Originally posted by Krusty
But, the P38 IS uber!!!
(couldn't resist)
How about I phrase it this way:
The only drawback of any spit above the SpitV is the short legs, and the .303 guns. The 8 has greater range (it helps, it really does) but the 4x .303s in the outer wings. The 14 gives up a little turn performance, gets 50cals outboard, and has the increased range of the 8. It also cruised like a flying carpet once level.
Since the spitfires have turn capability in spades, they can afford to lose some of that and still out perform a lot of their main competition. Especially if the loss in turn is made up for in top speed, climb rate, firepower, longer range, and zoom capabilities. It's still a major threat to anybody around it. I would say [opinion alert] more so than the spit16.
I think unperking it would be akin to unperking the Tempest. You could argue "Sure it's fast, but it can't turn for crap, it's got a bullet magnet in both the radiator and the pilot, and the guns are good but have short firing time, and it's got really short range" -- but in the end even with all those flaws it's still a tempest. Could you imagine an arena with unperked tempests?? It would be awful! Same with spit14s, IMO.
EDIT: I am thankful that the perk price is very low. I used to fly the spit14 as my only perk plane for entire tours.
XIV gives up a lot of turning ability (see previous post) even against the VIII and XVI, and of course nothing rolls like a XVI (almost).
As for the .50's, in all honesty it's the Hispanos that get you the kills, so basically it's a faster Mk VIII.
Comparing it to unperking the Tempest is silly, that thing is a monster. Fastest prop in the game and 4 x Hispano V's (more ammo and a faster rate of fire than all the other planes with Hispanos).
Look at my comparison with the K4 (technically it's German counterpart), K4 has the edge on speed, XIV in turn, in all other aspects they are almost identical performance wise.
Way back when it was first introduced it made sense to perk the XIV, with the increased late war planeset there is no reason anymore for it to retain its perk status.
If it was such the threat you contend it is it would have a K/D ratio closer to the other perked aircraft which are all over 2.2+, instead of the 1.2 it usually gets.
Leaving it perked would be akin to having a hard deck of 25k in the arenas then perking the La7 for its low alt speed.
Put it this way - There is nothing to lose, everything to gain, by at least trialling it free for a tour or two.