One Aircraft I'd Love to Spend Perks On

[Karnak]

What will the "all newer American aircraft first" people do once they get the F7F, F8F, P-51H and YP-80 added?

[Westy]

Ask for aircraft like the Polish PZL P.11 which had as much impact in
WWII as any of those.

[Debrody]

What will the "all newer American aircraft first" people do once they get the F7F, F8F, P-51H and YP-80 added?

F86, F102, F104, F14, F16, F22...   
If you guys all ask for the cream of the über almost-experimental late war monesters, this game will be boring very soon.
Mid-war FTW!  (109F vs spit9)
Seriously, will be much more fun to see some mid-war rides. Jak-1, La-5, Lagg-3, Ju-188, Me-410, even the Westland Whirlwind or the Hurri2B.
Its my opinion. Flame suit on.

[Rino]

What will the "all newer American aircraft first" people do once they get the F7F, F8F, P-51H and YP-80 added?

     Watch you blow your stack? 

[grizz441]

yeah...that's your story and you're sticking to it...

Is this supposed to be a complete thought?

[waystin2]

Hello HTC,

What qualifications must a new plane or vehicle have to be included for development into Aces High?

Sincerely,

Way

[lyric1]

If it was up to me (which it's obviously not) I would define "seeing combat" as being involved (flying) in an active combat theater.  Not necessarily by firing it's guns in anger.  Even if they were only doing recce duty, I'm sure the pilots appreciated the fact that they were definately in a combat setting, and that there were still risks involved with that type of flying.

Now, if THAT was our definition of "seeing combat", and it was in squadron strength, then a big +1.

I can't find the link any more on HTC's site. Not sure if it is available now since the changes. If I recall the aircraft had to see service during WWII & at squadron strength. Depends on how you define service I guess . That aside the general rule of thumb as Krusty mentioned is if it did not see combat not permitted.

[Letalis]

@Gyrene:  I believe the P-80 saw six units arrive in Italy a week or two prior to V-E Day- no combat, hardly valid as "squadron strength."  The F8F was in production prior to VJ day but was still in the process of being delivered to operational units. Neither of these examples are in HTC's criteria ballpark.  (As I remember it from a few yrs back:  "Must have been in general production and seen combat" but, like Krusty, couldn't find it.) 

As for the rest of the examples, I'm a fan of the P-61 but don't see any of the other examples finding any niche in the MA which brings me to the next point;  MW rides invariably had a bigger impact on the war than the F7F and would be great to see.  There is no doubt in my mind that additions of the Whirlwind, Swordfish, Gladiator, Mig-1 etc etc. would make AH a richer historical experience.  Here's my angle though: unless you are flying in EW or MW, these aircraft are not competitive.  For better or worse, 95% of the AH player experience takes place in LW. E/MW aircraft will in all likelihood be non-factors (P39D graphs Lusche?) except to a very very small portion of an already dwindling player population.  The F7F might actually qualify AND add to the fun factor for a majority of players.  AH is the last of its breed because OUR BREED is dying. I'm not in favor of turning this into an Xbox arcade experience, that would violate what this is imho, the highest fidelity WWII sim (a digital "ark" if you will) on the market.  Let's keep it interesting.

[grizz441]

@Gyrene:  I believe the P-80 saw six units arrive in Italy a week or two prior to V-E Day- no combat, hardly valid as "squadron strength."  The F8F was in production prior to VJ day but was still in the process of being delivered to operational units. Neither of these examples are in HTC's criteria ballpark.  (As I remember it from a few yrs back:  "Must have been in general production and seen combat" but, like Krusty, couldn't find it.) 

As for the rest of the examples, I'm a fan of the P-61 but don't see any of the other examples finding any niche in the MA which brings me to the next point;  MW rides invariably had a bigger impact on the war than the F7F and would be great to see.  There is no doubt in my mind that additions of the Whirlwind, Swordfish, Gladiator, Mig-1 etc etc. would make AH a richer historical experience.  Here's my angle though: unless you are flying in EW or MW, these aircraft are not competitive.  For better or worse, 95% of the AH player experience takes place in LW. E/MW aircraft will in all likelihood be non-factors (P39D graphs Lusche?) except to a very very small portion of an already dwindling player population.  The F7F might actually qualify AND add to the fun factor for a majority of players.  AH is the last of its breed because OUR BREED is dying. I'm not in favor of turning this into an Xbox arcade experience, that would violate what this is imho, the highest fidelity WWII sim (a digital "ark" if you will) on the market.  Let's keep it interesting.

