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mikemike -> RE: Solution to UPGRADE question. (11/17/2004 5:08:20 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: WiTP_Dude
This all seems kind of silly. When the Japanese were designing the new plane models, they didn't know beforehand how they would work out. Maybe if the player was blind as to what the end result would be, it would make sense to have ahistorical upgrades. Then maybe you pour a lot of resources into one design and it ends up that the plane is a real stinker. Or you get lucky and plane really flies well.
Otherwise the current system of pushing or delaying historical plane models by a few months seems best. You already know which planes are the better ones vs those that didn't work out too well. You can use this knowledge to give the Japanese a little lift.
This would be a valid argument if there were any researcheable aircraft in the game that didnīt work out in the end. Letīs face it, any new Japanese type is better than what they started out with. The real duds donīt exist in the game. Neither do they on the Allied side (if you discount the Brit carrier planes). If you want uncertainty for aircraft characteristics, where are the factoriees ready to churn out hordes of P-55īs or P-60īs?
If you want strict adherence to history, the Ki-100 sticks out like a sore thumb. Historically, it would be correct to offer only the Ki-61-II, with the Ki-100 only available if all factories producing Kawasaki engines are destroyed.
Japanese aircraft production in WWII is a story of "too little, too late". In WitP, industrial capacity and supply situation is always going to result in "too little", so why not give the Japanese player some leeway in remedying the "too late" part?
Take the case of the A6M/A7M. If I remember the story right, after the A6M3, Jiro Horikoshi, the Zeroīs designer, wanted to switch to a larger engine (essentially what finally happened with the A6M8). For some reason that wasnīt allowed (perhaps for range considerations?), so the Mitsubishi design team had to massage the A6M to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the basic design. The A7M was delayed by almost a year due to overload of the design team, and I bet the Zero situation played a major part in that, so the ability (in the game) to switch from the A6M3 straight to something like the A6M8 and get the A7M nine months earlier wouldnīt be all that ahistorical.
In any case, the upgrade paths now implemented s**k. The 64th sentai, for instance, flew the Ki-43 all through the war, working its way through all the Marks and Mods of the plane. They were preparing to switch to the Hayate when Japan capitulated. You canīt emulate that in the game as it now is, at least there is no upgrade path from the Ki-43-I to the Ki-43-II. I like the arrangement in Pacwar better - upgrade (or downgrade) to any type of the same class and user, and give the poor bastards bolted to Nates a chance to get to the good stuff.
Just my 1,53 Euro cents.
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