Ki-84 Thoughts

[Urchin]

Ok, did a little more fighting with it.  

In a sustained turn at around 180 mph, it will not out turn a P-38.  This means it is safe to say you will have a very hard time out turning a Spit 9 in a sustained turn, so I guess you could say I disagree with Kweassa there.  

However.. the low (and I do mean LOW) speed handling is superb.  In a "stall fight" the Ki84 handily whipped the P-38 and the Spit 9, because it is relatively stable down to about 70 mph.  You have to try to keep the manuevering nose to nose though, it doesnt do as well nose to tail.

[JB82]

Haven't you guys ever thought that maybe HTC under programed it on purpose so they can "work it up" instead of having to "work it down"? That way it's not such a shock to the overall game play in AH2.  I think more people would get upset if the plane got weaker as time went on, as opposed to getting stronger.

[SirLoin]

When in a slow turn fite,not only will the flaps not deploy(in time),you will stall the plane out(or spin) before you can get a single notch of flap out.

It is uninspiring(an very vulnerable) at slow speeds.

It is a true high speed plane.

[GRUNHERZ]

Originally posted by Urchin
Ok, did a little more fighting with it.  

In a sustained turn at around 180 mph, it will not out turn a P-38.  This means it is safe to say you will have a very hard time out turning a Spit 9 in a sustained turn, so I guess you could say I disagree with Kweassa there.  

However.. the low (and I do mean LOW) speed handling is superb.  In a "stall fight" the Ki84 handily whipped the P-38 and the Spit 9, because it is relatively stable down to about 70 mph.  You have to try to keep the manuevering nose to nose though, it doesnt do as well nose to tail.

The first notch of flaps does not come out until 167mph so at 180 you are flying only on the wing only..

[humble]

All in all its not a bad ride, as stated numerous times above it suffers from a lack of overall speed. I did notice how quickly it gets airborn...in my "prepatch" hop it ran out of E easily however with the patch it did much better.

If your high (10-20k) and can control the fight its not bad at all...as you get forced down to the deck extracting yourself is exceptionally difficult in a furball. I had a 5 & 4 kill hop, but died both times I got to furballing on the deck...once your low & slow you cant seem to get enough E back (after all top end is 323 or so) to regain reasonable position...since itsstructurally limited you really cant take full advantage of alt either...also as mentioned roll rate sucks at speed...not competitive with the "big five" and has little or no chance against a well flown F6F in scenario use (IMO)....personally think the Ki-61 a much better plane as currently modeled.

[Urchin]

Yes, the challenge you'll have in the Ki-84 is bleeding off speed fast enough to be able to drop those flaps.  Vs the P-38 and Spit 9, the Ki-84 loses the merge pretty badly (you cant even pull full blackout at 300+, that how stiff the controls are at even moderate-high speeds).  After the merge if you can dump some speed you will be all right.. the Ki-84 handles very nicely below 150 with both notches of flaps down.I'm not exagerating when I say the plane will fight at 70 mph.. it can fly slower than a P-38 can.  Once you get down to about 50 mph, the nose has to come down, but you can still control which way it'll go down.  

It is a wonderful stall-fighter, but I don't think it will manuever with a Spit 5.  It would have a very difficult time staying alive while the speed dropped below 120 or so.

It doesnt make for a very good high speed fighter in my opinion... all the controls are extremely stiff above 350 (they start stiffening up at 300 or so), and around 450 parts of your plane will start falling off.

I like it, but I suspect it won't be very popular in the MA.  It lacks the extraordinary firepower of a Spitfire 9, and while it is better handling at very slow speeds, nobody flies that slow in the MA anyway.

[SirLoin]

Originally posted by Urchin
I like it, but I suspect it won't be very popular in the MA.  It lacks the extraordinary firepower of a Spitfire 9, and while it is better handling at very slow speeds, nobody flies that slow in the MA anyway.

It has better guns than spit9 while it lacks the spit9's low speed turnabillity...You have it backwards i think.

[Pongo]

It felt like a hurricane 2c with 2 cannons removed.
The cockpit framing is worse then I feared.
The wing skins look like low resolution? As does the interior cockpit framing.
Very nimble. Although I was able to out stall fight two of them on the deck in a hog c.(I had help)

I was expecting a plane that was a 9 out of 10 as far as WW2 fighter planes go. This one is a 4
Its the slow version, the lightly armed version and a poor frontal view.
The plane needs more generous numbers. I cannot imagine that as it is the USAAF would have been impressed with it at all either in test or combat.

[Karnak]

The Ki-84 is a complete deathtrap in the MA.  To fight effectively it has to keep the speed under 150mph, which means it should slaughter WWI biplanes, but even the A6M2 should easily defeat it, though it can at least run from the A6M2.

