Favorite low BR planes--how low can you go?

[Kosher_Locust 120]

Lately I've been playing low BR matches, because, well, there's not much happening on the top end.  My last jet match I was "Terror of the Sky" on all of 3 kills.  Not a complete list and shows my biases, only limit is stopping around BR 3

 

USA

The two P-40's and the P-400 make a good 1-2 punch.  The P-40 has a poor airframe (are we ever going to see the K or N variants?) but you can flip them in snap loops if you start with enough velocity.  The P-400 is zippy and has a cannon on top of the guns.  Lower than that the P-36G seems a star for maneuverability and having six guns.  Otherwise...I see lots of guys flying the SB2U-3 probably because it has four guns, but a lousy air frame.   The P-26....every time I see one of those I think Now there goes an optimist!  The Ki-43/61 are available as premiums but don't seem as good as the Japanese versions. The P-40C should be more like a BR 2 or 1.7 but it's powerful enough, don't touch the entry level P-38.  It's armed like a P-59 Airacomet, and slower to boot.  The A-36 is to be blunt a novice plane.  Early on I flew it a lot because put the pods on and OMG, TEN fifty caliber guns!  But it maneuvers like a truck and aside from head ons or sneak attacks you'll be looped and killed.  It also doesn't seem to hit on target as well as it should--but when it does you find your inner shredder.

 

Germany

The He 100-D1 is super fast, one of the fastest planes below BR 2, and triple guns  For the 109's the E1 has quad guns but isn't as fast or snappy as the Heinkel.  The E-3/E-4 are good all arounders with twin cannons and guns. Note I'm not mentioning the many He-112 variants--it's maneuverable but not good on armament and just blah to me.

 

USSR

Yes, the I-153 and I-16 variants.  Happy I mentioned them?  Not fast, but might as well be armed with quad submachine guns.  Super high rate of fire but not much range.  People hate the LAGG-3 variants but a fast cannon and a fast gun is surprisingly versatile if used sparingly.  Favorite is the Yak-1--decent airframe with a single cannon and twin fast guns.  The Mig-3 just doesn't suit me, can hit but corners like a brick.

 

Great Britain

Uhh....well.  The Spitfire is supremely maneuverable. Hurricane is the ugly sibling.   But 6 or 8 guns they just don't have much killing power. The Typhoon Mk 1A is nuts with 12 guns and I guess proof you if you don't have hitting power just use more guns.  The Hurricane Mk IV should be fun with twin 40 cannon, but nope.  Haven't played British since I went German.....

 

Japan

Simple, the Ki-44 variants with 30/50 caliber guns for a higher BR match. Lower BR the Ki-43 I/II.  Upgrade the I to use the twin 50's and use the "air target" ammo.  You have two wickedly powerful planes, probably the most maneuverable monoplane fighters in the game.   I've had many crazy battles surrounded by the enemy, just me duking it out and still surviving, to tell tall tales to my grandchildren.  Maneuverability comes at a cost, however.  Motions that make a smooth turn in other planes jerk it all over the place, and once tracking a target you have to be very smooth and precise to hit.  The J1N1 is my next plane.  A cannon and twin guns hit surprisingly well and it has twin turrets on top--note that they aim up so you want to fight low.   It's fast for it's BR and reasonably maneuverable, so end of the match when everyone is down to biplanes swoop in dispatch some indiscriminate justice.

 

China

You'll already be flying the Ki-43 and P-40, but I tend to like the H-81A2 a little better.  Low BR the CW-121 looks like something Howard Hughes would fly to work but it's well armed and maneuverable, and the D.510C has a cannon.  Higher the P66/P43 are both respectable planes.

 

Italy

I never knew Italy invented spam.  But more seriously high BR is about the same two airframes with varying armament, and low BR it's three.  Just use "air target" ammo.  You can have any armament you want as long as it's twin 50 Bredas.  Standouts for premium are the IAR-81C which has twin guns and twin German MG-151 cannons.  Airframe isn't great but it can be a giant killer.  The C.202D is a good entry to the later performance planes.  Special mention is the Ba.65 (K.14) L, which is one of the lowest BR planes and so-so on maneuverability, but it literally mows through anything in it's path.  Use it end of the match to chop up endless biplanes.

