ORIGINAL: Djordje
ORIGINAL: bigred
Djordje seems to have the naval LBA figured out. I like his proposal and will begin planning to execute this task.
41/12 - producing G4M1, G3M2 stopped but factory not converted, waiting for 42/5
42/5 - converting G3M2 to G3M3 (should happen automatically, you can do it manually once May starts for no cost) and starting its production, stopping G4M1
44/1 - stopping G3M3 and converting those factories to something else, starting G4M2 production
Concerning army LBA intend to study 3 types of ground support planes. sHORT RANGE gs, MEDIUM gs AND LONG RANGE gs.
1. Close single engine air support from nearby 2size AFields. Seems the KI51 SONJA is the short range plane of the future, but the old ANN has a better range and 2x bomb load. The good thing about the Sonja is the upgrade comes w/ level 1 armor in 11/43.
So next I wondered how many close ground suport SQNs I have.
Ann=5 Load 950 service 1 range 6 engine ha5 builds-0
Mary=3 load 950 service 2 range 5 engine- early kawasaki builds=0
Sonja=8 load 450 service 2 range 4 engine ha31 builds=30
The Ann wins out. Production wise speaking, untill 11/43 I will duel track the Ann/Sonja. My target for Ann Production is 30 per month. I will restart the HA 5 engine production when the Ann starts to arrive.
Supply cost. Off the top of my head(i do stand to be corrected)
to change a factory cost:
1000x supply per each point
10x HI
10x resources
or
30x1000supply=30000
10hi x30=300
10man x30=300
The next question is "what factory do I want to convert to the Ann?"
IJA LBA:
I recomend that you stop production of single engine light bombers. You should have enough produced for the rare situations where you might want to use them and in general twin engined medium bombers are better for every role.
You should consider this:
41/12 - 42/09: Ki-21-IIa Sally - 60 AC per month, switch to Ki-49-IIa on 42/09
42/04 - 42/09: Ki-49-Ia - 30-60 AC per month, switch to Ki-49-IIa on 42/09
42/09 - 43/09: Ki-49-IIa - 90-120 AC per month. switch to Ki-49-IIb on 43/09
You get first Ki-68-Ia Peggy in 44/01 but by then you should already be experienced and will know what you need.
Even though Ki-49-Ia is inferior to both Ki-21 and Ki-49-IIb it has one useful advantage - it is the only model that gets MAD device in 44/06 which is useful against submarines.
Once you start producing IIb model start assigning Ia to IJA squadrons that you will be using on ASW patrol and start training them for ASW missions. Just make sure not to withdraw them all from the map at the same time or your industry will recycle them.
I totally disagree with the text wirtten in bold!
1e bombers are vital. You need them for training, you need them for fronline support.
- they cost half es much as 2e. So why should he use Ki-49 to train his ASW pilots? Do they perform better, if they are used to the model? You want verey training unit equipped with 1e bombers, because they usually have a lower service raiting and the pilots thus train more. Also, the ops losses are way less expensive.
- you want bombers that can fly their missions from tiny airfields. I don't say you need them in the thousands, but you need them. They are well enough to turn a fleeing (or attacking) enemy unit from move to combat mode and so make it slower. They can also disrupt.
- you want expendable (=cheper) planes for 2nd line duty. There are spots in china where you'll never or hardly ever face an enemy fighter. So you usually don't have fighters there yourself - what for? Still, if you regularly bomb, a clever opponent may prepare an ambush once every few months. In this case, I'd rather have my cheap planes shot down than my good ones. I have my doubts that 2e bombers perform significantly better against a well trained cap of a significant size!
- they need less supplies to fly, so they are a good choice for inner china or regions with close battlefields but difficult supply routes (maybe ground support in the aleutians, or china)
I restart the ann and keep her in production until all engines on stock are used up. The Ki-51 stays in production for the roles mentioned above. They don't have to come in the thousands, but you will love to have a few available.
Without any doubt: I am the spawn of evil - and the Bavarian Beer Monster (BBM)!
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