Since it was last on sale I again remembered that it existed but refused to by it since it is useless in BR 5.
But now I know this might sound crazy but this jet legit might need a downtier.
On its own each component of the plane might sound powerfull but somehow they just created the perfect antisynergy with this plane.
Just about every aspect of the plane keeps clashing with each other.
At first what is its role?
Killing tank, I guess.
But can it really do that?
The gun has about 100 mm of pen which mean that all the common BR 5 tanks are frontally immune to it and most likely also from the side (jumbo/ pershings have 80mm and IS-2 even 90mm) since you never will hit perfect 90 degree angle and are shooting from 300+ meters away which also reduces the pen.
But then I hear you the jak 9k only has less than 60mm pen but still eats enemy tanks for breakfast. Shouldnt 100mmof pen be more than enough to do the same?
Well not really first the jak is only BR 3 at which the tanks it faces have only front armor but almost nothing on the side or roof but also the jak can just dive to hit the roof of heavy tanks aswell.
The ME on the other hand faces tanks with thick sidearmor and then is also unable to dive since its dive recovery is almost none existant while the jak can turn on a dime.
So couldnt you just initiate a dive from 2km high?
You could but then you would need to have shot by an altitude of like 1 km or you will impale yourself on the ground while trying to pull up.
This means you must first spot a tank from 2 km high through cloud cover and then be able to pin point the exact pixle that represents the enemy tank with your gun and then you still got a 33% chance that your round fails since it could have been HE instead.
So if diving isnt an option you will have to aim for shallow angles to reduce the angle of impact for your low pen cannons. But this comes with its own set of problems. A lot of maps in enlisted are urban maps (no big suprise when 2 of the og campaigns where pure urban combat) and new ones get added constantly.
So how do you deal with a tank that are flanked by building on each side?
Diving it from above? Only if you want to impale yourself
Comming from the side? Even if you could pen the sidearmor the building are blocking your shot
Follow the street yourself? Kinda it is doable, but you have also keep in mind that you wont frontally pen anything. Especially since due to the rounded turret designs part of the roofs also are kind thick aswell so a lucky shot is unlikely.
So in the end you just gotta have to follow the road while also coming from behind the enemy spawn (and expose yourself to enemy planes) and try to hit the engine deck from the rear.
So maybe the role of the ME isnt to kill tanks but infantry?
Well, no ever since the ammo layout was changes after the test server each round has a 66% chance to be mostly harmless to infantry (unless you direct hit but that is unlikely) which reduces your option to a meager 10 rounds of 50mm HE shoot about once per second. Meanwhile the P 47 has 10 HVARs which each is 10x more powerfull as an explosive or 8xHVARs and 4 20mm to strafe on the Ap-4C to compare it to a fighter.
So infantry isnt a good target eighter.
But it is a jet! That alone must be reason why it is powerfull on its own!
Well, for once it beeing a jet might be a real downside.
The speed reduces the time you have to scout and line up a shot or do follow up shoots.
The lack of dive recovery forces the plane to use shallow angles which in turn makes it suceptible to terrain.
Even the one upside of the jet that the gun would inherit speed from the plane itself to increase pen isnt simulated since WT uses the stats as documented.
But since testing is usually is done on the ground ( as it is way easier to do and more reliable) no speed is inherited and thus does not factor in to the documentation.
How about planes?
You only have 32 rounds and that is about it. If you can hit it probably would hurt but given a the rather low rpmand ammo count I doubt that it can compete with planes armed with dedicated 12.7/20mm gun instead.
So how could a down tier to BR 4 help?
First in BR 4 the speed of the plane would actually be special as nobody else has a jet of their own.
So outrunning enemy planes would be viable making the jet way more survivable.
Second the tanks in BR 4 for example the shermans and T-34s have way less sidearmor so engaging from the side is way more viable which would make playing the jet way less restrictive in what it can and cant do.
And thirdly this would the easiest buff to implement no tweaking the stats required and no special features like custom ammo belts required (even though 32 round of HE sure would be fun to use).
Wasnt sure if my half rant/ dump would fit into suggestions so I made it in mess room. Depending on the result I might do a proper suggestion in which I polish the rant a bit more if necessary.
- Yes
- No
- Only if cetain changes are made (comment bellow)