Speed has become the dominant factor in what makes a good fighter. The gunnery change has made getting close to the target more important and speed both enables fast closure rats and the ability to gain separation in order to survive.
In AH1 it was never clear why speed was such a big deal in WWII. In AH@, like WWII, speed is king.
I agree with Karnak 100%
The whole thing started when gunnery became more realistic... which neutralized the 'long range gunnery' aspect of AH as seen in AH1.
Overall success rates of attack passes people make, have dropped down dramatically.
Since it is so much harder to hit a plane(at least for the general public), now, people are required to get in closer to shoot down an enemy plane.
Thus, in AH2, contrary to popular belief, there is actually a lot of maneuvering involved in a dogfight.
The quality of fights are generally much higher in AH2 than AH1 IMO. Lot of fantatstic fights happen which you would never see in AH1, because you'd be shot down so early in AH1. The problem is, this means that it takes longer time to kill something in AH2. The overall risk you are exposed to, due to chasing a certain plane around, has greatly increased.
So naturally, people start to prefer faster planes. This is totally in conjunction with the general logic of WW2 aircraft evolution - it is actually a much more realistic tendency than AH1.
Since you can't just snipe planes at 600 yards anymore(at least, for most people ) being in a fast plane really counts now.
In a fast plane, you can duke it out a bit, and still get away when the odds are bad - as long as you are fast enough to keep most of the slower planes further than just 400 distance marker, it is highly likely you'll return alive(even unscathed in some situations). In a fast plane, you can catch other fast planes running away, too.
However, in a slow plane.. you can twist and turn all day long.. but you'll almost never get a kill anymore. Look at all those excellent Japanese pilots moving over to La-7s, Yaks and Typhoons!(this is true!).
In AH1, being in a slow plane didn't matter as long as you flew smart. The unrealistic aspect of gunnery still rewarded you heftily. Just keep a little alt in a furball, and by the time you reach deck you are scoring 3~4 kills.
But in AH2, the realistic gunnery dragged in the iron laws of realistic plane choices into gameplay.
Fly smart or dumb or whatever you want - being in a slow plane, just doesn't pay anymore! Some renowned aces like Leviathan and co. still fly SpitVs. But for the general masses, the popularity of Spits and N1K2s are in a constant decline. (except the SpitV, which is still considered one of the best base-defense planes. In this role you don't necessarily have to kill much. All you have to do is survive long enough to buy time.)
Like I said above, the dogfights of AH2, is actually much more exciting than AH1. But this also means it's much more harder. So, what do people do when they can't handle the dogfights? They rely on better planes.
Voila - there you have it.
The furballs of AH1 consisted of massive numbers of Spits and Nikis at low altitudes. At mid to high altitudes were the more faster fighters. It was a gigantic, chaotic all-out battle.
The furballs of AH2, is now almost entirely made up of La-7s, P-51s, Typhoons, 190D-9s, 109G-10s. It is actually a rare thing to see a N1K or a Spitfires now. Today, during the 4 hour period of game playing at all fronts, I've seen total two N1K2s. Handful of base-defending SpitVs at low alts. All the rest I've seen are P-51s and La7s, Fw190D-9s.
.....
I think this is actually a good thing.
The MA of late, is undeniably a total-late-war arena. Something resembling late '44~'45.
This problem always existed even in AH1, but most people never actually felt it as a problem until now. Now, it is flaring up.
ps) (whispers) so.. support the NPA!
