Not debating the Type 99 Mod 2 is bad, its one of my favourite cannons to use, I know that thing like the back of my hand honestly. But a Mk5 hispano is much better, its same as the AN/M3 cannons on late war US planes, just feels much more potent to use. The low RoF on the Type 99s let them down a bit, especially when you get to top tier props. (still prefer them over the Ho-5 though)
Yeah, I didn’t enjoy spading the late Ki-61s. they just felt too slow and awkward to use. though Ironically I did enjoy the Ki-61-I-Hei, with the MG151s. that one I just felt worked well for me. Is it 4.7 material? highly debatable, but probably not.
Yeah its awful. Turns about as well as an F104, but isn’t even fast. The guns make up for it if you can get nose on, but getting nose on in the first place is the impossible bit. I was glad when I had finished with it
Ki-43-III is actually one of my favourites, I think its fine at 4.0, its so light that the low engine performance doesn’t really matter, and the only things it doesn’t out turn are literally just biplanes. 2x 250kg bombs make it stupid strong in GRB too.
Well, yeah. I was sort of discounting people who were literally just bad, and assuming that you were playing against people who at least know what a zero is and what it does.
I really like that feature, means you don’t waste all your ammo at once. Later Type 99 variants had higher RoF, but we don’t get them in-game. I never struggle with doing damage with them.
Ho-5s just don’t do enough damage AND they eat through ammo like crazy, worst of both worlds.
I never felt like the Ki-61-I Otsu with the 4x12.7s had any issues with firepower, so going for the 4.3 and 4.7 variants makes no sense to me. I think I spaded them both? But that was probably in Sim EC.
That’s the thing, doesn’t matter how good your guns are if you have what is possibly the worst flight model in the game.
Much like a Zero, you’re still preying on people who have no idea what you can really do. It’s still 2.7 flight performance at 4.0. It used to have the same engine as the Ki-100.
after the ho-103s got their buff, i watched the ki-61-1 otsu go from 2.3 to its current 3.7 because of gun tax. tbf though, the airframe is incredibly broken and the guns being so bad before was what helped it stay so low.
plus the ho-103s took a little bit before real shatter affected them too so while the era of 20mms being horrible, the 12.7s actually were way better and pushed the BR higher too
The actual cause is the mix match setup and a lot of fighters produced in a smaller quantity irl.
Not saying it should be historical or anything.
The true element is the combination of fast planes with mabeuverable planes.
I know it is sufferable just to imagine. Think of this specific situation. “You are chased by both A6M and P-51C.”
How are you gonna deal with it, your plane is probably not faster than P-51, and your plane is not as maneuverable as Zero.
Realistic solution would be to have friends that assist you in breaking the enemy formation.
If you are solo, extending to the point the Zero and the P-51 are 3km away, so that you can defeat P-51 in a quick succession and stay away from the persuading A6M.
But the actual in-game scenario goes different, you are gonna get shot by the A6M while trying to evade the p-51.
P-51 is gonna force the enemy in a position very vulnerable against the slow & maneuverable Teammates.
Not specific to P-51 and A6M, I see a lot of similar situations with how frequent it is to have a match with US and Japan bundled together.
Japan has Ki-44, which is a very potent&popular fighter in arb. It goes 620kph and cools like a refrigerator. Ki-61 gets slower past ko variant until the less competitive Ki-61-ii. But the top speed and the dive speed are decent. Most non A6M and ki-43 fighters are produced in very limited numbers, and it was crucial in a plane like F6F in order to score good K/D by simply staying fast.
I don’t think it’s problematic, though there is a lost art of historical element on planes like F6F. Think it like rock paper scissors, but the opponent hits you with both rock and paper, you might as well need both scissors and paper in one hand.