the Yak 9s are pretty undertiered though aren’t they?
Arguably, yes. But the Yak-9k is the big funny gun one that annihilates ground vehicles up to a much higher BR with APHE. The one that SHOULD turn like a brick, that shook so badly when firing the plane came apart and gave the pilot a concussion.
In WT? It out turns quite a few dedicated fighters, and the gun is reliably enough to fire consecutively, stays on target, and can even destroy other planes with semi accurate shots.
2 Likes
They are not food if played right.
Imagine Ta-152H (6.0) vs A6M5 at 5.3.
You are faster than Zero, you retain the energy better, but Zero can pull 14G at 660 IAS and perform an insanely tight reversal, and since Type 99 Mk 2 have very good ballistics (they barely lose any speed at distance, so they reach 1000m in like 1,8s) one can get clapped even if trying some high speed BnZ. Oh and if said 0 has 13mm MGs, they tend to fire mini nukes, so you’re not safe even past 1000m, if 1 HE bullet hits your wing, your entire maneuvrability and energy retention goes down the shitter.
So if A6M5 has some alt to work with, they are an absolute pain to fight against. Of course if A6M5 is turnfighting people and have fairly low speed then if you are a decent shot, you may kill them before they slaughter your team.
But if A6M5 is using its maneuvrability to force people to dive away/1-turn kill them and conserve its energy, then GL HF.
Best you can do is force him down, down, down and eventually draining his balls of energy. But by the time you do this, you’re at at 1200m yourself going 400km/h. And in all that time the rest of your team likely evaporated (any good German player at 6.0 knows one has to carry anout 33% of games to get 60% WR as Germany gravitates towards 40% naturally - so if you’re just doing 1 v 1, you have a 60% chance of losing the match) and you’re getting swarmed by planes that absolutely wipe the floor with you (Yak-3U, P-51H with energy advantage, Spitfire Lf Mk IX, Spitfire Mk XVIII/XIV/22, RE.2005 VDM, J2M2 and J2M3, and I am not entitely sure if 1 v 1 vs N1K2 is actually winnable at equal skill, vs Ki-84 there’s a chance, but not if he starts on your 6, lol)
So I’ll never call A6M5 “food”. It’s not great on its own, vs a disciplined team of high speed fighters it may get dragged, it may get 2 v 1 etc., but vs random team, if it’s 1 v 1 vs said A6M5 you are already being lucky, and if you absolutely have to kill one - tough luck, especially with piece of shit ballistics of German guns (BTW at this point it’d not just about German guns having bad ballistics, it’s about everyone else having unreasonably good ballistics, Ho-5 80g shell has way better long range performance than German 117g shell, which makes absolute 0 sense).
BTW, somebody talked about gunpods on 109 - IMO no point in using these, after real sh*tter 3.0, you can 1-2 shot most fighters, that is if you land HE, which is not guaranteed of course, since best belt from ballistic POV (stealth) is 40% AP which is very likely to not do anything.
3 Likes
Everyone’s talking about the Bf109, you know?
We all know your beloved Ta152H is strong as hell, boy.
I’m talking about A6M5 being food fallacy. If you switch Ta for K4, exactly same scenario applies except in K4 in the end you get roflstomped by like 80% (maybe more, lol) of fighters you can encounter if they have energy advantage.
And the point is also - even for Ta, A6M5 is nowhere close to “food”. Actually vs some decently flown A6M5s I had to truelt sweat to get the win, and I died because of Zeros quite a lot.
2 Likes
That’s why I said this.
In good players’ hand they can be good but is not because the plane is good, is just because the player is skillful. And in this situation even they play Po-2 in 5.0 they will also score a kill. But most of us here is not Hartmann’s level skillful and more importantly this is just a game, why we have to suffer ourselves and play a plane that not well in both stat and environment while there are tons of better second option that offer better experience in similar playstyle?
Only Zero, I don’t really understand why those ppl can said Zero is OP after they got killed because they don’t climb in a fking P-51 but instead joined a dogfight in low attitude against the Zero 🤦🏻
1 Like
You know that i have a potato aim and refuse to take head-ons due to the lack of accuracy of my joystick usage 😂
The early 109s are absolute monsters if flown correct - but it looks like that most of their players either lack Air RB experience or are unable to unlock the potential of these aircraft.
-
I have to use BnR (with 800m convergence instead of 600m) vs E-3/4/7 as even as my Hellcat beats 4.0/4.3 Yak-3s in turnfights these early 109s outturn me rather effortlessly (if the pilot uses Mouse and Keyboard without instructor).
-
F-1s, F-2s & F-4s and G-2s have no chance on equal states but perfect energy management and changes of the supercharger gears at the right point in time of the Hellcat is essential.
