Air Sim ground based SPAAs using the wrong factions

Game Discussion Simulator Battle
,
1

First post in forums but I was surprised not to see this elsewhere!

I have been an avid Air Sim player for some time and the introduction of ARMs made me extremely excited since my favourite playstyle in other air combat sim games is SEAD/DEAD

Yet I have noticed a glaring issue with using them in Air Sim.

Currently with the player teams typically being NATO (Blue) and Axis/Eastern Bloc (Red) I have found the ground units that spawn typically tend to belong to the opposite side to where they currently are, for example, I’m playing a NATO side in a ground convoy I am coming up against the ZA-35 with a D band Radar, and SIDAM 25s as the SPAA which are from the UK and Italian trees respectively. Whilst my ESM is showing ZSU-37-2 on the Blue side of ground battles (if my memory is correct) which is from the Russian Tree

Now granted in an Allies Vs Axis lobby this would make sense.

However looking at the ARMS available are based on a NATO vs Eastern Bloc scenario, for example, the two shrikes available can strike targets in the bands of E, F, G, H and I which completely precludes the D band on the ZA-35s that Blue side are facing in convoys.

This can be tested by loading up one of the enduring confrontation maps into a custom battle and allowing the ground objectives to spawn then fly over to take a look at what is there.

This is less of a problem at higher BR brackets where most radar bands are covered by all sides. however currently there appears to be a high risk of accidental blue on blue for players attempting to run SEAD in air sim by using common logic of what they expect to be facing.

This should be a fairly easy update changing the ground units that spawn to better reflect the nations of the side they spawn on. (obviously this can’t do much to help free for all lobbies but would most certainly be a good improvement for the rest)

This will also allow players to run dedicated SEAD and provide a bit of relief from the threat of the extremely accurate SPAA in air sim.

I’m open to any thoughts from anyone more experienced than me with this.

Should the ground units in Air Sim reflect the nations that are available for their side?

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters
2

I voted yes, but I’m very aware that the issue is much more far reaching than having the" wrong" AI units on the “wrong” side:

The whole aspect of countries/trees/subtrees has developed into a situation where it is extremely unrealistic, but can not be fixed in a realistic way without rethinking and reworking the whole aspect of trees/subtrees and factions.

Simple and prime example is Germany: In Sim it will always be on RED, but consists (in higher tiers) of aircraft used by West Germany and East Germany, which in a realistic Cold War Scenario would have been opponents.

The current system just doesn’t allow West German aircraft fighting alongside other NATO countries against East German aircraft alongside Warsaw Pact partners, so a very strange mix is always the case.

Having the “wrong” AI units then is an almost negligible issue, considering that they still are somehow even the “right” vehicles for at least part of the lineup/countries/subtrees.