Author Topic: Ki-84 Usage (or Lack Thereof) (Read 2251 times)

Krusty · « **Reply #45 on:** December 26, 2006, 12:28:14 AM »

Grits said it. Kweassa was just agreeing. Both have a very valid point. 99% of the AH player base doesn't want to spend time learning to fly. They want to take off in the bestest fastest uberest plane in the game, HO somebody until they get a kill (forget about how many times they die in the process) then run for home squealing with glee that they finally got a kill.

Sadly, I'm not making this up.

Those are the sheep. Those are the folks that won't ever appreciate the Ki84. They are the majority of pilots you will run up against in this game.

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #46 on:** December 26, 2006, 03:01:22 AM »

IMO - Ki84 is not used because the Spit 16 eliminated its only real advantage in the MA, that being excellent vertical performance.

Other than its fine vertical performance the Ki84 is rather slow, handles poorly at speed and the turn is unexceptional until the flaps kick in at very low speeds.

Spit 16, filled the role Ki84 had previously.

bozon · « **Reply #47 on:** December 26, 2006, 06:16:08 AM »

Spit 16 is fool proof. Ki84 is not.

That's all there is to it.

tedrbr · « **Reply #48 on:** December 26, 2006, 12:18:56 PM »

Have to agree with Kweassa, Grits, and Krusty's observation. The majority of pilots are looking for the "uber-ride". Spixteen, LaLa, Niki, Pony, Dora (only one of these with a good K/D ratio); whatever they consider "the best". That's one reason why the crowd is always in the Late Arenas, not Early, Mid (both of which have higher caps all the time for some reason), or AvA.... access to those planes.

(Disclaimer: Now, I'm usually in the late arenas myself, but I'm following the crowd for a good fight. I'd just as soon follow the corwd to AvA, Early, or Mid.... but that is not where they are at. And yes, some of you have seen me in La5's and Niki's on occassion in the past, and I still fly Dora's and Pony D and B's at times.)

I still monitor the Help channel in game, and many new (read as: totally clueless) pilots will ask "what's the best plane", "what's the fastest plane". They are looking for a twitch shooter game. They want to be in the "best ride". Blaze straight ahead in some version of point and shoot. Quick self gratification. Some are score.....chasers. Many not into any kind of cooperative play. Check 6's less common from them (and in the arenas in general of late). Some want (or need desperately) every advantage they can get.

Of course, the K/D ratio of these "uber-rides" are not spectacular in any way. There *are* some good spit, lala, and pony drivers out there, that can get their planes to perform and are good sticks; but the K/D ratio sez that the majority of those plane's pilots are not that good, despite the "uber" tag.

Then there are the real sticks out there. They do well flying a particular ride, or sometimes everything, other than "the popular" rides. They fly a plane in LA that is outclassed by part of the planeset, or takes skill to get performance out of it, or has some other quirk in it's nature.

I'm not in their league, and I don't try to master just a few planes from the planeset. I've found the Ki-61 and the Fw190A5 are great for taking on GV's. The Ki-84 is my favorite dogfighter. I'll use either the Bf109-K4 or Bf109-G14 with gondolas to intercept buffs, and Pony B's or D's to escort them. Only Spit I fly is the Seafire from Carriers. C205, La5, Yaks, F4, or E4 all fun at times.

And the Spit16 does not fill the role the Ki-84 previously had, GRUNHERZ..... the Ki-84 never had that great a following in AHII. I've seen it's use in-game up lately, probably due to recent threads like this one, or new players that actually have bothered to check Soda's website write-up on it.

Zanth · « **Reply #49 on:** December 28, 2006, 07:45:39 AM »

I hate the auto retracting flaps. They go back in at the worst times.

tedrbr · « **Reply #50 on:** December 28, 2006, 01:05:11 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Zanth
I hate the auto retracting flaps. They go back in at the worst times.

Better they be ripped from the airframe when you reach their stress limits? That's the alternative.

Krusty · « **Reply #51 on:** December 28, 2006, 01:17:30 PM »

Although, interestingly enough, corsairs had spring-actuated flaps. When airspeed went above 250 (or whatever) the spring didn't have the strength to push the flap into the wind, and the flap auto-retracted. It would be cool to have this on the corsairs.

Similar to the auto-deploy on the n1k2 but in reverse!

Patches1 · « **Reply #52 on:** December 28, 2006, 02:17:00 PM »

I think it is modeled in the F4U, Krusty.

At least in mine, I cannot deploy any flap above 250.

Krusty · « **Reply #53 on:** December 28, 2006, 02:24:55 PM »

Right now all flaps auto-retract. What they don't do is auto-deploy again to their previous state when the speed drops below the max limit again. The Corsairs apparently had this capability. You fly at 240, drop flaps, then nose down. The flaps will autoretract (game code to prevent them from ripping off), but then you nose up again and drop back to 240 and they stay up. They won't go back to wherever they were.

okiebob · « **Reply #54 on:** January 01, 2007, 03:35:13 AM »

i read most of this but not all of this. one of my fav planes. it is the 2nd most flown plane of me (1st is the 38) and 38vs84 is not an easy win for the 84. you just fly against crappy 38 pilots.