Help with Japanese fighters

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: mc3744

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

Tojos and Tonies aren't so similar IMHO. I've checked the results i'm having in my pbem with MC. At the same exp level the Tonies do a defenetly better job against his heaviests, while the Tojos seem to have more chances of engage in A2A with enemy fighters.
Against the 4Es seems that what counts most is the armament, while against other fighters speed seems to be the key.

I like to have both of them. Consider that the Tojo has a GREAT climb rate and can get the 4Es even when they fly at 36k ft....
So i usually keep the Tonies between 16,000 and 7,000 and the Tojos above 16k

Good to know [:D][:D]

Bugger. It's easy for you! With those 4E monsters you just keep 6k ft and go...
We Jap fanboys have to be much more carefull!!!!
Do not expect i'm going to be fixed with those numbers now that i know you know[:D]
And remember that the Tojos can go up to 36,600 fts[;)]

However It's not that pain for me to convert the Kawa engines. Later on i'll reconvert them to something else ( Mitsu and Naka ).
I've found quite a good balance in my games that allow me to produce more or less exactly what i need without going mad

[Sneer]

again I do not remember it exactly but tojo is few months earlier then tony and you need to upgrade oscar sentais fast

[ChezDaJez]

again I do not remember it exactly but tojo is few months earlier then tony and you need to upgrade oscar sentais fast

Tonys and Tojos are both available in August 42, assuming you haven't accelerated research. The IJA does start the campaign game with one Tojo group in Indonesia. It was a test and evaluation unit IRL.

Chez

[Yamato hugger]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

Bugger. It's easy for you! With those 4E monsters you just keep 6k ft and go...

I had that Tojo group that starts the game at Kendari set at 100' to chase PT boats. A few turns later I changed them from naval attack to LRCAP (but I had forgotten to change the altitude). I got hit by B-17Es at their maximum altitude (36,000+ ?). The Tojos intercepted. All 8 of them (I lost one to an op loss earlier).

[BLurking]

If you convert one of the small engine factories early enough, you'll build up a nice pool of Kawas to nicely outfit many Tonies. I've got enough in '43 to last until the next upgrade. But then again, the Tony is the only plane I've got that can reliably bring down large numbers of 4Es when my opponent isn't careful - so I've expanded the factory since then...

Tojos will damage them, that's for sure, but the Tonys will bring them down.

[Tophat]

Oscars will get your good pilots killed and burn production replacing losses. I deluded myself to mass attacks combined with Zero's might work,I was wrong. As soon as you can to get the IJA contributing to the airwar,other than runningup allied kill scores,convert to Tojo's and Tonys. I plan on trying a 66% Tojo/to 33% Tony split.

[Sneer]

mixing oscars with zeros really works just bring hundreds of them together
my PBEM enemy lost its AVG and hurricane force in india in 2 weeks - my losses were 1:3 -lower then victory margin but I have air superiority now

[Gen.Hoepner]

The problem for the Japs isn't the AVG guys. the AVG has so few planes that in 1 week of fights it gets annihilated by a good concentration of Zeros. The real problem comes later....the problem is called Liberators and Fortress. And the Zeros are simply useless against them. Yes, they'll shot down some of them, for sure...but they get shot down too...and 200 liberators can kill more zeros than the whole AVG!

[Sneer]

main task for land forces and navy is to prevent taking good base locations for 4e bombers
I never claimed fighters are good enough to keep sky cleared

BTW what is update patch for KI45 ?
it seems to be the only fighter capable to hurt heavy bombers on reasonable terms

[Gen.Hoepner]

You get first the night version of Ki-45a i think...
I'm near to get it in my major pbem ( the one with MC), but we've already agreed on a house rule about night bombing....i do not think you can use it in daylight...am i right?

[Sneer]

I think you can do it easily - similar to UK blenheim at the beginning of war
will check it at first possibility
in one of my games - long ago I saw 3 times 36 Ki45 working nice on unescorted bombers [:D]

[invernomuto]

What about J2M Jack? They seem very good as interceptors (gun value 16, climb rate 3100). They arrive in 3/43; with a bit of luck you can have them at the beginning of '43...

Bye

[mc3744]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

You get first the night version of Ki-45a i think...
I'm near to get it in my major pbem ( the one with MC), but we've already agreed on a house rule about night bombing....i do not think you can use it in daylight...am i right?

In daylight you can use them only on LRCAP. No escort.

[niceguy2005]

I never played the Japanese long enough to get the Jack's, but if they are truly good interceptors maybe they are useful against 4e's, in particular if you can make them in mass. I'm going to look into that plane further.

[Sneer]

4 20mm cannons not bad
Ki 45 has 1 37mm and depending on versio up to 2 20mm
durability is a bit lower
equal to me

[invernomuto]

ORIGINAL: Sneer

4 20mm cannons not bad
Ki 45 has 1 37mm and depending on versio up to 2 20mm
durability is a bit lower
equal to me

Ki-45 Nick are also good as interceptors, but you'll have only a few squadrons and you can't upgrade other fighters to to them. Jack are Navy fighters, if you play with Japanese production you can upgrade some A6M2/A6M3 and have a decent fighter/interceptor in 43.
I am not an expert, but I think that the Zero will be quite useless in 43. Jack could fill the gap for IJN - assuming you play with PDU on, of course.

Bye