How do you deal with early Japanese props as US?

Game Discussion Realistic Battle
1

The only early prop that i find decent and like playing in the US tree is the P51C-10, but i’m really struggling against japanese creatures such as Ki 100, B7A2 and A6M*

Realistically speaking boom and zoom goes out the window since they will always be above me, next to their german friends.
That leaves me with outrunning them, which is great, but now what? I fly for 2 min and get a around 3 km of separation then go for a head-on since i can outrange them, but those mosquitoes are really good at dodging and if i keep going forward they do an instant turn and end up 0.4km behind me while they go 500km/s (i will eventually get away but they start climbing and our energy is equal again) or i can use the energy stored in my balls for a few maneuvers that i will never get firing solution. This is the playstyle i go with and it works, except against these creatures

How do you beat a competent jap player?
Also I feel the need to mention this again for the vision impaired people that i’m only referring to EARLY props, i don’t have this problem in the P51H so i don’t want to hear massive copes that the japs are overtiered

2

f6f hellcat and f4f-3 (they turn incredibly well)

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3

Find a way for that condition to not be true. Side climb, wait for them to commit to a target and then bounce them.

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4

f6f hellcat and f4f-3 (they turn incredibly well)

Find a way for that condition to not be true. Side climb, wait for them to commit to a target and then bounce them.

thanks guys, this actually made me laugh

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5

I climb higher than them and use my superior energy.

6

I love the Wildcats and Hellcats. I wouldn’t say they turn incredibly well though, just regular well

Quite sturdy machines that can take a beating and keep going

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7

If your plane faster than what japanese plane you fighting-climb high and try endless boom and zoom

8

BNZ planes with them american fighters are very good at BNZ

9

With brain power. If he is better than you (check stat cards before you engage in a 1 vs 1) the best solution is often to keep him busy and prevent him from murdering your team.

Imho your P-51 C-10 is able to deal with all 3 of your mentioned aircraft. The climb of the C-10 is not bad at all, use 100% prop pitch and coolers to 80% and you have infinite WEP without overheating.

Their ability to loop behind you is extremely annoying - but the key is the distance before you turn around - 3 km is way too near as you lose a hell of speed in your 180 turn. Try it with 6 km before turning around, this allows you to increase your speed and minimizes their firing solution time after the merge.

Have in mind that all 3 JP planes are significantly slower and you gain way more energy than them in high speed zoom climbs - in other words you have to keep them outside their optimal climb speeds. On top of that: The B7A2 has a very low rip speed of ~ 680 kmph TAS so by playing an easy victim you can bait some of them in high speed dives which costs them a hell of energy.

Technically seen Ki-100s are very late props…they saw combat 1st in 1945. B7A2s mid 1944 and A6Ms the whole war :-)

In total opposition to the P-51 H-5 which never saw combat in WW 2, same as the P-51 D-30.

The 3.3 F6F-5 is a beast - basically the only US prop i fly (for Rank II daily tasks) and is (u need MEC) usually underestimated. With sideclimbing, and staying out of spotting ranges & slightly below contrail alt you can even deal with B7A2s (if they are lower) as the first two turns are impressive.

Look at the stats of the fellow player @F6F_Minsi_III - he performs insanely well with them.

2 Likes
10

First time i see good advice. Using MEC is a game changer on them temperatures (i stopped using it a few years ago because i read somewhere it no longer worked and auto is doing a good job lmao)

The reason i could only get 3km separation is because i had to throttle down all the time, damn temperature was always flashing red

These jap planes wouldn’t be so oppressive if they had their real life compression

11

Glad i could help.

To be fair - the 100 pp & 80 rad settings are pure fantasy. If you do some research this would require that the P-51 had to be flown just with one hand as he would have needed the other hand to press the radiator button the whole time. I just forgot which hand :-)

13

That’s Grumman iron works for you

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14

The issue is that while playing USA air at that BR you will not have a single teammate who can pull their weight. The P-51C is obscenely good at 3.7, if you don’t get slow in a bad situation it won’t be the cause of your problems.

So my first suggestion is bringing a squadmate along, you can pull one or two enemies from the main furball and then it’s easy pickings to take them out. Just come in at completely different times so when they’d be turning behind one of you and shooting, the other comes in and shuts that down.

And I’m not joking btw, even if you’re flying very strong USA aircraft at these BRs, it’s absolute hell to win a match most of the time.

2 Likes
15

Definitely is energy fighting

Context: I am a Japan Main and Zeros are some of my most flown and favourite aircraft, Ive spaded every tech tree japanese plane (and tank) in the game with the exception of the new Thai subtree.

P-51C shouldnt have any issue out climbing most japanese planes at its BR, except Id say the Ki-44s.

You have to just energy trap them, come at them fast and dont stop. Let them flip around and drain all their energy. While a Zero or Ki-43 may be able to flip on you fairly quickly, the Ki-61s, ki-100, and even the Ki-44 probably wont turn fast enough for that. But they’ll only really be able to do it in the first pass before they lose too much energy to keep up and shoot at you as you escape.

As a Zero pilot, there is nothing more frustrating than a competent US player who wont turn with you and just keeps coming back at you with repeated slashing attacks. You literally cannot do anything except dodge his passes and hope a teammate that can catch him comes to save you. You often cant even really run because hes still faster than you, you cant gain energy or altitude because you keep having to dump it in dodging his passes, and your only firing solution to shoot back as he flies off is often terrible and just drains your ammo for nothing.

That said, the Ki-61s are pathetic at climbing and holding energy, the Ki-100 was meh as well iirc. But the Ki-44s are bonkers strong, great climbers and good turners. The B7A2 rolls like crap, so your best bet is to use that to your advantage. Scissor maneouvers are good here, but it also is clunky to fly even though it turns well, and does dump its energy pretty fast.

All that said, I consider the A6M5s and some of the A6M3s over tiered (they are above the BR you are talking about) but most of the japanese aircraft around 3.7 are pretty fairly balanced. (Though both Ki-44s could probably go up 0.3)

Edit: A6M2 also rolls a bit slower to the right than it does to the left, and the K-44s dont really like rolling upside down, they kinda flop around when you try to go inverted

17

f4f has an 18 sec turn time (but is much faster) and the hellcat has a 19sec (also much faster) it only applied to the f4f-3 and the f6f-5 though the other ones are worse in terms of performance (in exchange for better weapons)

18

Whilst i agree with your overall post - a word regarding the B7A2:

Yes, the plane is rather stiff and a Ki-44 is way more agile (for me way too nervous), but i recommend to give the B7A2 a 2nd try - with a HOTAS in Air RB.

  • The plane is very stable (i use SFC and not FR controls, no instructor) and i can’t remember getting killed by an US fighter - and i don’t suffer from Alzheimer.

  • Even as the rip speed is very low, the main benefits are airspawn, the very good turn and the air brake - dropping on enemies with a perfect timing allows you to park there long enough to kill anything in front of you.

  • I mean outrolling a B7A2 might look like a possible strategy - but even 190s or Yak 3s can just escape by diving away (190s) or extending on the deck (Yak-3), all you need to do is to drop throttle or use the air brake.

  • And yes, it loses energy quite fast, but this requires just more planning, it’s no furball plane like an A6M.

Have a good one!