It's like a 202 with cannon. I think the only slower fighters are the Hurricanes and the Zeke. Climb rate is nothing special.
It doesn't turn quite as well as a Spit but there is enough agility to beat most planes in a close fight. High speed maneuverability is fair.
It seems to creak a lot at high speeds too - be careful of overstress. Resistance to damage is fair too poor. Fairly fragile, like a Spit or 109.
I fly it just like I fly a Spit V. It has no speed, so if you are in enemy territory you need to avoid getting low and slow. Once you get low on ammo you can't run from all the planes that are 75 mph faster. So keep your altitude because this is your only escape option. With a long shallow dive you can get to safety even against some of the fastest planes.
If a co-alt bandit decides to tangle with you, you should be able to kill him with your agility or at least force him to dive out of the fight. Don't chase him, because Ki-61 has little acceleration and even less roll rate in a dive. Let him go and regain altitude to look for the next target.
The guns are very good. The clip is limited so you need to get very close. I get most of my kills under 200 yards. But at that range the concentrated fire of two cowl-mounted 20 mm is awesome. The MG are almost worthless and I fire them only for strafing, scaring bandits into turning, and when I'm out of cannon.
If you can fly and shoot well enough to get <200 yard planform snapshots, then you can B&Z as well. The plane is very effective in this role once you learn the guns. But don't dive too far to get to an enemy, because this plane just BLEEDS energy at very high speeds. And if you lose your energy you can't regain altitude, and if you can't regain altitude, you have no chance of escape from all the 1945 uber planes which are 75 mph faster in level flight.
[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: funkedup ]
