Cannon values wrong

[Yogi Yohan]

I have been looking at the cannon values for the different aircraft and found discrepancies.

I read once in the PW forum that Mr Grigsby used the following basic values for assigning cannon values to planes:

+1 for 7-8 mm MG's
+2 for 12-15 mm MG's
+3 for 20 mm cannons
+4 for 30 mm cannons
+5 for 37-40 mm cannons

With a 25% bonus to weapons mounted in the nose (as opposed to the wings) and with 0,5 being deduced from cannons with small ammo load (such as the 20mm MG FF cannons mounted on the Bf-109E).

Using this formula, you can get most of the cannon values in WIR right or almost right. Take for example the Bf-109F: it was armed with 1 15 mm machine gun plus two 7,92 mm machine guns, all mounted on the nose. This would give you a cannon value of 1.25*(2*1 + 1*2)=5. Right on.

Or the Me-262 with 4 30mm Mk108 in the nose: 1.25*(4*4)=20. Correct again.

So far so good. But then there's some anomalies, most notably the Bf-110. Both the C and E models had two 20mm MG FF cannons (with plenty of ammo) and 4 7.92mm machine guns in the nose wich should add up to a cannon value of 1.25*(2*3+4*1)=12.5. The 7/8 values are WAY to low, even without considering the rear-firing MG.

So here are those planes that I have so far discovered with wrong cannon values, and what value they should have with the above system (rounded down).

Bf-109E - should have 7
Bf-110 - both should have 12
Fw-190D - should have 11
P-39N/Q - should have 10*
P-63 - should have 14

*or even 14, since the N model still had 4 7,62mm MGs in the wings and the Q model replaced these with 2 12,7mm MGs in gondolas under the wings. These were removed by the Soviets since they believed 1 37mm cannon and 2 12,7mm MGs was enough and preferred slightly increased performance. So 10 is probably the safest bet for the Q model, while 14 is right for the N.

[Mist]

Sounds logical. I was wondering about low cannon ratings of Bf110 also. What you think about range of Me262 , Yogi? Isn't range too long? I think 15 hexes is too many for it.

[Yogi Yohan]

Originally posted by Mist:
Sounds logical. I was wondering about low cannon ratings of Bf110 also. What you think about range of Me262 , Yogi? Isn't range too long? I think 15 hexes is too many for it.

No, not really. A WIR hex is approximately 35 km, so range 15 means 525 km. The total range of the Me 262 was about 1050 km so this seems absolutely correct, as long as WIR aircraft range is considered 1/2 of total range.

BUT "penetration range" is usually considered 1/3 of total range (you want some fuel to dogfight, climb after mission etc) so perhaps ALL ranges should be lowered by 1/3?

[frank1970]

And has anyone thought about the cannons, addable to the wings or the rockets, planes could carry in the interceptor role?