Ok, now that I have my asbestos underwear on, I'll wade into this one.
It does seem the current system is based solely on popularity and not on any kind of performance of the kite in question. When HTC first started talking about the perk system I got the impression it would be based solely on aircraft performance, with the lower performers/early war kites getting more points for killing the late war monsters, and the late war stuff getting hardly nothing for killing early war stuff.
The EMY value is the perk multiplier for a kite, correct? Take a gander at the Seafire Mk IIc. It's 17. Take a gander at the SpitV. It's 35. I'm no expert here, but isn't the Seafire Mk IIc basically a SpitV with a strengthened fuse/carrier gear added? Hence a slightly worse performance envelope than the SpitV? But you see alot of them, so the Seafire has a multiplier of 17. Frankly I dinnae care how many -1Cs I see flying around if the perk points are based on kite performace (yes, gun package should be a variable in determining performance). Then there's no spread based on popularity, and no skewing of the system because alot of people all of a sudden decide to fly a kite and start kicking butt in it.
IMO perking the F4U-1C because alot of people fly it is bad. The reason it has come to such prominence in 1.05 is solely because of the flat tops, and there are only 5 kites you can fly off the flat tops right now. The -1C is also probably the best attack kite in the game, which is another reason why it gets used on alot of missions.
Now what's really funny here is why everyone cries about the -1C. The N1K2-J is much more of a monster:
900rounds for it's 4x20mm gun package
No to verra little E loss (see a film of 27 loops on takeoff posted on these boards, gaining alt w/ each loop if I remember correctly)
JATO unit assisted acceration coming out of hard turns. I've personally blown straight by N1K's in a full power wep on dive at 500mph and they turn hard to follow me and gain ground on me when I continued w/ only a minor, gentle 10degree turn to keep him out of the blindspot.
Reasons the N1K isn't so prominent is because:
Everyone whines about the -1C, so new people believe it's the uber UFO kite
It's not launchable from the flat tops.
Before 1.05 it had 300rounds less ammunition
And has everyone forgotten that the tiffie has the exact same gun package? Guess it's a non-issue because it has half the ammo load of the -1C. And each spit carries 2 of the 'turbo laser' cannon, but again, a non-issue because it has one quarter the ammo load of the -1C, correct? And the P-38, with it's single turbo laser, but it has a little better than one eighth the ammo load of the -1C for it's cannon.
The -1C isn't some kind of uber kite in its performance envelope. Others turn better, a couple zoom better, most accelerate better, and even a couple dive better. They're fairly easy to stay out of thier gun evelope with decent SA. If something sneaks up on you while you've got target fixation it won't matter if they're flying a C.202, you're meat on the table.
Next complain is the HO complaint. From my experiences in the arena some pilots have egos that can't take being out scissored. They'll get into a scissors, get pushed out in front, and the -1C driver will take a front quarter snapshot at 75yds and waste'em. That -1C driver is immediately labeled a "chog HO dweeb". I've called spit drivers "HO dweebs" after dying the above described situation, and mainly just to soothe my ego, when in all reality it was a good fight. In that situation it almost dinnae matter what guns your advesary has as you're toast at that range. Probably only the 7.9mm and .303s wouldna kill you in that situation, but the 12.7mm/.50s and any of the cannon damn sure will.
Now, would you really want Torque to go back to flying that UFO N1K2-J? Or any of the other dedicated -1C drivers? Maybe we should go ahead and perk the George because its popularity will climb if the -1C is perked. Out performs the -1C in EVERY area except top speed and ballistics, and its cannon aren't that far behind the hispanos. The tiffie will start seeing more use as well, since it has the gun package that everyone loves to cry in thier beer about.
Flame away