Either the Ki-84 is the most overrated WWII aircraft, by huge, massive numbers of miles, or this flight model is a joke.

To even begin to claim that the Ki-84 as modeled in AH is effective is laughable.  The N1K2-J is better in all ways except for speed at altitude and cockpit visibility, and only by a little in both cases.  The N1K2-J is more manuverable, has much better firepower, is significantly more durable and handles highers speeds vastly better.  The Ki-84, contrary to my hopes, weakens the Japanese planset for scenarios, not strengthens it.

We'd be better off if they hadn't added the Ki-84.

[GRUNHERZ]

Originally posted by Urchin
Yes, the challenge you'll have in the Ki-84 is bleeding off speed fast enough to be able to drop those flaps.  Vs the P-38 and Spit 9, the Ki-84 loses the merge pretty badly (you cant even pull full blackout at 300+, that how stiff the controls are at even moderate-high speeds).  After the merge if you can dump some speed you will be all right.. the Ki-84 handles very nicely below 150 with both notches of flaps down.I'm not exagerating when I say the plane will fight at 70 mph.. it can fly slower than a P-38 can.  Once you get down to about 50 mph, the nose has to come down, but you can still control which way it'll go down.  

It is a wonderful stall-fighter, but I don't think it will manuever with a Spit 5.  It would have a very difficult time staying alive while the speed dropped below 120 or so.

It doesnt make for a very good high speed fighter in my opinion... all the controls are extremely stiff above 350 (they start stiffening up at 300 or so), and around 450 parts of your plane will start falling off.

I like it, but I suspect it won't be very popular in the MA.  It lacks the extraordinary firepower of a Spitfire 9, and while it is better handling at very slow speeds, nobody flies that slow in the MA anyway.

The spit 9 has better guns and much betyter medim to high speed handling. The spit also has much better transition speed handling and turning, which is so important on the merge.

As for the spit V, the 84 can just about hang with a decent Spit V in a low low speed stall fight against a guys who knows what hes doing. I'd imagine it would eat up a would eat up an average MA player in a spit V though.

[Flayed1]

Umm I fly slow in the the MA all the time.
 I've been in bombers for the most part reasently but when I do up a fighter I prefer the A6M2.   So it sounds like the KI may be my new fighter of choice, I will have to try it more after I get done with the new bomber toy.

[slimm50]

Flew th Frank last night. I'll stick with my beloved Pony, thank you, whenever possible.

[humble]

Originally posted by Karnak
The Ki-84 is a complete deathtrap in the MA.  To fight effectively it has to keep the speed under 150mph, which means it should slaughter WWI biplanes, but even the A6M2 should easily defeat it, though it can at least run from the A6M2.

Either the Ki-84 is the most overrated WWII aircraft, by huge, massive numbers of miles, or this flight model is a joke.

To even begin to claim that the Ki-84 as modeled in AH is effective is laughable.  The N1K2-J is better in all ways except for speed at altitude and cockpit visibility, and only by a little in both cases.  The N1K2-J is more manuverable, has much better firepower, is significantly more durable and handles highers speeds vastly better.  The Ki-84, contrary to my hopes, weakens the Japanese planset for scenarios, not strengthens it.

We'd be better off if they hadn't added the Ki-84.

Got to disagree, the plane is not a deathtrap...it's simply not Uber in anyway. Your not going to beat the other plane, you need to beat the other pilot. It offers a reasonable range of options in a 1 vs 1 fight however it is limited at the high end by rollrate, control stiffness and structural durability. At the low end its an amazing prophanger but is somewhat limited in pure turning compared to spits and other true T&Bers...I had no vis issues at all (but I'm used to various limited view planes like -1 hog) and guns are better than expected...got kills on both a B-24 and another Ki-84 with just 2 x 12.7 after 20mm ran out.

I'm a bit curious about the easy shedding of parts at speed...I've never read about that as an issue. Curious that the plane breaks up so easily...if you corrected that and added reasonable wep then you'd have a more competitive ride...but all in all its not a bad bird.

[Karnak]

I love the visibility and the guns.  Those are its only good points though.

[Urchin]

Well, after some more fighting in it, here are some more impressions.  

It handles beautifully slow.  I'm not having any trouble with stalling it, at any speed.  I got into a slow speed fight with a zeke (below 100 mph), and I was just about able to hang with him.  I don't think two equal pilots would have the same result, but it is quite stable at low speeds.

Slow speed climb is outstanding... planes will have a very hard time roping one if they start at about the same speed and altitude.  The Ki-84 can hanf on its prop like you wouldn't believe.

All in all, I think it is a phenomenal knife fighter, but it isn't fast enough to be competitive in a 1945 MA.