Over the weekend past I've been a very busy boy, this was in spite of being ordered to rest by my doctor. But I did manage to get two sessions flying out in WarThunder...
Mainly to test out the new graphics card, more about which later.
But whilst flying around I levelled up my American planes and I unlocked the F4F-3, the F6F, the P47D-28, the P38 and a bunch of aircobra's.... All Good I thought, I was playing energy fighters and getting somewhere...
This was, until I thought I'd try to fly the new Fw190A1 on the German branch... My first Focke Wolf 190, and to be honest I had very high hopes for it. Based on its legendary status that is, and the fact that I'm playing realistic battles not the ram fest arcade version of the game.
And... I'm pretty sure its rubbish... The FW190-A1 appears to be the Marmite of the Butcher Bird world, as I've spoken to other players randomly and they either exclaim "No you're flying it wrong!"... or they exclaim "yes its rubbish!"
So, lets just go over it, I fly the 190 as an energy fighter, trying to climb, I keep a steady rise to altitude going, but above 10,000ft it aircraft is sluggish to move into a turn, also it consistently wants to nose down when travelling below 220mph.
When going into a turn, be that a low altitude high speed turn, or a high altitude low speed turn, or anything in between the thing wobbles and widdles around on the flight instructor.
The engine also incessantly overheats, and cutting throttle into a dive it takes an age for the water to cool again, yet if I leave it above 0% throttle it cools quicker, which is totally nuts.
So, I don't like the FW190A1... And though I see people getting up to 15,000ft in it and taking out AI spotter planes I can't get mine to go up there, it simply stalls out, and even in a standard climb the angle of attack to keep in the climb means we're flat planing at altitudes around 10,500-11,000 feet maximum.
I've asked what I'm doing wrong, I've played other planes - both higher and lower in tier... In both the German Tree and others, and the Fw-190-A1 has to be, for me, the most disappointing aircraft in WarThunder.
All this before I even mention the damage model, its almost worse than flying a Japanese plane, because you know they have no armour. But the Fw190 was build with armour a forethought, it was a fast, light yet rugged machine... Not the delicate thing they're presenting us with in the game.
The 190 was designed to intercept, more than be a fighter, it was to be a jabo... a Fighter Bomber... and a high altitude interceptor.
But its so badly behaved and so brittle.
And I'm not just saying this... Look at a comparable tier aircraft, the P400... Look at the damage mine took, and got me back to base in the very same Ruhr mission which was knocking the Focke Wolf down like a mosquito in rainy season.
One eight of this kind of damage and the 190 bursts into flames, or its wings tear off like a small child is toying with flying ants.
So, I don't like the 190-A1, so much so that I'm not even going to show a picture of it here...
