Perk the LA-7

[Kweassa]

What's so complex about this?

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 A newbie with a 3 hour flight time is in a La-7. A flashy vet is in a Zeke. After a few lobs and passes the La-7 gets scared and runs away.

 So what really happened here?

* A super-duper ace, couldn't shoot down a 3-hour old neophyte.

Verdict: The plane is mightier than the pilot. Case solved.
-----------------------------------------------

 Why do you think we have so much angry and vocal 'vets' in channel 200?

 Aren't those guys all angry because they couldn't shoot down some guy whom he thought sucked, because they couldn't catch him?

 Woops, they couldn't catch a fast plane in their slow plane huh..?

[Widewing]

To go back to the La-7, I checked my stats going back two years and found that I have over 900 kills in Lavochkins (about 65% in the La-5FN) against about 60 losses to all causes. That's a K/D of right around 15/1.

These are very capable airplanes. Fly them to their strengths and they are very difficult to beat.

Then again, over that same time period flying the F6F-5, I have 485 kills for 27 losses from all causes, or 18/1.

Therefore, if you hold to the plane being the primary factor then you must conclude that the Hellcat is a better fighter than the Lavochkins. Of course, we know that isn't the case.

What the Hellcat offers is ruggedness and maneuverability. While the Lavochkins carry cannons, the Hellcat's six .50s are mounted on one of the best gun platforms in the game with a generous supply of ammo and a very strong ordnance load. Overall, the F6F-s is a more useful aircraft that can hold its own with late-war fighters if need be. It generally gets a great many more ground kills than the Lavochkins too.

So, it's clearly a combination of aircraft and pilot, and I'll state that less dominating aircraft demand greater skills to excel in the MA. Too often skill is defined by pure air-to-air skill. Skills include knowing how to get the advantage and keep it. Skills include the SA required to avoid getting ganged by a horde. Skills include managing your fuel and ordnance. Skills include knowing when the advantage is swinging towards the enemy and what to do about that. Skills include managing your speed and altitude. Skills include knowing where your aircraft is strong and fighting to that strength. Skills include knowing how force the enemy to fight to their aircraft's weaknesses.

I'm of the opinion that 80% of this game is the pilot and all he brings to the table, 20% being the strengths of the aircraft.

My regards,

Widewing

[Raider179]

Perk IT. I dont buy the only new pilots fly it as I have seen very experienced pilots in it.


IT outperforms almost everything at less than  10k. Just make it like 10 like the CHOG

[tikky]

Just face it... La-7 will not be perked in the meantime unless HTC does something drastic like perkieng the late war stuff (like P-51B/D, P-47D-25/40, P-38L, F4U1-D, 109G-10, Fw-190A-8/D-9,Nik, Ki-84, and Yak-9U,

[Urchin]

Oh, the La will never be perked, you can take that to the bank.  

Hell, the only reason I don't like it is because the vast majority of the women that fly it fly it like... well, a woman.  

Of course....  Pee-fiftyruns, Doruns, run09s... all of em are almost as fun to "fight" as clipping your toenails.  

Been flying the Ki-84 most of this tour (just about exculsively, actually)..

The results should give some indication of what kind of MA we have.  

Plane ----- Kills of/Killed By

Seafire --- 19/3
Spit 5   --- 12/5
Spit 9   --- 11/4
P-38     --- 10/1
F6F       --- 10/0

Those are the "most killed"... most deaths are F4U-1 /w 3, ack /w 3, runstang /w 3, and the spits.  

Kills of La7?  2.  Killed by La7?  2?  

You think I've seen 4 La-7s all month?  You can't turn a 360 circle without seeing 15 of them in a crowd.  

They exemplify the pussified AH we've all come to enjoy, typically I get killed by something else in the gangbangs which are the only "fights" you'll see most el gays, pee-fiftyruns, and run09/90s zooming through looking for cherrypicks.

