Agree - the problem is that from my pov Germany lacks an OP prop plane in the range 3.3 - 5.7.
The only real situation / combat scenario in which climbing pays out is when you fly in a P-47 vs JP teams on those Pacific maps - it is actually possible to win such matches solo 1 vs 6 as long as you play below 5.3. Without Ki-84s and A7M2s you can clap entire JP teams with excessive sideclimbing due to their lack of speed and high alt power - and thx to the high contrail alt of 6.500 meters u can get to safe alt before your contrail reveals your position.
I agree that defensive flying in a 190 can be fun - but not vs multiple opponents. I use my 190 F-8 just for BP challenges like killing enemies with a 1.000 kg bomb or more (i don’t play Ground RB) - all you have to do is to sideclimb up to 7-8 km, fly a wide loop, block enemy blind hunt / avenger orders and attack some (mainly US) boys reaming at their small airfield.
But thanks to the “engine overheating nerf” you need to avoid using WEP in the climbing phase - otherwise you engine temp of 83° Celsius (previously white) starts flashing red after ~ 15 minutes - and you don’t have the engine power without WEP to outrun any opponent or to reclimb…
Not sure if understand your post correctly - if you refer to the cancelling of axis vs allies and the absence of Italian support for German teams you have a valid point.
But as you stated correctly Italian props are extremely rare to see in Air RB - and despite some peaks in the past (looking at Re 2005) they are even more pushed into the corner than German props as they are performance-wise even more outperformed.
The sole difference is that the average Italian pilot is way more experienced and is able to counter massive performance disadvantages with skill. If you look at plane performance data there is not a single aircraft which dominates vs opponents at the same BR.
But they have a severe advantage vs German props using the same DB 600-605 series engines - u can tame their overheating with prop pitch adjustments (and can use infinite WEP without overheating) whilst you kill the same engine in a German plane with the same adjustments - and most of them can turn like hell compare to German counterparts; the 3.0 109s are imho the sole exception - and to a certain degree the Bv 155s if they have enough speed.
I used the Re 2001 CN too - the easiest way to fulfil Rank III daily tasks requiring a fighter at a very low BR - and i agree that you have to play it like other rat planes like A6Ms, I-16s or early Spits as you are way too slow.
You can say anything you want - but war thunders main strength is still that they are able to generate emotional reactions even from battle hardened long-term players. It doesn’t matter if those emotions are positive or negative.
7 years of playing… and I still feel the same emotions I felt years ago when my team was making me 1v5+. Goated game.
Gotta get that spicy new jet that can launch Fox-3’s while doing a handstand. I grinded there for points on coupons and the amount of people still keen on after-burning pre-merge without knowing their planes’ best rate speed. I mean I bought the 23-ML, and I sticked to custom matches until I was accustomed to the plane as a whole.
On to this topic, I’m weirded out how the Ki-84 ko, A7M2 and the N1K1-Ja share the same BR? Statshark says Japanese winrate across the board from BR4.0-5.7 is like 60% And these 3 planes have a WR of 60%!! Even zeroes had a WR of like 58%-60%.
These 3 doofuses of a plane are the hardest planes I’ve fought to claw myself a win. N1K1-Ja is easy to deal with, but the A7M and the Ki-84? Damn.
Fully agree - the A7M2 and Ki-84 ko are imho one BR step too low and they are way easier to use than any 109 or 190.
Countering them is extremely problematic if they are flown by good pilots, you are literally forced to focus on them as primary target in order to have a chance - similar to going for Yak-3s as primary targets at lower BRs.
I sometimes enjoy flying the A7M2 to kill some Yak-3Us but playing it is no real challenge - your average teams are way too good. I sit on 80% WR without any efforts, the 20% losses are a result of rookie teams and i would estimate that in ~ 20% of my wins the enemy team was dead before i could fire a single shot…
What irritates me is that the flaps are basically mandatory for any shot… and that doesn’t feel right. If you’re trying to pull for a shot and don’t have at least the takeoff flaps out… you might as well just climb, because you’re not hitting it.
I just cannot get my head around whatever is going on with the Dora flight model… a plane designed with two flap settings, neither of which is “combat,” supposedly designed for high speed… and that has no elevator authority without flap use… I just don’t get it.
ETA: I just recently started playing the Ki-84 Ko. It’s a really nice plane to fly generally. Makes short work of the Germans in most instances, and even handles poorly flown Yak-3s without trouble. Sadly, I just cannot figure out what to do about Sptifires… their energy generation makes them very hard to deal with… they stand on the “s” key and just wait for you to get frustrated.
That’s my problem with Spits… I cannot boom and zoom them. Japanese planes you can “wear out” - get them slow and make good passes (not that it’s an issue when you’re flying a Japanese plane). Spits (like Yaks) just seem to pull energy out of their ass - they don’t get slow. They’re as hard to hit on the 3rd, 4th, 5th pass as they were on the 1st.
I end up in this stalemate where I cannot pull in for a shot, but if I commit to a dog fight I just hand them a free kill. My last match… I just left the fight. I had ALL the advantages - and after two or three attempts to hit a shot I was never going to hit I just said to hell with it and flew away - literally nothing I could do.
