F4UDOA, judging from you comments in the modeling thread, and in this one, it would seem to me that your new to this, and I think you have alot to learn.
Now, don't take me wrong this isn't a flame
There is nothing wrong with being new or learning. But I don't think you have participated much in the "higher end" of realistic WWII Flight Sims. More specifically, Warbirds or Full Realism Airwarrior, and now here in Aces High.
Why? Because there is
NO COMPARISON between the actual war and the open arena we fly in, in this simulation. Sad to say, but its true.
Even in Historical Scenarios (and I have participated in many, and even run quite a few) where we strive for accuracy, strange things can happen.
You can take the most realistic Flight Models possible known to man, and if you fly them in an ahistorical manner, you will get vastly different results.
My point is that its not a valid arguement to say that because a plane is not as famous or effective in the simulation as in the war, that the flight model must be off.
Lets look at your
"Nearly 2 to 1 vrs the NiKi. This is one of the A/C that it accumulated an 11 to 1 kill ratio against in the pacific. These nubers should indicate that there is some mistake in A/C modeling in the current game format arguement.
First off this is an entirely misleading, if not incorrect statement, that has nothing to do with the arena or the accuracy of the flight models.
Yes the F4U had a 11 to 1 kill ratio against
all Japanese aircraft. But that included Fighters (most of which were the Zero, not the N1K2), Bombers, TorpedoBombers, Reconnaisance, Transports, and even general utility aircraft. A more accurate number may be what was the F4U kill ratio versus Japanese Fighters? Or even better, what was the F4U kill ratio versus the N1K2 "George"?
And let me assure you that the N1K2 Shinden is not anything like a A6M5 Zero. In fact its much more comparable to a FW190 or even the F4U, than to the Zero. Check out the numbers, they don't lie.
Even then the numbers would be a flawed comparison.
Why? Because even your "average" pilot in a simulation like this, is vastly more experienced than even the "aces" of the real war. We have the opportunity to "die" many times and learn from our experiences. In real life you had one opportunity, if you made a mistake it was all over.
And even if you compare flight hours to flight hours, we come out ahead. Why? In real life, the pilots would fly for days without seeing an opponent, while here we take off and in 5-15 minutes we are assured of engaging in combat, most likely dying, taking off and doing it all over again.
In WWII, by the time that the N1K2 Shinden was introduced (late 1944), the average Corsair pilot had about 3 or 4 times the experience, that the average Japanese fighter pilot had. But the
most important thing to remember is that by that time, the US also had a huge numerical advantage, and there were probably 4 Corsairs for every enemy fighter they encountered. In the arena, even 2 to 1 odds are considered "horrible", and they are usually much more even than that.
Also lets look at how we fight in the arena. Most fights start at or below 15,000ft and typically procede down to the deck. In real life, pilots were much more cautious, and learned that Altitude+Speed = LIFE. The biggest advantage that the F4U had was that it maintained its power and performance in higher altitude bands than the Japanese aircraft. How many times have you been killed in a F4U-1, in Aces High, by a N1K2 at 25,000ft ? If it happened, it was your own fault and you deserved to die.
Another factor is Icon's. With the game's icon system we use (a necessary evil) you can easily spot incoming aircraft, and see aircraft out to a very far distance with little effort and great accuracy. This leads to mostly low level pig pile furballs with constant streams of aircraft replacements from both sides from the nearest airbase.
Not exactly how the real war was fought.
In short, do this. Take the arena pilots and give the Corsair side a 3 or 4 to 1 numerical advantage. Also the N1K2 Shinden side should have most of the "newbie" pilots.
Make it so that you only have "one life to live" and move all the bases apart so that you have to fly for hours before you engage, and that there are no streams of instant replacements. Oh, and dont' forget that combat should be initiated at much higher altitudes that we commonly do.
hmmmmmm..... Fear of death, how do we simulate that???? I GOT IT !!! Every pilot has high voltage electrodes taped to his testicles, so that if he is "killed" he gets a really nasty shock.
Now, run it that way for 4 years and check Kill to Death ratio's for the aircrafts like you described, and you might get a somewhat representative statistic to use for aircraft flight performance comparison.
Even then it would be flawed.
Remember, the Arena is
NOT real life.
<steps down off soapbox>
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Vermillion
WB's: (verm--), **MOL**, Men of Leisure,
"Real men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires
"
