F4u-4 and F8F

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by Laurwin

Ouch just had a bad game vs those late war Japanese monster planes (including infamous heavy cannon 30mm ki84).

What could i have done differently in corsair-d?

Well we were using " kinda " bnz tactics. More like vertical aand horizontal turnfighting to be honest.

I got couple kills and couple share-kills.

Then i died making a pass at a betty bomber g4m. I should have dropped to his low six to avoid rear gunner I think, it doesnt have a botton gunner rite?

But even those kills against japanese monster ac could still be made with bnz, and keeping energy high. Also perhaps, corsair might have advatage at higher alt? (we were low-med alt)

Gunnery is more difficult.imo, with CONGESTED NAVY GUNSIGHT. I mean you can hardly see thru it, where the.bandit actually is flying to. I always liked p-47-d-27 gunsite more.

So mainly enemy acs were ki84 30mm, and j2m raiden. I could have taken p38 L but ive heard that its quite bad vs those ki84s (i remember bigsilverhotdog made video he said p38 is outclassed - defensive choices video)

The Ki-84, particularly given the modelling that it has in IL-2, holds all of the cards against the Corsair except for durability and by the amount of firepower it can carry around. The Ki-84 as modelled assumes best operating condition and so it has a higher top speed, better climb rate, better turn rate, similar roll rate, etc. The J2M3 is the same and basically holds all of the same advantages.

The Corsair can soak up a lot more damage than both of these and it can carry a hell of a lot more weaponry for ground attack but as far as fighter vs fighter it is outclassed. If the Ki-84 had an additional version modelled assuming frontline conditions the performance difference would be much less... but the Ki-84 is an exceptional fighter.

Note the Ki-84-Ic with 30mm cannons may have never even seen combat so this isn't a purely historical match either. With the 30mm cannons he goes from owning the battle to domination in a 1 v 1 situation.

Your best bet is to take additional time to climb to a position of advantage and use sweeping attacks in a coordinated fashion. With energy advantage you can force him to evade and with team tactics you can ensure that no matter what way he breaks there will always be a Corsair in firing position. One or two glancing hits near the wing roots and his fuel tanks will light on fire. The J2M3 is a smaller target and a little bit tougher but no less vulnerable so exploit their weakness in toughness and make sure you can get some rounds on target.

Also the F4U-1C is probably your best option Corsair wise against these top level Japanese fighters. The four 20mm cannons will explode them rapidly.

Also the P-38L Late with the extra boost on the engines is actually a decent option. It'll be faster than both at most or all altitudes... it suffers by being a big target and somewhat less agile but if you're very good with the P-38 then you can manage your energy well and out perform them. The P-51 would be a more solid match here as well.