4 replies to this topic

[Procrastes]

The Polikarpov I-5 was one of the first aeroplane models I built with my father, almost forty years ago. Scale 1:72, plastic parts in two colours (brown body, orange wings), a dashing picture on the box... you know what I mean, right? So when I got the opportunity to get the Polikarpov I-5 ShKAS from the store the other day, it's no wonder I jumped at it.

 

She's a beautiful and feisty little thing, all right! Classic two-decker silhouette, great manoeuvrability, and four fast-firing machineguns... she really takes to the skies. And she absolutely dominates the dog fights. What a fighter!

 

And that kinda brings me to my point. What exactly is she, in the game?

 

The Polikarpov I-5 ShKAS is represented, in my hangar, as a multi-role fighter. And when I start a battle, I get the usual multi-role fighter job description: "Take out enemy planes, secure sectors, and take out AA guns with my outboard weapons."

 

...what "outboard weapons"?

The in-game premium Polikarpov I-5 ShKAS is equipped with four machineguns, and that's it. She can't mount either rockets or those two small 10-kilo bombs that she carried in real life (and which I recall from my little plastic plane model from forty years ago).

 

Please note that this is not a complaint about the in-game plane being undergunned. To the contrary, she has twice the number of machineguns that her real-life counterpart carried, and they make absolutely mincemeat of any planes she faces in a dogfight. But they are somewhat lacking in their ability to take out ground targets. True to my given battle orders I made a valiant effort to attack some AA mounts in a strafing run, and got soundly (and well-deservedly) blown out of the sky for my troubles.

 

What I am trying to say here, is this: The in-game Polikarpov I-5 ShKAS seems to be more of a purestrain fighter, than the multirole fighter she's designated as. She excels in dogfights, but she doesn't really have the capacity to attack ground targets efficiently. To do that, she would have to be equipped with the two 10-kilo bombs she had in real life (and then maybe she'd have to lose two of her machineguns for the sake of game balance, but that is something others will be more qualified to determine than I am).

 

I would like to conclude this post by stating that I am fairly new to this game, and so there might very well be something that I am missing about the Polikarpov I-5 ShKAS and how she is supposed to function in the game. Either way, I thought it would be fun to open a discussion about this nice little two-decker. What do you, fellow gamers, think about her?

Edited by Procrastes, 11 July 2018 - 01:14 PM.

[CheefCoach]

There are some planes with large caliber guns that are designated as multi role fighters like: Yak-7, Yak-9, Yak-9U or I-260. It is probably in same category. 

 

Can't remember but it might had some rockets or bombs in some of past version of the game. And before 2.0 ground targets were individual and spread across the map, and not concentrated in sectors like now. Back then almost all ground targets in low tiers were build of unarmored parts so machine guns could do some serous damage.  

[Procrastes]

CheefCoach, on 11 July 2018 - 02:06 PM, said:

There are some planes with large caliber guns that are designated as multi role fighters like: Yak-7, Yak-9, Yak-9U or I-260. It is probably in same category.

 

Can't remember but it might had some rockets or bombs in some of past version of the game. And before 2.0 ground targets were individual and spread across the map, and not concentrated in sectors like now. Back then almost all ground targets in low tiers were build of unarmored parts so machine guns could do some serous damage.

 

 

You might be right at that. Four machine guns at tier II is rather impressive, although it's a hard stretch to describe their 7.62 mm as being "large calibre". I guess I'll have another go at those massed, admirably coordinated AA batteries, with their well entrenched positions, unimpeded firing angles and snappily dressed crews... I have a good feeling about this.  

 

Edited by Procrastes, 12 July 2018 - 06:53 AM.

[Renwor]

I think the real idea behind the classification is to give you starting point for training the multirole crew. You are doing well to avoid pretending to be mini- ground pounder.

 

[zen_monk_]

Renwor, on 12 July 2018 - 12:10 PM, said:

I think the real idea behind the classification is to give you starting point for training the multirole crew. You are doing well to avoid pretending to be mini- ground pounder.

 

 

No need for that now. All premium planes accept every pilot fully regardless of their class. You cab train your bomber pilot there if you like.