How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter?

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How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter?

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the East Series >> How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter?

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How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter? - 10/11/2018 3:35:06 AM

Saulust

Posts: 115
Joined: 8/25/2018
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I'm on T21 as Soviets & I want to upgrade a few I-16s to Pe-3 type Night-Fighters of which I have in the pool 70 with 5 being produced per turn IIUC. So I might build 3 or 4 of them now and more later when I can. (Just to be preventively clear, I will of course also upgrade a few other I-16s to both Hurricane IIBs and P-40Es too, I just want to know how to handle the Pe-3 not what else to upgrade to.)

The Pe-3 may not be the best manoeuvrable plane in stats, all the same I still want to upgrade a few to it anyway but it has a range of 31 as opposed to just 10 for the I-16 FBs, so it will have triple the fighter escort cover range if I could use them for that, but it's a Night-Fighter. Do I really have to use it defensively as a standby Night-Fighter interceptor against the horribly under-performing AI?

I am basically going to be on the offensive mostly and I was thinking of pairing up some of my fighter types with bomber types along the lines of similar or complementary ranges, like placing all the I-153 FBs with the I-153 DB both at 14 range and the 15 range IL-2 DBs with LaGG-3s at 17, the MiG-3 with the 20+ bombers etc.

So I was thinking it could be best in my scheme that the Pe-3s at 31 range would pair well with SB-2s Level Bombers at 33 range, instead of having them just bomb at ranges of 20+ on the own unescorted or should I just place these Pe-3 in the DBAD Long Range bases where they my not really get used for anything much since there is very little Luftwaffe deep bombing activity?

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RE: How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter? - 10/11/2018 8:56:23 PM

thedoctorking

Posts: 2297
Joined: 4/29/2017
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You can have them fly day missions as far as I know. They are long-range twin-engine fighters comparable in combat effectiveness to the German JU88 night fighters; maybe somewhat better than the Bf110's. In other words, try to avoid tangling with Fw190's.

When playing against human opponents, you will probably often find German night bombing missions happening in your rear areas. The Pe-3's are very useful for countering them. If the AI isn't doing this, so much the better for you.

(in reply to Saulust)

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RE: How should I use Pe-3 Night-Fighter? - 10/12/2018 1:54:27 AM

Saulust

Posts: 115
Joined: 8/25/2018
Status: offline

Yeah, thanks again Dr King since I'm fighting against the poorly handled AI Luftwaffe I don't need these Pe-3 'Heavy/NF' for actual defensive night interception settings as like I would verses any competent German strategic bombing campaign, so I think it will be a good use to put these 31 ranged Pe-3 as fighter escorts for similarly ranged SB-2s and perhaps cap them to 31 distance. Sure these Pe-3 are going to be terrible at actually escorting, but at least the medium ranged SB-2s will have dedicated escorts as opposed to none at all, especially when performing bombing missions towards the extent of their ranges.

< Message edited by Saulust -- 10/12/2018 1:56:39 AM >

(in reply to thedoctorking)

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