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ORIGINAL: InfiniteMonkey

I understand. I do not use all of my research factories because I cannot afford the supply to repair them. I do not think Japan can support repairing all it's R&D factories to 30. It costs a huge amount of supply to do that, and then even more to expand and repair the engine factories.

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ORIGINAL: InfiniteMonkey

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ORIGINAL: rustysi

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The Helen gets armor, a bit more range, and slightly superior defensive guns as compared to the Sally.

My point is that since these A/C are so similar, that its not really worth the investment to bring the Helen to operation as the only air-frame to use the Ha-34 engine in scen2. Might as well just go straight for the Peggy, which IIRC is the next Japanese army bomber.

I see your point in Scen 2, though even then I see advantages to the Helen.

- Armor is a big deal. I thought about skipping the Helen and going straight to the Peggy even in Scenario 1, but the Peggy arrives 2 years after the Helen. If the armor reduces my losses even 10%, over nearly 2 years that's a lot fewer planes and pilots to replace.
- From a payload perspective the IJA and IJN never get better bombers - everything tops out at 4 x 250kg bombs (Sally/Helen). The Peggy is actually a step down (3 x 250kg). In terms of putting bombs on target, you have to send an extra 1/3 the number bombers with the Peggy to get the same bomb load as the Helen. Of course, the Peggy adds speed (huge in air combat model) and range (11/13 goes up to 14/17) so at ranges 12 & 13 the Peggy carries a bigger load and can still strike at ranges 14-17. I see the Helen not so much being replaced by the Peggy as being augmented by it.

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4. Conversely, every day you delay the Frank, you cost yourself supply. Every fighter you lose that could have been a Frank instead of a Tojo or Oscar or whatever is a aircraft you have to replace in the air group (costs supply) and probably a pilot you have to train (which will cost you supply in training sorties). The Franks's superior performance means they will survive far more encounters than the aircraft it replaces. Delaying the Frank by months wipes out supply and gives your opponent free VP.

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3. In previous games I've expanded every factory at the start and ran out of supply everytime. You need supply elsewhere other these factories so I decided to control supply use this way rather than stave my front line troops. Maybe I was a little excessive on how I went about it but my decision was based on my misconception of point 2. I still say you do not have enough supply to expand immediately though and something has to give.

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ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink

Not sure if the guide is still up to date, but...

Found it in my archives - https://www.dropbox.com/s/fjas0l4bpwns0hw/A%20Japanese%20Production%20Primer%20v1-1.pdf?dl=0

Klink, Oberst

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ORIGINAL: rustysi
From my standpoint, while armor may be a 'big deal', I'm not so sure when it comes to bombers. Once Allied fighters get to my bombers I find they're toast. In addition if the speed of the Peggy reduces my losses by just 10%, well...[:D]

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ORIGINAL: rustysi
Also while the Peggy does have a reduced bomb load its supply costs will also be reduced. One supply for every 2K load capacity, IIRC the Peggy's load is less than 2k, while the Helen is ~2200. In addition to all that one model of the Peggy will carry torps, much better to sink ships, as opposed to bombs.

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In the end its all a matter of personal preferences, and game style anyway. A thousand players, a thousand ways to play, as I like to say. Enjoy[:)]