As a small note: I might have made some sort of "Fin" reference, but if I did it was not meant to intone some sort of "conspiracy" (lord knows we have enough of those!), it was simply in passing.
As far as Hurr2c and FM2 complimenting each other: perhaps each other, but NOT the rest of the planeset. The Hurr2c hispano guns are at least 2x as powerful as the 12x303cal that the IIB had. In AH, the hispano round takes 3 50cal rounds to equal, and I believe it is 3 or more 30cal/303cal to equal the 50cal. So that means if you had a Hurr2c with only 1 gun enabled (all other 3 shot away) it would still be more powerful than a fully functioning Hurr1 with 8x303cal guns. In fact, even with just 1 Hispano working, you'd need to further add at least 1 more 303cal to the Hurr1 to equal the hitting power, at LEAST one.
Then add in the fact that you have 4 of the guns, and 1 hurr2c packs a punch more than 4x as strong as the hurr1 with 8 smaller guns.
It doesn't match. Performance, perhaps, but it's like saying "Oh, the ta152C is like the 190D, so we can sub them" -- might fly the same but BAM the punch is greatly enhanced.
FM2, I can see WHY it was originally chosen, but I'm saying it no longer HAS to be chosen for tradition's sake. This is not to change what we have, this is to start the change for NEXT TIME. Perhaps one should be less concerned with looks and more so with performance. It might lead to a much better balance.
So, the FM2 and the Hurr2 are both too good, it balances the field, right? Wrong. They're not the only planes in the set. Hurr2c is competitve in the late war because of its "instant-kill no matter what the angle" feature. This unbalances the planeset in the beginning and the middle of the time frame. FM2 might be good because it's used later in the RPS, but that screws everything over early in the RPS. P40B is a good plane. It's not entirely horrible. However, when compared to a 1944 FM2 it's dog meat plain and simple. Same for P40E. Hell even the 109F4 has a bit of trouble with the Hurr2c. Heck, with a firepower that didn't start showing up in fighters until late '43 and '44, the Hurr2c in early '42 totally overwhelms anything else.
So for discussion's sake, these two planes being complementary with their "being too good for a sub" status does not make things even. It just makes things worse for both sides, instead of one side or the other.
