VTOL Yak-141 Freestyle

[Coleco]

I got bored today and decided to try my first foray into MBT editing.What I made in question was a Yak-141 that is actually on map and is commandable like a chopper but I am wondering how to balance it just right.Currently a single plane has a base price of 750 points and a loadout of a cannon,2 rocket pods,and a cluster bomb with the default amount of ammo.But the advantage over a chopper is the speed of 200.But this still isnt quite perfect,Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should do this?

[Coleco]

Here is the new Russian OOB if anyone is interested.It can be found under "Gunships" starting in 2008.

[PlasmaKrab]

One question:

How does it attack? Though it is VTOL (and not many VTOL planes are actually any worth after taking off vertically), it cannot attack from a hovering distance like helos do.

Unless of course the Yakovlev guys have done loads of progress... I know the plane is deliriously expensive, but to this point...

[Shadowcougar]

It would be treated like a Harrier I would think.

[PlasmaKrab]

Shadowcougar said:
It would be treated like a Harrier I would think.

That is the same principle of course, but are there already on-map VTOL Harriers in the game?

The point is, I don't know how the thing would behave when attacking.
A VTOL plane hovering and shuffling while firing rockets and missiles at a target wouldn't seem plausible, except in a Schwarzenegger movie...

Once taken off, no matter how, it should behave just like another attack plane.

[Mobhack]

PlasmaKrab said:

That is the same principle of course, but are there already on-map VTOL Harriers in the game?

The point is, I don't know how the thing would behave when attacking.
A VTOL plane hovering and shuffling while firing rockets and missiles at a target wouldn't seem plausible, except in a Schwarzenegger movie...

Once taken off, no matter how, it should behave just like another attack plane.

There is no support in the game for such a beast. The only directly player controlled air units are helos, basically.

The hovering and nose-dip saluting is something you really see at air shows (i recall a harrier at leuchars doing that sort of thing, plus VTOL), but really only valid with a clean conditionplane (e.g. to relocate from a bombed out strip to a new one).

The SHARS which used "Sid's strip" (AKA HMS Sheathbill, RAF Port San Carlos) in the Falklands may have landed vertically, but the strip was a few 100 metres of sheeting for a short take off.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/mileston...ry/1982_2.html

http://www.raf.mod.uk/falklands/mov1.html
(search for "sheathbill" on that page - where it states the strip was 850 foot of planking)


Cheers
Andy

[Marek_Tucan]

Back in the days of MOBhacing of SP3 I have created some spotter planes and CAS planes, esp. in WWII, but also in the modern era, to work like attack helos. But I have imposed some self-regulations on their use (like they HAVE to move etc.). It gave interesting possibilities, esp. spotting planes or A-10's moving in tree-top level, avoiding AA fire by utilising valleys (something that isn't modeled for attack aircrafts), but they, the scale was four times bigger, so one hex was 200 meters and one map was 20 kilometers large... The SPMBT scale is smaller, so I think it won't fit well here.

[Shadowcougar]

USMC Harriers make a diving attack when employing weapons. They don't use hover except when landing on a LHA or at a FARP.

[marko]

avoiding AA fire by utilising valleys (something that isn't modeled for attack aircrafts)

I believe that this comfortably fits under the magical umbrella of the defensive maneuver and the low hit probability.