BTW, slightly off topic, but you guys really underestimate the value of the FM-2. It can easily hang with a Yak9-T in a 1 v 1, and not just in a turn fight. It can hang in the vertical with the Yak. I fought Eddiek in his FM-2 and me in a Yak9-T. He (and that Cat) impressed the hell out of me in the fight. I underestimated that plane, and he handed me my arse.
I remember how I was ticked off at getting vulched by some guy in an La5 a couple times before I was able to get into the air.
Can't remember if I got him or someone else did.....
You made the same mistake in that fight that lots of Allied pilots get when flying the mid to late war stuff against the A6M2, A6M5, etc..........you got impatient.
You had me on the ropes the entire fight, up til you lost your patience and started pressing too hard: Ya had alt and speed on me, all I could do was try to stay close and under you to make you burn your E. You finally did, and when we entered that vertical maneuvers phase, you had pretty much given up most if not all of your E advantage. When you did that, and we got into the low speed stuff, I was able to "control" my plane (just barely) through judicious use of the throttle, flaps, and rudder. In other words, I was wallowing like a pig on ice, just trying to keep you in my windscreen, waiting for you to get slow enough to engage on some sort of an equal basis. Nothing magic there, I thought then and still do that the main reason I was able to win that one was because you got frustrated. I'm not a Shane, or Fester, or Leviathn...........just a below average stick looking to have some fun.
That being said.........
I've flown both sides of this fictitious "it's not fun for the guys who get BnZ'd all the time" line. I flew both sides in the Fin-Russ setup, the Tunisia setup, and the last slot setup. I flew the German rides til the Russkies were down on numbers, then I switched and flew VVS iron a bit. Same with the Tunisia setup, although I did not fly the Spits as much (leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I do), and flew both sides for the Slot setup.
All it comes down to is decent SA and knowing what your ride is capable of. So the myth about TnB versus BnZ not working doesn't hold up, at least not with me. Make the guy doing the BnZ can be fun, all you have to do is make him frustrated and commit to getting the kill no matter what the cost and you can add another scalp to your collection.
I don't personally agree with Brady's viewpoint, because I have flown in setups recently that had matchups where one side had a speed advantage over the other and still had fun. It's his setup, and he's going to run it the way he wants.
But IIRC, the CT was set up initially to allow some historical or quasi-historical plane matches. From mid-42 onwards, the US supply system had planes in the works that were equal to or superior to the Japanese planes. Not the fault of the Americans that the Japanese pretty much stuck with the A6M series, doing little more than upgrade it here and there. Add the Ki-84 somewhere down the line, please, cause it was a capable fighter. But restricting plane setups because of your own beef with HTC's available Japanese planeset is not, IMO, the way to go about it.
I'd think that running an historical setup, with the A6M's, and the Tony, against the available USAAF/USN planes would do more to prove your point of the need for another Japanese planeset than this restriction you impose.
I got nothing against you, Brady, but looks like you may run into one of the 60's style protests in here if you keep this up"
"What if Brady threw a war, and nobody showed up?"
Add the Ki-61 and F4U-1 as perk planes, perk them high enough to make it risky to use them, deply them sparingly at a select few bases, and see what happens.
F4U-1=20 perks
Ki-61 =17 perks
That way, you wouldn't see much of either of them for a day or two, and sure not in large numbers.