6 months in aircraft advice

Gary Grigsby's strategic level wargame covering the entire War in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945 or beyond.

Moderators: Joel Billings, wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami

Post Reply
undercovergeek
Posts: 1533
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:01 pm
Location: UK

6 months in aircraft advice

Post by undercovergeek »

I have recently started a 42a Campaign PBEM stock starting on the 1 may 42. My only experience so far has been to start at the 7/12/41 and your priority as IJN is to buid Zeros, close the Nate factory and upgrade Claudes and Nates - PDU is on by the way so i choose my own upgrades ( or is that off?! ) - but in most cases this has already been done and im a bit out of sorts. I have some A6M3s coming through but having looked at the aircraft database they dont seem as good as my standard zero (endurance is lower) and i only have Zeros at 110 production and Oscar at 60. Do i STILL increase my zero output to 225-ish and Oscar to 150 or i do i have better aircraft just around the corner, do i start shutting some Zeros down and changing to A6M3, whats going to replace my Oscar, do i want Tony or Tojo and do i still need George, Nicks and Jacks???

where the hells the pulling your hair out smiley??!??!?

any help gratefully received
User avatar
2ndACR
Posts: 5524
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 7:32 am
Location: Irving,Tx

RE: 6 months in aircraft advice

Post by 2ndACR »

I always ramp Zero production to 200 or so. Keep 1 group with A6M2 to make use of any large pool you might have. Plus you need the long escorts.
 
A6M3 at least has armor IIRC. You want a mix of Tony's and Tojo's. Tony's for anti-bomber and Tojo's for fighters.
 
Jacks are good a/c but have short range. George and Frank yes.
Yamato hugger
Posts: 3791
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:38 am

RE: 6 months in aircraft advice

Post by Yamato hugger »

I only put the A6M3 on my carriers since the Val and Kate can only fly 6 hexes or less (in CHS), I have no need for long range escorts on my carriers. My land based Zeros I keep in the M2 until the M3a is out.
User avatar
n01487477
Posts: 4759
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:00 am

RE: 6 months in aircraft advice

Post by n01487477 »

From the rusty cogs in my underutilised brain ... I thought the M3a was the CV variant ??

Anyway ...

Oscar Ib - I'd not bother, and move those to the Tony/Tojo's or the IIa if you think it is really worth it(but by then the Allies have much better planes anyway). The Jack would be the long term build of choice.

The M2's need at least 200 / mth, I'd look for more if possible. When it upgrades to the M3a, you lose a little range, but you gotta think that you need to engage those allies big time, before they build up their reserves.

The M3, is as you say not a great deal of difference.



Image
Attachments
Capture.jpg
Capture.jpg (162.79 KiB) Viewed 39 times
User avatar
Kull
Posts: 2744
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:43 am
Location: El Paso, TX

RE: 6 months in aircraft advice

Post by Kull »

ORIGINAL: undercovergeek

I have recently started a 42a Campaign PBEM stock starting on the 1 may 42. My only experience so far has been to start at the 7/12/41 and your priority as IJN is to buid Zeros, close the Nate factory and upgrade Claudes and Nates - PDU is on by the way so i choose my own upgrades ( or is that off?! ) - but in most cases this has already been done and im a bit out of sorts. I have some A6M3s coming through but having looked at the aircraft database they dont seem as good as my standard zero (endurance is lower) and i only have Zeros at 110 production and Oscar at 60. Do i STILL increase my zero output to 225-ish and Oscar to 150 or i do i have better aircraft just around the corner, do i start shutting some Zeros down and changing to A6M3, whats going to replace my Oscar, do i want Tony or Tojo and do i still need George, Nicks and Jacks???

where the hells the pulling your hair out smiley??!??!?

any help gratefully received

My two cents would be that it is worthwhile to convert your non-CV zeros to M3, and once the M3a is available, all zeros to that model (except a token M2 chutai to keep the huge stock out of the scrap yard). The stats between M2 and M3 don't seem to be that much different, but the additional altitude and maneuverability noticeably enhances their survivability. As for Army units, move to Tojos/Tonys as fast as possible. Extensive use of Oscar Ib is a great way to kill off your best army pilots, so keep them out of action until you can put them in a decent airframe. As for the Oscar IIa, what a waste of space that is! The only use would be as a long range bomber escort, but you're much better off using the M3a in that role. The guns and durability are hugely inferior to Tojo/Tony, and everything other than range is basically a wash.
Yamato hugger
Posts: 3791
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:38 am

RE: 6 months in aircraft advice

Post by Yamato hugger »

In CHS, the M2 upgrades to the M3a, to do what you say means having to change all the factories manually, spending un-godly amounts of supply to repair, and then doing it all over again when the M3a comes out. Where as my way I have 1 x 45 plane factory that I can easily convert to something else when the M3a is on line.
Post Reply

Return to “War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945”