Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Axis vs Allies => Topic started by: Sabre on January 24, 2002, 10:30:57 AM
-
Starting this Saturday around 1900 GMT, a new CT tour will begin. "Fire in the Sky: War in the Southwest Pacific" will feature the PTO theater, circa 1943. Fields and plane set will be posted here sometime today. It is with regret that I must report that the Philippines terrain was not ready in time. Because of this, we will have to use the Ndisles terrain. I know, I know...it's not exactly new; however, I've tried to preserve some of the flavor that Invasion of the Philippines was to have. One third of the map will be neutral. One third will be Allied, but with no active fields close to enemy-held islands. The last third will be Japanese. Their island bases have been selected to loosely resemble the Solomon Islands chain. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to precisely recreate an actual place and time so much as give people a chance to try historical matchups.
The Allies get two USN carrier groups and one Royal Navy carrier group. The Japanese get two carrier groups. Because the initial Allied airbases are a bit far in the rear, they will have to capture some land bases in the Solomons via amphibious assault (or a fairly long-ranged airborne assault) before the Allied land based aircraft can become readily available at the front.
To win, the Allies will have to capture all the enemy bases on the Japanese' HQ island. This will be checked at midnight EST (0300 GMT). If the victory conditions are met at that time, the arena will be reset; otherwise the battle continues.
Due to the limited Japanese plane set, I've had to make a couple substitutions. Please keep an open mind about them regarding gameplay. Also, even though we are simulating the mid to late 1943 time frame, I've included the N1K2. It will have a heavy (for the CT, at least) perk value, and will only be available at the two large bases on the Japanese HQ island. I will keep a close eye on it's usuage and effect on the arena, and will adjust it's cost and availability as necessary. Again, this is mainly to give the Japanese enough choices to keep it interesting for them. And yes...the P38 is in there ;).
-
I'll miss Stalingrad but this should be a good setup too :)
Thanks for trying. Ndisles will work ok :)
Westy
-
Big thank you for the Stalingrad setup, it is awesome :eek:
Will now look forward to flying allies more often in the Pacific setups :)
mauser
-
I will fly both sides for sure.
See you in the blue tropical skies
-
Cont me in , I will be flying for the Empire of the Sun:)
-
"Fire in the Sky"
Allied Fields: A10, P14, A51, A53, P55, A56, A57, A59, A60, P65, C13, C54, C62
Aircraft/vehicles :
- Seafire, Sea Hurricane (HurrIIC) TBM, LVT available on C13
- F6F, TBM, LVT available on C54/62
- B17, B26, P38, P47D-11, C47 available at A57 & A59
- SpitV, C47 available at A10/51/53/56/60
- M8, M16, M3, LVT available at all bases
Available at Captured bases:
- Captured sml. A/B: F4U-1, TBM, C47
- Captured med. A/B: Above + P38, P47, B26, C47
- Captured lrg. A/B: All + B17
----------------------------------------------------
Japanese Fields:
A19, P21, A24, A25, V26, A27, A28, A29, A30, P32, A33, A34, A35, V36, A37, A38, A39, A40, C20, C31
Aircraft/vehicles:
- A6M, TBM, LVT available on C20/31
- N1K2 available at A33/34
- A6M, Ki61, Ki43 (C202), G5M (Ju88), C47 available at all IJ airbases
- M8, M16, M3, LVT available at all bases
Available at Captured bases:
- All captured bases: All except N1K2
----------------------------------------------------
Notes:
- P14 island is neutral except for P14, which is Allied
- P42 is neutral and may not be captured; C41 is may not be attacked
- Other neutral bases may be captured, but no A/C or vehicles are available there
- N1K2 will be perked at 10 points
- B17 will be perked at 10 points
Victory Conditions:
Allies must capture all the bases on the Japanese HQ Island (large island centered on grid 6,8); anything else is a Japanese victory. Victory conditions will be checked by the CT Team member each midnight (EST). If the Allies are in possesion of the Japanese HQ island, the arena will be reset.
Sabre
CT Team
-
WOOOHOOO 348th FG "Kearby's Thunderbolts" Homeland!!!!!!
Watch out for the P47!!
Any chance we can get wingtanks for this setup? (Ofcourse, we'll play without them if we cant :D )Historically the P47 didnt have the range required in the south pacific, so Gen. Kenney had them field modded to add 200 gal drop tanks.
btw "Fire in the Sky" Airwar in the South Pacific is a book by Eric Bergerud.
