If You boild down every alternative to the core it goes again to the same conclusion - as long as there is no TO, there won’t be balance in combined mode as there will always be people who just want to play tanks and because teams are made on random, they affect overall game.
Yak 9K/UT is a perfect example of a vehicle that is good in all aspects.
The 9K gives up most of its air-to-air armament to be able to delete tanks - those APHE rounds are not good at killing planes in my experience. Sometimes you’ll snap a wing if you’re lucky but that’s about it.
The Yak-9UT is closer to an all-rounder, but routinely meets thicker top armor as the 6.0-7.0 range is where all the late game heavies are. Sure, it has two 20s, but it still has the deadweight of the 45mm which isn’t optimized for killing aircraft as deadweight. And there are tons of fighters that laughably outperform it there too, such as the F4U-4B, F2G, P-51H, various Griffon Spitfires, I could go on and on
In your own words, you’re stating those people are in fact the problem. Funny how despite our differences of opinion we have arrived at similar conclusions.
Perhaps there isn’t as much difference between you and I as either of us think.
That is why You have 12.7/20mm to deal with air.
And can deal with it with ease.
The only difference is that You see this people as the problem that is an obstacle and I see them as normal players that should be treated equally and by doing so the game can evolve.
Basically all Soviet WWII fighter planes are like that. They are jack of all trades. They don’t excell at anything but are good enough in everything.
Also that 45 mm can destroy modern MBTs so 6.0-7.0 ar not that tough.
I see them as an “obstacle” because I do not expect they will actually stop complaining even if they received their TO mode. I’ve seen enough cases of them crying about something, it gets changed, and the same people then either keep on crying or cry with similar intensity about something else within two weeks tops. Hence I arrived at the conclusions that I did, that the game must take steps to insulate themselves from such folk who will clearly never help themselves. TO could be a part of that, who knows?
A single 12.7mm Berezin at 5.0 is woefully inadequate against all but the dumbest of opponents. The 9UT with its twin cowl 20mm guns is the closest to an all-rounder, but still gets massively outperformed by a lot of common opponents. All they need to do is just…not turnfight the Yak.
Some, but not all of it. Tiger IIs, T29/30/34, and M103 all have 38-40mm roof armor, which gives very little time to aim at with a realistic chance to pen before needing to pull up and not crash. Everything else though, yes.
Sorry but my experience says otherwise.