Its time to perk the Yak3 and La7

[atlau]

Supply and demand. Let the free market calculate the ENY demand of an aircraft. At its current usage the AH base has determined that the Yak3 is in the top 5 non perked fighters. Hence it deserves a matching ENY. Its a well above average plane in all categories except firepower and sees more useage than the fighter only 5 ENY Spit 14 which also carries no bombs.

[DmonSlyr]

How this is being approached may be the confusion. What is the Ta152's ability to destabilize a fight in the vein of a 262 or Tempest or F4u-4 or F4u-C or 163? The Ta152 is a nuisance like a 262 during a busy furball when it suddenly rips through out of nowhere. During that initial surprise some times a few players are blind sided and the 152 WEPs up and away to rinse and repeat. That changes the nature of the furball since everyone on the attacked side is throwing warnings about the 152, and hyping the lost players from that first pass and subsequent passes. There is a real effect on the nature of the activity in that localized area if the 152 driver is not a weenie with no skill. You can't just ignore the 152 and go back to your ACM state from just before when there was not a 152 loose to pick you off. That mental change costs players kills or, gets them killed worrying about the high ENY ride picking them out of nowhere. The average pool of customers who can be affected by this in a furball is larger than our Junky level players in the game. So that is a metric based on destabilization of localized activity and customer satisfaction.

What is the real potential destabilization impact to customer satisfaction by the Yak3? Is it equal to the current perked rides and low ENY rides or, has it become an overused nuisance like the Brewster was before the Yak3 took over the Brewster's role? And years ago the 4 hispano HurriC was used as that kind of nuisance before the Brewster was introduced. Everyone hated the HurriC becasue it could turn and the sissies flying it HO'd on every pass was the gripe against it's over use.

ENY and perking is related to destabilization of player activity in a localized area. How does the Yak3 measure at this point in time to that metric? It is incredibly irritating and seems to magically not get damaged more like shooting at bombers with 30cal. But, how destabilizing is it to localized combat activity? If anything the squirrely little things keep groups tied up wasting their ammo while someone in a perk or low number ENY ride blind sides them repeatedly. Having observed the evolution of their use, in the hands of the worst case scenario vets, they are competitive up to 20k. While they can perform relatively tight maneuvering at high speed becasue of their short wingspan. They are often flown like mini Ta152 to great effect by veteran players from 20k to the deck these days, versus originally as high speed irritating bottom pickers, vulchers and runners. In AH2 the La7 and it's WEP made it the king of that role.

Has everyone forgotten Hitech reduced the La7 top speed on WEP back in AH2 and the forums were sure that was the death of this game. A lot of players were using it back then exactly the same way the Yak3 is used today. With the exception the only thing on the deck that could catch it when it was on WEP was a 262 or a 51 on WEP dropping from 10k. But, it could be killed unlike the Yak3 today.

There's a reason why more people fly the 190D than the Ta152. The 190D makes a much larger impact and is much easier to fly in regards to flying thru furballs and E regineration and maneuverability.

Most people dont realize that there are offensive and Defensive planes. Rarely is the plane good at both. Defensive fighters don't have much ord but are deadly when it comes to rolling off the base, getting quick alt and speed, and tracking down offensive type planes. Planes that have a high usage in both categories have more advantages than others, and because of these advantages, should be higher on the Eny regardless of their Ord or guns even though 20Mm is very deadly. The Yak3 was designed as a defense plane. Not a bomber Hunter, not to go kill radars. The P47 rolling off the field for defense is very poor. So what I am saying I'd that defense planes like the La7, spit16, and Yak3 are soley used for fighter combat, which is what the majoirty of the players do. If the majority of the players are in furballs in figher combat, than the planes that are suited the best for these situations will have a much larger impact on the game than planes with ords and guns.

[atlau]

Good point. Some planes are better at fighting downhill and others uphill. The spit16 and yak3 are good at both compared to the p51, f4u and p47 which are great downhill fighters. The la7 is excellent at both (below 10k). The k4 is mostly an uphill fighter as dive performance is hard to use but still acceptable whereas the d9 while usually better downhill has the speed and acceleration to start a fight below escape and end up above with its exceptional climb.

