<S> sirs!
Hmm, actually one can make several approaches to this. Did anyone try shooting at a B-17G with the SdKfz 7/2 before stating that the C-47 is now harder to shoot down than a large bomber? If not then it's quite a bold statement to make. Again I'm posting the hitpoints:
Approach 1Even though the C-47 is now in line with all the other bombers regarding hitpoints vs size and structure, and even having had it's hitpoints reduced by 10%, the C-47 alone is flawed, but the other bombers are not. As such the C-47 must be lowered to an unrealistically low hitpoints setting (relative to the other bombers), for pure gameplay reason so that GV's can more easily kill it when defending a field. This would however be pretty much like if we singled out the Fw 190's and nerfed them by giving their engines only half their real life power output for various gameplay reasons.
Approach 2Being a flight simulator, the bombers, and the C-47, have had their hitpoints set for a good balance vs the fighters trying to shoot them down. All the bombers in Warbirds have probably twice as high hitpoints compared to real life. This is for gameplay reasons since bombers in the arenas rarely fly in large 50 plane bomber boxes, and the fact that Warbirds pilots have like a 10-20% gunnery hit ratio against bombers, whereas in real life the average pilot had only a 2% hit ratio, according to German studies by their armament experts. The hitpoints have not been balanced against GV's though and as such the buffs might be a bit tough for them to shoot down. As such maybe all bombers would need to have their hitpoints lowered, or would this unbalance them against fighters? If so then this leads to Approach 3.
Approach 3Maybe it's the SdKfz 7/2 that has it's 37 mm gun damage setting to low? I've looked through the settings and a German 30 mm MK 108 cannon does 36 damage/round. The 37 mm Flak cannon also makes only 36 damage/round, even though it's a larger gun. On top of that the Mk 108 cannon, from the tests I just made, has a rate of fire at 600 rounds/min. Meanwhile the 37 mm Flak cannon only fires at 157 rounds/min. As such the 30 mm Mk 108 gun currently has a damage/second output that is 3.8x larger than the 37 mm Flak cannon. It might be that the 37 mm Flak cannon needs an increase in damage output. In order to destroy the center fuselage of a C-47 the 37 mm Flak cannon currently needs 19 direct hits. It needs 24 rounds into the cent-fuse of the B-17G, and 15 rounds into the cent-fuse of the Ju-88. This is only counting hits into the center fuselage, so any other hits on the wings, rear-fuse etc will only count against those specific parts. The question is whether it's the C-47 that needs to have it's hitpoints set differently from all the other bombers, or if it's the 37 mm Flak cannon that needs a significant damage increase for gameplay reasons.
* The SdKfz 7/1 "20 mm Quad Flak 38" cannon fires at around 600 rounds/min. The damage is 12 dmg/round. As such it's damage output is 120 dmg/sec.
* German 20 mm 151/20 cannons fire at 741 rounds/min. So four 20 mm cannons fire at 2964 rounds/min, with 8 dmg/round. The damage output is 395 dmg/sec.
As such also normal 20 mm aircraft cannons have 3.3x the damage/second output compared to the SdKfz 7/1 vehicle's armament.
I will bring this up with the FM team and see what their take on this is. Also all constructive feedback from the players is more than welcome.
<S>
/Robert