 

France

The MS404/406/410 have cannons.  That's pretty much it.  The H-75 has up to six guns and no hitting power.  I fly the C.R. 714 a lot at a low BR as it's zippy but again very weak on killing power.  The V.G.33C-1 is best at low BR and the D.520 at a little higher.  Neither are stellar but better than the MS series.  The M.B.152C1 has twin cannon but a mediocre airframe, if it's down tiered it can splat lots of bad guys.  The D.500/510 have single cannon so at low BR can be killers.  Special mention is the D.371 H.S.9.  It has twin twenty 20mm cannon but only 60 rounds.  It can serve a special purpose since it looks like a parasol wing reserve plane.  End of the match bring it out, you literally get only 2-3 bursts followed by a lengthy reload, but each burst will down a plane.  

 

Sweden

Well, it used to be the J-22's but they've been uprated in their BR to eternity.  The J22-A is the best bet if you don't get an uptiered match.  But it's only one plane.  The J-20 is a copy of the Italian Re.2000 but performs much worse.  Best bets are premium.  The Morko-Morane is a Frankenstein MS.406 with a Russian engine and starts out with a Russian 50 gun and twin French 30's.  Upgrade it and you replace the 50 with an MG-151 cannon.  At BR 2.0 and below it's an impressive plane, better than it should be, and the cannon makes a huge difference.  It will not hold up to a He-100 and uptiered is no match for early Bf-109's but it gets the job done.  Downside is people see this plane with the weird name and want to shoot it down.  The Fokker D.XXI  looks like a stately 30's plane with it's fixed landing gear and spats, but has twin 20mm Oerlikons and twin 30 guns. They don't hit as hard  as the MG-151 but it's maneuverable and people tend to underestimate as something in the line of a Ki-27.   However it's like if your straight laced bible salesman cousin turned out to know Kung-Phoo.

 

Israel

Israel don't go that low.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Kosher_Locust

[VikernesVarg 1,525]

The single best low tier (below 3.0) plane is easily the Japanese premium Bf 109 E-7. Identical performance to its German counterparts (the E-4 and E-7), but instead of being 3.0 BR, it sits at 2.3 BR, because reasons I guess

[The4thAmigo 135]

So the OP admits to slumming in the lower tiers to rack up kills and gives suggestions on which planes to do it with.  This is exactly why the game is so frustrating.  Also, your H75 description is completely wrong as my A-20 took 2 hits from one and disintegrated.

[FailBoatCaptain 439]

All answers other than the I-153 M62 are invalid. 

 

[AmigaForever 97]

I-153P

[ICrayonEatr@live 452]

If you have never played the SBD 3 or Bv 138 at a br of 1.7, you will be enlightened. Both are bombers but, that isn’t true at all. Bv 138 has 2 Mg 151’s around the aircraft and the SBD 3 has 6 .50 cals. They are both insane for their br’s.

[Kosher_Locust 120]

8 hours ago, The4thAmigo said:

So the OP admits to slumming in the lower tiers to rack up kills and gives suggestions on which planes to do it with.  This is exactly why the game is so frustrating.  Also, your H75 description is completely wrong as my A-20 took 2 hits from one and disintegrated.

I feel your bitterness, and I'm here to help.  I'm playing the same planes you are, and you have the same opportunities I do.  Have patience, practice, find your inner Zen.  And that H75 must have been using the infamous cannon hack where they stuff a 50mm shell into a 50 caliber barrel.

2 hours ago, ICrayonEatr@live said:

If you have never played the SBD 3 or Bv 138 at a br of 1.7, you will be enlightened. Both are bombers but, that isn’t true at all. Bv 138 has 2 Mg 151’s around the aircraft and the SBD 3 has 6 .50 cals. They are both insane for their br’s.

