Japanese players NEVER complain about the inability to upgrade or swap out air frame types for their groups because they enjoy such a huge surplus of air frames.
Can you show me where this huge surplus of airframes is?
The Japanese start with the following fighters in their pools:
A5M4 Claude- 220
A6M2 Zero- 51
Ki-27 Nate- 710
Ki-43 Oscar- 67
The only surplus is in obsolete aircraft, the Nate and the Claude. The Japanese also start minus some aircraft in their squadrons.
There are the following aircraft shortages in Japanese fighter squadrons at the start of a stock scenario 15:
There are 15 A5M4 squadrons capable of holding 270 aircraft but only 249 are present so reduce the pool by 21.
There are 11 Zero units capable of holding 261 Zeros but only 258 are present so reduce the pool by 3.
There are 18 Ki-27 squadrons capable of holding 504 aircraft but only 459 are assigned so reduce the pool by 45.
There are 2 Ki-43 squadrons capable of holding 72 aircraft but only 59 are assigned so reduce the pool by 23.
So after filling the squadrons to full strength the pools actually look like this:
A5M4 Claude- 209
A6M2 Zero- 48
Ki-27 Nate- 665
Ki-43 Oscar- 44
The pools for the Zero and the Oscar are critically low at the start. If the Japanese player chooses to upgrade any Claude units to Zeros or Nate units to Oscars during Dec 41, he will not be able to replace any combat losses for quite some time.
The stock production rates certainly don't help change anything very quickly. The Japanese player receives the following monthly production from a stock scenario 15 at the start:
A5M4 Claude: 6
A6M2 Zero: 104
Ki-27 Nate: 70
Ki-43 Oscar: 62
Given these figures, it will take over 7 months to upgrade all Nate units to Oscars and this doesn't allow for losses. No fortunately in my game I have only lost 76 Oscars to all causes. But if you account for them, add another 1.5 months production (actually more becuase the losses only cover a 5 1/2 month period, not the 7 it takes to upgrade).
The good news is that it will take less than 3 months to upgrade all of the Claudes to Zeros... assuming no losses. Using a current PBEM game 1 June 9142) I have as a guide, I find that without increasing production, it will take 4.5 months to replace the 472 Zeros I have lost since the beginning. Add to that the 270 Zeros I need to upgrade my Claudes and I find that I need to produce 747 Zeros in a little over 5 1/2 months. Unfortunately my production will provide only 600 Zeros. So after 5 1/2 months of combat I find my self short 147 Zeros if I don't change a thing with production. And that's with a loss rate of only about 90 Zeros a month! By the way the 472 losses are from all causes (and 50 of them came from a very nice raid my opponent conducted on my airfield when my pilots were drinking sake).
Now with PDU on, it becomes much easier because the large Nate and Claude pools allow me to free up replacment aiorcraft for front line units.
The point that I am trying to make here, Jim is that Japanese production is not as plentiful as you believe it to be. It can be made that way if the Japanese player begins expanding his aircraft factories on a regular basis from the beginning. By mid 1942, he should be able to have a decent pool. However, if he overdoes it or if the Allied player gets aggressive with interdicting his supply lines (hopefully not both at the same time), the Japanese player's HI is going to go down the tubes real fast. I've said it before but I'll say it again... an allied player who aggressively interdicts Japan's supply lines on a continuous basis will prevent Japan from enjoying the benefits of any production expansion. No Japanese oil and/or no resource imports = no HI which in turn equals no production.
As an aside, I would like you to consider this thought and give your opinion... In Andy's and PzB's, where would PzB be if he were forced to use historical production rates and no on-map training. I believe that Andy would have been pounding on Japan's doors by mid to late 43, if not earlier. What say you?
I do agree that on principle, the Japanese player should not be able to out produce the allied player. But given the way many players tend to commit their air forces en masse and the bloody air battles that dwarf any historical events, is it any wonder Japanese players greatly increase production just to keep the war going until 1944.
Chez
