A General Request...

[ergRTC]

spit 9 has yet to be in a north africa setup as far as I remember.  I think the mossie is so underused when it is there that there is no problem.    We normally have the p38 which carriers just as much if not more payload anyway.

[Wotan]

Karnak SKG10  had 90 190a5s operating 2/43-3/43 thats 1 group.

I can post numbers for each unit later.

I gotta run now.

[eskimo2]

Wotan,                        
Once again, please don't read this thread as a criticism.  You've done a great job with this set-up, it was well researched and well set-up.  I could certainly see myself making the same plane-choices that you did.  It can be hard to predict exactly how a set-up will turn out once the players show up.  Much of what I have determined about the CT has been only recent conclusions/ideas/opinions.

With any set-up, there are two main issues concerning plane choice; historical accuracy and game-play balance;

Historical accuracy is a tough one because there were so many more plane types involved in any WWII air battle than we have to choose from in RL.  As diverse as the AH plane-set is now, hardly any air battles could be fought in AH with truly the proper planes.  At best, variants of particular planes types need to be substituted to make a set-up possible.  
And then there's the issue of what to do about planes that were not used in large numbers in a given battle.  To make things worse, very often certain planes were only available at certain bases.  I know this makes your job tough.

Game-play balance is almost a tougher issue because in most WWII air battles, one side had a clear advantage over the other.  It would be fun to re-enact the Marianas Turkey Shoot, but who the heck would want to play the Japanese?  We could host this battle, however, with game-play concessions.  
Basically, one side should not have both the fastest planes and the best turning planes, especially where the difference is great.  I would not advocate a set-up where the Allies have the P-51D and P-47D-30, Vs. the Axis having the ME-262, 190D-9, and 109F.  In this set-up, the jets will bleed the E from the jugs and stangs down to 250 MPH where the 109Fs thrive.  
Another game-play issue is that it seems that more people choose to fly Allied.  This is my opinion only, but it seems that no matter what the set-up, more folks want to (understandably) fly for the good guys.  Perhaps to counter this, when in doubt leave a plane out of the Allied selection...?  Again, this is just my opinion.

Another issue is the number of planes to choose from on each side.  There has been some criticism of the CT for not having much in plane choice.  Personally, I wonder if those who have made this critique actually ever fly in the CT no matter what the set-up/choice?  Who are we catering to?  How few planes would CT participants be happy with?  Personally, I'd be happy with only the Hellcat (or only the hog) as a fighter against the entire Japanese arsenal.  

I don't think that we need to fear too few plane choices in the CT.  But that's just my opinion.

Thanks,
eskimo

[Seeker]

"For both game-play and historical/tactical accuracy, I think the Spit and Hurri especially should generally not be used outside of western Europe."

Just what world do you live in?

And I'm surprised at you, Oldman. While there may be good game play reasons to limit Spits/Hurris (not that I've ever seen any good reasons proposed, mind you....) there are absolutly no historical reasons.

You are aware that the Spit and Hurri fought in every theatre, arn't you?

May as well limit the P-38 or the Jug to ETO only ops.

[ergRTC]

Hey guys, I think somebody  hit the nail on the head and that is the imbalance that sometimes happens.  

I think we all try to even this out though, and really I have never been in a ct arena and said to myself"i dont stand a chance" when flying with a group.  1 on 1 of course the spit 5 and hurri are gonna be nasty, but that rarely happens.

  Hell, one of my squadies thrashed me roundly with a zero yesterday, but of course that was 1 on 1 with me in an f6f and no fuel.  The only thing a f6f could do in rl in that situation was bnz but i did not have the gas for it, nor the gas for running.  i digress.........

I think all of us regulars choose interesting aircraft, keep it interesting, and even the sides already, so maybe its not so much what the staff gives us, its what we choose to fly..........

as for me, I stay out of the 38s and 47s but that spit v and hurri is just too fun.

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by Seeker
And I'm surprised at you, Oldman. While there may be good game play reasons to limit Spits/Hurris (not that I've ever seen any good reasons proposed, mind you....) there are absolutly no historical reasons.

You are aware that the Spit and Hurri fought in every theatre, arn't you?

May as well limit the P-38 or the Jug to ETO only ops.

Lurker.
AH, even in the CT, gives us choices that real world pilots simply did not have.  I'm fairly certain that if given the chance, all German pilots in North Africa would have selected A-5s; all Japanese would have picked Nikis; and all Russians would have flown Spitfires.  That is a somewhat-exaggerated, but pretty close, description of what we see in the CT.  Even tho' the Spit and Hurri actually fought all over the world, they were not a major part of the forces in many of those places.  So, yes, I advocate eliminating them from many setups simply because what actually happens in the CT departs so significantly from what actually happened in WWII.  If I'm on the Russian front, I expect to see Russian planes.

- oldman

[Seeker]

"If I'm on the Russian front, I expect to see Russian planes"

Couldn't agree more.

Bring the P-39 to Aces High!

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by Oldman731

Lurker.
AH, even in the CT, gives us choices that real world pilots simply did not have.  I'm fairly certain that if given the chance, all German pilots in North Africa would have selected A-5s; all Japanese would have picked Nikis; and all Russians would have flown Spitfires.  That is a somewhat-exaggerated, but pretty close, description of what we see in the CT.  Even tho' the Spit and Hurri actually fought all over the world, they were not a major part of the forces in many of those places.  So, yes, I advocate eliminating them from many setups simply because what actually happens in the CT departs so significantly from what actually happened in WWII.  If I'm on the Russian front, I expect to see Russian planes.

- oldman

Good point and well said.

eskimo