Kamerer wrote:The Go229 is under-rated. Air-to-air, it is little different than an Me262 (vs an Me262, it is +2 damage, -1 defense, else the same as far as air to air). What very few contemporary comments exist, point to it being superior to the Me262 in dogfighting. I’d give it two more initiative points (17 total) and two more defense points. I don't know enough about the weapons system it carried to evaluate it as to air damage points. But head-to-head and historically, it feels slightly under-rated.
The initiative ratings on the last generation American prop aircraft are a bit unrealistic in my opinion – giving the P51H the same initiative rating as an Me262 or Go229 feels very wrong. Yes, it was a very refined aircraft vs. the earlier models, but it was still a prop, a Mustang (a very over-rated aircraft in the first place), and carried the same armament as the D model. This also makes the American reinforcement wave in Sea Lion wildly effective beyond what it should be, I think. I need to go back and look closely at the P47N but I think it may be a bit up-sold, too.
The proposed air-to-air armament would most likely have been two MK108 30mm cannon, same armament as the Me163, and the Me262 had four of those cannon. But armament is only part of the attack value. BTW, balancing values to strike a nice compromise between historical accuracy and gameplay is always difficult, I can mod things myself to my taste but it will never be good for everyone.
And I can't resist asking, years ago I did some research for a mod into this Gotha/Horten thing, are you referring to the alleged mock dogfight between the Go229 and a Me262? Or the comments and calculations by the designers on how it compared to an Me262? Since I will probably end up modding this thing in PzC as well I've dug up my old sources, but I am hoping more info has surfaced in recent years.
So I'm really interested to know if you have some links to these contemporary comments, because I've never found any really credible evidence myself, even with the renewed interest in this aircraft during the years. All I could find was some off-hand comment by one of the test pilots, Ziller, who was killed in a crash in the prototype. And these comments were only mentioned by the Horten brothers while they were being interviewed in the 1980ies. The only sources I could find (and I've managed to find the link for you, maybe you are already familiar with it), point to several explanations for the stories about the Go229's dogfighting capabilities.
http://airandspace.si.edu/research/arch ... sec_9.html
My 2 cents: The Go229 had a low wing loading. The Me262 by contrast used a very high wing loading. Completely different characteristics, each with its own advantages/disadvantages. The Gotha was conceived as a bomber (the 1000x1000x1000 criterium), and was never tested with military equipment. No guns, gunsights, armor etc. It was never tested to full capacity, most performance parameters are estimates, so all of these are dificult to compare to the Me262.
And the (proposed) layout of the Gotha leads me to believe that is would likely suffer from 'gun gas ingestion', which was a problem with several post-war jet-fighters with their gun muzzles in the vicinity of the air intakes. But now I'm starting to speculate, so I'll leave it at that.
And this beta won't play itself...