[The Fugitive]

The problem may not even be "performance" or any other factor other than "Im tired of fighting LAs and Yaks all night". You have to admit that it seems like 9 out of 10 fights are either a LA or a yak. I know if I want easy mode those.... and the spit16 are the planes I jump into.

To help keep the players that have been here for ever find a way to get players into some other plane. I think thats all the OP is looking for.

[atlau]

The achievement to get xxx number of kills in various planes at least gets people to dabble in them and find new favorites. Maybe we should have a plane of the month challenge

[caldera]

The achievement to get xxx number of kills in various planes at least gets people to dabble in them and find new favorites. Maybe we should have a plane of the month challenge

That is a great idea!   

[icepac]

You show up at an enemy field at 10k with guys upping from it as you dive in and you wonder why they are in yak3, spit16, and la7s?

[bustr]

The standard formula these days is you show up at a field and the defenders up Yak3, spit16, N1K2 and sometimes Brewster\A6m. You attack the field killing the defenders until few try to up and 5 minutes later 20k P51D, Dora, spit16 and Yak3 show up while staggered waves come in behind them following the attackers back to their field. The only time some parity of alt happened was during the field attack phase and if enough Yak3 got off the ground, the Yak3 being coated with Teflon, the attackers use up their rounds and RTB  becasue numbers to sustain fighter CAP are not in the game much anymore. And about that time the 20k P51D, Dora and Yak3 are just showing up anyway.

During this last Fall time period Sept-Oct for some reason fights were mostly below 15k and face to face brawls. Towards the end of Oct everyone started going back up to 20k before engaging no matter how close the next field was or the furball out in the bushes. I'm watching more of the remaining hot vets still in the game being lazy and using alt to pick in P51, Dora and Yak3. When I listen to them on VOX, read 200 or country, the excuse is it's the only way to survive, not get hoarded "or picked" and get kills anymore.

The Yak3 is being over used becasue of it's Teflon coating insurance policy. If that were changed and it was easier to shoot down, players would either timidly live above 20k full time again or, go back to the N1K2 and other low alt HO or turn monsters like was the SOP some years back before the Yak3. Since the Yak3 became so popular, I don't get professionally HO'd by cannon birds and ponies like used to be the norm in the MA.

Back in AW the spit9 gave everyone some semblance of equal opportunity in that game to feel good about themselves. It's probably a coincidence the Yak3 is filling that role at a time this game is horribly brutal for new players. I'm not very good in a Yak3 but, I have used it to wiggle my way out of gang bangs a spit9 or 16 would have lost it's wings in from all the rounds fly past them. Probably just a coincidence every time I've pulled that off.......

[JunkyII]

You show up at an enemy field at 10k with guys upping from it as you dive in and you wonder why they are in yak3, spit16, and la7s?

If you fly higher then 10K when there is only 100 players in the MA your just avoiding a fight.

[Lusche]

If you fly higher then 10K when there is only 100 players in the MA your just avoiding a fight.

There are no bombers in AH anymore?

[CptTrips]

There are no bombers in AH anymore?

Yes, but they should fly straight and level at 5k so i can have a chance at hitting them!

[icepac]

Most of my fights started at 30k and I always found a fight.

[guncrasher]

been playing for almost 4 hours today.  we had fun taking 3 bases, I have been killed a lot, then again i killed 1 or 2.  I cant say it's been hard to find a fight.  there were like 70 players when I started there's a few more now.


semp

[bustr]

With today's patch I reran the offline C.202 50cal test against the Yak and La families.

All the Yak's were destroyed with 3 taps of the trigger at 200 back into the rear 6 of the Yak tested.
All the La's were destroyed with 2 taps of the trigger at 200 back into the rear 6 of the La tested.

Then I tested just shooting at the Yak3 and both La's filling the 6 drone slots. Then flying the hanger stable of fighters to test different guns.

