New Rounnd of Beta Testing for Metalstorm

There is a new round of beta testing that Z2 has announced.  Last time they had beta testing, it was for Metalstorm Aces (which still isn't released in most countries yet).  Not sure yet what this testing is for.

The Zephyr Returns

Real Life Name:  Dassualt Rafale

It looks like Z2 has brought back the Zephyr.

I have to say, for 205 coins, I am hard pressed to see why one would want to buy a Zephyr when you can get a Thresher at bargain prices or many other better agility class planes.  Below is a head to head look of the Zephyr compared to a Thresher.  As you can see, they have the same agility, Zephyr has more energy (which is handy for agility class), a big Overheat Limit addition (only handy for prolonged cannon firing which is rare for the quick encounters one has with agility dogfighting) and slightly more Evasion, but quite a bit less speed.

My recommendation is to save your coins for something a little more interesting (such as the variety of other better performing agility class planes).

See PLANE COMPARISON TABLES for detailed assessment of all the planes performance ratings.

The Zephyr returns

Thresher shown here for comparison

A real life shot of a Dassault Rafale

Click here for more picts of the Dassault Rafale

FA-12 Liberty - Welcome Back!

FA-12 Liberty:  Weapons Class 

Real name: F-16 Thunderbirds

Happy to see the FA-12 Liberty returning.  This is one of my favorites in the weapons class.

Who wouldn’t want to be a pilot in a famous Thunderbird fighter?  Maybe one of the most famous fighter jets in the world, this plane with its awesome eagle artwork on its underbelly is one of the coolest and most striking planes in the fleet.  Performing in air shows around the world, more people have probably seen the Thunderbirds perform than any other planes (with possibly the exception of the Navys F-18 Blue Angels - Heh Z2Live - when are you going to come out with a Blue Angel equivalent??).

The Liberty is a formidable weapons class plane

The FA-12 Liberty, in my opinion, is a great choice for a weapons class plane.  If you look at the PLANE COMPARISON TABLE, you can see that this plane BEST IN FLEET for missile locking speed and also BEST IN FLEET for missile tracking of all planes out there!   It can’t fire missiles quite as fast as a Hawken or Hurricane, but the missiles it does shoot are more likely to hit the mark.   The Liberty is also one of the faster of the weapons class planes (although don’t get too excited about that, any upgraded agility class planes will still smoke it with regards to speed).

Z2Live held a competition awhile back on its MetalStorm Facebook page for best shots of a Libertys "flipping the bird" in combat - the winning photo is shown 3rd above in the header of this site.

The Liberty is a special edition plane, so if you want it - grab it quick.

The characteristic bird design in full view

Formation of real F-16 Thunderbirds

 

Real Thunderbirds showing their stuff

 Click here for more great shots of the F-16 Thunderbirds

 

 

K-15 Mako - a Classic Revisited

K-15 Mako

K-15 Mako - is back!

The Mako once ruled the sky as the best of best for the agility class.  It is still one of the best, but with the onslaught of releases of new planes over the past year, it may no longer be THE best (although I will leave that to you all to debate!).  This badboy looks and behaves like a custom built ferrari - fast fast fast!  It was once fastest in fleet - now it is 2nd fastest in fleet, relinquishing the crown to the Reaper.  The Mako is also AGILE but is now 3rd most agile in fleet, with first being, you guessed it, the Reaper.  The Mako does have quite a bit more energy than the Reaper which is important for the energy starved agility class.  Lastly, we have the damage boost which has dropped to the middle of the class behind quite a few of the newer planes.  The Mako is still a great plane, but I'm afraid that, unless you really value energy, the Reaper is still THE agility plane to have, but don't go by my opinion, see PLANE COMPARISON TABLES and judge for yourself.  I have to say though, the Mako looks much more like a REAL agility class plane than the Reaper.

The Mako is based on the real life Israeli IAI Kfir

Click here for more picts of the Israeli IAI Kfir

Fleet-at-a-Glance Quick Reference Sheet - Updated

Below is a a quick reference guide to allow viewing of the complete fleet at-a-glance.  This will allow you to see all the planes quickly for comparison and familiarization.  I've re-posted just in case any new readers have not seen this yet in the Table of Contents.

Agility Class Planes

Weapons Class Planes

Defense Class Planes