[Widewing]

Originally posted by Urchin
You think I've seen 4 La-7s all month?  You can't turn a 360 circle without seeing 15 of them in a crowd.  

They exemplify the pussified AH we've all come to enjoy, typically I get killed by something else in the gangbangs which are the only "fights" you'll see most el gays, pee-fiftyruns, and run09/90s zooming through looking for cherrypicks.

LOLOLOL

Yeah, I see lots of La-7s buzzing around like bees with their hive on fire. Most run like hell at the first sign of a real fight. It seems to me that when used offensively, most La-7s will go for a vulch run, extend a few miles, reverse and try it again. I'm usually waiting for them and jump them on their second run. However, these guys apparently don't care as long as they can get one on the vulch. So, you kill 'em and they're back up again 30 seconds later to do it again. Ditto for the Dora. I haven't found one willing to tangle with the Ki-84, although I have managed to trap several due to their lack of SA.

This tour I've lost four Ki-84s. However, most of those were oddball losses. I was hit by bombs in mid air dropped by a formation of B-24s. I was hit on the runway by bombs dropped from 30k B-17s that missed the hangers. I collided with a TBM that pitched up when I shot its tail off at maybe 50 yards out. My only "real" loss came when I rolled into a horde of Bish carrier fighters to get them off a fellow Rook. I killed a Seafire, two F6Fs and two F4Us before I was was damaged by a 5 inch shell or autoack and then HO'd by a Seafire while maneuvering missing a flap and aileron. I should have had another Seafire and a Zero that I set ablaze, but my Hayate blew up before those wrecks hit the water. Well, they died anyway. Those kind of fights are tough to survive, I was so close to the CV that the 5 inch gunners were shooting at me and smaller caliber tracers were usually zipping by. When you shoot one down, he's back in the fight inside of 60 seconds. Just when I thought I had some space, here come three or four more. My guns were just about empty when I got hit. But it was fun!

As is typical, the Mustang I saved ran away and didn't return to help. But, that wasn't a surprise. A large bunch of Rooks were coming, but they arrived seconds too late to help. I heard them over vox, "hang on Wide, we're coming!" I re-upped immediately in another Ki-84 and headed out to the CV. When I got there, most of the 15+ fighters were dead, as was the CV. I had to settle for killing a damaged F4U (assist) and a PT.

Mitsu, by the way, is 29/5 against the La-7 while flying the Ki-84. I'm willing to bet that those 5 losses were due to being cherry picked while fighting others. He's also 61/5 against all models of the Spitfire. That's mighty good.

So far, my paltry air to air kills and losses with the Ki-84 are:

La-7: 5/0
F6F-5: 3/0
F4U-1D: 4/0
La-5FN: 2/0
Fw 190D: 5/0
P-51D: 4/0
P-38L: 2/0
Lancaster: 2/0
B-24J: 6/0
Yak-9U: 1/0
N1K2-J: 1/0
Spitfire IX: 1/0
Seafire: 1/1

I've only logged about 13 hours in the MA, and my nephew has logged about the same using my account... He has maybe 12 kills, (most cherry picking in a P-51D) but flew over 30 sorties. Gotta get him his own account.... That way he can kill as many tools sheds as he wants without porking my stats. He is archtype runner... Drop bombs and haul butt...

So, if anyone gets whacked by a cherry picking P-51 and the text says: "you were killed by Widewing", that's my nephew Chris. So feel free to call him a RunStang Dweeb, 'cause he is. I won't be flying the Mustang this tour...

My regards,

Widewing

[Karnak]

Originally posted by Widewing
It seems to me that when used offensively, most La-7s will go for a vulch run, extend a few miles, reverse and try it again.

Hey!!!

I know that La-7!!!

[mechanic]

the LA7 is probably my least feared plane. It just plain sucks in a turn fight, It is easy to avoid when BnZ'ing and finally, they will try and HO you usually then go vertical and either run away or repeat the BnZ/HO attack. I never, ever have touble getting an LA7 off my 6. ever.

