KI84 help

[BoostPSI]

I am flying in the AvA arena. I Never once set foot in a jap plane, except a Zeke a few times, and I don't quite get this plane yet.

Situation. I was one on one with a co-alt D-25. He slammed the breaks on me and I couldn't shake him from my six. Only reason I survived was I had a teammate come help me out. I think the biggest mistake was I kept my speed and he nailed the breaks. Then I got cocky because I knew he was in a jug and turned instead of maintaining my E. I overestimated the KI, and Underestimated his Jug(Even though I know the D-25 is a very capable bird!)

What are this things strengths/weaknesses? Will flaps help/hurt?

Any hints on flying the Honda?

Thanks in advance

[Gulp]

Flaps help, but they deploy at a very slow speed.  You should have a good climb & roll advantage on the jug if things were slowed down.  You can also dump and gain E faster than a jug I believe (unless the jug is diving).

I fly the KI alot, but I only have a 20-30 sorties in jugs.

[Hazard69]

A very important detail that is missing here is altitude......

Things change dramatically between the 47 and the KI with altitude.

As a thumb rule the lower the fight, the better for the KI.

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by BoostPSI
What are this things strengths/weaknesses? Will flaps help/hurt?  

The Frank, in my opinion, is the best dogfighting plane in AH2.  Think of it as a feather with a big engine and big guns.  It can outturn any other plane in the current AvA setup, including the Corsair, but you have to do that by deploying your flaps and keeping your nose higher than his.  Superior low-speed handling - in fact, that's really where it excels - but it's also fast enough to keep up with most other planes you'll meet.  It isn't an easy plane to learn, so use the rest of this week to good advantage and practice with it.

I think it was Widewing who discovered that the combat trim kept the Frank from obtaining its best performance at higher speeds.  So dedicate one of your joystick buttons to toggle combat trim on and off, and turn it off when you begin your fight.

- oldman

[KONG1]

84 has a particular speed where it gets particularly squirrelly (somebody help me here) like to say somewhere between 180-200 range. You'll know it when you find it.

[JagdTankker]

The most important item for flying the Ki-84 is the FUEL.

Make sure you take 50% fuel, at take off switch to the center tank(shift + F to change tanks) and burn it down to 1/2 then go back to auto fuel burn.

note: when the writing in the fuel gauge is in white lettering it is in Automatic fuel burn.

[SuperDud]

Get the fight slow as soon as possble. That's where the KI owns almost any plane in the game. The only exception I can think of is the zero and maybe a nik. And even the zero might have troubles in the verticle with a KI.

[Gowan]

Originally posted by SuperDud
Get the fight slow as soon as possble. That's where the KI owns almost any plane in the game. The only exception I can think of is the zero and maybe a nik. And even the zero might have troubles in the verticle with a KI.

i am a frank dweeb, and through my research, the only series that just can't seem to lose against the ki-84 is the spitfires,

i have a stat sheet that i might be able to put up on this forum soon, but its on my user at school...

[SgtPappy]

Well I've out-turn many-a spitfire (even if they were a little better than beginner) with the Frank flaps down. Those Fowler's really push the turn rate up.

But It's not hard to get away from a Frank in the vertical, it's not the best there. In a Spitfire VIII for example, you can easily out-zoom and out-accelerate the Frank. The zoom is amplified for American fighters and if Widewing is correct (since he usually is) the P-51 will start to really become a nasty problem if fixed.

[SuperDud]

Originally posted by Gowan
i am a frank dweeb, and through my research, the only series that just can't seem to lose against the ki-84 is the spitfires,

Get to stall speed and you will.

[bongaroo]

KI-84 is uber.  HTC should perk it.

Not really but man do I love that plane.  It's a pretty dang good plane to fly in the 200-300 mph zone.  But the key to winning against most planes in it is to try to keep the nose above the horizon.  Now obviously if you need to dive under a BnZ attack, by all means do it.  But when the fight starts to get into horizontal turns you need to be pointing the nose up.  This climb with store up E in the form of alt while dropping your speed into the sweet slow speed to pop the flaps out and all of a sudden become a monster turner.

Shoot in short bursts.  You have plenty ammo but those MGs have a high rate of fire.  Your peashooters aren't useless either, I can knock two sometimes three planes out with those once out of cannons.

Don't dive after planes that are faster than you.  You'll rip your wings off and at high speeds the KI84 gets sluggish handling.  If you want to pursue, follow them in a shallow dive.

Look for me in that nice black skin with the red arrow.  After spending the time to learn the KI84 proper I've gotten much better in other rides.  It's such a great plane I recommend it to everyone.

Oh yeah, for fuel I don't know if you really need to bother with any funny tank burn order.  Auto has done me just fine.  I used to take 50% and the dts but now I usually just go 100%

[Krusty]

The secret to flying the Ki84, in all the time I've flown it, seems to be 1 thing and 1 thing alone.




My lucky skin.

It brings me luck! No, really!

[A8TOOL]

i'VE BEEN FLYING IT IN THE da AND MAIN THIS CAMP AND ( oops caps) Love it.
I've found that it can reach speeds of over 400 in a dive but starts to really compress from there. if not careful, off come the stabilizers. I have noticed plenty of times it seems to get squirrelly in a climb when you turn out of it to chase an enemy down. It may just be my stick settings since it does happen with two others. Combat trim was a big help but still learning when and where to turn it on and off. I got my guns set 325 cannon 200  225 for MG. It does turn well slow but i do get that, I want to roll thing happen at those speeds. I am able to out run most planes with it as long as i have time to see the need coming. that leads me into throttle management part of what i have top say about the plane here. Some planes are flap driven, others rudder or throt. This plane seems to handle best for me using a combination of all three in this order of importance. throt, rudder. flaps. get off that throt early and or cut rpms before the fight and wep on to set it back. You need 2 buttons on stick or throt to do this efficiently unless a keyboard geek. Anyway i'm still practicing and loving it. the other plane I have given a little time to in the DA was the 152 which i think has similar qualities even tho a whole nother animal.

EDIT:  Oh yeah I have a lucky skin too. The black one but it looks dark brown to me while in the cockpit

[Krusty]

That's because it IS dark brown. Not black. You'll note the anti-glare on the nose IS black and can see the difference in color between it and the rest of the paint.