Rather instead, I propose a 180 from what the game has been doing for years.
As it doesn’t seem to matter what particular SP cost a plane is, because no matter what it is, one team or will get CAS before the other, who then complains simply because they’re on the receiving end, CAS is not balanceable so long as it remains a powerup.
And we have a game mode where it is still expensive, but is not a powerup. Simulator mode. Totally different SP system there, 1k points per player at match start, but no ability to earn more through any means. This does mean CAS with any loadout is technically a first-spawn option, but so are all of its counters.
If you pair that system with the current free SPAAG, and lump in Naval’s default Fighter concept that itself inspired the free SPAAG we now have, everyone has the tools to kill CAS and can immediately use them at match start with a near-guarantee that there will be enemy CAS to shoot.
Then its up to the players themselves whether they’re gonna go kill the CAS that annoys them or sit there uselessly and keep screaming about it.
Russia gets the Pantsir S1, which uses an overpowered missile and is near impossible to dodge, even when using chaff, flares and maneuvering.
This is the source of the problem: Anti-air is good, because it counters CAS. But too much is bad for the overall gameplay balance. Giving players free access to top-tier AA’s is not good balance. I suggest limiting the BR/rank of given AA so it’s not too overpowered when many players are using the same vehicle.
Would anti-radiation missiles change this dynamic much by forcing all the Pantsirs to have radars turned off or risk being deleted outside even their generous range?
NO, we need more AA in the game, even if that means giving them away for free to players who decide to focus solely on each nation’s MBTs.
CAS has been a problem in the game for a long time, even with free vehicles, but its impact on the game is now only relevant to a few players who manage to get around the AA.
And thats why no one plays SIM top tier, its a festival of CAS spam vs 2-3 spaas. 4/5 of the matches USSR win bc they have better CAS.
Sim its a perfect example of the strenght between a spaa and a CAS.
Not only do we need more AA, we also need to rebuff it so it can reliably shred tank sides again without needing to resort to armor gap exploitation. If you give AA the tools to defend themselves actively against tanks, people will move their AA to positions planes don’t expect and be many times more effective against said planes, as well as not be as bad dead weight if someone bought a high tier premium and spawned the free AA as a backup.
Bring back the full APCR and full APDS belts for AA with artificially nerfed belts. Lift the doctrinal limits on amounts of APDS carried by any AA. Undo years of global APCR and APDS nerfing for all rounds of those types. Remove idiotic APCR/APDS shell shattering.
To help their anti-air abilities, non-radar ones should get some form of short-range lead indicator to counter the unrealistic flight behavior of player-controlled aircraft. AA lack the numbers advantage and coordination of fire they often had in reality, thus being awfully similar to why lone bombers are dead meat in Air RB.
CAS should actually have a much greater impact on the game, but not via a direct antitank PvP means. Most of what real CAS did was not antitank duty, with very few platforms built solely for that job. Yet we don’t have all those other objectives for CAS to perform, meaning player tanks get all the heat without catching a break.
Where are the supply lines? Where are the bunkers with working guns? Where are the supply nodes? Where are static defenses of caps and spawns? Where are the artillery support tanks call on? CAS could be allowed to hit all of that instead and bleed small bits of tickets per target killed in the process, which is way less obnoxious than what it is currently forced to do.
Well we do frankly need the proper tools on all sides.
Sim is anything but a perfect example. It makes flying aircraft like pulling teeth for people without advanced and expensive setups, while SPAAG hardly behave differently from RB. Only cases where one side blatantly gets better kit do you see what you describe above.
In RB, planes are much, much easier to control and use. We would not see the same degree of one-sidedness in RB if it used Sim’s SP system. Obviously we would need forced airfield takeoffs for all planes, though.
To my understanding, why can’t SPAAG in radar tiers actually leave spawn and occasionally put their radars on to scan around for a few seconds no differently than say you would use your binoculars to scan for tank targets in a tank? If you leave the radar on continuously, sit stationary, and get blasted by an anti-rad missile, that should be considered bad play on the part of the AA user getting exactly what it deserves to.
God forbid a white boy wants to get sturdy with some Anti-CAS Activities
Naw but in all seriousness free Missile AA has not harmed the game negatively. It’s forcing CAS to be more diligent in how they approach killing tanks. It’s not impossible to play CAS it just actually takes skill now.
As you CAS players said to tank players complaining about you in the air, “Learn 2 Play” and “Skill Issue”.
So why not briefly put the radar up to get a quick look around, then turn it off and move a bit so a missile flying at your position when it was on can’t hit you? Again, no differently than doing scans from the ground with binoculars?
If you see a plane, you still put the radar down until it is within visual ranges and you can be sure it’s not looking your way, enabling you to then put the radar back up, lock, and fire.
Have you tried leaving spawn in something has big has a house on something like Aral sea
You will get instantly killed
And sure i would like to only turn on the Radar every few seconds
But how am i supposed to deal with low flying treaths then. they only show up on radar a few sec before you die
Which would be impossible to engage if the Radar is off
I honestly don’t expect top tier will ever be truly “balanced,” tbfh. Thus I would want to frankly just disregard it completely in talk of actual balancing discussions. Like the blatantly whale-farming LDIRCM as it is set up now.
Would that CAS be as “dominating” if CAP to kill them was also everpresent and easy to fly? I suspect not, but do not know for certain - if both are doing ground takeoffs from the runway, and helicopters are forced to spawn at the plane runway with no separate helipads, then CAP will always get airborne and to combat speed sooner than CAS of any kind will. SPAAG and SAMs will have had time to spawn, MOVE, and deploy expecting CAS to arrive.
