Originally posted by Karnak
Widewing,
You mean the Axis pilots who whine the F4U away just like the Allied pilots (with far less reason) whine the N1K2-J away?
Nah, you couldn't mean that.
Tell me, do you enjoy competing with four other F4Us to kill one A6M2? Do you enjoy endlessly BnZing aircraft that can't do anything about it?
Maybe it would help if you pro-Allied guys would actually push for concurrent Japanese aircraft rather than insisting that it is just fine and dandy for the Japanese side to be fighting with equipment that is two or more years older than what you are using.
(Quizical look)
{Sorry to butt in ... excuse me WW}
1: I didn't see one single instance of an Allied player whining about the Nik2J on channel one, on the country buffer or on this board during the late pac slot (or afterwards). I flew this setup quite extensively. I may have missed it. How many actual examples can you cite?
2: Who likes getting bounced by 2 Zekes, 2 Kis and 2 Niks on takeoff (while being shelled and bombed)? Well, obviously I must have or I wouldn't have kept doing it - although the CT staff tried to make sure my choices were pretty much limited to that or logging when the game board was tossed across the room then rearranged when it looked like the Axis side was going to recieve it's fair share of lumps.
Do you enjoy capping and vulching a field for hours on end? Do you really think having the staff constantly and consistantly modify the
slot setup to trim the tailfeathers of the Allies (or push `em into the corner) in order to "balance the scales" the moment the situation in the arena looks like the Axis side is starting to take a beating is being done to ensure balanced play and fun for all involved?
But none of that makes for a very good argument on what model is best to add to the IJ planeset anyhow. As a matter of fact, in some ways it goes to prove how much an "inferior" model can kick butt if you have a tactical advantage. Which is really what the CT is about more than making sure everyone on both sides have planes with
identical strengths and weaknesses. If that's all we wanted then why not just have planesets that offer only one type of plane? The Slot with nothing but the Zeke on both sides. Or the Slot with nothing but the Hog on both sides. We both know the answer to that. It's not the MA or the DA.
The old argument of how "devastating" the F4U would be against the Zero has now become how "boring" it is to fight against planes that have strengths that rely on the ability to strike and extend while flying a plane with strengths that rely on the ability to maneuver and retain energy. No surprise there. Once the setup was finally put back into play it was bound to disprove the former argument. After all, in the hands of an experienced pilot, a Zeke can hold off a BnZer in a one on one situation pretty much indefinately (or until fuel runs low).
What if it's
not one on one? Well, to tell the truth, it should hardly ever be that. IRL, both sides knew the importance of flying in force and proper wingman tactics. And some IJ pilots realize that the Zeke can actually climb as well as turn ... and can read darbars on maps.
Non-stop fast and furious close range furballs can be had on most any MA map. If that's the basis the CT staff uses to determine benchmarks, then perhaps the "Combat Theater" needs a more accurate title ... like "Axis vs. Allies furball" (with a subtitle "pro-Axis pac until the IJ planeset meets our expectations").
3: Did I just read you correctly? Did you actually claim that pro-allied guys are
not advocating the addition of some more late model Japanese fighters to AH? No .... I must have imagined that. I know you realize how many allied pac (and specifically Hog fans) have added their voices in the request for more IJ aircraft (fighter and bomber). But if I
did just read you correctly, shame on you for forgetting that. Holding the f4U-1 as ransom to get more models isn't a very good way to foster such cooperation, either.
4: Do I want a challenge? Hell, I thought I had one. Time and again I've mentioned the skill and tenacity of my IJ foes in everything from an A6M2 to a NiK2J. Why do you think the Allied players are relying so heavily on wingman tactics as well as developing (or reverting to)tactics that focus on the strengths of their machines, which requires alot more patience and discipline than I'm used to. I guarantee you if our positions were reversed (let's say if I was in an FM2 ... down to a third of my clip and you were in .... well, let's just pretend that the Japanese developed a plane with the exact same characteristics of the F4U-1 .... momentum and punch but no real turn capability) ... that I'd find it a
challenge and I wouldn't let my ego change that word to
boring (nor would I try to get the "Japanese F4U" banned or extremely limited in CT Pac setups until I had my own clone of it to play with). That being said, I'm glad to see some carrier-borne Hogs in the upcoming setup. Let's hope they don't get axed the moment someone lands a kill in one.
Karnak, I respect the hell out of the 13th and it's ability to shine in any mix and match. Don't fall into the Brady/Batz mindset .... please!
