Allied A/C in Version 3.2

[Capt. Harlock]

The characteristics of the aircraft in Pacific War change with each new release, and Version 3.2 has definitely maintained that tradition. Jeremy Pritchard advises that Computer Factory control be kept for the whole game, and players could certainly do worse. There are those of us, however, who like nothing better than to second-guess history, and hit those “alt-N” keys. For such intrepid souls, I present my observations and recommendations.

First and foremost, be aware that there are serious limits on which squadrons can fly which aircraft. US Army squadrons are almost the only ones that can be "manually" converted to US Army aircraft, which are generally the best choices. It is reasonable that USMC squadrons fly mostly Navy aircraft. BUT--the British, Dutch, and Australian squadrons can normally fly only "Commonwealth" or USN aircraft. This is something I strongly disagree with: P-40's and B-25's could be found at nearly every Allied airfield that could handle them during WWII. And if a land-base squadron can fly the F4F Wildcat, why shouldn't it fly the Warhawk? Still, the limits are hard-coded into the game, so the Allied player will have to produce some Commonwealth planes to keep his non-US squadrons going. There are, however, some work-arounds.

Speaking of production, the number of factories on the Allied side at the start of the game has been cut down significantly. There are only five active fighter plants on Dec. 7--and one of those is permanently stuck making the worthless Fulmar II, so effectively there are only four. Luckily, more factories quickly come “on-line” as more aircraft types become available.

Fighters: The best Allied fighter at the beginning of the game is, as before, the P-40 Warhawk. Happily, there is a way to get Australian squadrons equipped with it: although you cannot do it "manually", the computer will give you the option to upgrade to the P-40 from the Wirraway. There is now a surprising second-best fighter-bomber, though: the P-39 Airacobra. It has fair maneuverability, good firepower, it’s durable, it has double the bomb-load of the P-40, and it’s cheap. Admittedly, it's no match for the A6M2 "Zero", but then, none of the early Allied fighters beside the P-40 are. The ideal place to use it would be in the China-Burma-India area, where the opposing fighters are largely inferior IJAAF models, and there are Japanese ground troops to be pummeled. But alas, the UK fighter squadrons won't accept it. The F4F Wildcat is a reasonable fighter for defense, but its range of only two hexes cripples its offensive ability. (And makes it inconvenient to transfer from base to base, too.) On the Commonwealth side, the best early fighter is the Hurricane II, but it's a bear to produce in quantity. It’s a good idea to convert some of the UK squadrons to Wildcats. And definitely convert all of the RN carrier squadrons.

There is one other fighter worth mentioning: the Hawk 75A. It’s too expensive to produce, but its range of four hexes allows it to escort most medium bomber raids. The Allies start with one Dutch squadron of Hawk75A’s - use them wisely.

At the start of the game, dive-bombers have become a no-brainer: you want the SBD Dauntless. The SB2U Vindactor has the same bomb-load and range, but Jeremy REALLY doesn’t want you to make any more than already exist: the cost rating has gone up to 99. Also, against enemy fighters the Vindactor gets slaughtered. Starting around October 1942, the Vengeance becomes available, and it's a fine choice for land-based squadrons because of its impressive range of five hexes. (But be careful about attacking IJN carriers without fighter escort.) Lastly, the SB2C Helldiver has now become a super-plane: its bombload is double the Dauntless, and its manuever and cannon ratings allow it to defend itself well against many of the Japanese fighters.

Torpedo bombers: There is no American torpedo-bomber factory at the start of the game, so forget about making Devastators. When it comes on-line, however, the Avenger is superior to anything the British have. Start the factory in England on what’s available (the Albacore), but switch it over to Avengers as soon as you can.

Medium bombers or "tac-bombers" is where the Allied player has to make some tough decisions. The B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder are now very close: same bomb-load, range, cost, and durability, and not far apart in maneuver and cannon rating. Be aware that the program favors the B-25, but the Mitchell isn't available for several turns. If you leave everything up to the computer, the B-26’s will be phased out, but at a cost of a month’s production. The A-20 Havoc used to be a favorite because of its excellent performance against enemy fighters, but the bomb-load has been cut to only 12. My advice is to keep the Marauder factory making B-26's, but convert the Havoc factory to B-25's when they come on-line.

On the Commonwealth side, all of the early medium bombers have serious disadvantages. (And all of them are bloody expensive.) The Blenheim IV is a piece of junk, but it can be upgraded later into the Vengeance dive-bomber. The Hudson has good range, but the bomb-load is low, and they often are butchered by enemy fighters since there are no escorts that can fly as far as they can. The Beaufort has the advantage that it can use torpedoes and does not have to be set to Naval Interdiction, but the bomb-load is still small, and the range has been cut to only three hexes. My choice would be to wait for the Wellington (mid-February 1942) and then produce it exclusively until the Beaufighter becomes available (End of 1942). The Wellington's bomb-load is compensated for by its range: targets four hexes away will receive more damage than those at the eight-hex maximum. It’s actually worth keeping a squadron of Martin 139’s around for a while for their bomb capacity: they work nicely against Japanese LCU’s if there are no enemy fighters present. But don’t set any factories to make them; their cost is 99.

