Sky Demon - Stealth Bomber with a paint job

Sky Demon

Alas - I did not scroll all the way to the bottom of the plane list last night to find this little sucker nestled down there.  A new plane is now available once you reach level 50, the Sky Demon has arrived! Modeled after the beautiful lines of the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

Specs:
Damage: 13%:  4th in class, in the middle of the pack.  Tops is Sentinel at 17%
Agility: 14%  Tied for First in Class with Cyclops
Speed:  A whopping18% makes this First in Class by far  (but still slower than agility class planes)
Evasion: 12%  is 2nd in class behind Cyclops.

Similar to the Sparrow, the Sky Demon is a weapons class plane taking on agility class boosts in agility, speed and evasion. The agility is nice, the damage is ok, the speed is good and the evasion is good. I'm still not real sure what kind of fight you would wage with these "hybrids".  Weapons class planes are typically best a slugging it out at long range.  Agility class planes are typically best in close engagements.  I guess that this gives you a little of both, but not the best of either.  Curious what you all think on this topic!

The Sky Demon has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

A real-life pict of a B-2 Stealth Bomber

5 star rating added to postings: Rate your favorite planes!

Exercise your right to vote

Per reader requests, this blog now has a rating system for each posting!  You can now rate each post from 1-to-5 stars and let the MSWM world know how what you REALLY think.

Where this feature will really standout is that you now have the ability to rate each plane in the fleet!  Just go to the table of contents on the right and go to each plane and give it a rating.  We should really start to get a good picture of which planes are the favorites.  You can also do this with the campaigns or any of the postings.  I will also review these ratings to use as a guide as to what type of postings that you would like to see in the future.  So what are you waiting for?  Get moving and start rating those planes! Remember, every vote counts! 

Also - don't just vote for your favorites.  If a plane (or a post) sucks, give it one star.

K-12 Panther

K-12 Panther

K-12 Panther (Agility), based on Tomcat, costs 30 coins
Missile Reload 6% - 1st in class
Agility 6% - Same as Falcon

This is a lower level agility class plane for the bargain price of 30 coins.  The only thing that really makes this plane unique is the missile reload boost which is a first for an agility class plane.  Overall though, this is a lower level agility class offering and not all that exciting.   Goose and Maverick again are disappointed - not exactly Top Gun material..

This plane has also been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

Warlock is released

GP-87 Warlock

The GP-87 Warlock has been released.   Lets take a look at this new entry:

Damage:  +14%:  Tied with several planes for 2nd in class

Agility:  +11%:  2nd in class behind the Cyclops

Missile Reload:  +10%:  Tied for 2nd in class with many other planes.

Energy:  +12%:  Best in class (only other plane with energy boost is Ice Wolf has in weapons class)

So is this a good plane?  Damage boost is decent,  Agility is very good and Missile reload is very good.  Those are 3 of the most valuable boosts for a weapons class, in my opinion.  The energy boost is pretty worthless imho :-), since weapons class planes usually have plenty of energy, but I suppose it depends on your flying style.  Overall, plane is pretty good plane, but there are several very similar planes out there.

Z2 has determined that releasing many many new planes is the ticket to success and game interest.  With 1-2 per week, we're going to have 100's at this rate!   Thats ok, but how about a few more campaigns or game play options?

The Warlock has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

The Warlock is based on the Chengdu J-7 (thanks Skyraza):

Real-life shot of Chengdu J-7

Plane Comparison Guide Updated

 

Back home now and have updated the plane comparison guide (finally, I know!).  All currently released planes should be in the tables.

Click here for Plane Comparison Guide

Y-08 Cyclops also added while I've been gone

Z2 just keeps on cranking out these planes. I just found out that the Cyclops was also added last week while I've been out. Let's take a look:

Agility 14%: Best in class. This will be best in class and 4% greater agility than Hawken and Widow.

Critical Strike 5%: A useful, although random feature.

Evasion 14%: This is pretty big. second weapons class plane to add evasion, and it's at a whopping 14%!

Lock Speed 6%: A decent boost in lock speed. In middle of class, but good.

Overall, with best agility and evasion in class, this will be a very hard weapons class plane to hit with missiles. The agility will also give it a strong edge in close engagements with other weapons class planes and even challenge agility class planes. Overall, a strong addition to the fleet.

