cam.hale wrote: i have a question about buying a plane should i choose tier 2 or wait to buy a spad

Well that depends on how many coins you have and how tired you are of being blown out of the sky.. if you like bombing missons (flying in a straight line & shooting at reds head-on) & shoot the zep mission (earn more coins in that than in any other mission in dogfight!) then you can just get a Red Baron plane for 25K & you're done worrying about getting a plane for awhile.. however you will get shot down lots in any kind of turning battle. Now if you get a Nieport XI, with upgrade will cost you $37,500 That is roughly half the cost of the Spad, NOT COUNTING THE UPGRADES for the Spad! But it will shoot down the Red Baron in any kind of turning battle 7 outta 10 tries plus both freebie planes and it's able to make a go at the Eindecker as well.. and if you're a savvy flier you will get shot down way less than you think.
You will spend about $150,000 for a fully upgraded Spad to have something able to take on anything in the sky.

so did that answer your questions?

I just bought the SE5a.. now I just have to earn the coins for the upgrades before flying it.

ZebraUp wrote: I just bought the SE5a.. now I just have to earn the coins for the upgrades before flying it.

Did the same the other day. Took it for one test flight...yea, upgrades are seriously needed. But, I was interested to see the "invincible" nature of it. See, I have had a theory that they are harder to shoot down, and while more testing needs to be done, the test flight I took was interesting. As slow and hard to maneuver as it is plain, it flew through enemy fire very well.

I think each of the planes have a certain profile that the servers use to indicate a hit on them. Not sure how Zup programmed it, but it makes sense in my head. Lol

Took a test flight in the base SE5a.. glad for the glitch that allows me to fly it alone because without the upgrades it's a PIG! lol!

this is a very informative thread. thanks so much for starting it zebra. anytime the experienced pilots take time to help out us n00bs we appreciate it! see ya in the skies...

ZebraUp wrote: Took a test flight in the base SE5a.. glad for the glitch that allows me to fly it alone because without the upgrades it's a PIG! lol!

Hahah don't worry! Once you do upgrade it you'll learn to love it It's quite different to the spad so will take a while to get use to it but let me know how you find it.

...although I think I already know

For those of you that don't know I have also included a very informative movie about the major fighter aircraft of WWI at the bottom of the original post.

Also I just added plane pics to each description.. including on awesome pic of the Albatros D.V.a

Ok so newb question here. I have been saving up for top tier plane. I wondered where the zebra plane came from and read here that you get it when you make MORAF. So I have a little while to go before I make that rank and I wonder if it would be wise to bye the se5 and wait for moraf to get the zebra. OR, is the zebra moraf plane able to play either side randomly? Hopefully that question makes sense...

Zebra plane is played on German side only.
Arlen

The 1st post has been recently updated due to me finally owning both a fully upgraded SE5a as well as an Albatros D.V.a (aka zebra or moraf plane)

Thanks for this post Z!

hey zeb, this is a great thread that's helped me out. thank you for starting it.
i'd like to get a conversation started about the nieuport 17. from what i see, it has the same stats as the spad aside from the armament upgrade. it also has one gun vs the spad's 2. so i'm wondering if there is anything that makes it better than a spad? from reading the thread i wasn't able to find any specs that make the 17 stand out in any particular way. so i bring my question to the 17 owners...is it truly better than the spad?

horriblebreast wrote: hey zeb, this is a great thread that's helped me out. thank you for starting it.
i'd like to get a conversation started about the nieuport 17. from what i see, it has the same stats as the spad aside from the armament upgrade. it also has one gun vs the spad's 2. so i'm wondering if there is anything that makes it better than a spad? from reading the thread i wasn't able to find any specs that make the 17 stand out in any particular way. so i bring my question to the 17 owners...is it truly better than the spad?

Thank you HB.. Speaking as someone who DOESN'T own one (it is currently the only plane I don't own) I can only view it from the position of having to shoot it down.. and I used to think the Spad was better than it by a slight margin but now my way of thinking is turning to the other direction after seeing it being flown by good fliers such as SkyStorm & others.. it MAY have a slight turning advantage over the Spad, but I can't say for sure.. but what I can say is that it is a great plane! And in snowy terrain it is dang near invisible!! lol!

i too only have experience with going against the 17. and whenever that happens i am not in a spad! so i think i'll leave it out there as an open question if anyone who owns that plane would shed some light on the mystery.

i just recently purchased the d3 albatross and i find it to be smoother than the spad. i have more fun with the spad, i find it to be a hard flying plane that suits my fighting style. i haven't yet gained the skill level of being an air superiority pilot so i haven't upgraded the armament for the d3. i usually don't stay alive long enough to run out of bullets.

but this leads me to another question, is it really worth it to spend 87.5k on more bullets for the d3? 375 is a fair amount of ammo to start with. so i guess it revives the old question of whether there is any added damage or piercing power from an armament upgrade. ever sniff up any info on that zeb?

That subject has been spoken about in this thread HB.. I believe it is just more bullets... and as for the other thing, I too bought the D.III and after reflection I wish I had just saved up further for the D.V. because by time you have fully upgraded the D.III you could have bought a top tier D.V. with the same amount of coins AND been 1/2 way to paying for the first speed upgrade!

