Many users express their feelings to wanting WW1 era aircraft, this thread will be a place where we can brain storm ideas with the intend on making a detailed suggestion.
Here’s a few suggestions I’ve found for WW1. I’ve found just the aircraft suggestions so far. I will look for any ground suggestions when I can.
WW1 to Interwar 1939 Gamemode
Britain
Sopwith Aviation Company - Sopwith Camel: The Most Successful Fighter of World War One
Germany
Albatros D.VI
Albatros J.I
AGO S.I
Gotha G.V
France
SPAD S.XII 37mm SAMC
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Well tbf they always start something new with aircraft and that area is more easier to model, so let’s stick with that. 👍
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Currently waiting on some suggestions for the Sopwith Triplane, Bristol F.2B and Halberstadt CL.II to be approved. I’ll add those here when I can.
Also currently working on a suggestion for the Fokker DR.1 so I’ll add that too once it’s up.
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Fair enough but yeah I’m thinking of separate tree tabs with it’s game mode, as then we can work within it’s own set of BR’s and doesn’t over stack the main tree.
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Premium/event suggestion:
Joseph Jacobs’s Fokker DR.1
he holds the most Aerial victories with this airframe and pushed his Fokker far past it’s expected service life using Captured and scavenged Sopwith camel engines as replacements for the regularly failing UR.II engines the DR.1 came with
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We already have WW I era ships integrated into the game, tanks from that era were basically only used for infantry support and there were only a couple tank on tank battles in the entire war. But aircraft . . . . oh man, were there ever a lot of planes developed and used in that time period and all of that led to what has been used ever since. I wouldn’t add it to the current tech tree system, but a separate WW I air mode(limited countries tho I guess) with their own battles of just bi-planes of equal strengths would be good fun . . I’d definitely play it as long as they don’t make it crazy stoopid fast like that gawd awful Tail Spin mess.
Maybe someday when Gaijin actually starts running out of new content we might see something, but for now . . . sorry to say but I think it’s only “wishful thinking” . . . but it has my vote . . . .
Sopwith Camel
SPAD
I have pics of many more and there are great lists with pics out there as well
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WW1 planes are a HUGE +1 for me! I’ve played loads of Rise of Flight and WoFF (Wings over Flanders Fields), and I’ve watched several movies about this. My favourite being Red Baron (2008).
I would love to fly a Albatros D.III and Fokker Dr.1 one day…
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There are so many interesting aircraft from WW1 they could include, they should be in a new stand-alone category below Rank 1, a Rank “O” not zero, a Rank Origins.
For the Origins of Battle Aviation… (WW1 or earlier)
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Don’t forget these aviation greats for the new " Rank O " (Rank Origins)
Benoist XV, 1915 (USA)
- Anti-submarine patroller, Benoist one of the pioneers of aviation
Bristol Fighter F.2B, 1917 (Australia/UK)
- One of the first Australian Fighters
DFW T.28 Floh, 1915 (Germany)
- Experimental high-speed fighter
Nakajima Amry Type Ko.2, 1914 (Japan)
- Licence built Nieuport 83 E.2
Sopwith Dragon, 1918 (UK)
- Fastest WW1 aircraft at 150 mph (242 km/h)
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Love the idea in general - but from my pov gaijin won’t even think about it.
Some things to think about:
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Gaijin earns a hell of money mainly with high tier jets & tanks. Even in case they would run out ideas: WW 1 aircraft is an absolute niche product.
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The current game mechanics like mouse aim, g overloads and fantasy FMs like in Air RB make 7-8 mm machine gun already deadly in rank I & II aircraft. Without reducing this artificial accuracy you simply miss the point of why WW 1 aircraft are popular amongst enthusiasts: Just pilot skill is decisive.
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Investments for WW 1 aircraft: Adding complete new maps or map designs in order to make WW 1 props playable (just imagine fighting on any Afghanistan map with 160 kmph top speed) costs money on top. Even if they would use small portions of certain Ground RB maps (like A-C point) there are no real options for effective ground pounding - imho a large portion of players is not really interested or capable of dogfighting.
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The mode would need to be separated from the rest of the game. If not (and the average player skill deteriorates with the same pace like in the last 5 years) you would see sooner or later P-47s fighting WW 1 planes.
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Even more convincing than all the other points: Two very important markets either sucked completely - look up USSR aviation achievements - and the CHN industry was not even existing. Without adequate offers for those markets it makes no real economic sense for gaijin to go this way.
So in other words:
Your chances to convince gaijin to think seriously about this proposal will increase if you can cover their economic needs to a large degree - whilst also considering the lowest effort to have some test runs.
The annual April fools events had very unique maps, some of them could be used with 5-6 planes (basic and similar FMs, low effort shape). This would create a way to test “real” player feedback rather easy. So the number of players and the time they would play such a mode is decisive - only then gaijin could assess if such investments might support a positive business case.
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A couple things I slightly disagree with :
When it comes to massive maps, Helicopter EC was pretty much that, top tier maps for slow moving helos. It wasn’t that much of a problem in the game as long as you had something to shoot at and enough spawn points.
Of course, China would be a complicated matter but Russia had a few things available. Much copy paste for sure, but a couple other original products, like the famous Muromet.
Otherwise your post pretty much sums it up yeah. To that I would add : Ground battles would be quite difficult to add as well since there aren’t that many tanks to add in this tank game. WW1 is still a very infantry oriented conflict.
Overall, a WW1 mode would fit Enlisted much more than WT. And even that wouldn’t have that much success. There are already competitors in the sector anyway.
