ORIGINAL: Lowpe
Plane builds:
I am going to play a very Oscar & Tojo Lite game. Going to shoot for Tony and Frank primary Army fighters. Zero/Sam for the KB; Jack 70% and George 30%.
Strong Nick and Randy FB program.
Still mulling endgame fighter planes. I figure I can afford one to r&d and there are at least two great choices in the Shinden and Ki94II.
Kamikaze: Ki115a and Ki115b for the Army. For the Navy I am still mulling over my choices.
I am going to play with the spreadsheet some and see what I need to achieve...
My two cents:
Minimal Oscar and Tojo is a good call. They have some value later in the war, but not much.
Tony and Frank is a great combination.
Regarding the Zero, I'd try to push the Zero line to the M8 model ASAP then shift everything to the Sam. Sam is the best multi-role the IJN gets IMO.
Is the performance increase between the Nick and Randy fighter bomber worth the supply? I always felt that there was little to choose between the Randy B and Nick models.
The Randy fighter (A model) is a much better candidate IMO, as you can convert regular fighter squadrons to the Randy A for sqaudrons that are in effect fighter-bomber squadrons.
Shinden and Ki-94 are the only two viable late-war fighter airframes IMO. The jets are vanity.
For kami purposes: Ki-115a and b are huge. Prepare a massive production line. For the IJN, it has to be the Toka - this is one of the hidden jewels of the IJN lineup, and arguably one of the most important non-fighter airframes. Bringing it as far forward is possible is absolutely key, as otherwise your IJN kami squadrons (which are bigger and hold more pilots than the IJA ones) will be stuck with the crappy trainers. Again, massive production lines. The only other option is the Kikka, but that's too late to be of any use. Any other airframe uses PP's to convert.