Lowpe
Posts: 22133
Joined: 2/25/2013 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: PaxMondo My thoughts on NF's are pretty simple: they have to be able to catch a B29 or they aren't going to do much good. That eliminates a lot of the IJ NF's. Don't worry about the on board radar of any AC. When it goes active, great, it means you've almost made it to '46. Sure, you have to start with Irving(IJN) and the Helen(IJA) as they are the first you get for quite a while. You hope that they will at least interfere with night bomb runs better than day fighters on night, and basically they will. That is until the B29's show up and leave them in the dust. At +360, the B29 is so much faster than either of those that they get at most one pass, and many times nothing. Therein lies the problem. None of the IJN NF's get armor and that means you are going to lose quite a few. This doesn't bother me much because I don't really have that many groups that I can afford to convert to NF's. That means for me, most of my NF's are going to be IJA groups. The Tony KAI is good EXCEPT for the engine which I cannot afford to build. So that means I go Helen -> Dinah -> Randy. The only good news in this progression is that the engines are all easy and plentiful. You can put the Helen KAI into production now and you'll have something at least. You won't need many, 2 groups or so should be enough unless your opponent really starts going to Night Bombing which most don't until they get their B29's in early '44. By then, you will need quite a few NF groups which will still be Helen (with some Irving, but again IJN groups are so few), but your Dinah should be not too far away at that point. Once you get Dinah, start working on the Randy ... it isn't optimal, but not much more you can do. And yes, any NF works better at night than most any regular fighter (equal exp pilots), Helen KAI? In my game it is a decent transport, armed pretty much with rifle caliber guns. Tony KAI is also simply a fighter. Can you use these as night fighters with no penalty? That is news to me... Obvert had really good success with Frances, even though it is slower than B29. My playing of downfall tends to jive with Obvert's findings. Peggy is unknown territory, but she has a big gun, and is faster than Nick, if just. I am suffering a little buyers remorse in my investment in Irving, but I have been pummeled time again by night bombers. And if it can protect industry in 43, well then so much the better. I plan on converting every squadron possible to ngiht fighters and also staffing them with tracom pilots until I run out.
< Message edited by Lowpe -- 9/1/2014 2:43:52 AM >
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