Dweeb Planes and Uber Planes

A term often heard in Warbirds is "Dweeb Plane" or "Uber Plane". In this write-up, I will attempt to portray my understanding of these concepts, what makes a plane a "Dweeb" or "Uber" plane, and the current state of "Uberness". Note that this write-up pertains only to 1.11, as 2.0 is suspected to contain a "rolling planeset" which will result in a rotating set of "Uber" or "Dweeb" planes.

Ok, to start with I will define both terms:

Dweeb Plane: Any plane that allows a pilot to survive in the Warbirds General Arena environment consistently without much effort relative to the "average" Warbirds plane, and to get out of most bad situations reliably when abiding by a few basic rules.

Uber Plane: Any plane that allows a pilot to dominate and or kill most other planes from a co-e state without nearly as much skill or luck as would take in an "average" Warbirds plane (or a plane that once mastered, totally dominates the competition). Less important, but still vital is the ability to get out of most situations easily, thus most "Uber planes" are also "Dweeb planes", but not necessarily.

As the saying goes, "it's the pilot, not the plane". In the end, pilot skill will overcome most limitations in a plane and allow even an inferior plane to survive, if not kill effectively. For example, an Experten in a Sopwith Camel could probably last quite a while vs a relative Newbie in an F22 and possibly win. But all things are never equal, and with any two planes, there are going to be advantages and disadvantages that can make up a lot of ground between two pilots, or widen the gap further.

In order for a plane to be a Dweeb or Uber plane it must be easy for someone who has not flown it much to climb aboard and use the plane to 90% or more of it's potential without much practice in that plane. This means that a good Dweeb or Uber plane can allow a newbie to be relatively effective, and an Experten in another plane to quickly become an Experten in the Dweeb/Uber plane. A dweeb or uber plane has to be easy to handle, responsive to the controls, and preferably tolerant to abuse in flying style. Take the P38L. It is very easy to handle from 150mph-500mph, rolls nicely at all speeds, allows quick response to an enemy's maneuvers, and does not require much prediction of what the enemy is going to do as it allows quick reaction. The FW is the same way at high speeds (but not low), as it allows quick response at high speeds, allowing easy adjustment if, say, a bogie starts to break right but switches to a left break suddenly.

A Dweeb plane must be tough, so that bad SA doesn't always result in death. A tough plane is more likely to survive a bounce by a high-speed passing plane, not only allowing the pilot to react to the attacker and get home, but to find out what the heck happened (hard to look around for that high-speed Dora if you're in the tower).

A Dweeb plane must be fast, to allow the pilot to stick the nose down to the ground and get the heck out of Dodge, or at least stay ahead of attackers long enough to find ack or friendly fighters. A dweeb plane is benefited greatly by good acceleration and climb, as climbing above an enemy almost always gives one an energy advantage. A plane that does not allow one to run from most enemy is not a Dweeb plane as it can be run down and killed in most extensions.

An Uber plane requires good guns. This is of primary importance. A plane that allows you to get on the six of an enemy and stay there, but doesn't allow quick dispatching of this plane is not an Uber Plane. Ask Ki43 pilots from a Solomons scenario about this, the Ki43 allows one to gain and hold an advantage quickly over a Wildcat, but the guns require much time to be spent there, vulnerable and predictable, in order to down the opponent. Hard hitting guns, with lots of ammo are almost a requirement, as it allows a glancing blow to down a plane, and lets the newbie spray an area with effect. Placement of the guns is important as well, as nose-mounted guns mean convergence is not an issue.

An Uber plane must be able to turn effectively and maneuver with most of the opposition. Angle-fighting is one of the most effective ways to kill an enemy quickly, and an Uber plane must excel at killing enemy planes quickly if it is to avoid getting in and staying in disadvantaged positions. This is why poor turning planes such as the FW are not, in my opinion, the best Uber planes because they cannot angle-fight an enemy (although their firepower and speed make up for this for the most part). Along with this is the requirement for easy stall characteristics. A hard stall line that whips the plane into a snaproll every time won't cut it as it usually destroys any angle gains. An Uber plane must allow the pilot to over-extend his turning ability and recover with minimal loss of angles.

And finally, both Dweeb and Uber planes must have no planes it has a tough time with in a co-e situations. A Dweeb plane must be able to run from almost any plane, and at least be able to avoid the rest from catching up quickly. An Uber plane cannot have a plane that can easily dominate it in a co-e situation. Also both Dweeb and Uber planes must have good plane visibility, or be able to compensate easily for some visibility problem (such as in the P38L, it's roll allows one to overcome side view limitations very easily).

 

Ok, now that we have the criteria for a Dweeb or Uber plane, which planes in 1.11 Warbirds classify as each?

Dweeb Planes: P51, Fw190D9, Ki84, 109K4, P38L

Uber Planes: P38L, Ki84, FW190 (all)

Note that neither Spitfires are on these lists. This is because neither of them are very fast in Warbird's arena, and both have problems dealing with the arena's Uber planes. The SpitV can turn with the Uber Planes, but cannot catch them, and doesn't have the vertical maneuvering performance and acceleration to counter E deficits. The SpitIX does, but it can't turn with the uber Ki84s and P38Ls, can't beat the Ki84 in E power-fighting consistently, and the P38L's awesome gunnery virtually nullifies any power E fighting advantage it has over the P38L.