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no offense but speed isnt a problem as for example the most reserve vehicles have 200 mph top speeds and sopwith camel has as a example a 130 mph top speed but that lower speed comes with a few pros such as really good turn rate as they are made of cloth and wood and would easily beat any reserve fighter in any non energy dog fight they would also come with various armament options too and many wacky prototypes
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You made some fair points, i’d like to response:
Helicopters play an essential part in modern warfare - that’s imho the sole reason why they added them in the first place. Quite sure that the guy which was in charge of a certain premium heli got a statue in gaijin’s “Hall of fame”…
Without getting into politics - i see USSR aircraft as not competitive and you see the chaos c+p aircraft produce in other modes.
Have a good one!
For patient players i fully agree.
But if you look at the player demography patience is rather rare to see. Being attractive for new players is essential, therefore time between take-off and first merge will determine attractiveness and subsequently success.
That’s why i mentioned maps.
Regarding the rest of your post:
I am not sure how good your knowledge about aviation history is - but from my pov wt and reality are 2 different worlds. WT allows totally nonsense set-ups in which turnfights are not relevant for success.
Example:
I met in my 2 nd match in the Chinese air TT a guy with 35.000 player kills at rank 1 and 2. He flew in this match a vere rare MBR 2 event seaplane and scored 7 kills - at least 3 of them by his ai gunners; all he had to do was to dodge incoming dive attacks…
In WW 1 the speed difference between aircraft was way lower (on average with severe restrictions regarding dive speed) but there were some exceptions. So real smart players would use a DH-4 (look it up) and could dominate fights with their forward firing guns plus gunner whilst being untouchable due to superior speed. Btw: An ideal premium like the Wyvern…
Have a good one!
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Yeah the US, Germany, Russia, UK, Italy and France have plenty of aircraft to choose from at the time.
Japan doesn’t really have much, only a bomber and a couple of recon plane from before the end of the war.
China again didn’t have much mainly just some exports from other nations.
Sweden doesn’t have many too and again mainly used exports.
Israel is tricky since it didn’t exist as a country until much further after the war in 1948 however given their geographical position the land that became Israel was controlled by the Ottoman Empire so they could possibly received those aircraft. Granted the Ottomans never made their own aircraft and mainly relied on German exports at the time so if added to the game they would just be German aircraft under the Ottoman flag.
2 Likes
So yeah this is how I think it would go,
France
Britain
Russia
Italy
VS
Germany,
Austro-Hungary,
Ottomans (German sub nation)
So with the Ottomans being a sub then that auto means that Turkey would have to be a sub for them too.
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If I was doing it, I would do something similar to how naval is currently implemented in the game, meaning two trees. First would be the planes actually produced in the “near” war years, such as these:
243 planes here, but only those for certain countries are listed.
Now, just because a country is currently listed/used in game now, does not warrant that they have representation in a WW I “mode”.
Israel is out, they did not exist, China’s participation consisted of 140,000
laborers, no troops participated in WW I. Japan & Sweden may have some aircraft, but I am not sure enough to be represented and would almost all be copy/paste. That is also an issue with Russia, nearly all aircraft I have found for them were imported. But because Gaijin is a Russian company and nearly half the player base speaks Russian, I think it would require them to have a tree as well. We have to remember, the “Great War” was land troops fighting the vast majority of all combat. Everything else was secondary, by a large degree.
The second tree would be from 1920 to 1933 - 1936 . . wherever our current air trees start.
this one contains 76 aircraft.
Now a large portion of these aircraft are for recon purposes, and being a “combat” game, I do not think they would have much purpose. Even tho WW I aircraft did a huge amount of recon as compared to combat . . just doesn’t fit our game very well. “If it isn’t combat oriented, why do we need it here?” gives drones the stank eye
So, no real way to represent the 10 nations in a WW I mode, we have to concede that. Hopefully the players that only play the nation they live in as a main can understand this.
There are a few bombers, but trying to use the bombers of that era as we do in the current game doesn’t seem applicable really. I mean we could use them, but again . . not in the same way.
WW I aircraft would be, from a gameplay standpoint, aerial combat/dogfighting almost exclusively. Which is ok by me, that’s what I like to do in the game now anyway. I also think that would be easier to implement and make happen as well.
“Mixed battles” is the norm now in game, with “historical” matchups a thing of the past really. A WW I scenario of historical would be, as you mentioned, basically Germany & Austria/Hungary vs . . . everybody else. Doable most likely, but might adversely affect queue times and we all know how Gaijin feels about that stuff.
If not a dedicated, full time mode perhaps an event thing, or weekend EC type set up like naval has now. At least to start with, and maybe move to full time with enough players participating. If done right and not all wack-A-Doodle crazy like “Tail Spin” was, I think a lot of players would get onboard. (The idea of separate AB & RB modes for this would need to be addressed/settled ahead of time as well I think, not sure both would mete out every well to start with . . )
Anyway, lots to consider, think about and many obstacles. But I think a simple/basic version with enough different planes to make it interesting and still playable might just work. Time will tell . . . the number 1 obstacle will always be
Getting Gaijin onboard
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It would be simple. The current tech tree would be moved up by 4.0 (1.0 early/prewar planes would be 4.0). WW1 aircraft would be the new 1.0. Po-2 would likely be 2.7.
Simple? . . . man that would require changing the BR of every single plane in the game . . . . that is extremely labor intensive for something that most likely won’t generate much, if any, revenue. Granted they could easily put in a good many premiums for WW I era planes, but still . … I just don’t see Gaijin wanting to do all that anyway. Modelling and creating new/separate air trees for this stuff would be a stretch anyway . . . including ALL the other planes in the game for this addition . . . just too much I am afraid. Besides, not sure any WW I stuff could work the same way as the rest of the game. Too much “one size fits all” in the game now, when you consider Reserves all the way to the new “meta” that is top tier . . doesn’t work for a lot stuff already . . .
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It’s simple as bumping them all up.