Performance differances are becoming more varied but the German rides always have the climb advantage and are generally faster in level flight (with one exception) in general the mixed capabilities of each country are broader but with the greater variety of available aircraft types in the later tiers the playing field is broadly even. With a fairly similar paint scheme employed in each countries service there is a reasonable chance a pilot may not by this stage of a campaign always be aware what type he is in combat with ... as aircraft leave and arrive within a contested region and where he may be otherwise occupied defending his life or taking someone elses. Tier 3 GERMAN FRENCH BRITISH SUMMARY: Tier 3 attributes The Germans are the only country that get two aircraft introduced in the (currently) final equipment introduction tier. Both are fairly narrow focus where the two Allied countries get a single aircaft of generally broader combat capabilities, covering a wider performance envelope of both speed and turning ability. The Allied air forces also gain some ability in their previously inferior climbing performance. Since ALL aircraft types are now in game by this stage, this tends to be moot that the Germans get 2 types in introduction and the Allies only the one (each, which amounts to 2 functionally speaking) ... the abilities of the aircraft in question provide the parity that needs to be found given it isn't a red vs blue game and there needs to be acceptance of the differances to be dealt with as part of the war here. The previous similarity in colour schemes each countries aircraft are painted is continued as a manner in which to make fast action in combat less likely to have you totally sure of what you're facing at all times ... as the range of aircraft types in action is now at it's most varied. Bf109s are all similar to enemy pilots at longer ranges as are Spitfires/Hurricanes to their opponents, in general at least even though specific variations do exist. The early tier 0 and tier 1 aircraft are generally being stripped out of supply by this stage of a campaign (particularly so with the low end tier 0 types) but there is still a very wide range of types to be found in combat at this latter stage of a campaign, making for a wide variety of encounters and the need by all pilots to work together and develop and exploit combat tactics to favour this range of differances in performance of all their different aircraft types, and those of their opponents. As the campaign moves on to even later stages, and earlier types tend to be removed from the equipment inventory in favour of the new types of aircraft, some early types (tier 1 vet rides for the most part) will probably always be available in some numbers for the sake of both variety and for those that still favour the lighter more nimble types even in the latter stages of a live campaign. Rank access to the lower currently available aircraft types (which changes as the campaign continues on) will dynamically shift downwards to accomodate the need to have n00b equipment available for newer players who previously didn't have the rank to fly the better types when they were top tier aircraft in earlier tiers but are now no longer the top dogs of the equipment list. Thus n00bs in later stages of a campaign will be able to fly what were vet rides earlier on, like the D.520/Bf109E-4/Spitfire.Ib combo. We now have an excellent use of rank from the highest combat orientated rank down to the lowest, and a transitioning equipment access (through rank) that much better reflects the pilots ability to progress in skill and experience and climb the ladder of success, while not being stuck entirely at the earliest equipment level from the beginning to the end of their campaign. This is probably as good as the air game has ever been (in terms of set-up) and in reality represents the best of both what is available and what one can experience in terms of roleplay given what equipment is available for us to leverage towards that end. |
Today, I posted a listing of fighter aircraft 