I'd like to point out that the Albatross D.III seems to have a psychological/ visual advantage of sorts over the N.17(Nieuport17) in such a way that it shares a very similar layout/ silhouette to the Albatross D.V. True, their colors are very distinct and different but in the heat of combat, sometimes, it's the shape that people usually use to identify friend or foe. That same layout can also make a pilot loose their bearings a bit by making them think for a few seconds that they're fighting a D.V instead. With that in mind, it seems that it's mostly newbie pilots who usually fall victim to this psychological advantage. One other advantage that I've noticed of the D.III over the N.17 is that it is a bit smaller and it also seems to be a bit faster (top speed).

On the other hand, the N.17 seems to turn better than the D.III - I once witnessed a lone N.17 give a quartet of D.IIIs a hard time though this could be attributed to the quality of the pilot of the said N.17 as well as a number of other factors involved during the said encounter.

Just my two cent from fighting both planes.

Additional input on the D.III vs N.17 comparison:

In hindsight, I've also had the good fortune of fighting both the D.III and N.17 on multiple occassions using either a SPAD, Eindecker or the Red Baron. These encounters were against quality pilots so to speak. Needless to say, the SPAD is pretty much on even footing with both Tier-4 planes. Though for some reason, I find the N.17 "easier" to shoot down.

It must be because of the previously mentioned psychological advantage of the D.III.

It could also be because there are more quality pilots flying the D.III (understandable, since its the plane on the German side with SPAD-like performance) whereas there are less quality pilots flying the N.17 since there's already the SPAD on the Allied side that has almost the same performance for a much cheaper price tag and a seemingly smaller target profile to boot. But make no mistake that a well-flown N.17 can and will shoot down a SPAD due to its marginally better agility (methinks) and that just like the D.III and SPAD, the N.17 is capable of shooting down any plane in the game.

@Zebra
Don't you have a teammate who specializes on the N.17? His in-game name is Trey if memory serves me right. Made my life in DF abit more difficult with his N.17 whenever he's a red lol

Yes Robert. I also specialized. In the N.17 and can personally say that it is a joy flying it. Due to it bigger size over all the planes it has a small disadvantage in the speed area but makes up with it for it maneuverability. I have also used that plane against all German opposition. Even against zebra. The N.17 is highly underrated and one of the less flown planes in the game. I recommend the N.17 for all mission due to its quick maneuverability and agile structure even though it has the weight/size disadvantage.

If you wait untill level 31 to buy the DV will it come fully upgraded?

[LF]Mr.Becken wrote: If you wait untill level 31 to buy the DV will it come fully upgraded?

No Becken.. when you turn MORAF all you get is the 'zebra' skin (paint job) NOT the plane nor upgrades.

When u reach moraf does the player receive an allied pimped plane like the German dva? The striped one I meant.

{£}ZebraUp wrote:

[LF]Mr.Becken wrote: If you wait untill level 31 to buy the DV will it come fully upgraded?

No Becken.. when you turn MORAF all you get is the 'zebra' skin (paint job) NOT the plane nor upgrades.

alright. Im trying to decide if I want the DV or Se5a. I have the D3 and that works great for me and on the other side I have the spad so im leaning towards the Se5a

Congress wrote: When u reach moraf does the player receive an allied pimped plane like the German dva? The striped one I meant.

Not at this time.. but.. zuperman said there may be another level coming... I assume it would therefore be level 32 - Ace of Aces
Perhaps then there will be a similar plane for the allied side of things.. perhaps a 'pimped out' Sopwith Camel F.1 with it's lightning fast right-hand turns and slow lefts..



OR

{£}ZebraUp wrote:

Congress wrote: When u reach moraf does the player receive an allied pimped plane like the German dva? The striped one I meant.

Not at this time.. but.. zuperman said there may be another level coming... I assume it would therefore be level 32 - Ace of Aces
Perhaps then there will be a similar plane for the allied side of things.. perhaps a 'pimped out' Sopwith Camel F.1 with it's lightning fast right-hand turns and slow lefts..

OR

That is so cool, thx Zebs. Ace of aces now that would be cool.

Wow Becken....you have a tough decision there between the DV and the SE5a.....DIII and Spad are GREAT planes....I personally (back in the day....many moons ago)...upgraded to DV.....and then accumulated points for SE5a. (all obviously with the full upgrades)///...but I know many pilots have different abilities with varying degrees.....

GREAT question Becken....I hope this helps....and if anyone else has any additional suggestions for Becken and/or advice....it would be great.....

hey gang, i'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or if i'm just not seeing something properly...


now this looks to me as though the d3 is a 4-4-4 plane while the higher tier d5 is a 4-3-4.
the same is true for the spad and se5a...


again, it looks as though the spad is a 4-4-4 and the se5a is 4-3-4. i didn't notice this until i had actually saved up money to purchase a top tier plane. when the hangar and upgrades and plane price changed, i'm wondering if stats for planes also changed? is there something i am not seeing?

horriblebreast wrote: hey gang, i'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or if i'm just not seeing something properly...

now this looks to me as though the d3 is a 4-4-4 plane while the higher tier d5 is a 4-3-4.
the same is true for the spad and se5a...

again, it looks as though the spad is a 4-4-4 and the se5a is 4-3-4. i didn't notice this until i had actually saved up money to purchase a top tier plane. when the hangar and upgrades and plane price changed, i'm wondering if stats for planes also changed? is there something i am not seeing?

Those 4-3-4 stats of the SE5A and the D.V certainly don't reflect how well they dominate a certain match... though the D.III and SPAD's stats would help to explain how they are able to at least keep up with the top tiers...

Hi Zebra! Do you think this thread should be updated to reflect the changes in the plane selection?