-
You didn't put a Spitfire F. MkVb in this did you? :D You did!!! mmm, more Spitfire goodness... *drool*
Spit dweebs rejoice! :)
-
This is going to be interesting ;)
Westysan
-
Kronos: Yep, great book. Read it twice myself, and it's a great reference. Regarding wing tanks, it is not within my power (awsome tho they are:)) to restrict ordnance via arena settings. So you may use what ever weapons and loadouts (including DTs) that show up on the Hanger clipboard.
I had to put Spits in...I just had too. Those Zekes have to have a challenge, after all :). I plan to monitor their usage quite closely, and will probably not allow them at captured fields. They are there to represent the ANZAC forces, and to the best of my knowledge were used primarily in the defense of Australia and New Zealand. That's why they're at only a couple of rear-area fields.
-
you guys forgot the 109's :)
-
Lemme see... F6F and P-47. Whee, yep, I'm gonna like this one!
Looks sweet, I'll check it out.
-
what I wouldn't give for a Kate or Jill for this setup. There's just something weird about having to use Avengers for both sides, but a VERY necessary weirdness. If it goes over well, I'll see about asking to do this in a Special Event (believe me, we WANT to do Pacific stuff, our hands are just really tied with the planeset on the Japanese side.)
Glad to see you interested, Leph. If I see you on, I'll wing with you in a Hellkittie. ;) Contrary to popular belief, I will fly something other than Spits. :D
Sabre, I like how the Marine Corsairs don't come in unless fields are captured. Adds a very nice touch.
-
Two questions if I may based on this, "Other neutral bases may be captured, but no A/C or vehicles are available there" from the write-up?
1. Will ack fire at Allies and Axis planes from these neutral bases?
2. Even though nothing can spwan from a captured 'neutral' base' will the rearm pads work once a base is captured?
Just to keep busy on this slow day I printed Vruth's map on Snefens AH map page and hilighted the Axis and Allied starting bases. and I see much fun. I wish I could fly this one 24hrs a day for the next week. A lot of interesting tactics and strategy (since there are no "overwhelming numbers" in there) will be need to be employed to kick off the territory taking. :)
maps:http://home14.inet.tele.dk/snefens/maps.html
I think this map and design was well thought out. !
Westy
-
People are probably gonna yell at me... but ..... :D
If your gonna perk the N1K2, you should perk the F6F, for the exact same reasons.
The N1K2 (late 44/early 45) is the upgraded version of the N1K1 which was available in late 43. Performancewise, the K2, is about 5 mph faster than the earlier version.
Our Hellcat is the F6F-5, which also wasn't available until 1944. The version that became available in August of 1943 was the F6F-3. Wanna guess the performance difference between the -3 and the -5 ? ;)
Five (5) miles per hour.
Fair is fair. :)
-
I was going to bring up that point Verm, but I didn't want to be called a Jap-whiner :)
-
1. Will ack fire at Allies and Axis planes from these neutral bases?
2. Even though nothing can spwan from a captured 'neutral' base' will the rearm pads work once a base is captured?
Ack at neutral bases will fire at both sides, until one side or the other captures them. Ack/Flak at neutral strat targets will shoot at both for the duration.
Yes, you can use the rearm pads at captured neutral bases. Think of them as emergency fields or (to use a modern term and concept) FARP's, which stands for Forward Area Refueling Point (or something like that:)).
Regarding the N1K2 vs the F6F...:p
-
re:rearm pads. "Think of them as.."
I was ;)
Westy
-
Oh, by the way. Dot dar is set at 5 miles, bar-dar at 35 miles, radar alt is 500 ft. Fuel burn rate modifier is 1.5 and icons are set to short.
It sounds like we got us a Gen. George "Westy" Kenny here, eh? "Plans within plans within plans..."
-
If you perk the Hellcat, you remove the only USN carrier fighter in the setup.
Besides, only 60 N1K2's were operational and flying at the end of 1944. They were a rare plane, even at the height of their production (428 total?). Also, the N1K1 was only in testing in mid 1943, and it wasn't until late 1943 that production models were received by squads (70 delivered by the end of 43.) Compare that to over 4,000 F6F-3 and over 6000 F6F-5 (neither figure includes the night model variants.) Don't have the totals at the end of 43 for the F6F-3 model tho. :)
I think the perk value (tho a bit high by CT standards) will reflect the rarity of the N1K vs the F6F (discounting model numbers in both.) Maybe the perk cost should be lowered to 7 or 8?