BP-13 Wasp - Lethal sting or mosquito bite?

We have an unusual release this week. A new Agility Class plane has been added which definitely doesn't look very agile, but, heh, this isn't reality, right?

Agility 14%: Second in class behind Reaper and Stilletto

Cannon Damage 15%: Best in class but only slightly better than the Dynasty

Overheat Threshold 15%: Tied for first with the Zephyr

Armor 10%: Best in class by far, a full 5% more than the Reaper who is now 2nd in class for Armor.

These stats provide an interesting twist. We have an Agility class plane which favors cannon fire. Cannon fire is fun but not nearly as valuable as missile plus ups in my opinion. Overheat threshold, in particular, is a bit worthless in vs. matches since you rarely have your adversary in your sights long enough to overheat. The Armor plus up, however is very interesting and could possibly be a game changer for the thin skinned agility class. Being very agile with good armor might prove to be pretty lethal! Of course, with the new Boosts available, the game has more performance dynamics than ever. I like the concept though, and believe that the boosts and performance dynamics do help provide for more variety of game play. As a reminder, I am still on travel and will not be updating the performance tables for a few more days. Take care, and let's hear your thoughts!

Thanks for the comments. Real plane is the Gloster Meteor, a WW2 era British aircraft. Click here for Picts: Gloster Meteor picts

Update to version 4.1.3 is out

See the new boost feature in the 4.1.3 upgrade above.

As many of you may have seen, the version 4.1.3 has been released. The spawn seems to have been improved but the biggest change is the boost feature seen at the top. These boosts will have a pretty big impact on game play and, I believe, will be a help for newer players the most. In my limited play so far, I can immediately see that the boosts that I tried made a substantial difference. This feature will be a new source of income for Z2, and, for better or worse, will also add an interesting new wrinkle into game play.

4.1.3 Update

Saratoga arrives just in time for July 4th

AF-Y4 Saratoga

In honor of July 4th, Americas independence day, Z2 has released the AF-Y4 Saratoga.  An agility class plane for 180 coins.   Lets take a look at the specs and see if this baby is worthy of wrapping itself in the red, white and blue:

Agility:  Tied for 2nd in class (and fleet).  The highest rating is +15%, so the Saratoga is only slightly less agile than the Reaper and Stilletto. 

Energy:  Tied for 2nd in class.  An energy boost is always nice for agility class.

Speed:  The Saratoga is in the middle of the pack for speed with +11%

Evasion:  Tied for 3rd in class.

So is the Saratoga worth the purchase?  It has decent performance and if you are American and feeling particularly patriotic, you might consider purchasing it.  My favorite agility plane is the Reaper and I don't think that the Saratogo will dethrone it, but the Saratogo may be good for a few July 4th fly-bys, parades and aerial shows where you can show off its cool stars and stripes artwork.

Of note as mentioned previously, I will not be able to add the Saratoga or Cobalt to the plane comparison table for a couple weeks, as I am on travel and do not have access to the files, but will update all when I return. 

E-41 Cobalt arrives

The power finally came back up on our favorite game and we were rewarded with a new weapons class offering, the E-41 Cobalt.

A snazzy looking aircraft with yellow flames on a blue background.  This looks like a re-skinned Viper (F-18 Hornet).  Lets take a look at the stats:

Damage:  2nd in class (and fleet), tied with the black eagle.  This is a big hitter, with only the Sentinel able to apply more damage.

Agility:  BEST IN CLASS, tied with the Hawken and Red Widow.

Evasion:  BEST IN CLASS and first plane in weapons class to have an evasion boost.

Lock Speed:  2nd in class (and fleet), tied with Palladin and behind Liberty

This plane combines more damage with great agility and throws in some evasion and lock speed.  This looks like a lethal combination and will vault the Cobalt as one of the best in the weapons class.  The only negative that I see is no boost in missile reload speed (you can't have it all!).   This is following Z2's trend of continually releasing planes that push the envelope with better and better performance. 

Of note, I will not be able to add the Cobalt to the plane comparison table for a couple weeks, as I am on travel and do not have access to the files, but will update all when I return. 

Glad to see that Z2 has sorted out their power failure - must have been a whopper.