crsutton
Posts: 9590
Joined: 12/6/2002 From: Maryland Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel We've all been over this before, but the air war is really skewed terribly. In my game with Miller, I had to assume that my failure to train pilots skewed things, so I just didn't say much about that aspect of the game. But now that I'm training pilots religiously, I still have problems out the wazzoo. Even though the air war has not been particularly hot in our game, there are no RAF fighters or bombers in the pools, no USAAF fighters or bombers, and a dearth of RAF pilots and USAAF bomber pilots. That seems badly skewed, and all the more when Japan can put Tojos in the air in big numbers early, and has no problem in mid-1942 filling the air with scads of Helens, Sallies, Zeroes, Oscars, and Tojos that have decent pilots. The Allies do get the 4EB, which are terrific at downing enemy CAP, and which can inflict big damage. But, unlike the observations made by several IJ players, I can't keep mine in the air and I have limited numbers as of September 1942. Despite what one poster said, I think Allied 4EB are more than offset by IJ Netties. They pack a powerful punch that the Allied player has to seriously respect out to a range of 10 or 15 hexes. The Allies have nothing like that. There are other things, too, like flak. In this game, the Allied "soft defense" strategy has minimized the impact of many of these problems. In fact, only in India, where I don't have enough planes or good pilots, am I even being pressed at the moment. But I can sure see why this state of affairs would be a real problem in games following a more historical pattern. Finally, I need to point out that I requested Scenario Two and thus have to take what perks it provides Japanese players. As far as I know, my mutterings are limited to things outside of Scenario Two (i.e., things that apply in every scenario) that don't seem consistent with reality. Well, welcome to my world. I have been writing about this since the game came out. Against a first class opponent (QBall falls into this catagory) you can expect Japanese control of the skies until mid 1943. But of course, you named your poison. Two issues to deal with 1. Massive Japanese prodution. He can lose more planes than you and it won't hurt him. In fact I think that the main Japanese aim in 42 should be to attack the Allied airforce at any point on the map that you can. The Allied player simply does not get enough replacments and there is no way to compensate. This has a twofold effect. Not only is the Allied player weak in the air on the front lines with a lot of depleted squadrons but there are no airframes to fill out stateside squadrons thus your training will lag far behind the Japanese pilot training program as squadrons without planes will train, but only very slowly. Allied medium bombers are a no show. 2. The "tojo" gap. This is the best plane in the "game" in 1942 to mid 43 and there is no Allied counter for it except the pitiful few P38s that you get. Using the height advantage this plane will eat any 1st generation fighter up for lunch. Combine that with the ability to turn off production of lesser planes in favor it this plane to produce massive amounts of them and you got problems. Basically, my strategy for fighting them has been to stay out of their range and hunt them on the ground with heavy bombers. The arrival of the hellcat and (godly) P47 make this plane obsolete fast but you gotta wait. My game is in mid 43 and I am only now feeling like I have parity. I don't really expect real air superiorty until early 44 when I can start to bury him in both quality and numbers. Bear in mind that my opponent and I agreed to a altitude cap of 29,000 feet. This has helped a bit but if Q-ball is sweeping with his tojos at higher altitudes, then you will suffer. Also, sad to say but the F4F navy fighter is a very poor fighter in game terms. It is hardly a match for oscars and just gets owned by zeros and tojos. This really makes any carrier fight sort of an adventure.
< Message edited by crsutton -- 12/8/2010 11:20:32 PM >
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