 I do think I'm going to give the SBD a try......

[The4thAmigo 135]

On 27/07/2022 at 20:43, Kosher_Locust said:

I feel your bitterness, and I'm here to help.  I'm playing the same planes you are, and you have the same opportunities I do.  Have patience, practice, find your inner Zen.  And that H75 must have been using the infamous cannon hack where they stuff a 50mm shell into a 50 caliber barrel.

 

 

I lost 3 aircraft in one night to an H75.  One wing blown off, one fire, one pilot kill.  There can be no inner zen when you are actively punished when trying to advance up a tech tree.

 

 

[Kosher_Locust 120]

3 hours ago, The4thAmigo said:

 

I lost 3 aircraft in one night to an H75.  One wing blown off, one fire, one pilot kill.  There can be no inner zen when you are actively punished when trying to advance up a tech tree.

 

 

Trust me, the H75 is a very weak airplane, especially compared to what comes later.  Every BR has a "sweet spot" where you have the best fighters, and you'll see they have the game balanced so there's one that's overly armed, one that's fast but weak on guns, and so on.  And nothing will ever be perfect, even when "slumming it" I still sometimes get my rear handed to me by an He-51.

 

The amateur guide to survival is:

 

Bring the right tool to your fighting style.  You mentioned flying an A-20, very few twin engine planes can duel with fighters.  In particular the A-20 is more bomber than attacker, it's advantage is speed, so dive in, bomb the target, hit a few bad guys of opportunity in front of you, and split.  

 

Head on a swivel:  I have a dedicated key for free look; whenever I hear engines or guns nearby I look around to see who's where, very helpful if you see someone closing on you.

 

Upgrade:  Low BR planes should only take a few fights to get all the automatic upgrades to the plane.  Optional upgrades once you earned them are armament.  Always upgrade ammo belts, air targets if available, tracer or universal if not.  Some planes like the Italians and Ki-43 have explosive bullets, in effect like miniature cannons.  Stealth is a mixed bag, you can't see where you're hitting but the enemy doesn't know you're shooting at him right away.  With tracers the enemy knows where you are and often dodges immediately.

 

Crew: Every fight gains experience points to upgrade crew skills.  Upgrade G-tolerance under pilot and reload speed and weapon maintenance under logistical services early on.  When the crew rank is high enough spend silver lions to upgrade crew qualification to expert, which gives an automatic +3 to skills for the plane you're flying.  Crew qualification is unique to each plane, but crew experience stays with that particular crew.  All changes are incremental but build up over time. 

 

Movement:  Smooth and steady when aiming, always in motion if someone's after you.  A straight line gets you killed.  If you're drawing a bead on a bad guy and someone else is coming up from behind, well, good luck. 

 

The aiming point is a suggestion:  Aim a little ahead and then let it fall behind, not all ammo hits in the same space, but you'll eventually find the targeting spot.  High BR planes (BR 4 and up) have momentary contact and insta-death from cannons.  Low BR you sometimes have to hold on target for a second or two--find where it hits and follow the target.  A lot of skilled players can guesstimate where the aiming point should be before it appears, and that helps them get the jump on the enemy.  

 

Deflection shots:  Chasing a a bad guy on the tail is a great way to waste ammo.  Always attack at an angle--to the side, from above, etc.  Your ammo hits and does more damage the less of an angle it has impacting the target.  If a guy turns and shows his wings you have a good opportunity.  

 

Flaps and throttle:  If chasing a bad guy and he starts to turn, cut throttle and hit the flaps, you'll turn in tighter and if you did it right get him. However there's no free lunch, you cut speed and also energy, which you need to get back if you miss him.

 

Speed and altitude: Be above and faster than the enemy.  Most fighters fight "on the deck" at low altitude, it's easy to get disoriented when fighting without ground as a reference--but if you can master that you'll get a lot more kills.

