Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25467429-20150511115406/@comment-25467429-20150517162411

So, I've flown a few missions with various results, using different planes. It seems that the part-slot bonus does indeed scale up depending on one or more factors, including the existing level of the plane you're using, and the general rank of your plane relative to other planes, or its existing number of part slots. Used my Lvl 10 F-14, and it needs around 2000 points to get that first part-slot increase. Used my Lvl 10 F-15 S/MTD and it needs somewhere around 8500.

Furthermore, you get a little more than 100 points per mission, maybe closer to 200 if you can totally dominate a room, and more than 500 for Emergency Sorties. I feel this puts it on the edge between reasonable and unreasonable difficulty. It's not too rough so that you can't make it a feasible goal at the moment, but the next one is where the question is. Do the numebr of points required go up a bit, a lot, or a ton? It's marginally tough right now, without being furiously too demanding.

I'll re-evaluate after the anniversary and tournament, but I expect my opinion of this update will be that it is one of more potential than realized accomplishment. The new mission is relativley dull and straightforward. The part slot increase is a potential interesting addition, but it ultimatley is unlikely to change much of the balance of the game (SP planes with better stats will still have better stats, and those with money will fly more than enough to up the part slots on those too). Don't see the lvl cap increase form making anything better for average players. The Mig-31 is an intersting addition, and I haven't had the chance to fly it yet, but I expect that if they retain the commonly poor turning ability, its speed is going to be mostly uselss outside of very specific scenarios and play styles. The Fenrir and X-49 are great, surprising, planes, but have absurd prices. I do love the Night Raven, so I am very temtped to save up for it (got about a third of the purchase price), but it is insanity that they made it so expensive for the latest aircraft in the game.