It sounds like you're trying to perk all the late war rides because you are personally tired of seeing so many of them.
Actually, when I thought of the NPA idea, it started out as small measures to reduce the suicidal jabo problem and brutish field porking tactics. It evolved along the lines of "encouraging the use"(like jodgi said, and I agreed) of planes that were suited and greatly respected for its jabo roles, but in reality totally neglected in the MA.
At that point it became clear that shifting the MA into mid '43~early '44 environment should provide distinct alternatives to what the MA has become now.
Well...me, too, but that's still not enough reason to limit game play. The MA is a late war battle for a large percentage of the players.
Is there a mission statement from HTC concerning how and what the MA should be? I think not.
It is given that the MA, as it is now, is a late-war environment. But there's no reason why it should not change. It is the circumstances of AH1 development that brought such environment to reality - AH started in the first place, with late war craft. The basic system of MA was complete before any mid/early war plane even came into existence in AH. By the time they added in mid war/early war planes, the arena was already formed in the way it is.
While it is true that the developers may or may not agree to what we give as reasons, that does not mean what we give out for reasons are always untrue or invalid. Your tired of seeing same planes again and again. So am I. So are a lot of other people. If we can say that we have a reasonable consensus amongst ourselves, that qualifies as a good reason as any other.
If HTC were to take your perk set completely out of circulation they would just be replaced by a different set of the latest and best performing aircraft in the hanger.
Mid-war planes are free. Late-war planes are perked.
So, does this mean that people will tend to find the 'next best planes' within the mid-war range, and will it be overused just the same? Perhaps, to an extent. But I think there will be a large difference in the extremity of it all.
In the current plane set, perked planes are typically perked very heavily, while other late-war planes are free. Currently, if we wish to choose a plane that outperforms the best of the free planes, we must risk a very high price.
The large perk price and the "kill me" pheromone, largely limits our effective use of perked planes - usually limited to very timid cherry picking. The perked planes, are so rare, that their impact in the arena is negligible. Naturally, the best of the free planes becomes also the best of the planes in arena impact.
However, imagine my perk agenda in circulation.
The best of the free planes are the best of the mid-war planes. Will they become so high in arena impact that things will remain exactly the same? Well, if that logic is to be true, we must assume that a perk price of 3 points will totally kill the use of all the lightly perked planes.
As a mild comparison, please take note on the usage of the C-hog. It is currently perked twice as heavier than the average perk price of my suggestion, and yet its usage is around 2%. For a number of reasons which I have given very early in the discussion, 2%, is the 'average' number I am looking forward to achieving for all planes.
The Chog, is not an impressive performer compared to the currently free and high-performance free planes like the La-7 or the P-51D or the N1K2. It is perked for 8 points, and it will most definately meet free planes that performs better than itself - but it still sees 2% usage.
Now, imagine my perk agenda in place. No doubt, the 'best of the free, mid war planes' will boast quite some arena impact. But will they simply fill the place of the "Big Five" in the exact same way? When you can use perked planes for a very very small price, which is significantly better in performance compared to most of the free midwar planes?
You must understand that perking lightly the late war fighters, was never intended for making them 'rare' at all. You are assuming that with the perks in place, people will all together giveip on all of the late war planes, and then move to the free ones - which, they will take place in, and created the 'next best group' which is exactly a mirror of what was before.
The perks suggested, is merely a means to diverge some of the pilots away from the "Big Five", and relocate them into the other planes.
Currently, the "other planes" have no 'merit' which to attract pilots. So, we're creating the merit for them - it's gonna be free. But the currently best planes, won't be shackled away like 262s or Tempests, too - it'll just require a very cheap price.
If you can't pay the price all the time, than you'll fly free planes some of the time, which will earn you some perks, which will allow you to fly lightly perked planes again very soon.
Oh yes, some of the best war planes will form a new 'best group', that is no doubt. But this 'best group', won't be as menacing as the 'big five'. They'll be seen often, but so will the perked planes be seen often <- my my, if we see that many planes that often, then could it be that 'variety' has been achieved? I think that's a safe assumption?
Currently, the "Big Five" each has 10% kills in the arena, while some of the next best planes have around 3%, and the rest somewhere between 0~2%. I'm looking forward to reducing the Big Five into some 1~2%, and relocating the rest to the mid war planes. That's what I'm counting on - yes, a 'new best group' will form, but this 'best group' does not get 10% usage each.
You're trying to treat a symptom. The fact remains that a good percentage of players just want to barrel through the air in the "best" aircraft available and blast anything that might cross in front of them.
That's undeniably true.
So, touch the heart of that truth, and you get a solution.
If you want to fly the "best planes"? Then fine, go ahead.
But you're gonna have to pay some price for it this time. It won't be so expensive that it will discourage you from selecting it - like Temps or Spit14s in the old agenda(which btw, are made greatly cheaper in my NPA) - however, it is a price you must pay nonetheless.
If the light perks makes you fly 2 sorties in midwar planes out of total 10, that is still enough to considerably reduce the dominant usage of the big five, and shed some light into the late war planes.
If the Hurricane Mk 1 was the fastest and best armed aircraft in the hanger, you'd see hoards of them and we'd be flying around in fabric covered bi-planes shouting PERK THE HURRICANE!
True. So in that case we'd perk the Hurricane. Would we not? The Chog wasn't even the "best in everything" as your hypothetical Hurricane would be, but it still became perked.