 

Know your plane and the enemy's:  With enough experience you'll know which planes turn faster or slower, which have better armament, etc.  You'll also know where you plane hits better in terms of range and targeting.  A Stuka isn't much use against a He-100, but that doesn't stop some people from trying.  Fast and nimble--outrun and attack from behind.  Heavily armed, attack from the front.

 

Choose your engagements: Most battles end up with a "fur ball" of fighters converging in one area.  It can be fun to plunge in but if it's 5 on 1 you won't last long.  Look for people leaving the furball (reloading or crippled) or find a spot the enemy is trying to reach and defend it.

 

Never give up:  I've sometime got 2-3 kills from a crippled plane (dead engine) as a slow moving target tends to cause a fast moving enemy to overshoot me.  After death kills-counting down the seconds until you eject or die--can and do happen.  Great for you, bad if an enemy you thought was dead zaps you.  It also applies to the overall match--some have started out bad and I ended  up Terror of the Sky as the last half worked great.

 

Avoid payback:  If some guy gets you it's temping to go back and zap him.  If you're evenly or better matched, worth a shot.  If he's in a better plane or just a better pilot either he'll keep zapping you or his buddies will.  Refer back to choosing engagements.  

 

Short, controlled bursts: Fire in small bursts until you're on target, then let loose.  Don't chase firing guns endlessly hoping for a hit, as you'll be reloading in a bad situation.

 

Ping and matchmaking:  You have, if I remember right, having a chance of running into an enemy up to 1BR below you and 1BR above, since it looks at the average of teams  So it's possible your 2.7 preset of crews can be up against someone with a a 3.7 preset and one of the those planes is a 4.0.  Consider it a challenge.  Ping is how many milliseconds it takes for data to get from the player's PC to the server, and most people assume it means only for them.  It applies to all players; if you see an aiming spot suddenly changing, or the enemy seems to jitter when flying, or you get close and the whole game stutters--someone has a bad (high millisecond) ping and the server is trying to make it all work.  This can be an advantage to a bad guy as they're hard to kill.  It can also be more subtle; if you're in a match and your favorite plane you know well is getting endless assists rather than kills, it's probably also ping problems.  Always blame the ping, never own up to missing.  

 

And lastly:  It's just a game, don't get too wound up about it. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Kosher_Locust

[The4thAmigo 135]

On 29/07/2022 at 20:20, Kosher_Locust said:

And lastly:  It's just a game, don't get too wound up about it. 

 

I've heard all of that before and even if I was able to emulate it perfectly it doesn't work.  How do those suggestions work in a BR 1.0 Swedish biplane vs. an FW-190 or BF-109?  How about Thatch's F2 vs an XP-55? There's lots of reasons to get wound up about this game after attempting to be decent at it for 7 years. Casual, non-premium players actively punished for trying to advance, going against players with mouse aiming enabled (cheat mode), matched with planes far outside my BR (1.0 vs 2.7 or more), bomber gunners that no longer attempt to fire despite max settings, inserting planes into the tree that increases the amount of SL and RP required, paltry rewards etc.    The game always throws something in the way whenever a player makes a modicum of improvement.  Should it take 7 to 10 years to get to a jet?  Should it take 17 to get to an F-14?

 

Rant over.  You can keep slumming at the lower tiers if you want and casual players like me will continue to be easy kills for you.  New players beware as well.

[anyuser 5,136]

22 hours ago, The4thAmigo said:

 

I've heard all of that before and even if I was able to emulate it perfectly it doesn't work.  How do those suggestions work in a BR 1.0 Swedish biplane vs. an FW-190 or BF-109?

109A and B?
Not a big deal.

190? the one at BR 3.7?
How much can you xxxx up your lineup?

And btw, not the moment that guy does not stay at boom and zoom, he is dead.

 

22 hours ago, The4thAmigo said:

matched with planes far outside my BR (1.0 vs 2.7 or more)

Ah that much.

