RHS mod105–CV capable Tojo, to build or not to build?

[sanderz]

Hi all

I have a lot of spare time so I have been poking around the RHS Mod, specifically scenario 105 “Empire of the Sun” which is, I believe, the Scenario 2 equivalent. It looks very interesting with different plane/weapon/engine stats.

So to showcase some aspects of this mod I posed myself the question of whether to build the CV capable Tojo.

I started by looking at the airframe builds for the IJN “A” series fighters which has 14 different factory upgrade “groups” with about 11 engines between them. These include some German Me109 and He112 variants as well as the CV capable Tojo I was particularly interested in.

I've summarised them in a spreadsheet (see pic below), hopefully it hasn't come out too small to read.

INSERT 1 - IJN Series A Fighters

[sanderz]

The CV capable Tojo (43/9) is an interesting option. Initially I compared this to the (43/9) A6M5m52a Zero purely because its ready at the exact same time. The Tojo looks considerably better!

INSERT 2 - A8N3a Tojo vs A6M5m52a Zero

[sanderz]

However the prior upgrades to the A6M5m52a Zero will have a factory in Production (size 30 at start but probably bigger come 1943) whereas the Tojo will need new factories built from scratch. Also the Tojo has no upgrade whereas the Zero upgrades to an armoured FB version though no other factory upgrades follow. The FB Zero, apart from the armour/bomb load is still worse than the Tojo. A comparison of the Zero and its FB upgrade is in the pic below.

INSERT 3 - A6M5m52a Zero vs A6M7m63 Zero FB

[sanderz]

The bigger(?) issue in deciding whether to build any Tojos (and how many) is that my initial comparison was not actually with the main factory line of Zeros already in production. You can see from my spreadsheet pic that the:
A6M2m21 – Starts with 120 Production factories, and this model upgrades to the........
A6M2m42 – which starts the game with 90 R&D factories
So thats 210 overall factories already built that eventually upgrade to Sams!

The stats on this factory line of Zeros that upgrade to each other are:

INSERT 4 - A6M4m42 Zero vs A6M4m43 Zero

[sanderz]

INSERT 5 - A7M1m11 Sam vs A7M2m22 Sam

[sanderz]

Without considering other factors like engine availabilty and all the other planes that need to be built is difficult to make an informed decision on whether to build the CV capable Tojo.

I would be interested in people thoughts on this.


Oh, and just for comparison heres the stats on a Hellcat and Corsair.

INSERT 6 - F6F-3 vs F4U-1D

[oldman45]

I think in post 3 you already answer your question, is it wise to add factories for a mediocre plane?

[Mac Linehan]

sanderz -

Am very glad to see you taking a serious look at RHS 105, I do not think that you will be disappointed.

Sid and the Team have a very different approach; there is a whole lot of detail and Easter eggs hidden inside each scenario.

Enjoy

[sanderz]

ORIGINAL: oldman45

I think in post 3 you already answer your question, is it wise to add factories for a mediocre plane?

hi oldman45

the problem is that whilst it is medicore from about mid 44 on there is a period from when it comes online to mid 44 (and maybe a bit beyond) where it looks way better than your main production zero

i don't think you could afford to build many but maybe it would be worth a few squadrons just to put on CAP on your CVs?

[sanderz]

thanks Mac

whilst only a casual player (no PBEM) i enjoy poking around the gameplay aspects as i have a lot of time on my hands

the amount of work gone into this mod is just incedible and i think it will lead to some interesting games as with the increased number of planes and engines i don't think (though haven't looked very deep) that a Japanese player will be able to "early build" quite as much as stock, however the very different plane factory paths such as Zero ==> Sam may make up for this somewhat

am looking forward to the finished mod and seeing some AARs