Salute!

I am part of the JG27 group and mostly active on TAW. But I consider Frontline to be one of the best servers available. I really love your concept and your approach. I play on Frontline since the very first campaign in early 2025. So I do notice the changes and I do have a few questions regarding balancing. Because to me it looks like Axis players are on a very strong disadvantage. I understand that you are aiming for the server to be authentic and historic, and I know that VVS had much more planes in the air than Axis, but the balancing is just way too off. You can also see it in the statistics. Reds achieving 10 times more points than blue, winning almost every map. Axis are steamrolled, especially in later phases of the campaign. And I think this is mainly due to the avialability of planes. On the red side, planes are available at much lower levels. For example, now on Kuban, red players just need to be Rank 2 to fly the most advanced fighters for the time (P39 at Rank 1, P40 and Yak1 at Rank 2) while Axis players need to be Rank 1 just to unlock the basic german fighter 109 E7. So at the same ranks, I would have to fight P39s in an E7 on Kuban or be of a much higher rank (Rank 7) to unlock the next best fighter (109 F2) and still be at a disadvantage. I love myself a good challenge, but even for me as a fan of this server, this is demotivating. I think new players who would like to join the server would straight up stop playing when they see that they have to fight P39s in a god damn M.C. 202 and have the need to win those fights in order to progress. Again, you can see the impact on balancing in the overall statistics.
I am sure you have a specific reason for this. Please help me understand why you choose to balance it that way and if you plan to do any changes on that system. I know a lot of players from other groups (my group included) that are interested in the server but turned off by the balancing.

EDIT: Also, now that I think about it, why is it that some more advanced planes are easier to unlock than planes that are objectively worse? For example, For the 109 G2 I need to be Rank 6 but I need to be Rank 7 for the 109 F4? Or on the red side, the before mentioned planes like P39, P40, Yak1 are all more easy to achieve than the MiG3. Seems strange to me.

Thank you for your time.

With respect,

JG27_Tschogga

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Tschogga

The developer will answer your questions later. I just disagree with the statement that the Reds win almost every card. Here is a screenshot of the parties' wins in the campaigns as a whole.

To address you concern in regards to balance. Do not judge the balance by this campaign alone. The reason the red side is skewed is because last campaign there was a large sway towards the blue side. So, many blue pilots switched to red side. I believe it will balance itself out next campaign, that should start shortly, considering the advances of the red forces on the map.

Regarding aircraft. I am not an expert when it comes to fighters, but bombers and ground attackers are very close. I would even say that the blue side has a bit of an advantage in bombload right off the bat.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Kap-the-head

From my observations:
The server is a war, not a duel, and the tactical principles here are different—not like in games, but like in the real world. And here, the balance is in the players, not the planes! The advantage is primarily in numbers, secondarily in teamplay (which means communication with all players, not just your friends!), and only then in planes. It's technically impossible, and unnecessary, to balance different numbers of players on different teams based on plane parameters.
This is the first unexpected thing about the balance. Secondly, the balance is asymmetrical! One side has better fighters (they're versatile and allow for good attacking—which is very important on this server!), while the other side has better attack aircraft, but highly specialized fighters. And so on. This requires different warfare tactics for each side. A group of fighters with bombs alone, a mixed group of fighters and attack aircraft, or a group of bombers (they also attack!)—these are different tactics, and proper planning is more important than plane parameters.
There's also an economy—it allows you to choose your strategy. War is a chain of missions, not individual missions, but a combination of them! You can bomb an airfield and prevent the enemy from taking off for the next couple of missions, or you can bomb factories and prevent aircraft resupply altogether—if an aircraft can't take off, its stats don't matter, right?)
Furthermore, the goal of players on this server is not to shoot down aircraft; the goal is to win, and that doesn't necessarily require shooting down aircraft! You must complete your objectives and prevent the enemy from completing them. To do this, you simply need to disrupt the enemy's flight—you can scare them with your attack, they'll drop bombs for maneuver combat—and that's it, they can't attack without bombs; they must return to base. You haven't shot down or even injured anyone, but you've accomplished your defensive objective. Take a broader look at gameplay—there are so many different options, sometimes the enemy doesn't even realize where they're missing out. You can also control ground attack patterns—troops attack weak settlements from strong ones. However, settlements can be bombed or resupply delivered to them, and this affects the appearance of ground tacticians and their direction. If all settlements along the enemy's front are bombed, they can't attack—you can, but they can't! You can capture airfields, but they can't!

