I think the best way to do it is to give Strike Aircraft/Bombers Air Spawn that lacks air combat capabilities or are way subpar to their BR setups for air combat but are strictly oriented towards ground.
A-4B, Buccaneer, A-7D and E series etc deserve such an advantage since they’re slow, have poor climb rate and lack potent air combat capabilities compared to their dedicated fighter jets. A-4E however seems to be way more potent (due to a better engine) - perhaps going up to 9.0 would be better to counter any exploit.
Aircraft like F-105, Su-7, Harrier, Yak-38, Su-25 or A-10A can be exploited to get an air spawn advantage and be used against aircraft - that’s what lead to grounding most of these aircraft in the 1st place anyways. And to be honest - I always favored using the Harriers in air combat due to their great acceleration and decent armament.
A-10 is slow, but those Aim-9Ls at 10.0/10.3 are very potent and there’s moments when you can use them against planes without flares, giving you a guaranteed kill. They’re also fairly agile and gets plenty of flares/chaff for defense, it can be problematic since an A-10 can be easily intercepted but you can counter the attack and gain an easy kill with the cannon/Aim-9L.
Su-25s are even more lethal with their R-60MKs and good engines - even if they’re not supersonic, if they’re loaded for air combat they can be exploited pretty easy. To be honest, I see the Su-25s as a better version of A-7D/E due to their All Aspect AAMs for defense (+ the broken damage model than can eat missiles and cannons at times).
Su-7, even if it lacks AAMs or flares, has a great speed and acceleration and saw it many times bombing then rushing for attackers/bombers for an easy kill. At 9.3, you have the opportunity to outrun many aircraft and stay away from danger and only a few can intercept you. Giving it back an air spawn will also give you the opportunity to run back to base before any interceptor can reach you.
In the same time, lower BR Attackers can be exploited in the same manner like A2D-1, F3D-1, Me262A-1a/U or the Wyvern - where players can focus these planes on air combat and bring little to no ground armament in the loadout, giving them speed and altitude advantages over the others.
I could go on with examples, but I hope I’ve made a point where not all of them deserve a spawn, at least from my opinion - but there are some of these Attackers/Bombers that really need them while others are greatly exploited for their good flight characteristics and potent anti-air armament.
Not gonna make new suggestion but once since gaijin thinks american F-84F keeping airspawn while french italian german israeli ones don’t is fine and not a oversight I’m bumping up this suggestion. This doesnt even go into which planes are too strong to have airspawn or not. Either all F-84Fs should have airspawn or not. Seems pretty logical given they are the same planes and fight the same stuff in air ab/rb. This issue has nothing to do with rank 6 strikers abusing airspawn just for no reason US one gets to keep it which is pretty silly. Sad to see all of the feedback on the F-84Fs was ignored for last month and will be probably for much longer.
I played a two games on one of the desert maps yesterday and a strike craft managed to basically win the game before the airstrip launch aircraft even arrived.
In the first game he actually won it. He killed all 32 requisite ground targets before a single fighter got to him. In the second, it was literally immediately after the first, he got down to 4 left and only died because half the people in the game were in the previous game, recognised his name, didn’t bother climbing or anything and beelined straight for him.
I dare say the forward spawn for strike craft is already too powerful in ground attack missions, with the ability to basically win the game before any fighters even show up. Its just the player base is so micro focused on bombing bases they forgo the actual win condition, as well as the most efficient way to farm points.
I would say giving the A32A airspawn wouldnt be bad idea at all since if you have full bomb load it accelerates super slow and there is no way to reach any ground targets or bases before the enemy, and ontop of that it gets quite alot of uptiers in my experience.
I have a Vautour IIB with Talisman, despite being on the 5th era, I even explored the 7th era with it, despite the penalty in experience gained. The bomber itself is unarmed, a normal freefrag for anyone, BUT it has a normal bomb sight - that’s why I like it. Now this is VI era, flying to any base and dropping bombs is a total lottery, it doesn’t give me any fun, and it has ceased to be a good machine for expo by destroying bases. I am curious what other French machine would be good at this.
With the latest update introducing the Buccaneer S.2B at 10.3 with abysmal acceleration and poor manoeuvrability, it really should get an air spawn. I have played a few games of it now, it cant get past the friendly bases before the enemy team, meaning its just an easy kill for the enemies.
The A32A Rod Adam absolutely needs an Air Spawn. It’s extremely underpowered and by the time you make it to any bases they are all gone leaving you to loiter for five minutes until a base reappears. Bases also should respawn after a minute or less, not five.