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[TheBronzePickle]

US planes can not go toe-to-toe with any other nation's planes. I've been playing the Buffalo just because it's capable of turning fast enough to not get eaten by enemy fire, even though I have the Kittyhawk. Other than the firepower (which is practically a null advantage anyway since the .50s seem to fire stupidly slow so as to not put as much lead downrange), do the American planes have some kind of thing I'm not aware of that could let them escape from an engagement?

[ansontan2000]

Not really, but the grind is worth it. The P-39s, P-63s, and Corsairs are all ridiculously strong.

[Anvilfolk]

The P-47 was an amazing performer at very high altitudes, and extremely robust. It could take a lot of punishment from guns & AA and still get you home. The P-51 was definitely not as robust, but with enough altitude it could outrun anything and get the pilot home alive (if he hadn't been shot!).

Other than that, the US planes were generally OK, but needed to be fought as cohesive units. You wouldn't engage enemy airplanes in turning dogfights.

The early USN planes were also outclassed by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and honestly I am not too sure about the USAAF technicalities, though I feel they mostly served as escorts in the European bombing campaign. I know there were some Army units stationed in the Solomons, flying P-38s and the like, and that they absolutely destroyed the Imperial units there, I think mostly Army but some Navy too. Saburo Sakai was there, if I remember correctly!

[Flying Dice]

That's pretty much the impression I'd gotten, that the US aircraft are a grind, but that there are some juicy things higher up. In the meantime, I have my Soviet and British planes. The Hurricane and Mk. II are absolutely brutal. I'm not exactly sure why people are complaining about gunners, either; I just had a match in my Blenheim where I had the most kills in the game because of my gunners picking off all of the fighters that got on my six while I was making runs on ground forces. I mean yeah, they aren't perfectly accurate, but they seem to do much better than AAA (or some players).

[ukulele]

Id say that until tier 6 more or less the bombers are not bad at all, and gunners work preaty decently, after that planes start having some serious fire power (multiple 20mm, 37 or even 50mm cannons) wich can take down bombers with a few well placed shots. At that point the balance is broken and its only "fixed" with the super late b17s. Also again here the big diference is in arcade/historical, having a 50mm cannon is OP in arcade, not so much in historical where you get 30 rounds for it.

[Anvilfolk]

War isn't really always a balanced pursuit...

After the 8th Airforce started getting escorts and German's industrial and fuel production took severe hits, I think the tactics they started using were doing head on attacks then split-S for the deck. This ensured they got the least amount of exposure to the defensive fire of the bomber formations and that they might hit the less armoured cockpit. After that they'd just dive away and go for the base. A single attack and that was it!

And some Japanese began ramming the big B-29s that were bombing Japan, since they were pretty robust planes. I also recall that the B-17 built up quite a reputation among the Japanese pilots who opposed it in the campaigns of the southwest Pacific. It was a major event when one was shot down.

But I'm not sure how this translates into the game, so take all of this with a spoonful of salt.


So, do bombers actually fly formation in this thing? I cannot for the live of me get myself to grind an air combat simulation to get the next plane, but if there's enough teamwork I might be persuaded....

[ukulele]

Iv seen some formation flying in historical, usually b17s, as a german most historical maps require attacking moving targets and high altitude bombing its imposible so you usually see medium bombers, Americans seem to enjoy the heavy bombers mostly specially in maps like Bastogne where they fly formation with the AI B17s.

[Anvilfolk]

Hmmm... and could I get an estimate of how many missions it would take to get some of those more interesting planes? A ballpark estimate

[ansontan2000]

For me, it only took 20-30 games to get up to ranks 5-6. 6 is where you get the Airacobras and the Bf109s and the A6M2 Reisen Zeroes, so those really are the targets to look for. The British and the Soviets get excellent planes all the way through their lines. It's not WoT style grinding.

[ukulele]

B17s are ovbiously super late game, but americans get great bombers since tier 3 or 4, i really wouldnt consider it grinding unless you really want a plane, but thats the way i played world of tanks and i regret it, i played to get the Tiger and once i got it it was not what i was expecting at all.

[Flying Dice]

For me, it only took 20-30 games to get up to ranks 5-6. 6 is where you get the Airacobras and the Bf109s and the A6M2 Reisen Zeroes, so those really are the targets to look for. The British and the Soviets get excellent planes all the way through their lines. It's not WoT style grinding.

This. It's a completely different sort of grind; whenever you gain exp, you gain it both towards the plane you were in at the time and in the nation. The national exp pool is what unlocks new aircraft, while the individual aircraft exp pools unlock better equipment for them. It's very much a matter of climbing to the craft you want and then grinding them until you've got good ammo and mods.

[TheBronzePickle]

Speaking of good ammo, I'm curious about the best ammo for .50 cal guns. I've been rolling omni-purpose, but I imagine there might be better options.

Also, how many torpedoes does it usually take to sink a ship, and does it depend where the torpedoes strike? I've got them for my Catalina (which has more air kills than some of my fighters), but they seem even less dependable than the 100kg bombs, and considering how unimpressive those are I get the feeling that I could be doing better.

[Drakale]

Torpedo are mysterious to me, I have good success with them usually, but sometimes I get no hit for a guaranteed shot. I never had partial damage XP with them, it's a kill or nothing. I wonder if there is a chance for duds?

I also wonder it they are worth it since it's so easy to just drop 2 500kg bomb right on the deck, and bombs never miss unless you screw up. I guess you are less exposed to AA guns with a standoff torpedo but it's usually the least of my worries as a bomber, in arcade at least.

[TheBronzePickle]

I hit a destroyer with two torpedoes, but it apparently didn't sink.

Edit: Ooh, I got the fighter medal.

In my Catalina. I still can't tell which team was more idiotic: mine or the Russians* we were facing.

*I do not know their real-life nationality. Russian describes the planes they were using. I only say this because I have been accused of racism before.

[Cthulhu]

US planes can not go toe-to-toe with any other nation's planes. I've been playing the Buffalo just because it's capable of turning fast enough to not get eaten by enemy fire, even though I have the Kittyhawk. Other than the firepower (which is practically a null advantage anyway since the .50s seem to fire stupidly slow so as to not put as much lead downrange), do the American planes have some kind of thing I'm not aware of that could let them escape from an engagement?

The Airacobra has a 37mm nose cannon that'll annihilate anything it hits, but getting into a turn-fight is suicide.    Really if you're always turning the US isn't going to be your best bet, they're a little heavy on energy fighters (I think the Corsair can turn fight?  I don't remember).  Britain has good dogfighters but they don't do a lot of damage even considering the ridiculous 12-gun loadouts, and Japan is impossible to beat in a turn fight but they're extremely fragile and a couple hits will compromise your agility and turn you into an expensive flying lighter.

In US planes, especially the really good US planes like the 39, you shouldn't be dogfighting, you should be climbing up high and diving down onto the enemy's flightpath from behind, lighting them up, and using your momentum to climb away or loop around for another pass.  Barring arcade UFO flight models, the enemy will stall out if they try to climb after you and that's a free kill.