Mistel 2 in Air Arcade: reload time should match its class

Game Discussion Arcade Battle
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The problem is not the Mistel’s payload — a warhead that big is supposed to hurt.
The problem is that the current mechanics give this aircraft the best of both worlds at once.

1. Class and reload time

The Mistel 2 is classed as a bomber. That means in Arcade its underwing recharges on the bomber schedule: roughly 60 seconds base, less with a trained crew. After a drop it is ready again very quickly, and the player simply launches again.

2. But it flies like a fighter

It is essentially an Fw 190 A-8: good speed, ~14 m/s climb, 10+ km ceiling. It can comfortably reach 7–8 km and, from the high bomber spawn, lob its drone at bases and ground units.

3. The direct comparison that says it all

The same airframe — a regular Fw 190 A-8 carrying a plain 500 kg bomb — recharges that bomb in Arcade in ~6 minutes, because it is a fighter. So a simple 500 kg bomb takes several times longer to reload than the Mistel’s ‘super bomb’. That is inconsistent.

4. What this means in practice

A Mistel player can put down dozens of ‘kilotons’ on bases (20–25) and destroy 15–20 ground units per battle. The enemy side at BR 3.0–5.0 simply cannot respond: intercepting a Mistel means climbing to 7–8 km (minutes of climbing) while it has already dropped or is waiting for the next fast reload. The match becomes one-sided.

Suggested change (balanced)

  • Option A. Set the Mistel’s underwing reload time in Arcade to the fighter class — i.e. the same ~6 minute base as a regular Fw 190 with a 500 kg bomb. The smallest and most honest change: leave the damage model alone, just remove the absurd repeat-launch speed.
  • Option B. Also move its spawn point from the bomber spawn to a fighter spawn, so reaching 7–8 km for free is no longer possible.
  • Option C. Compromise: if it must stay a bomber class, at least increase the reload time significantly and limit how often it can be launched.

Otherwise the ‘best bomber’ in the game is an aircraft that is classed as a bomber, flies like a fighter, and recharges like a bomber. It breaks Arcade at 3.0–5.0 and gives the enemy no reasonable counterplay.

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Addendum — community feedback & sources on the same issue.

To underline the point, several players have reported the same pattern in Air Arcade:

  • Spam / repeat launch rate: a thread on r/Warthunder notes the Mistel “rearmed and dropped it very fast”, and another says a few Mistels can “spam their infinitely reloading Ju-88 at every base”. An official-forum post summarises it as “spawning a new mistel every 30 seconds… game ends in less than 5 mins.”
  • Drone survivability: r/Warthunder reports the warhead “counts as a bomb inside a plane, so shooting it does nothing”, i.e. the launched drone is very hard to stop — matching the bug reports about it carrying a full bomber HP model.
  • The reload-class inconsistency: the general rule (r/Warthunder) is that attackers/bombers reload ordnance in ~30–60s while fighters take ~4–5 minutes. A regular Fw 190 A-8 with a 500 kg bomb is a fighter and sits in that long window — which is exactly the comparison made in the opening post.
  • Bomber spawn on a fighter airframe: several players point out the Mistel “gets spawned at bomber altitude” and propose a fighter/attacker spawn instead.

Sources:

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