New Yak impressions?

[mthrockmor]

I'm more excited about the Dora's working radiator.

Last night a big furball broke out where a majority of the birds being flown were the cute little Yak3s. I upped a Dora and promptly landed 10 kills, I think 6 of which were Yak3s.

I then upped a Yak3 and got a kick out of it. Rolls good, not as good as a 190. This is at med to high speeds, low speeds it rolls about the same as Honey Boo Boos momma trying to roll her way out of a chair. Turns great, no WEP (Communist directorate decided the pilots had all the power they needed, any more power was a capitalist plot). Vision is excellent. Fire power is thin, like the non-K4 109s.

I managed two kills on the deck (both Yak3s) before a Yak3 killed me. All in all I can see it being a great base defense bird. With the very small fuel load and time on target we won't see too many of these over the enemy field, mostly base defense. This is a furballers dream.

Good add to the game.

boo

[R 105]

 I flew both new Yaks off line and I like the Yak-3 better of the two. I did not try it in the MA but did kill one in a p-51D in one pass so I did not get to see how it was in speed against the 51. I did see yak 3s over a V base shooting down our guys pretty well. New stuff is always good thanks HTC.

[Aspen]

The 3 will be a popular plane.  Its good enough at everything to give a pilot some options as situations present themselves.  Like all lighter ammo load rides it forces you to be choosy on shots but thats not such a bad thing.  Great lower alt fighter and I expect there will be some very dangerous players in it once folks get some time in it.  The other new Yak is a decent bird for what it is.  It doesn't have many tools to bail you out of a bad situation, but I found it more capable than other 40 ENY rides.

[titanic3]

Over the nose shot is also pretty awesome with the Yak3. Clear visibility all around.

[uptown]

I think the Yak3 is a nice addition to the plane set. Pretty quick in both turning and acceleration with a above average climb rate. I personally didn't fly any of the Yaks but was happy to see that the P47s of the 56th FG faired quite well against the new bandits.....as long as we kept up a good head of steam and didn't follow them into tight turns for too long. Almost all we encountered at 15K immediately dropped to the deck giving us the alt advantage from then on. We ended up with a 5 to 1 kill ratio against them.

Although they will be competitive in the MA, they're not the big hitters like the K4s, G14s, Doras or even the 51s I thought they possibly could be. So, all is well in the MA as the American P47s, P38s and P51s will continue to rule the skies until further notice.


Carry on dweebs ! 

[Babalonian]

"Just for information", I saw 4,700 fpm using autoclimb. What you see in the image is 4,565 fpm in autoclimb, beginning at sea level at 160 mph TAS. I've been testing aircraft in Aces High for more than 10 years. I use Badboy's Bootstrap calculator, the best tool available for quantifying turn performance. I test to reveal maximum performance. The standard used is 25% fuel. Obviously, a full fuel load will reduce climb and acceleration. However, like 109s, the Yaks have a rather small (meaning light) fuel capacity. Thus, you will often be flying with little more than 50% fuel aboard. A light Yak-3 will climb with a 25% fuel 109G-14 below 3k, and turn circles around it. On the other hand, the 109G-2 can give the Yak-3 fits, especially below 200 mph. The 109F-4 will out-turn the Yak, but is at a disadvantage if the fight goes vertical below 5k. I envision that the Yak-3 will be an excellent match against the Ki-84 in duels.

Climb rate and acceleration fall off steadily above 5,000 feet. Again, at sea level, the Yak-3 is among the best in the game. At 10k, not so much. It is literally the inverse of the Spitfire 14, which gets better and better as the altitude goes up. At 10,000 feet I saw 381 mph, which is identical to the Typhoon. However, the Typhoon requires WEP, the Yak can make that speed until it runs out of gas.

The Yak-3 was designed to be a lightweight battlefield air superiority fighter. Down low, it is very capable. I do not think it is much of a furball fighter, due to the lack of hitting power. Snap shots are rarely fatal to opposing fighters.

Doing some offline tests, I found that it will shed its ailerons at about 525 mph in a dive. It begins groaning around 500 mph. Without ailerons, the Yak-3 will roll right, and it cannot be countered by rudder. To get the wings level, you must reduce power to near idle, and stand on full left rudder.

Turn rate: Astonishing instantaneous turn rate at corner speed. Sustained, its turn radius just about matches the Spit16 (no flaps). It can fly circles a tad smaller than the La-7, both without and with flaps. Flaps don't begin to drop until around 150 mph, reducing their usefulness. Again, not unlike the Spit16. The max gear speed is right at 200 mph. Outward visibility (especially forward) is the best of any fighter (except, perhaps, the I-16), with no reinforcing structure in the windscreen.