PS The purpose of high aircraft access requirements is to prevent everyone from flying the best aircraft right away. When players have access to the best aircraft, they only fly them; the rest are not used. This is wrong. The creators of this server want players to fly medium aircraft, so they overestimate the requirements for the best aircraft (best is achieved through practice, not by stats. In skilled hands, the F4 is better than the G6). They also want players to value their aircraft, so losing aircraft is painful. Hunt for those with high ranks, shoot them down, and they won't be able to fly their best planes again. To earn points and ranks, transport supplies to airfields and settlements! Transport planes are the best for farming and greatly help the front in skilled hands. Fly in large groups – a large group is less likely to be attacked by the enemy, meaning you lose fewer points and money, and therefore fly more on better planes. Ideally, all players on the same side of the server should be able to hear each other – this allows you to monitor the enemy and coordinate your actions. This significantly increases the effectiveness of our flights.

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(Из моих наблюдений:

На сервере война а не поединки, и здесь другие принципы тактики - не как в играх, а как в рельном мире. И тут баланс состоит в игроках а не в самолетах! Преимущество имеет в первую очередь число, во вторую - командная игра (а значит - и связь со всеми игроками, не только с твоими друзьями!), и только потом самолеты. Технически невозможно и не нужно балансировать разное количество игроков в разных командах за счет параметров самолетов.

Это первое что является неожиданным в балансе. Второе - баланс является несимметричным! У одной стороны лучше истребители (они универсальны и позволяют хорошо штурмовать - а это очень важно на этом сервере!), у другой стороны лучше штурмовики но узкоспециализированые истребители. И прочее. Это требует разной тактики войны у разных сторон. Группа одних истребителей с бомбами, либо смешанная група истребителей со штурмовиками, или группа бомбардировщиков (они тоже штурмуют!) - это разные тактики, и грамотное планирование важнее параметров самолетов.

А так же, есть эще экономика - это позволяет выбирать стратегию, война это цепь мисиий, не отдельные миссии - а их совокупность! Вы можете разбомбить аэродром и не дать взлетать противнику на следующие пару мисиий, а можете разбомбить заводы и не дать пополнять самолеты вообще - если самолет не может взлететь то не важны его параметры, не правда ли?))

Более того, задача игроков на этом сервере - не сбивать, задачей является победа, и для этого не обязательно сбивать самолеты! Вы должны выполнять свои задачи и не дать выполнить задачи противнику. Для этого вам достаточно просто сорвать полет противника - вы может его напугать вашей атакой, он сбросит бомбы для маневренного боя - и все, он уже не может штурмовать без бомб, он должен вернутся на базу. Вы никого не сбили и даже не поранили - но вы выполнили вашу задачу по обороне. Смотрите на геймплей шире - много самых разных возможностей, иногда противник даже не понимает где он теряет. Так же, можно управлять атаки наземных войск - войска атакуют слабые населенные пункты из сильных населенных пунктов, но населенные пункты можно разбомбить или привезти туда припасы, и это влияет на появление татк наземных войск, на их направление. Если вдоль фронта у противника разбомблены все поселения, противник не может атаковать - вы можете, а он нет! Вы можете захватить аэродромы, а он нет!

ПС Задача высоких требований для доступа к самолетам - не дать всем сразу летать на лучшей технике. Когда игрокам доступны лучшие самолеты - они летают только на них, остальные не используются. Это не правильно. Создатели этого сервера хотят что бы игроки летали и на средних самолетах, поэтому они завышают требования к лучшим самолетам (лучшие - на практике, а не по параметрам. Ф4 в умелых руках лучше чем Г6). Так же они хотят что бы игроки ценили самолеты, поэтому терять самолеты - больно. Охотьтесь за теми кто имеет высокое звание, сбейте его - и он не сможет снова взлететь на лучшем самолете.

Для заработка очков и звания - возите припасы, на аэродромы, на поселения! Транспортные самолеты - лучшие для фарма, и сильно помогают фронту в умелых руках.

Летайте большими групами - большую группу реже атакует противник, а значит вы меньше теряете очки и деньги, а значит больше летаете на лучших самолетах.

В идеале, все игроки одной стороны на сервере должны слышать друг друга - это позволяет контролировать противника и координировать свои действия. Это значительно повышает эффективность наших полетов.)

Aircraft balancing is ongoing. We consider the overall performance, not just the "fighter" or "attack" variants, which is why we tune the aircraft.

Over time, the better aircraft arriving at the front are promoted to higher ranks, while the worse ones, in our opinion, are promoted to lower ranks.

That's why you see the P40 and P39 where they exist. These aircraft are difficult to compare in performance even to the F2/4.