Originally posted by FiLtH
Because this game has more and more become a late 1945 sim
Has it really changed or was it not that way since a long time ago? I just looked up the stats for last Tour and one 3 years ago. The most used (defined by adding "kills in" and "deaths of") fighters were:
Plane Kills+Deaths
Tour 78, Jul 2006
1. La-7 73870 9.37%
2. Spitfire Mk XVI 68137 8.64%
3. N1K2 64968 8.24%
4. P-51D 51214 6.50%
5. Bf 110G-2 36544 4.64%
(...)
Me 262 4426 0.56%
P-40E 3787 0.48%
Tour 42 Jul 2003
1. Spitfire Mk IX 91482 11.11%
2. P-51D 79555 9.66%
3. La-7 68813 8.35%
4. N1K2 64117 7.78%
5. P-38L 42428 5.15%
(...)
Me 262 5123 0.62%
P-40E 3057 0.37%
The late war rides like P51, N1K, La7 were about as popular as they are today. The Spit IX was the best "easy noob TnB" plane back in 2003 and was of course replaced in that role by the Spit 16 (which has no better K/D rate than the old Spit IX).
The one plane which has the biggest increase in usage is no late war top fighter but the midwar Bf110G, the "usage" numbers have approximately doubled. Maybe an indication of a changed style of play (landgrab vs furball) ?