Heavy Bombers: The B-17 is now maddeningly limited in its production. Use them sparingly, because you can’t replace heavy losses. Definitely, the B-24 should be produced with both factories when it becomes available. When the B-29's finally show up, set all heavy-bomber factories to produce them: it’s now actually cheaper than the B-24. Then, tell your opponent to kiss Japan good-bye!

[Dirtdog20]

Have you found how to avoid the switch in late 42 early 43 that swaps all bomber production over to B-24's? I was producing somewhere around 70 a week, with no Med Bombers and squadrons slowly shrinking.

[Jeremy Pritchard]

The only bombers that auto-upgrade their factories to B-24 are the B-17 and the Wellington. No other bomber type upgrades to B-24. This is why you should not really change production manually in the game.

If you change all British Tac-Bomber production to Wellingtons, it will auto-upgrade to B-24s, destroying all UK tac-bomber production.

Basically it is BUYER BEWARE when it comes to messing with factories. Production was maximized to reach historic numbers, so certain aircraft have their production value tweaked to represent high or low production in regards to actual factories dedicating production to. I highly recommend NOT to fiddle with production. You just get too many nasty suprises, and too much gamey results (for example, changing any UK factory to produce US aircraft giving you hundreds of extra aircraft per week).

I am contemplating having the P-40 usable by Commonwealth forces, but since the B-25 was used only very limitedly in Commonwealth service they will remain USAAC only (about 3 squadrons, or one Wing, which is represented, in the RAAF had B-25s). I am also thinking about lowering the Hawk 75-A production cost to a reasonable level, and possibly even adding a factory (since they were in full use in the RAF until 1944).

I would also recommend sticking to historic usage of aircraft. Giving the Commonwealth F4Fs as their main fighter unit, then F4Us, really just makes the game so much easier against Japan (either PBEM or vs AI). The Allies have everything going for them, they really do not need excellent USMC fighters serving in the RAF, resulting in Saigon falling to British attacks in early 1943. I limited RAF production because they were too strong without this limitation. Presently the few RAF groups are working at their bare maximum, requiring the player to be more conservative in their use (otherwize their squadrons will all be at 50% strength due to lack of spare aircraft).

However, if you want to use whatever aircraft you can, by all means do it. But realize that this really is exploiting a bug in the game rather then representing historic plausibility.

[Capt. Harlock]

I remember the change from Wellingtons to B-24 Liberators in the 1.X versions of Pacific War, but I don't think that's the case any longer. Checking the aircraft upgrade tables in the new ".doc" files, (which, BTW, have not changed from Version 3.1), I don't see anything happening to either the Wellington factories or the Wellington squadrons.

I admit I haven't managed to play a long compaign in 3.2 yet. However, I did manage one in 3.1, and nothing happened to the Wellingtons.

I like the idea of continuing Hawk 75-A production, and I even more like the idea of letting Commonwealth squadrons use the P-40. Be warned, though: if you think giving Commonwealth squadrons the F4F unbalances the game, the P-40 will be much worse. (It has better manueverability, 50% more range, and it's a fighter-bomber.) Perhaps a compromise would be to allow the Australian and Dutch sqadrons, but restrict the UK ones?

One last thought about the Dutch air units: perhaps they could be allowed to fly anything they want, with the limitation that there first have to be enough reserve aircraft in the pool to take care of the producing nation's needs. Thus, a Dutch squadron wouldn't be allowed to switch unless there were, say, 300 fighters or 120 medium bombers in the appropriate pool.

[Denniss]

The F4F is not the problem with british forces - it's the F4U replacement giving them a too easy drive through japanese airforce in this area
I've always used F4F only as replacement Aircraft unless i got enough Hurricanes or P40( upgrade fro Wirraway) to equip the squadrons with
But I have F4F on the carriers as it's the best the allied had at this time

[Capt. Harlock]

At the start of the game, the Allies do not have a single operating torpedo bomber factory. I can concede the point for the American aircraft: the Devastator had completed its production run, and the Avenger was not in full swing yet. But surely the UK Commonwealth was turning out torpedo bombers?

Specifically, the Albacore had been in production since 1939, yet the Albacore factory doesn't come on line until turn 20. This is a problem because the British CV's which appear before then have Albacore squadrons. I find it hard to believe anyone would send them to front-line service without spares.

It seems to me that the TTA for the Albacore should be changed to 0. If this causes problems with the factories, then a small pool of reserve Albacores should be edited in.

Comments, Jeremy?