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My first ever PBEM game (Scenario 1) has reached July 1944 and so I have had some experience with Ki-84r Frank's and N1K1 George (I messed up production so no later version of George until their historical dates).

What has surprised me is the effectiveness of the N1K1 George in air to air combat with the P47 compared to the faster and slightly more maneuverable Frank r. I guess the extra firepower of the George makes up for the speed difference? Or the higher ceiling of the George?

As this is my first PBEM game, I was wondering what other players in PBEM games have noticed about Japanese fighter performance, especially against the stratosweeps of 300+ P47's in late 1944+. Any other tips or observations you wish to share about other late game fighter options?

Also, If anyone knows of any AAR that cover this time period let me know and I will review that as well.

pbiggar wrote: Wed Jun 04, 2025 10:42 pm My first ever PBEM game (Scenario 1) has reached July 1944 and so I have had some experience with Ki-84r Frank's and N1K1 George (I messed up production so no later version of George until their historical dates).

What has surprised me is the effectiveness of the N1K1 George in air to air combat with the P47 compared to the faster and slightly more maneuverable Frank r. I guess the extra firepower of the George makes up for the speed difference? Or the higher ceiling of the George?

As this is my first PBEM game, I was wondering what other players in PBEM games have noticed about Japanese fighter performance, especially against the stratosweeps of 300+ P47's in late 1944+. Any other tips or observations you wish to share about other late game fighter options?

Also, If anyone knows of any AAR that cover this time period let me know and I will review that as well.

The N1K1 kills (but they die) Hellcats.. but no Corsairs due his short range, Franks is more like USA corsairs. A7Reppus can beat everything but no spitfires nothing can beat a spit.

pbiggar wrote: Wed Jun 04, 2025 10:42 pm My first ever PBEM game (Scenario 1) has reached July 1944 and so I have had some experience with Ki-84r Frank's and N1K1 George (I messed up production so no later version of George until their historical dates).

What has surprised me is the effectiveness of the N1K1 George in air to air combat with the P47 compared to the faster and slightly more maneuverable Frank r. I guess the extra firepower of the George makes up for the speed difference? Or the higher ceiling of the George?

As this is my first PBEM game, I was wondering what other players in PBEM games have noticed about Japanese fighter performance, especially against the stratosweeps of 300+ P47's in late 1944+. Any other tips or observations you wish to share about other late game fighter options?

Also, If anyone knows of any AAR that cover this time period let me know and I will review that as well.

The N1K1 kills (but they die) Hellcats.. but no Corsairs due his short range, Franks is more like USA corsairs. A7Reppus can beat everything but no spitfires nothing can beat a spit.

It's not the plane, it's the pilot.^^

Japan needs a huge on-map training program to produce as many pilots with 70 air skill + 70 defense skill as possible and then have them fly CAP at rear bases to get exp up before sending them to the front.
This will help to limit own losses and to down Allied planes.
In any case, you will lose a lot of pilots, and if you don't have trained replacements, the better planes which will become available later will be flown by inexperienced pilots - easy meat even for mediocre Allied pilots flying even better planes.

It is also a numbers game - don't fight piecemeal, if something is worth defending or attacking, go big.

Only then the different plane performances, tactics used and mission settings like altitude, range, CAP percentage, early warning radar, etc. enter the equation.
Large numbers of good pilots flying somewhat inferior aircraft can hold their own or best a smaller number of mediocre pilots flying better planes.
Now, air to air combat surely is very important, but late game the worst enemies for Japan are actually massed 4E night-bombing and naval bombardments of packed Japanese airfields (numbers matters...) - this can cause huge plane losses.

Performance and losses also depend on PDU settings.
With PDU on, Japan can concentrate on a few "best bet" airframes, usually George and Franks are the best options (Reppu, jets and other promising new airframes probably come too late or require a huge R&D investment).
With PDU off, Japan is forced to use a lot of airgroups stuck with less than optimal airframes and a more challenging production to keep the plane pools filled.

Finally, it depends whether you fight a purely defensive war against Allied bombing attacks, or if you try to strike back and risking high losses in the process.

I have one PDU off PBEM under my belt that ended in January 1945 with total air losses at 35k for Japan versus 21k for Allies.

You can see the air losses stats from my AAR on page 19.

I have expended a lot of planes in combined Kamikaze and conventional attacks, with pretty good results - which in the end did not change the outcome, but made for an interesting game, or so I believe.

LargeSlowTarget wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 2:25 am .... with pretty good results - which in the end did not change the outcome, but made for an interesting game, or so I believe.

Yeah, it's about the game and having fun. I agree with your other comments as well vis-a-vis PDU ON/OFF.