Different equipment availability vs. other DLCs

[Kamerer]

I noticed the SE 190a never became available. I think in AK it came available the same time as a regular FW190a. Is there a rationale for that?

It seems to me it would be good to have. There's a desire not to make too powerful an air arm. But having the SE 190a would be a nice alternative to driving someone to sell an SE 109 and buy an ME262 if they felt pressed for cash and need more air power. I know a 190 is competitive until the end, a 109 much less so (at least in GC East '45).

[ThvN]

The short explanation is that there are no SE aircraft available outside AK. The SE planes are reserved for that theater through a special setting in the eqp file, so they won't show up in Western or Eastern front (European) scenarios.

What is happening here is that they can be given to the player by placing them on the map, but they cannot be received like with a normal SE unit, bought or upgraded, only reinforced. So the SE Bf 109G can never be upgraded unless you use the 'all eqp' cheatcode to enable the other versions. This feature was also mentioned during the beta for DLC 43 West, the SE Bf 109 F from the stock core could not be upgraded, and I still used it as long as possible during this DLC, but it slowly became only very marginally effective, even when overstrenght.

[Kamerer]

OK, thanks for the explanation. I do not recall that from the 43w beta; I must have missed that discussion somehow. I do also recall though that not all SE aircraft in AK are upgradeable (I know the fighter was part way, but not the Bf110.

I find that really odd and inconsistent. I think it would be good to know upfront you have a "dead end" technology vs. investing time/pp into it to then have it treated differently w/o explanation.

[ThvN]

Now that you mention it, I do remember earlier posts from DLC 43 West beta testing about it, and Kerensky explaining the decision. Note that there is also an SE Bf 109K available in the eqp file, so the two upgrades for the SE Bf 109G are the K version or the SE Fw 190. Anyway, not being able to upgrade is a deliberate design, you can read for yourself, I looked up the relevant post (now moved to open beta), here you go:

viewtopic.php?f=125&t=37460#p356046

Happy Artillerists' Day!