Who...

[Zerstorer]

During WWII lol.  As in, like, this game.

Radar computing gun sights at the end of WWII into Korea, etc. Air forces have always tried to find an edge... for most of WWII through the 70s that edge was speed but it required TECHNOLOGY to help translate that into more effective killing.

[Skyyr]

 that is exactly why all the air forces of the world were trying to make their planes faster... to make the killing harder!  

Actually they made faster planes to intercept the enemy (which is a different role than dogfighting, or air superiority); dogfighting was never an initial thought. Pilots actually stated that the age of dogfighting was over when planes started breaking 300mph. When faster planes first emerged, tactics didn't even exist for less maneuverable planes. Tactics for killing in fast planes came about as an afterthought.

[Lusche]

kills per time and hit% is what is important

It's still all relative

I hunt bombers. Preferably the high altitude ones. That means my k/h will suffer a lot. For I can easily spend 45 minutes to hunt down a set of B-29 only to get proudly home with a single kill, while some other dude may have gotten 10 in the same time from vulching.
On the other hand, my hit% will get a significant boost.


In the end, a pilot's score sheet (combined with his plane stats!) is just like a business card to me, explaining to a large extend what he's doing but only to a smaller one how 'good' he is. By the way, in the 'bomber' category not even that.

[scott66]

I've begged HTC To delete all my stats but I'm still having a blast

[SPKmes]

I've begged HTC To delete all my stats but I'm still having a blast

They put it to a vote and the decision was made not to. I is all part of a bigger plan to make fun of you later on 

[scott66]

They put it to a vote and the decision was made not to. I is all part of a bigger plan to make fun of you later on  

I knew it!!!   

[mechanic]

By stating a faster plane can slow down, you just proved my point.

It is not the speed of a fast aircraft that helps it kill, as it would not need to slow down. All speed does is allow the aircraft to survive better than a slower aircraft would. Slower aircraft in general have better wing loading and therefore lose less airspeed during maneuvering, providing more maneuverability and more stable guns platforms.

A perfect example of this is an LA-7 vs an Me-262. Given equal pilots, the LA-7 will almost always have more kills and better accuracy, yet it is slower. This is because maneuverability is the key to getting kills, not speed. Speed simply dictates tactics; without maneuverability (which is inversely related to airspeed above corner speed, as a general rule), all of the airspeed in the world is useless.

No, I think you've elaborated somewhat on your original statement to make it look like I proved a point that you hadn't yet made. 

If I'm in a 109E and you're in a tempest and we both dive in together to tackle a flock of 10 aircraft, who do you think is going to score more kills? Who do you think is going to escape to land safely? It is undoubtedly easier to make kills and also to get away with it in a faster plane in Aces High. If you want to convince me otherwise then show me the stats that confirm the slower planes do most of the killing in this game.

[xPoisonx]

No, I think you've elaborated somewhat on your original statement to make it look like I proved a point that you hadn't yet made. 

If I'm in a 109E and you're in a tempest and we both dive in together to tackle a flock of 10 aircraft, who do you think is going to score more kills? Who do you think is going to escape to land safely? It is undoubtedly easier to make kills and also to get away with it in a faster plane in Aces High. If you want to convince me otherwise then show me the stats that confirm the slower planes do most of the killing in this game.

What if you were climbing to engage someone 

[TW9]

No, I think you've elaborated somewhat on your original statement to make it look like I proved a point that you hadn't yet made.  

If I'm in a 109E and you're in a tempest and we both dive in together to tackle a flock of 10 aircraft, who do you think is going to score more kills? Who do you think is going to escape to land safely? It is undoubtedly easier to make kills and also to get away with it in a faster plane in Aces High. If you want to convince me otherwise then show me the stats that confirm the slower planes do most of the killing in this game.

I think the 109E should stay up high and pick off the line of dweebs behind the trolling temp  

[Someguy63]

I think the 109E should stay up high and pick off the line of dweebs behind the trolling temp  

 

[mechanic]

What if you were climbing to engage someone  

Good question. Though you are still much better off in the higher performing plane. Much more likely to catch the enemy up and equalise E. Or, if the situation happens to be one of defence against a higher enemy the tempest still has more chance at survival and going on to kill others. One simple evasive and nose down and escape for the tempest. Endless evasives without ever earning a shot for the 109e and no chance to escape the fight to reposition.

Staying alive is the priority if you intend to destroy as many enemies as possible in your sortie. Speed above all facilitates survival. Speed provides options. If flying at speed wasn't the easiest way to get kills then we wouldn't see 75% of the arena flying late war monsters the entire time. To suggest that a faster plane has a harder time making a kill shot is silly. It's like saying an F1 car can't beat a VW campervan because it's harder to corner at 180mph. The F1 car can drive at the same slow speeds, it just has so much more to give if desired.

Speed(read: energy) is the number one advantage in the Aces High Main Arena. The greatest player in the game cannot kill the worst if matched in an FM2 vs a 190D that is maintaining a 150mph advantage.

I think the 109E should stay up high and pick off the line of dweebs behind the trolling temp  

 

[Lusche]

Staying alive is the priority if you intend to destroy as many enemies as possible in your sortie. Speed above all facilitates survival. Speed provides options.

Speed doesn't only help survival, but also helps killining a direct way (enemy can't escape easily, has much less reaction time) and - often overlooked - allows YOU to reach the enemy before your teammates in slower planes can do.
That's one of the biggest downsides in flying slow planes like a Hurri I or I-16 - you get your 12 cleared by faster & heavier armed planes before you can close in for the kill.

Too bad we got the # of sorties taken away on the plane stats - would be interesting to see not only K/D, but also kills per sortie 

[glzsqd]

Speed gives you the ability to close on vulnerable targets before they recover. Sure its tougher for a 190D to kill a fm2 than it would be for a a6m5, but why go for the FM2 when you see a p47s full flaps out in a power climb.

[DmonSlyr]

Speed doesn't only help survival, but also helps killining a direct way (enemy can't escape easily, has much less reaction time) and - often overlooked - allows YOU to reach the enemy before your teammates in slower planes can do.
That's one of the biggest downsides in flying slow planes like a Hurri I or I-16 - you get your 12 cleared by faster & heavier armed planes before you can close in for the kill.

Too bad we got the # of sorties taken away on the plane stats - would be interesting to see not only K/D, but also kills per sortie  

Was just wondering  that same thing last night.

[Zerstorer]

Speed doesn't only help survival, but also helps killing a direct way (enemy can't escape easily, has much less reaction time) and - often overlooked - allows YOU to reach the enemy before your teammates in slower planes can do.

That's one of the biggest downsides in flying slow planes like a Hurri I or I-16 - you get your 12 cleared by faster & heavier armed planes before you can close in for the kill.

Good point.  From a "game" perspective, I didn't think about that to be honest....and I should have as it happens to me quite a bit when flying the 110.   

Experience has taught me to get fairly close before shooting.  Why?  Because the 12 clearing types usually don't mind flying THROUGH your stream of 20mm and 30mm i.e. Killshoot and *poof*...Instant Tower for you.  So the choices are:

1.)  Get close, make it harder for the guy to nudge in but run the risk of losing the kill to a faster plane
2.) Firing farther away but risk ending up in the tower due as a 51 dweeb comes blazing in to get the kill and runs through your fire.

Third option, of course, is to fly away from friendlies as much as possible...which I generally try to do...but it seems to be more and more difficult to as the decline in numbers tends to compress fights in the MA to a few very large furballs.  Ah well...