ENY is difficult to quantify. If you're basing ENY on what an aircraft CAN do, it must be quantifiable and performance placed relative to the rest of the entire planeset, to include every submodel in the game. Not just that, performance factors have to be weighed relative to the environment to a degree since not every plane model is represented uniformly in the MA.
I break performance down into 4 general categories, each with its own constituent factors: Vector, Maneuver, Engagement & Intangibles. Each category's constituent factors have a weight. Weight is subjective but here's my stab...
Vector:
Top Speed (200), Acceleration (50), Dive Characteristics (40), Climb (60) = 350pts
Maneuver:
Turn (includes instant, sustained, flap deploy speed and flap effectiveness (100), Roll (100) = 200pts
Engagement:
Toughness (includes not only damage tolerance but system redundancy and resilience. The F4U-1A would trump the -1D because it has multiple fuel tanks) (50), Firepower (magnitude x duration x range x ballistics factor) (100), Disposables (drop tanks, bombs, rockets) (100) = 250pts
Intangibles: Visibility (how well you can see from inside cockpit as well as cockpit instrument layout) (100), Target Profile (how big a target your aircraft is) (50), Availability (reflects production, CV availability. Hellcats were mass produced which would add a zero here, but since it is available from a CV, it gets the full 50pts. The P-47M with a production run of 130 would get a 40 or 50) (50), Combat Endurance (combination of the difference between max fuel consumption and cruise fuel consumption and overall range based on internal fuel only) =250pts
Within each subcategory, I assigned points based on the percentage of the overall planeset that aircraft trumps within the category. For example, the P-51D outruns some 90%+ of the planeset. Of the 200 points available in the top speed subcat, the 51D would get ~185, while a Hellcat would get somewhere in the vicinity of 90 points. Rinse and repeat for each subcat.
Total points available 1050.
Based on subjective assessment, here's what I came out with (rounded to nearest 5pt increment).
190A5: 620, Tempest: 780, P-47N: 740, P-47M: 675, P-47D40: 605, P-47D25: 585, P-47D11: 470, Yak-9U: 615, D9: 730, 38L: 580, 38J: 550, Ki-43: 475, Ki-84: 660, ME410: 480, ME110G2: 470, P40C: 395, F6F: 595, Spit16: 645, Spit14: 635, Spit8: 595, Spit9: 485, 109G2: 495, 109K4: 570, LA7: 675, P-51D: 705, P-51B: 625, P-39D: 380, P-39Q: 420, F4U4: 760, -1A: 660, -1D: 685, FM-2: 490, Moss6: 580, Brew: 530, IL-2: 415.
The system broke down somewhat when I got to the 262. The Temp does pretty much everything the 262 can do, but better with the exception of top speed. However, while the Temp gets something like 196 points in the category, the 262 and 163's huge speed advantages over the Temp amounted to just a 3-4 points within the speed category because everything is based on the percentage of the planeset trumped, not necessarily magnitude. (I let this discrep go because it was easier and reflected the law of decreasing return) The 262 came in at a measly 700 and the ME163 came in at 770. Hmm.
Now, when looking at the F6F (595) vs the K4 (570), you'd think the F6F is the more capable aircraft overall, and you'd be right. But in strictly A-A categories (vector+maneuver), the K4 trumps the F6F 410-295. Different aircraft make bank in different categories, therefore it may be useful to have separate ENY values for a given aircraft for fighter and attack mode. A ME410 would deserve a 5 or 10ENY value under the current system in attack mode but something like 30 if in fighter mode. (Personally not in favor, too complicated)
Aircraft sampling mean point value: (20410/35)=583.
If we round and take 580 to be the middle ground of 20ENY, square the difference between a given aircraft and the mean value and divide by 1000, then add or subtract from 20, you get a bell curve as well as a fairly good approximation of ENY. A few examples: the 51D would be 4.4ENY. IE: 705-580=125. 125^2=15625. 15625/1000=15.625. 20.0-15.625=4.38. The Ki-84 would be 13.6ENY, K4: 19.9, Spit 16: 15.7, Spit 14: 17ENY (very much unperked), Yak-9U: 18.8, C.205: 30ENY, F4U4: -20 (costs 20 perks to up) etc etc.
I think something of a broader scale is more representative of what actually occurs in the MA. The P-39Q and 109G2 are both currently at 30ENY, but the Q can't hold a candle to the G-2. The P-39Q would have an ENY of 46 while the G-2 would sit at 31. The lowly P-39D for reference would sit at 60ENY
With things scaled as such, we could keep the current fighter score metrics, but also add a category for perk points accrued per hour multiplied by percentage of sorties landed or somesuch. Yes, I like the idea of a little more MA diversity.
