SpiritFoxMY, on 20 October 2020 - 12:36 AM, said:
To be fair, the 215.02 isn't completely irredeemable but its not an easy plane to fly. You're a one-plane meme machine. Guns are good - they're the same as the 1101 but with better burst length so your DPM is a lot better. Its got a buttload of HP so its fairly tough and its also surprisingly fast once fully equipped with Ultimate equipment thanks to its 20s boost length, allowing you to power across the battlefield in the same manner as a heavy fighter. And you have your rockets. The R4Ms can be used fairly effectively against both air and ground targets and your WGr21s are decently powerful as well. Taken together, you are a fairly good multirole being able to rapidly blow up light and medium targets and pick off slower moving, less nimble airplanes for a solo cap.
The problem is its performance is just awful. Turn time is bad and you're a massive target. Acceleration is multirole anemic without equipment and your tailgun is basically useless. It takes a lot of patience and planning to use properly and anything you can do, someone else can do better. If nothing else, you're a bigger, lower performing Hunter which trades the massive firepower of the quad ADENs for the meme of a massive cloud of rockets. Rockets that have been nerfed against the 215.02's primary prey - GAAs. You also have basically no damage resistance and your lumbering performance makes you vulnerable to even ADAs let alone bots or other humans if you don't plan your moves right.
So overall - its a plane that's been indirectly nerfed multiple times (it was collateral damage in the Explosive Damage nerf vs GAAs and the turret range nerf) and then basically replaced by a superior version of itself (the Hunter) and in this it is similar to the Fw252 - its a lesser version of its British counterpart. You can still have fun in it, just prepare to suffer if you face off against any competent opposition.
A very special note: the R4Ms that the 215.02 has are actually upgraded over all other R4Ms the rest of the German tree use and have something like 200m more maximum range so if anyone is dumb enough to try and charge you down face first, you can nuke him from almost 2km away.
And if you're REALLY crazy and outfit a Rocket Sight with maximum range upgrades, you can extend your rocket's range to just shy of 2.5km which, if you want to go full meme, means that with seasonal camo and fully upgraded RadNav gear for maximum stealth you can lob rockets at people from beyond visual range. You'll never hit them, of course, but its THEORETICALLY possible.
I enjoy reading your aircraft reviews. My favorite kind of post.
What equipment and skills do you have on your specced 215.02?