Originally posted by Karnak
The reason for this is to limit players in scenarios and CT setups from always taking the heaviest loadout, a loadout which was frequently not available in reality. As it stands now the Allies have a huge jabo advantage that was not nearly so pronounced in WWII because the heavy Allied that is always available and used here, was not usually used in WWII.
This is, of course, a request for scenarios and the CT, not to change the MA.
I understand it's a request for historical and semi-historical match-ups. I don't generally discuss MA related issues in the TOD forum.
As far as the Allies having any sort of airfield ordinance logistics problems late in the war (most heavy hauling Allied fighter-bombers are late war planes) is concerned, I'm not aware of this ever having been the case. I could be wrong about an isolated incident or two but I'm sceptical of even that. By 1944 the Allies had a strong logistical system in every theater of combat. So much so that luxuries quite often made it to the front. The Allies were dropping bombs on everything in sight, just about. In the Pacific, squadrons on front-line island strips modified F4U-1s to carry ordinance (it's original configuration didn't have a bomb mount). They received plenty of heavy bombs to experiment with then carry for for ground strikes. And we know production wasn't a problem.
Let's face historical facts here - the Allies did indeed enjoy an advantage in fighter-bomber bomb-loads. That makes a suggestion to allow for such load-outs to be "switched off" by CMs and CT staffers a bad one, in my opinion. It's yet another artificial "balancing" tool that is designed to be used on a specific side that's not really a necessity nor a reflection of reality.
Basically the Axis were on the offensive and the Allies on the defensive during the first half of the war and those roles reversed as the war progressed. If AH players want to change history and "win the war", per say .... they better do it before 1944. After that then I would suggest players who fly Axis adopt a new mindset that involves more "keeping the invaders at bay and making their advances too costly" instead of "let's capture all of England after the D-Day invasion because it's cool, man." After all, the only reason to want to balance the fighter-bomber loadouts on both sides is to give them an equal chance of grabbing territory. How would that accurately portray the events of WWII, even with a degree of alternate reality involved?
That doesn't mean there isn't something that could be tweaked in the strategic resupply system of Aces High. But eliminating options currently available to players that actually reflect the capabilities of their aircraft isn't the answer. I would divert those energies to campaigning for more early war aircraft thereby allowing more early war scenarios where the Axis can win the war before it's too late.
Anyway ....
Here's a possibility for scenarios and events (though not really for the CT):
Require actual mission design and assignment. That way players have to carry the ordinance and fuel load in the mission. Any player that flies independently of a mission is ejected.