-
"It sounds like we got us a Gen. George "Westy" Kenny here, eh? "Plans within plans within plans...""
lol. Kind of. Only because it's slow here today. But once I get home I'm on DD (diaper duty).
I've had a few minutes to look at it from both sides and I see where I'd tend to strike first, from where and either how or with what.
(I always got my arse kicked playing RISK though so I may be more of a General Bumbles)
Westy
-
S!
The perking of N1k2 is a question of history and numbers, but also a question of balance.
Quite simply a N1k2 matched up against a P-47D11 or F4U-1 is not a good match. Against a Hellcat, the N1k2 also would be dominant.
We do not have the F4UD in this Scenario, we don`t have the P-47D30, we don`t have the P-51D, not to mention we don`t have the C-Hog. These are all the natural historical opponents for the N1k2. They aren`t in the Scenario because they are `44 aircraft.
The two U.S. `44 aircraft included, the P-38L and F6f5 do not have huge performance advantages over their `43 counterparts.
And the other Japanese planes are quite up to the task of fighting any of the Allied planes in the setup.
I will fly Japanese more often, and personally I think a Ki61 Tony will kick D11 and F4U-1 butt. The Hellcat is a good match for it. They are both very similar in performance, with the Tony having a little better turn and the Hellcat having a little more speed. The P-38L would give it trouble if it is flown smart, but the high speed maneuverability of the Tony will make the Lightning look like a cargo plane if U.S. pilot isn`t careful.
The A6M5 is also vastly underated. A single Zeke can make a mess out of a bunch of low Allied planes.
Sabre could also have allowed the B-17 to be unperked. That wouldn`t be out of line with history, but likely would unbalance things.
-
I Would have to agree the Tony is a good plane in this line up, one simply neads to place his shots, those guns hit hard you just nead to be carefull how you use your ammo, and the Zero a favorate of mine it is a realy fun plane to fly, I remember one night when my old squadie Wotan got in one and hosed like 5 in a row came over RW Louad and Clear " The Zeor Rocks!"
-
WTG CT CREW!
Gotta a brand new squad just itching to fly here.:D
Thanks for all the work.
-
You all realize of course that the A6M5b and Ki-61-I-KAIc are also 1944 aircraft, right?
-
S!
Karnak mentions another fact which is part of the issue. We have definite '43 aircraft in the Spit V, P-47D11, F4U-1, Hurricane IIC, versus a Japanese '44 (and '45 in case of N1k2) lineup.
Another reason not to unperk the N1k2.
-
Buzzbait bring that Tony on! I'll match up against you in my P47D11 :)
heh, u'll prolly kick my butt, but I'll give u a run for ur money :D
Kronos
-
Originally posted by Karnak
You all realize of course that the A6M5b and Ki-61-I-KAIc are also 1944 aircraft, right?
Ki-61-I-KAIc entered service in Jan. 1943 and A6M5 entered service in the fall of 1943 according to my reference.
I've been eagerly awaiting this setup. I will practically live in the CT for the duration, as long as there's someone else there to shoot. Lockheeds and Kawasakis...mmmm...my favorite planes from each respective nation. :D
CT Team!
-
Ki-61-I entered service in August, 1942.
A6M5 entered service in August, 1943.
Ki-61-I-KAIc entered service in January, 1944.
A6M5b entered service in April, 1944.
-
I'm curious Karnak, what is your source for those dates? I suspect one of us has an error in our reference material. I have the Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft by Enzo Angelucci. It lists dates for the Ki-61 as follows:
First flight of prototype: Dec. 1941
Service entry of Ki-61-I: Aug. 1942
Service entry of Ki-61-I KAIc: Jan. 1943
Service entry of Ki-61-II KAI: Sep. 1943
This has piqued my interest, I'm gonna do some poking around on the net and see what I can turn up.
I'm not contesting the date of the A6M5b. My text didn't have a date for that particular sub-variant. Whats the diff between the 5 and 5b anyway? Just one 7.7 upgraded to 12.7...is that all, or was there more?