Hi Gents,

I finally had a Saturday to blow on Rise of Flight and had a play with the revised version of my beloved SE5a. It's Bloody Awful!

Take five ace SE5a's (no bombs) up against 5 ace Albatros's (any variant, even the 160hp Albatros D.II early) at 100 meters in the quick mission builder. If you try to turn with the albatros, without a pre-existing energy advantage, you'll soon find being out turned and out climbed and in a world of hurt. You can win but it's a hard fight

Now swap over, take five ace Albatros's up against 5 ace SE5a's (no bombs). You'll find you have to cut power to 50% to avoid overtaking the lumbering SE's in a turn as you sit effortlessly on their tails pumping rounds. It's an easy fight.

Against the Pfalz D.III, it's even worse.

Now I'm willing to bet that no one can show me a quote from pilots on either side saying how the Albatros and Pfalz dominated the SE5a. In reality, the SE5a wasn't even out classed by the Fokker D.VIIf;

Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas, said
" Just before the deaths if Jimmy McCudden and Mick Mannock, the Germans had started introducing on the Western Front a new fighter, the Fokker DVII, a single-seater biplane fitted with a new BMW engine - which was one of the best aero engines produced by either side up to that time. Fortunately for us, one of these new Fokkers was captured intact not long after it first appeared, and we were able to try it out against our own SE5. I was one of those who flew it, and we found that our own machine was a shade faster in level flight by about two or three miles per hour, but did not have such a good rate of climb. The Fokker DVII was also slightly more manourvreable than the SE5, but we still had the advantage in being able to pick up speed more quickly in the dive."

If we do some quick calc's (all data from the outstanding Profile Publications), we see the SE5a has a better powerloading and lower wingloading than both Albatros and Pfalz

Albatros D.III Late
Powerloading .203 hp/kg (180hp/886kg)
Wingloading 43kg/m2 (886kg/20.5m2)

Albatros D.V
Powerloading .211 hp/kg (180hp/852kg)
Wingloading 40kg/m2 (852kg/21.2m2)

Pfalz D.III
Powerloading .197hp/kg (180hp/915kg)
Wingloading 41kg/m2 (915kg/22.17m2)

SE5a (Viper)
Powerloading .228hp/kg (200hp/879kg)
Wingloading 38kg/m2 (879kg/22.84m2)

The only thing the SE5a can do now in ROF is run.

(P.S. I haven't posted this on the ROF forums because from past experience, all you get is endless personal attacks that you dared to question Neoqb)

Spoon

Hi Spoon,

I believe the SE5a is currently at a disadvantage as the other aircraft are yet to be revised and they, both allied and German, are over modelled. The worst 2 are the Camel and the DR1 and I hope these are the 1st to be revisited by 777.

I am not expert, I am not even a good pilot, but the new SE5a resonates better with me in that I have always thought that the RoF planes were too WWII like in their ability.

The SE5a is modeled very, very closely to its real-world specs now. In a word, it's not awful - it's you.

Hmmmmm. I can slap around the Alby's with the new SE5A where I couldn't with the old version. The trick for me is to dive when the Alby gets on my six then reset.

Don't try to turn with them, BnZ.

I think the new Se5a is way better than the old one!

@ Teddy Bar

The new SE5a definately 'feels' a lot better and it no longer 'hunts' for a heading, which was always a gripe in a plane known for its stability. What upsets me is that it's rate of turn is even less than it was before. The change has made the unhistorical difference in turn between the SE5a and Albatros/Pfalz even worse.

@ LukeFF

Try reading my post before replying next time

@ Buddywolf and Django333

While you always play the energy advantage if you've got it, the SE5a was quite capable of close in fighting with the Albatros/Pfalz. In fact, if you read Great War combat reports, once the first dive was over, that's how battles were decided. The present ROF SE5a is defenceless once you reach energy parity and your forced to disengage. If you fly the SE5a vs Albatros, then an Albatros vs SE5a, historically you would feel the SE5a was the better machine. In ROF, I'd take the Albatros any day

Thanks

Spoon

If you're flying off line, use Criquet's AI Mod and fly Mods On. The SE (and other BnZ planes) will extend properly.

The stock BnZ AI try to turn and get killed very easily.

That's my impression exactly so far, after just a few hours playing with it in some quick missions against DVII's. Forget slightly inferior turn rate, I can't even come close. Reminds me of flying Wildcats against Zekes in IL2. Of course I'm still shaking off the rust and getting used to
RoF, but my impression was exactly as stated above.

What Tom said.