I have often wondered why there is such a lack of interest from this comunity in Japanese aircraft. I remember a poll from awhile back and the Japanese plane had 13% support.
I can't speak for the rest of the folks who play this game, but I love ALL airplanes and I am excited by the opportunity to fly anything that fought in WW II. Yet most people who play here are only interested USA/British/German planes. It seems odd to me that if you have in interest aviation that you would not enjoy the chance to fly everything.
When a new Japanese plane is suggested legions of people line up to say: "what a waste of time it would be" ...or "it would be a hanger queen" or the one that irks me most ..."it would not revolutionize the MA"
At this point, with all the planes we have available, there are not many planes left the would "set the MA on it's ear" so asking for a revolution seems a bit much.
Hanger queens? the only thing that makes a plane a hanger queen is the pilots fear to fly it. I can assure you the "hanger queen"is eager to fly....ready to fly ...and she would love to get in the action. It's the pilots who are afraid, not the airframe, she has more then enough courage.
I guess it just seems odd to me that there is no interest in Japanese planes. Even more puzzling is how strongly players oppose HTC making more Japanese planes. All I can hope for is: when we have 20 versions of the spit ...20 versions of the p51 and 20 versions of the 109 ...maybe ...just maybe ...we could get a ki-43? ...or a ki-44? .....or a Nell ? I'll take anything. I'll continue to hold out hope!
Helm ...out
As both a history buff, and a LW MA junky, I wm exactly the the person who doesn't vote for some of the historical planes. The reason is simple, I am most interested in planes that affect game play; that change it in by adding depth via a new dimension.
The way you do that is adding planes that excede at something, and kind of stink at something else. This forces players to leard to play to it's strengths and have to avoid it's weaknesses.
Ask this Question "Does this new plane change the fight compared to something we already have. Does it change it enough that it's worth the time and resources to add it?"
To add the Ki-43, it would need to be different enough from say it's nearest similar plane...the Zeke.
To add the P-63, it would need to be different enough from say it's nearest similar plane...the P-39.
Then you figure how much work the new plane or varient takes to bring to the game, and you divide the difference by the effort. Low numbers mean you don't do it.
In the case of the Ki-43, a low number results. Model a whole new plane from the ground up, so effort is max. If a Corsair comes across a Zeke, and a fight ensues, would the resulting fight be different if the Zeke was an Oscar? The oscar is like a Zeke the turns better, but is slower and has less guns. The extra turn doesn't change the fight. The slower speed and the less guns, just makes the oscar even more vulnerable in that fight. When a plane runs away, the Zeke can't catch it but neither can the Oscar. So no one would take an Oscar, they'd take the Zeke.
In the case of the P-63, a medium number results. Model a whole new plane from the ground up, so effort is max. If a Corsair comes across an airacobra, and a fight ensues, would the fight be different if the airacobra was a Kingcobra? The cobras have the same quirky gun package but with 500 more HP and 50-60 mph more speed the KingKobra changes the E-game significantly compared to the Airacobra, but it's turn capability may be less. If someone runs the P-39 can't catch them, but the P-63 could run down most LW birds. It become a very different fight.
Since it gives a new and different fight, I'd vote for the P-63. Not because it's a super plane that gives me an advantage, but it creates a different set of competive trade offs that I have to master to be successful.
That's the fun.....for me.