The Yak3 now catches rounds in the wings. Hitting the wings now more often resulted in snapping off the outer panel with solid 50cal or single hits from 20 and 30mm. Hitting the fuselage with 50cal and 20mm from the rear on a oblique killed the pilot instead of the pilot seeming to be encased in tungsten armor. Hitting the fuselage with the 30mm was a one shot pilot kill. Hitting the rudder with 20mm actually snapped it off versus it being made of titanium. Oiling and holing the fuel tanks happened more frequently from random rounds.The La family just falls apart or the pilot gets dead quick like a no armor plywood cockpit should result.

What does all this mean? Don't know and it could all be anecdotal with my aim improving from several days of offline testing these planes in this way. Though before this patch the Yak3 was the toughest of all the Yak's to shoot down in the drone circle along with it's wings just letting rounds slip past. One anomaly in the drone circle I've seen in the last 5 years, around your 3rd to 5th kill of one type of ride you are testing shooting down. The anomaly is the type of drone you are testing will suddenly absorb much of what you throw at it falling apart piece by piece right down to missing both wings flying along burning after many shooting attempts to kill the pilot from a shallow angle 6 position. Ran into that with the Yak3 at about every 5 but, the wing snapped off nicely just at the landing gear root. With the 20mm I could get the wing root off after snapping off the outer panel. The 30mm would either take the wing or the wing then the pilot would croak in about a second.

The fighters with widely spaced wing guns like the P47 and Typhoon have the most trouble hitting the Yak3 from the 6 inside of their convergence. Using a Yak3 the drone Yak3 were quickly killed with one or two taps from behind. Cannon rounds are not nice to the Yak family or La family now.

This is how it played out offline in the perfect environment of offline. You guys will need to see if shooting the Yak3 online has changed any.

[DmonSlyr]

With today's patch I reran the offline C.202 50cal test against the Yak and La families.

All the Yak's were destroyed with 3 taps of the trigger at 200 back into the rear 6 of the Yak tested.
All the La's were destroyed with 2 taps of the trigger at 200 back into the rear 6 of the La tested.

Then I tested just shooting at the Yak3 and both La's filling the 6 drone slots. Then flying the hanger stable of fighters to test different guns.

The Yak3 now catches rounds in the wings. Hitting the wings now more often resulted in snapping off the outer panel with solid 50cal or single hits from 20 and 30mm. Hitting the fuselage with 50cal and 20mm from the rear on a oblique killed the pilot instead of the pilot seeming to be encased in tungsten armor. Hitting the fuselage with the 30mm was a one shot pilot kill. Hitting the rudder with 20mm actually snapped it off versus it being made of titanium. Oiling and holing the fuel tanks happened more frequently from random rounds.The La family just falls apart or the pilot gets dead quick like a no armor plywood cockpit should result.

What does all this mean? Don't know and it could all be anecdotal with my aim improving from several days of offline testing these planes in this way. Though before this patch the Yak3 was the toughest of all the Yak's to shoot down in the drone circle along with it's wings just letting rounds slip past. One anomaly in the drone circle I've seen in the last 5 years, around your 3rd to 5th kill of one type of ride you are testing shooting down. The anomaly is the type of drone you are testing will suddenly absorb much of what you throw at it falling apart piece by piece right down to missing both wings flying along burning after many shooting attempts to kill the pilot from a shallow angle 6 position. Ran into that with the Yak3 at about every 5 but, the wing snapped off nicely just at the landing gear root. With the 20mm I could get the wing root off after snapping off the outer panel. The 30mm would either take the wing or the wing then the pilot would croak in about a second.

The fighters with widely spaced wing guns like the P47 and Typhoon have the most trouble hitting the Yak3 from the 6 inside of their convergence. Using a Yak3 the drone Yak3 were quickly killed with one or two taps from behind. Cannon rounds are not nice to the Yak family or La family now.

This is how it played out offline in the perfect environment of offline. You guys will need to see if shooting the Yak3 online has changed any.

If the damage model has been tweeked than I will see... Would surely appreciate it!

Just picture how a spit9 is appropriately a 20 eny plane, compared to the 18 eny Yak3 with 2500 more kills and a .5 better K/D.