Matchmaking is you can only meet stuff that is +/- 1.0 BRs around the HIGHEST BR PLANE in your lineup.

While you can drag down your highest BR plane in AB by 1 BR step (0.3).

 

22 hours ago, The4thAmigo said:

going against players with mouse aiming enabled (cheat mode)

I see, you want, want, want, want, want to play with joystick and that everybody else have to do so too in AB because of you.

That is not how it gonna work...

 

 

 

For Italy I would add the C. 205 Serie 1.

Just one step above the 202s and hell, that one is a plane...

 

Edit:
And the ISR S.199 is at the same BR. So low enough.

Yes, it can't compete with a 109G or F, but it got power and those dual 13mm are usually enough to kill everything with HEI-Ammo.

It can do all the tricks a 109 can pull, just not as good. And for sure, C205 or Ki44 means you are dead.

But it got 3 respawns afaik.

Edited August 1, 2022 by anyuser

[The4thAmigo 135]

1 hour ago, anyuser said:

109A and B?
Not a big deal.

190? the one at BR 3.7?
How much can you xxxx up your lineup?

And btw, not the moment that guy does not stay at boom and zoom, he is dead.

 

Ah that much.

Matchmaking is you can only meet stuff that is +/- 1.0 BRs around the HIGHEST BR PLANE in your lineup.

While you can drag down your highest BR plane in AB by 1 BR step (0.3).

 

I see, you want, want, want, want, want to play with joystick and that everybody else have to do so too in AB because of you.

That is not how it gonna work...

 

 

 

For Italy I would add the C. 205 Serie 1.

Just one step above the 202s and hell, that one is a plane...

 

I would like to see a video of someone shooting down multiple 109 A, B, E1, E3 or any other BR 2.0 or higher fighter plane with a Swedish 1.0 biplane during an AB match or matches.   It only happens if you are lucky.  You don't have the speed to catch it, the guns to shoot it down or the turn rate to outfight it.  That pretty much goes for all monoplanes at that tier except maybe the TBD and SBD but their gunners tear you up before you can do enough damage to bring them down.

 

I understand I'm at a severe disadvantage with a joystick and that it has been that way for years for all players.  It just makes it that much harder to advance and yes, I've tried the mouse/keyboard controls to worse results.  My Swedish tier is 1.0 only since I'm trying to grind through it.  It is the lowest tier possible so I'm an easy seal to club.  I appreciate your Italian suggestions but I'm not going to waste SL or RP advancing through that tier with the meager rewards that are now offered.  Maybe when I get through the Swedish tree in a year or two.

Edited August 1, 2022 by The4thAmigo

[anyuser 5,136]

Again, with a BR 1.0, you can only meet planes up to the BR 2.0 or at worse 2.3 brought down to 2.0.

No E-3.

 

109A and B are not much faster than the Gladiator (J8A) and are much weaker armed. Just the J6A is not that good, but the 8mm guns are on the stronger side when it comes to ammo and they got a high rate of fire (not as high as SU, but much higher then GB).

The armament of the 109E1 is the same as for the Gladiator, 4 guns with same rate of fire, while the bullets are a little weaker.

 

Gladiators can outturn a 109 as well as the CR.42 (J11). And with Joystick you should be even more able to do so because of full control.

Just watch your speed and do not follow them into a spiral climb.

 

All of my swedish fighters (and some of the bombers) got a K/D bigger then 1.

 

It has only to do something with how you fly.

 

 

And the C205 was aimed at the first post.

[f_ritz 24]

USA - F2A-1

Germany - He 112 A

USSR - MiG-3-15 (or P-40 depending on the day)

UK - Hurricane 2B

Japan - Ki-44-I

China - P-40E-1

Italy - IAR-81C

France - P-40F-5

Sweden - Mörko

Israel - S-199

 

[anyuser 5,136]

I'd like to add the Tempest MK V VIckers P.

 

Holy cow, when that thing does hit, it kills.

And the flight performance does worth tier 4 for sure.