War in the Pacific AAR Thread: ML (Japan) vs. Leo (Allies)

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

This actually doesn't surprise me, as the Nick (Ki-45) was a twin engined heavy fighter, like the P-38 Lightning or the BF 110. I was already wondering about this when you mentioned the Nick first, a few days ago. If it's modelled correctly in the game it should be inferior to contemporary single-engined fighters.

I've been warned on Discord that the Nick will get its ass handed to it by most fighters, and that was my experience in the last campaign. But, the Nick's performance against bombers was impressive enough that I took notice--well worth a higher attrition rate against ordinary fighters, given just how much of a problem American heavy bombers are for Japan. Heavy bombers were essential to my campaign for their ability to disable airbases and bomb troop concentrations into submission. I could usually maintain acceptable losses against Zeroes or Oscars, but against Nicks those losses were unsustainable. Frequently, the only aircraft I had with enough range to clear the Nicks out were P-38s, and the Allies just don't get enough of them to be able to sustain a lot of losses there. So I think the key to beating the heavy bombers is, first, to build and deploy enough Nicks to sustain inevitable attrition, and also to bait those P-38s into losing fights against Oscars and Tojos.