I-153: cheap or not?

[cyclone70]

One five what?
Sorry been a long time since I saw one of those.
Nobody on my friends list stoops so low!

[beaker126]

Yeah what sucks is you when you tryand BnZ against them and get a faceful of rockets. Congrats, that's some mad skills there

[jkerr419]

Those things are so easy to beat that they do not bother me. Simple rule.... DON"T TURN WITH THEM. Fly right by and go into a shallow climb; if they try and follow they make themselves easy meat for your team. If no one picks up on it hold your climb, get some distance and loop back in for a quick pass. If you really can't get away from them dive. A fat kid on a 10 speed weighs more than that thing. But that's just me... I prefer BnZ so they don't bother me.

[haitch40]

in arcade its very cheap
if not its fine i think just try to make the enemy push down on the stick a few times the engine behaves like the i 16

[sloppy_clock]

I disagree with all these negative comments. I use them, never in a dogfight of any kind though, but they are decent planes but very easy to kill. Its not fair to say users of them are cheating, their speed and weakness definatly evens the playing field.
Just in RL you wouldnt want to engage in a turning-game with one, so dont do it; use different tactics.

[kozzm0]

but that's the whole point, online dogfight isn't a real-life situation. In real life you don't have the objective of competing with several other planes to shoot down as many i-153's as possible in 20 minutes. In real life you just ignore them and fly away because they're tactically useless. Same with the I-16. The Stalingrad campain mission where you have to fight bf109's and then he-111's with an I-16 is a great example of how weak a slow fighter really is.

In dogfight mode, the player who stays in the furball will invariably rack up more kills over time, compared to the boom and zoomer, simply because they get more opportunities to shoot. They get more deaths too, but that doesn't stop them from winning the round and getting the points.

[InfiniteStates]

Originally Posted by sloppy_clock

I disagree with all these negative comments. ... Its not fair to say users of them are cheating, their speed and weakness definatly evens the playing field.
Just in RL you wouldnt want to engage in a turning-game with one, so dont do it; use different tactics.

I'm not saying they are cheating, I'm saying they are cheap. The weaknesses you describe don't apply to 99.5% of online games, because the tendancy there is for everyone to engage in a giant turning battle furball. So the I-153 pilot sits in the middle, merrily turning on a dime, picking people left, right and centre and too maneouverable to be killed by someone trying a turning attack.

As I said in the OP - the tactics to beat them are a no-brainer, but make for a very boring game. They are also not compatible with the above gameplay that online games turn into. You are going to lose if everyone is turn-fighting while you are making strafing passes. The guy in the 153 can kill 2 or 3 turning planes while you are flying away and turning around for another pass.

And the other problem with this plane, unlike jets, is that you cannot set up a game to prohibit them.

[Panzergranate]

Just lure them up above 15,000 Feet and, just like the I-16, they have problems flying and maneuvering at higher altitudes.

I lured an I-153 up to above 20,000 Feet with an Fw-190 A5, in arcade, continued climbing to 42,000 Feet, pulled a stall turn and dove down at speed from above. By now he was at around 22,000 Feet, airspeed 87 MPH in level flight as a sitting duck. Death was quick.....

It is only because players tend to dogfight next to the ground, where the 1930's fighters have a clear advantage and the wartime fighters don't, that helps them along. Keeping the fight up above 6,000 Feet, where there is plenty of sky to maneuver in, lets the faster aircraft exploit their superiority.

Basically, just go with the advice that "Fllying Tigers" mercenary P-40 C pilots were given when flying against slower but more agile Japanese Ki-27 "Nate" fixed undercarriage fighters..... "Don't get into a turning battle with them!!"