Apologies for a "I haven't downloaded and gotten to test it myself question", but have you observed any instability in the yaw during a fast roll?

[pipz]

I noticed in the Yak3 that I could not see Icons through the armoured glass at the rear.

[Rich46yo]

Any eny changes to the 9U and 9T?

I dont think so. The 9U was still at 23, among the best values in the game. I think the 3 was at 18.

I believe if you keep this beast between 200 mph and 300 mph, with some air under you, its a very capable air craft. I have been testing its limits, most of all with so much action on the deck and slow, so Ive been getting thumped a bit in my Yak-3. I have found the Yak is very demanding of smooth gun sight work. Other fighters you can jerk a bit to get a snap shot on an enemy but with the Yak you have to be smooth with lining up your shot. I try and get into the mind set of aiming the plane and not the gun sight. Snap shots may be rough but deflection shots work just fine, just dont get herk jerky with your stick.

I expect the Yaks to get new life breathed into them with this update. Its nice to see the French get honored a bit with the addition of the Yak-3.

[LCADolby]

I noticed that the prop seems to go the opposite way to the torque... 

[Widewing]

More test results...

Speed at altitude:

SL: 351 mph
5k: 377 mph
10k: 382 mph
12k: 389 mph
13k: 399 mph
13.5k: 400 mph
14k: 399 mph
15k: 397 mph

Turn radius...
No flaps: 575 ft (comparison, Spit16: 567 ft)
Full flaps: 459 ft (comparison, Spit16: 450 ft)

[Widewing]

I noticed that the prop seems to go the opposite way to the torque... 

I noticed that too....

[waystin2]

Good turn rate, decent roll, climbs well off the deck, wait where did all my gas go? UH-oh  Short legs.  Going to be a very popular bird in my opinion.  Fun scrapping little plane!

[Letalis]

-One of the things I liked about the 9U is that it felt like a "survivor's plane" more than a killer to me.  Good speed, good toughness, nice all around defensively.  I'd use the 9U to scout hot situations when I knew my "killers" (D25, F6F) were going to be too slow and too outnumbered.  

-The -3 is a significantly less stable gun platform and doesn't dive as well, but is better at generating and landing quality tracking shots.  It may be slower, but the acceleration is excellent giving you a better chance of getting back up to corner speed between enemy passes.  

-The small size combined with decent toughness and better turn make it a harder kill than either the -9 or Spit16 all thing being equal, but lacks the latter's total kill potential.  It is a survivor's plane.

-It is nice to fly a plane that isn't a true speed demon on the deck but will definitely give you better odds of parity when overtaken than the -9U.  

-A 1v5 on my second sortie that lasted for five minutes on my second -3 sortie ended badly for me but the -3 made a lasting impression.  I couldn't have possibly lasted a entire minute in my jug against those aircraft/odds. (Maybe two minutes in the -9/F6F, maybe 3-4 in the S16 and perhaps even a touch better than the Ki84 overall despite inferior low-speed characteristics)  

-The short legs will keep it primarily a point defense fighter though it may struggle vs. buffs more than other types.  

-Even if used offensively, the combat endurance is poor and it is virtually useless in the A-G role.  

-I'm guessing usage will settle somewhere between the Spit8 and La7.  The La7 will still reign in the long term because it has most of what the -3 has going for it plus those 3 cannons and better top end scoot.  A -3 driver with pinpoint accuracy can take down a few B-17s, but that same player can take out more with the La7.

-I have a hard time believing it will ever be hated/used as much as the La7 simply because people will understand the short clip factor.

-Given that the K4 is 15ENY with better climb/speed/armament, it appears the initial ENY is about right and an excellent value for anyone who can make the most of it.  

Viva la France! 
Thank you Hitech! (And Greebo, beautiful job)

[bozon]

Am I the only one that think this plane is insane?

It feels like it is full of helium and has no inertia. First fly I took off, held it at 90mph nose way up in the sky and it rocketed up at 3500-4000 fpm... at 90 mph! The only thing that prevented me from going into a vertical climb was that the full-power torque could not be countered at a lower speed. You can take off with this thing and immediately do a loop. Takeoff run is as short as a zero.

If someone wants to BzN you with it he can do so forever never loosing his energy no matter what he does.

The Yak-3 completely blows the 9U out of the water. They are not even in the same league.

[Krusty]

I forsee a replacement for the "ez mode crutch plane" -- move over, spit16!