I recommend trying to drag them high (=above 6.5 km) and initiate then a wide spiral climb if you face Merlin Spits - the average LF MK IX 5.7 US premium player will always follow you - unaware of the severe power drop (=classic energy trap). If the Spit is able to follow you: You face a 5.7 XIVe - great high alt performance but inferior turn than a Merlin Spit.
As this is a thread for German planes:
I encourage you (and every other experienced pilot) to try out the C-3604. With proper and smart flap usage you can beat any Spit in the BR range and the imho better turning Hurricanes even if you start the fight in an energy disadvantage - just pick up enough speed to dodge their first attack run and use the flaps to turn inside their turning circle.
As evidence: My last match (replay link) - a very long (~8:30 - 13:03 = 4,5 minutes 😎) fight with a decent and experienced Spitfire pilot - as i made a serious mistake (not throttled back and no flaps to reduce speed during my first dive) it took ages to kill him. My potato aim (Hotas) was part of the problem too. Best dogfight in the last weeks, very good Spitfire pilot 👍
I’ve only got a handful of matches in the C-3604… maybe I will revisit it.
My performance, now that I spend less time slobbering on the keyboard while smashing my face against it, is not bad on the Fw190 A-1 at BR 3.0. The performance is “OK” and the AEC actually works… maybe I should not mention this where Gaijin can see it?
I will say I got absolutely wrecked earlier today by the U.S. A8 premium. I evaded his head-on with no issues, but GREATLY under-estimated his energy state. He was coming back up, I figured I would energy trap him… and he just zoomed right back into gun range, and I got a lesson in what happens when you go slow in front of 4x 20mm cannons. At least it’s a good looking plane ;-).
I’ve rescued the D-13 from being the worst thing I’ve ever flown to merely mediocre… but, man, it doesn’t necessarily feel good to fly.
Part of the reason is also a great degradation in average player skill.
Playing on EU and CIS I constantly see people in Bf109 not climbing, diving for an attacker and most of all, and most lethal of all - turn fighting vs yaks.
Yak-3 is not the strongest plane in the game. It’s the strongest plane in the current meta. A meta which favors turn fighters with high energy.
Good turn fighters with good guns and good energy. It’s basically a Yak styled plane as well.
I don’t really see the point of climbing since u won’t out climb the good climbers due to engine overheating and MG151s are terrible at getting kills in BZ.
It’s that u have just that one gun and the rest part u are on two 7.92mm, and that in BZ they tend to have limited opportunity to hit, when u fail to kill it is pretty annoying.
Even then a load of things, Yaks, 0s, Spits, La-5/7s, can all out turn u if u don’t just run away. In which case, what is the difference between this and say P-38 or F82? U are not using the manoeuvrability much anyways.
Oh, then… I think it’ll be better to specify which 109 variants. It’s going to be confusing and not a good way to compare if it’s too generic. The heavier ones like the G6/14 shouldn’t be equated with G10/K4.
I usually use the gunpods if you want a pure BnZ but…
It’s there and I use it plenty. Just gotta manage your speed and keep it decently high with strategic maneuvers. Slow positioning and then bait them up.
La5/7s? Those things are bricks last I used em. Not too sure about those two but Yaks, 0s and Spits you can easily outdive. Another reason to climb. Can’t outdive em at 2000m alt. You can bank your speed back to altitude at a much safer and further point away from them.
Yaks and Spits are the biggest threats. Yak3u is bullshit everyone knows that. LF Mk.IX is bullshit everyone knows that too. You can outdive the Yak but the Spit… well I bring em to my teammates and hope for the best.
My last point would be; Try to fight the player not the plane. They may be untouchable if they are significantly above you but they can’t kill anyone either. Bait them down and maneuver so they’d have to spend energy. If they don’t turn, waste energy and just pull up to safety? well… they’re not getting a kill and they will get frustrated. This is where you need to be more resilient and play the long game. Wearing them down is an energy fighter’s most trusted method.
If they do turn with you, try your best to avoid shots by rolling out the way or maintain a position above their nose whilst equalizing energy. Spiral climbing, rolling or weaving. You have your superior engine power, you regain altitude better than they do. Especially in a 109, vertical manuevers are mostly better since you are using your engine’s advantages.
The FW190 is um… unsalvageable. You are very much relegated to support fighter pure BnZ-ing opportunities rather than picking a fight and going toe to toe. Maybe FW190 pilots can correct me but other than your 1-2 turns with flaps to get a kill shot, if you miss, well you’re dead slow and worse turning.
Similar experience vs Yak-9. 1 yak-9 immediately exploded into a fireball, other one stayed alive despite repeat hits until I finally got a side-on shot into the fuselage.
That is if u can not get killed whilst doing that. These things can normally destroy u while u dive. Edit:Also I just got out dived by a spit 14 in G14.
Well I currently do fine with that. Cause not like u can win fights anyway, just BZ the hell out of Yaks and Spits with my 2k hp D9.
I can get dive quite reliably. Decent roll rate and predicting where they’d lead shots by where they’re pointing. Guessing when they’d shoot based of intuition, more rolling and acting unleadable. Neg G is something a few struggle with, the plane looks like its going straight but actually going down. They’d shoot in front of you when they should shoot below.
Once you commit to a dive, look at the terrain ahead and keep it in mind with maybe an escape trajectory. Then you look back and keep looking at the opponent to dodge shots whilst glancing at the altimeter. I use keyboard controls most of the time during the dive.