You're right, they're wrong.  Point proved.   

[gyrene81]

You're right, they're wrong.  Point proved.  

clueless yet again...

@Gyrene:  I believe the P-80 saw six units arrive in Italy a week or two prior to V-E Day- no combat, hardly valid as "squadron strength."  The F8F was in production prior to VJ day but was still in the process of being delivered to operational units. Neither of these examples are in HTC's criteria ballpark.  (As I remember it from a few yrs back:  "Must have been in general production and seen combat" but, like Krusty, couldn't find it.)  

As for the rest of the examples, I'm a fan of the P-61 but don't see any of the other examples finding any niche in the MA which brings me to the next point;  MW rides invariably had a bigger impact on the war than the F7F and would be great to see.  There is no doubt in my mind that additions of the Whirlwind, Swordfish, Gladiator, Mig-1 etc etc. would make AH a richer historical experience.  Here's my angle though: unless you are flying in EW or MW, these aircraft are not competitive.  For better or worse, 95% of the AH player experience takes place in LW. E/MW aircraft will in all likelihood be non-factors (P39D graphs Lusche?) except to a very very small portion of an already dwindling player population.  The F7F might actually qualify AND add to the fun factor for a majority of players.  AH is the last of its breed because OUR BREED is dying. I'm not in favor of turning this into an Xbox arcade experience, that would violate what this is imho, the highest fidelity WWII sim (a digital "ark" if you will) on the market.  Let's keep it interesting.

those examples were just me playing on clueless grizz's statement of "it flew during ww2 and should be included", not intended to be examples of aircraft that actually should be included in ah.

anyone who has been around more than a few months knows the reason why the lw arena is more populated than the other arenas...and i could honestly care less whether or not the f7f were included...it would just be another uber late war allied monster plane. since the ta-152, me163 and me262 are included, if htc decided to include the f7f in its operational night fighter configuration, i doubt anyone would have too much of a problem with it.

i'm just arguing the facts of ww2 deployment history of the f7f which early deployment records are somewhat cloudy. digging into every readily available history of marine squadrons listed to have received f7fs, the first orders of operational f7f-1s put into production and deployed to active marine squadrons were sent to training squadrons vmf-911 and vmf-912 out of mcas cherry point. vmf(n)-531-1/2 was a front line night fighter combat squadron until late 1944 when both wings became a state side training units and according to one source in june of 1945 they had 15 f7f-1ns, 15 f7f-2ns and 2 f7f-3ns. vmf(n)-532 received f7f-2ns in 1946. vmf(n)-533 received f7f-3ns some time after october of 1945 in peiping china.

[Westy]

"(As I remember it from a few yrs back:  "Must have been in general production and seen
combat" but, like Krusty, couldn't find it.) "

Can't find something that was never said.

[grizz441]

those examples were just me playing on clueless grizz's statement of "it flew during ww2 and should be included", not intended to be examples of aircraft that actually should be included in ah.

Actually what I said was, if it flew during ww2 it should be considered.  No reason for further elaboration, since you have already been proven wrong by Letalis and I.

[gyrene81]

Actually what I said was, if it flew during ww2 it should be considered.  No reason for further elaboration, since you have already been proven wrong by Letalis and I.

ok...

[EagleDNY]

This game is chock full of "what ifs" that never happened during the War.  WHAT IF the Germans captured a Spit IX and it fought against a P-47M?  That and a thousand other what-if scenarios happen every night in the MA.  This is a game where WW2 aircraft junkies get to fly their dream rides into combat - IMHO HTC might want to reconsider its 'criteria' in light of declining player numbers and think about adding a whole lot of perked late war monsters to get some new interest going. 

F7F / F8F / P51H
Do-335
He-162
P-80
Meteor
Me-262A-2 or at least armament variants for the A-1

The late war MA is where all the action is right now, and even it is getting stale.  Having a load of new perked rides might generate some more action and bring some older players back. 

[Phoenix 7]

*Cough Cough* P-61