Well, I don't know how the Spit XIV will perform in AH. I have played 3 games that included the Spit XIV, Aces Over Europe, European Air War and WarBirds. In Aces Over Europe the Spit XIV was king and was only rivaled by the Fw190D-9 and Spit IX, but I don't put any stock in the FMs of Aces Over Europe. In EAW and WB the Spit XIV was good, but nothing special. In EAW the Spit IX was better, and the multiplayer sessions of EAW would inevitably be filled with Spit IXs. In WBs the Spit XIV just felt lackluster to me. It climber well, but that was the only strength I remember, and even then my friend's P-38 out climbed it.
In AH it may prove to be a truely perk-worthy monster.
We must defer, at least for the time being, to HTC as they are the only people who have any idea of how the AH Spit XIV will handle.
The existing perk planes, with the exception of the F4U-1C, I think are very over priced. We all agree that the Tempest is a monster, the best perk fighter other than the 262, that needs to be controled. What I disagree about is how monstrous the Tempest really is. I have encountered 5 in AH, I destroyed 3 of them. They don't perform that much better than the fighters that are already top dogs. Sure, it has an edge on the La-7 and P-51D, but not by very much at all. Certainly not by a comfortable margin. If that is where the Tempest stands, the best piston perk fighter, where does that leave the F4U-4 and Ta152H-1?
The question that must be asked in tandem is "How many perk points do people who wish to fly perk planes have on average?"
The fact that sombody like Laz who never flies perk planes has thousands upon thousands is irrelevant. Perk points don't affect Laz, his 1944 bird, the F4U-1D, is free. The same is true of dedicated, fly only the P-51D, Fw190D-9 and Bf109G-10 guys.
If the typical guy who is inclined to take a perk plane for a spin now and then, or when he feels like it, has thousands of points to burn, then there is no issue. If, however, most players only have tens or a few hundreds of perk points then the current prices are simply too expensive for the performance difference.
I see, on this BB, repeated statements by "so-and-so" that he has thousands of perk points and can fly whatever he wants and thinks that the perk prices should be raised to enforce the rarity of these "superplanes". I think those who make statements to that effect are making a logical fallacy, that because they can fly whatever they want so must everybody else be able too. Most often these guys have hundreds or thousands of posts on this BB. In short, they are the most dedicated and faithful AH player, probably the most skilled as well.
Surprisingly often though, I see posts by guys with only a few posts to this BB, sometimes their first post, about finally saving enough perk points for that Tempest, only to lose it taking off, or being gangbanged, sometimes discoed, and sometimes landing. I have a feeling that this is the thin voice of a "silent majority". Most subscribers don't post on this BB. The average K/D ratio is less than 1 and very few can bring home 2-3 F4U-1Cs per flight, I know that I very rarely even bring 1 home. Most often I get 1-2 perk points per flight.
I think that the prices should be more like this:
F4U-1C: 8
Ta152H-1: 12
F4U-4: 16
Ar234B: 20
Spitfire Mk XIV: 20 (guessing its performance)
Tempest Mk V: 24
Me262A: 100
If these prices were to fail to adequately control the populations of these aircraft, then they could be raised. I simply do not think these numbers indicate anwhere near imbalancing usage, these numbers indiacte absolutely transparent usage:
The Me 262 has 1083 kills and has been killed 196 times.
The Tempest has 781 kills and has been killed 181 times.
The F4U-4 has 308 kills and has been killed 176 times.
The Ta 152H has 408 kills and has been killed 203 times.
The Ar 234 has 62 kills and has been killed 175 times. (Admittedly this doesn't tell us anything about the numbers of Ar234s)
The other problem I have with the perk system is that it annouces to everybody when a perk plane, other than an F4U-1C, is in the area. The perk icons are the single biggest reason for the "gangbang the perk" syndrome. Some aircraft, the Me 262, Ar234 and Tempest, are unique, stand alone types and must bear individual icon names. Others, F4U-4, Spitfire Mk XIV and Ta152H-1 could easily bear the name of the base type. Maybe this is to equalize all perks, removing anonymity from the upgraded aircraft places them on the same desirability, or lack of desirability as the case may be, as those unique aircraft that must bear a "perk" icon due to their uniqueness.
At least lets not price them out of existance as they are now.