-
The only plane i feel confident to take on the 109 E-7 3.0 JP premium version is the C-3604 - and even then the set up of the engagement is decisive.
Coming back to 109s: Starting from the F-4s all of them could use a BR decrease of one step if you see how the fighters like P-51Cs, Spitfires or Yaks are positioned.
The guy in the G-6 was (ofc) from the ENSO squad - on the very large and cold Moscow map with 3 airfields for each team a G-6 outclimbs everything in a 4.0-5.0 match - the J2M2s and I-225 are rather rare these days - i see way more A7M1 or Yak-3Ps at 5.0 and the Yak-9U at 4.7 is often lower.
Lmao - good guess - my ENSO G-6 opponent played actually together with a random F4U-4 and both played perfect bait & switch, there is sometimes nothing you can do that be patient and outfuel them.
I do agree that the new FR-1 turns surprisingly well - but the UK Hellcat turns better😉
The B7A2 is still the best weapon to counter the Yak-3 spam 😂
In case you decide to play Air RB again - stay away from an Asian player (i can’t spell his tag) - he has around 23-25k kills (with minimal number of deaths ) in it. If i meet him on the other team I have to focus on neutralizing / occupying him by outclimbing him - we reached 9-9.5 km altitude in these engagements 😂
Have a good one!
Whilst i agree with your general way of thinking i do not share this view.
My post was trying to point out that these early 109s are not bad - they simply need a very experienced player to make them work as those players are able to play around the weaknesses and use their strengths.
If you meet a competent pilot in a JP 3.0 E-7 you have severe issues - simply because it is an excellent energy fighter with an amazing turn rate and good climb - just the rather slow top speed and the low ammo count of 20mm shells are negative aspects.
1 Like
i adore the jap 109 E-7, its insanely good, and the fact that it used to be 2.3 lol
2 Likes
It was down-BRd by accident for ages - a gaijin intern mixed it up with the E-3.
I lost in 150+ matches in the Ju 88 A-1 (80% WR) just 2 planes - one due to overpowered midfield aaa and one vs a 170+ days fighter jock in the JP E-7 when it was 2.3…
Have a good one!
the jap 109 is so far my most played plane, also the one that got me into air rb, have a good one yourself :)
1 Like
Oh how I miss Fw 190 A5/U2 being this tough counter to any high maneuvrability/slow speed dingus out there… Back in the day when it could tank some 20mm, and had the ability to dodge and recommit almost instantly.
Nowadays the only counter to B7A2 is diving away + teammate with a brain. Ultra rare.
But this guy’s performance is a testament to Gaijin’s excellent balancing “efforts”, which can only be rivaled by their impenetrable anti-team rammer policy, which strictly adheres to the following words of lord Jebus: “if you’re being mistreated, it’s your own damn fault, so suck it up, loser, here, let me rub some salt into your wounds”.
5 Likes
Ok, I got a question. Who will get into an energy fight with you in this BR? What I experienced is in this BR most (like 99.9%) players still in the biplane dogfight mindset which can easily kill by a simple B&Z, taking them into energy fight is just putting yourself into a danger situation which I think is not the first option for everyone
Mhm - i prefer rather a B7A2 as opponent than a Yak-3 enthusiast like this guy: StatShark - See All Player, Missile, and Vehicle Statistics - you can play around a B7A2, but it is way harder to fight such excellent players.
This depends on your individual experience, server choice and preferred daytime when you play. I play exclusively on CIS server and i would estimate that depending on daytime and weekday up to 20% of the involved players are excellent pilots.
The key to survive and decide a match is either:
- To identify the most dangerous opponents right at the start and exclusively focus on them - or:
- Kill as many opponents as possible very fast in order to have a significant number advantage.
I mean, you’re right, but IMO Yak-3 and B7A2 are just top and bottom slices of the same sh… sandwich Gaijin is serving. B7A2 will absolutely ruin your alt advantage, but if there’s space to avoid, then yeah, can be played around.
Vs Yak-3 I only feel comfortable in something ridiculous like Ki-61b, Ki-44-II, Spitfire Mk IX (all with energy advantage, otherwise I’m never getting close :( ) or G.55 S0 currently going 730km/h and pulling 13G for a shot, haha.
well anecdotal evidence is useless, they very much do limit performance, somehow more than 30mm gun pods.
2 Likes
The “sandwich” is totally unbalanced as long as gaijin insists on their “USSR is superior” and “BRs are set on average results” strategy at prop BRs. If you play 1 vs X you are forced to take out Yak-1Bs, Yak-3s etc first as they ruin your day if they have an energy advantage…
3 Likes
Weird thing to say when the G2 is just a worse F4 at a higher BR
2 Likes
the real g2, non trop does what advantages in energy retention, speed, and raw climb but the f4 is the better dogfighter