Yakface,(sorry don't know your real name)
Thanks for joining in ...
This is Nemo121's
Empires Ablaze mod, the link gives more detail as to the design decisions that Nemo made.
We are playing pretty much without any HR's - which has been interesting to say the least.
The Pe's do and have in fact owned the skies, and have been a bit of a super weapon, because of their altitude. While Nemo and I have discussed it on a few occasions, I'd have to conclude that they are more formidable than the high alt LB. But in return the Japanese also get a lot of superweapons, more CV's, the Angel,Behemoth bombers, TojoIII fighters and a much larger LCU outlay.
Having said that the Pe's/LB do have a low replacement rate, and it is the job of the Japanese commander to eliminate the threat on the ground, which could have been done, had it not been in my fledgling hands (although I will say they have been well protected throughout).
Nemo has pushed me back from each encounter with these DB's, sure my replacement rate it better, but essentially, there were too few High alt AA, and I only just got the under performing high alt fighter the OscarII recently, which has been a disappointment. As I said to him, it is not the replacements, but the closing of airfields that cause the greatest challenge - something the Japanese are hamstrung by coding bias (even with Allied engineer TOE).
Some people will look at this mod and think it is unacceptable, imbalanced and too demanding. I disagree, for each challenge there is an appropriate response, it is just difficult to come to that conclusion and act upon it. And it is well suited to Nemo's blitzkrieg style of play (as seen with his game V Hartwig(who took over from 2ndACR iirc)
Overall, I think there are nuggets for both sides, not sure the nuggets are totally even, but they are there ... and each new super weapon has a response as unpalatable as some of them are. Anyway, I've enjoyed playing this mod as a what if scenario, and would play it again in AE - if available. Nemo is a far superior player, but I think I've earned his respect over the course of the game, and hamstrung him in the last few months (except Kwajalein).
Cheers for the thoughts, maybe you should talk more to the horses-mouth so to speak about the design cause everything you say is the truth with the existing game engine.
--Damian--