Chickenboy
Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002 From: San Antonio, TX Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lowpe quote:
ORIGINAL: mind_messing quote:
ORIGINAL: BillBrown We are using andymacs updated scenario 2 and the Tojo line uses Nakajima Ha-35 engines. I have been doing the actual turn so far, not the production. Tomorrow I will really start in on the production. So far I have looked and I have 70 R&D factories. I probably will be heavily investing in fighter R&D. I am thinking 8 x 6 size 30 R&D factories for fighters. I am not sure which ones, but I am looking at A6, A7, NiK, and J8W1 for the Navy. Then for the Army I am looking at Ki-43, ki-44, Frank, and Ki-83. Not sure if that is enough, but it is a start. It still leaves me with 22 more R&D factories for other things. Comments on that? Sounds good. I suggest going for the Ki-43 or Ki-44, not both. Both airframes are solid early to mid game airframes that really fall off after mid 1943. I'd cut one out and put the freed up factories into the Frank. The Zero tree also falls off a cliff big time. IMO it's worth pushing R&D for the first model with armour (IIRC the A6M5c model) and then putting everything onto the Sam. Other airframes to consider: Ki-45 - Good fighter-bomber for 1942 to 1943 Ki-102a - solid 2E IJA fighter with good 4E capability. Ki-100 - Rock-steady IJA fighter that's easy to keep flying. Arrives in 1945 but can be activated much earlier with R&D chaining. 10 R&D Factories on Frank A; 10 R&D Factories on Sam. These are the two most important planes Japan gets. For early game expansion you want the A6M3a, Oscar IIa and Tojo A. Look at Night Fighters. For bombers look at Judy, Jill, Grace. Everything else doesn't really matter with the exception of perhaps Peggy T and the Lilly dive bomber. End game fighter: Scen 2 so pick one for each service: Shinden? Ki94 or Ki83? Start with 3-5 factories and enhance as other r&d concludes. Nick is incredibly useful and you can switch almost all light bomber squadrons to it for a PP price. Dedicated Kamikazes look interesting but probably only marginally useful. Ask a dozen Japanese players, get 20 different opinions about air production. No right or wrong answers, IMO, just different points of view. Ain't it great? I like to use the Tony tree to advance research on the Ki-100 line ASAP. The Tony-A/B/C/D models are 'meh'. But the Ki-100-I and II are quite good and heavily gunned. Once your research factories are fully repaired for the -A model (probably June 1942?) you can leapfrog all of them to Ki-100 right away. The problem(s) with the Sam and Frank lines are that you cannot exploit the existing previous model research trees and you're 'stuck' with the arrival date minus any research you can get with factory repair. While they're wonderful airframes in their own right, I think I can have the Ki-100-I in abundance months before these due to the research tree exploit. Ditto the rationale for the Ki-44-IIa research tree. I had 8 factories on this line. When all research was completed in these factories, I maintained production in three of them and moved the other five 'up the line' to the IIc (the IIb is garbage, skip it). In so doing, I can shave a full year and a half off the expected arrival time of the IIc and have it before 1943 rolls around. Ditto Lowpe's observations about night fighters, Judy, Jill and Grace. Especially the Judy. Disagree with the use of A6M3a. If you are comfortable using the Rufe research line to leapfrog into A6M5 production, you can have the A6M5 in late 1942. I don't feel the need for the interim A6M3a to fill the gap. And there's also a practical balancing act re: the late-war fighter focus. Namely, do you really think you'll be playing this game into 1945-1946? Sure, it's possible, but it's a rarity. When so many games end before 1943, do you want your production / research in 1943 to be predicated on that which you are unlikely to ever see in your game? Will you be wanting for mid-war fighters because of an excessively far-sighted research plan?
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