You complain that Spits end up on the deck turning in circles and are easy prey for incoming higher alt LW. That is true, but it isn't because they are stupid. It's because the Spit cannot get a kill until the fight has devolved to near stall speed and that does not happen until the Spit has followed his intended target all the way to zero alt.
That's just another way of saying "target fixation". It's a lack of basic discipline and cooperation, and nothing else.
It is because HTC has chosen to model the stiffness of the Spit I controls at moderate speeds as meaning "virtually unmanouverable". If you dive on a 110 or 109 at alt he just does a flick reversal and your Spit is ballistic and cannot get a single shot. And with 0.303s there is no such thing as a snap shot. Only on the deck at stall speed can you finally load the required 200 rounds of 0.303 into your target. By then you are toast from other 110s or 109s. Fights using Spit Is take an enormous amount of time, and your target, especially 110s, can pretty much extend at will, even from a stall fight. As soon as they are beyond 300 to 400 yds the few 0.303s that do land will do no damage.
Requiring a long time does not necessarily mean that you alone have to handle the entire time length by yourself.
If it will require 5 minutes of constant fighting to finally bring a 109 to its knees, then you could be doing the first 2 minutes, the others chasing him down can do another 2 minutes, and the finally death blow can be dealt by others for 1 minute. High alt Spitfires push down high 109s, mid alt Spitfires engage them and make them run to deck, and low alt Hurricanes and Spits finally stall them out and deal the death blow.
Ofcourse, sticking to that principle also means the guys at the high-alt and mid-alt ranges would have a lot less killing opportunites than the guys at down low. But hey, I personally feel that's better than being BnZd to death everytime I up a plane.
Your argument that the LW side just has better players doesn't entirely hold water because the AvA arena group are quite conscientious at switching sides to even things up, so it turns out the same people end up playing both sides. Yet the LW has over a 2:1 kill ratio, even when flying 110s.
We have players sitting at the ack guns shooting at Spits and Hurris at take off. How many of these guys does the LW have?
But I am guilty of whining about something that will not change, which is one of the definitions of clinical insanity, so I'll stop. Sorry.
What exactly were you whining about in the first place? That LW planes are overmodelled?
Overmodelled 110s being the cause of disadvantage obviously makes no sense, since today the 110 squadrons left for other fronts of the war, and still against only 109s, the RAF were slapped around. So what would it be this time? The 109s being overmodelled? The Spits and Hurricanes being undermodelled?
The Spits and Hurris have an absolute advantage over pitch control at all speed ranges. The 109 has a slightly better roll than the Spit at moderate and low speed ranges, and the Hurricane outrolls them both - but over 350mph the difference becomes meaningless. The great equalizer is the carburetor problem plaguing Spits and Hurris, which helps the 109 immensely in low-speed maneuvering, especially with sudden jinks.
In other words, It ain't exactly a rose garden for the 109s either. When the 109 fully utilizes his plane, at best the odds are 50:50 against a Spitfire. The cannon advantage may shift the odds to 60:40 in favor of the 109s, and therefore that much of disadvantage we Spits and Hurris have, MUST be overcome with cooperation, which we are sorely lacking.
Is there any way to fix this? Yes. I certainly think so.
That's why I took the time to start this thread. I'm not bashing the RAF for no reason. I'm criticizing the RAF because I sincerely think we can do better and prove ourselves much more deadlier foes than we are now. What we need is a different mindset than what we used to have in the MA.
Since obviously we can't get people to do military-grade squadron training to fight them in a game, IMO RAF pilots should just follow the simple set of rules as written below;
1. Divide the altitude ranges to three groups - 10k and above as High alt, 3k~10k as Mid alt, and 3k and under as Low alt.
2. After take off, and arriving at the scene, scan the area around and make a quick assessment to which alt range has least number of your planes in it. It is there you are needed - choose that altitude range as your own.
3. After choosing an altitude range, stick to it no matter what. Even if you think there's a great opportunity for a 1vs1 coming up, ignore the temptation. There's no such things as 1vs1 in BoB. Every fight will be a dizzy mess of many fighters buzzing around you. If the enemy runs below your operational alt, then let him go.
4. Cross over your altitude range only under following circumstances:
* when the enemy plane that dives to safety, tries to latch onto one of your own friendly plane at an alt range lower than yours - follow the 109 down, clear his tail, and go back up.
* when the enemy reinforcements, for some reason, is delayed, and your side obtains temporary total airsuperiority over the target.
If most everyone sticks to these simple four rules, the air superiority will be contested, without shifting to the LW for such a long time. And as long as they don't have the liberty to gang up on our fighters on a whim, sooner or later, a kill opportunity will come to you.