To my knoledge, the only two lala drivers who i have any trouble with are Shane (obviously. he has never killed me but on checking film viewer i have encountered, and not been able to shoot, him on a few occasions) and Spazzter (he flies nits so not a problem)

there are other great lala pilots out there, but quite frankly, if you cant out turn them, you should be able to avoid them. especially as the majority fly a FFT (full ****ing throttle) 99% of the time.

Dont perk the lala. its a great chew toy and score padder.

[Shane]

Originally posted by mechanic
To my knoledge, the only two lala drivers who i have any trouble with are Shane (obviously. he has never killed me but on checking film viewer i have encountered, and not been able to shoot, him on a few occasions)

ahem...  unsure of exact situation, tho'

current tour

shane has 2 kills on batfinkV
batfinkV has 0 kills on shane

La7 - 2 kills
P-51d - 1 death
SpitV - 1 death

[humble]

I'm of the opinion that 80% of this game is the pilot and all he brings to the table, 20% being the strengths of the aircraft.



My only problem is when my 80% only covers about half of the other guys 80%:mad:

[thrila]

Originally posted by mechanic
the LA7 is probably my least feared plane. It just plain sucks in a turn fight, It is easy to avoid when BnZ'ing and finally, they will try and HO you usually then go vertical and either run away or repeat the BnZ/HO attack. I never, ever have touble getting an LA7 off my 6. ever.

That's easy to say if the plane you're in is a spitfire.   Not all planes have such a distinct advantage over the la7.  I don't fear anything in a spitfire, in a mossie a semi-competent pilot in an la7 will usually mean my death.

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Kweassa
What's so complex about this?

-----------------------------------------------
 A newbie with a 3 hour flight time is in a La-7. A flashy vet is in a Zeke. After a few lobs and passes the La-7 gets scared and runs away.

 So what really happened here?

* A super-duper ace, couldn't shoot down a 3-hour old neophyte.

Verdict: The plane is mightier than the pilot. Case solved.
-----------------------------------------------

 Why do you think we have so much angry and vocal 'vets' in channel 200?

 Aren't those guys all angry because they couldn't shoot down some guy whom he thought sucked, because they couldn't catch him?

 Woops, they couldn't catch a fast plane in their slow plane huh..?

The reverse can also be said.   A newbie in a far superior plane couldn't shoot down a vet in a slower, inferior plane.  Verdict: It's the pilot not the plane.

While the plane does facter in the equation, the bottom line is still the pilot.  It takes the pilot to be able to take advantage of the strengths of his plane and exploit them to the fullest.  In a situation with the planes the same and the pilots of the same skill level, the one that makes the first mistake usually loses.


ack-ack

[Murdr]

When I first started flying here, I seen a comment in the radio buffer that stuck with me.  "The La7 here sticks out like a cartoon character in a movie.  It doesnt belong."  I dont think I appriciated the comment until I happened upon a lala on the deck as I was rtbing.  I gradually dove off about 4k of alt down to the deck toward him.  He saw me, did a 180, and of course went for the HO.  After the merge he did another 180, after completing that he accelerated within gun range in 12 seconds on me who had just continued going straight.  Two 180s and run down a fast plane going straight in 12 seconds?  No, no performance issue there.  Then people complain about how timid some get with their E managment.  With a model running all over the arean that neuters E managment in most of the planeset...I wonder.

Ask the average person to name some wwii planes.  I doubt few, if any ever even heard of the La-7.  Compair that to its usage and impact on the MA.  IMO there is ample reason for a light perk to be on it.  Its a dead horse issue though, HT has made his position clear.  It aint gonna happen.

[Schutt]

Should perk p38s flying above 15k. Flying above 15k automatic removes 1 perk point from counter, above 20k second one.

P38 is just to deadly up there.

[Tilt]

Originally posted by Murdr

Ask the average person to name some wwii planes.  I doubt few, if any ever even heard of the La-7.  

Which "average" person would that be?