Guppy,
We actually discussed Me 262's at length while designing this. If you look at the change logs in the event you will see that the discussion swung many times. The Me 262 is overrated in events, in my opinion and some others. Sounds rich from perdweeb, I know, but success against high altitude, late war USAAF is difficult to obtain. B-17 and B-24 formations (boxes if you will) are death sentences to 262's. I, and my squadron under my orders in FSO, do not attack them unless they are alone (without fighters and without multiple formations around them). If the sets find themselves alone, they are certainly dead. So, instead, it is more effective to attack and attract escorts. This also means that you are a target for likely higher fighters. In this setup, there is no fighter alt cap. Me 262's will struggle to get to 28K while P-51's and P-47's circle over at 32-34K. Relatively, the 262 is not as fast as it seems at 12K in the MA, the speed charts conform to this.
With regards to the number of Me 262's, it is a twofold answer. Having anything less than 4 of anything that shoots down aircraft should not happen. This is regardless of how many pilots are participating. It makes for a strange strategic element as well as a strange experience for the pilots. This is an opinion, mind you, and I expect many to disagree with this. I believe that if you cannot justify having four fighters of any kind, then you may as well have zero. I do not recall jets throwing things off. I remember Frame 6 of BoG when the jets did little, accounting for only around 10% of the total Axis kills. I am not saying that jets aren't or won't be impactful, but they are nothing like what you are describing. I have flown 262's in about every setting one could imagine, my least favorite is against late war Americans at high altitude. The reasons for this should be obvious.
As for the Ar 234, it is nigh harmless. It scouts and goes fast, that is about it. It is not allowed to attack bombers nor may it bomb anything. It will just fly around and report locations. I wouldn't worry too much about them, personally.
After consoling the list of aircraft and squadrons available in this event, I thought I might like to fly the Me 262 and lead its pilots. As the CO of the only dedicated Me 262 squadron in Aces High, I believe our squadron and myself always needs sharpening. In fact, last year we had a squad discussion about our poor performances in jets over the last few events we had them in. I really enjoy flying the Me 262, just as some enjoy flying F4U's, P-38's, Fw 190D's, P-51's, etc. I also enjoy the tactics at the grand and local levels of a jet squadron. I don't quite understand how it looks bad to choose an airplane and squadron to fly in on the registration page. With that being said, if a newcomer to TFT wishes to fly a Me 262 and there are none to go around, he may certainly fly mine a round or two if the Axis CO is okay with it
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