PaxMondo
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Joined: 6/6/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: el lobo Pax, I need to establish a definition and criteria for “generation” in my mind. When you say do not overbuild the first and second generation, I interpret that roughly as, pick a later model in the line that will be your strong plane and focus on that. On the other hand you are saying that generation is tied to years. Lets take the veritable Zero for one example. The M2 is clearly first generation and the M5 can clearly be argued a second generation. I will not overbuild the M2 but the M5 is going to be my workhorse for a large part of the war. There are up-grades but as we discussed earlier, they are of not much significance. Therefore in the class of build significance, I would call the M5 third generation. You say all of the Helens are first generation but again it is going to have to carry the Army's bombing load until the Peggy comes along. Calling them all first or all third generation makes no difference in terms of build significance. It is just going to be a balancing act to make sure you have enough of what you need at the time you need it. A line like the Oscar just keeps getting better with each upgrade and so that needs to be done as they come along. There is no shinning star in that line and there the only way to classify the third generation is by year which may not be of much use or significance. Here again is the balance you discussed when it comes to building. Prudence along the line but perhaps a focus on whatever model is at hand when it is needed most. Not much use in trying to classify any model as third generation. Is this making any sense? It does, but A6M series is 1st gen ... you will use it on your CV's for a long time. BUT all of your LBA IJN fighter groups will be using 2nd gen fighters (George/Jack), and you will find that most of your losses will be in those. The thing about the KB is that after about mid-42 you don't actually use it all that often, maybe once/month. Those other groups are in combat every day. So, your A6M production requirements aren't going to be all that high. The term gen is applied to model types because of performance. The A6M model is outclassed badly by the allies after 4/43, and I mean BADLY. Yes, on CV's you have to use it until SAM, but you need to get it replaced with all other groups ASAP. The same applies to Oscar. It is a 350 mph (roughly) fighter. In '42 that is ok. In '43 it is routinely facing 420mph fighters. In '44 it is facing 440mph fighters. It is outclassed. Tojo/Tony are 370/380 mph fighters. Frank is a 400 mph fighter. Don't get hung up on the whether it is an a or b for this. Now, when it comes time to go into production, that's when you figure out exactly which one you want (Tojo b is terrible, a and c are good). You're hung up on when the airframe is produced, rather than its performance. What happened to IJ historically is that they had all of these great design criteria, but not enough design teams to execute. THEN, they also could not get their second generation of engines (Ha-4x series) to work due to intake issues (could not get twin-chargers to work nor 2 stage super-chargers which are similar.) So, Helen ends up being in the war for a long time because Peggy was so delayed. Same with Oscar/Frank, Zero/Sam, etc. making sense now? So, looking at the IJA fighters, I suggested to you to figure out what your 2nd gen would be: Tojo/Tony or Frank. Depending upon what you chose, you put RnD on that model. the other models arrive per history. The one you chose can arrive a LOT earlier and when you need it. EX: I choose to skip Tojo/Tony and go for Frank. If I put 10 x size 30 RnD on Frank, when they are repaired I will advance 10% every day or 1 month every 10 days. It is quite reasonable to expect Frank in mid-'43 with that research effort. Frank is a 2nd gen fighter, but it is also capable of fighting to the end game. Hence 10xsize factories simply flip to production as you will want 300/month as a STARTING point on this model ... likely at LOT more. And note these factories never changed so the 300,000 supply expenditure was a one time expense (double that for the engines, but you get the idea.) helping yet?
< Message edited by PaxMondo -- 12/12/2015 2:49:07 PM >
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Pax
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