Who has the best fighters?

The Pilots

There are two attributes that are important to a fighter pilot - aircraft and fighter.  The aircraft stat determines how easily you evade enemy fire and the fighter stat determines your ability to hit the enemy. From the very beginning of the fighter race the United States takes the lead and never gives it up, with Germany as a close second, and Great Britain and Japan in a tie for last.  The aircraft growth is equal for all nations, but I included it with the data below just so you can benchmark your own crew and see the difference between the ability to attack (fighter) and the ability to parry that attack (aircraft). All the data below is for crew that start with a growth in both fighter and aircraft of +10, and a starting ability of 25.  This is the average, but of course any fighter with different beginning stats will have different ability as he progresses through the levels.

So now we can see that in the end-game (level 110) the United States has 364 more ability points over Great Britain and the Japanese - a sum of more than fifteen percent! Against Germany the U.S. only has a 98 point edge, totaling less than a 5% discrepancy.  When you compare Germany vs. Great Britain or Japan, the difference is 266 ability points, or about an 11% advantage.  Of course these ability advantages are very small at level 40 when all nations are eligible to create fighter pilots, but they grow larger as the game progresses.  Also, your ability is affected by how many experts and veterans you have on your sailor - so it's very conceivable that a Japanese pilot with many experts and veterans will be a better than an American pilot with little experts and veterans.

For more information about experts and veterans, click here.

Do pilots with +11 or +12 growth really make a difference?

Lets take a look at the numbers.  In the first column we'll put an American fighter pilot with +10 starting fighter growth, then we'll pit him against six other pilots with different growth. Note that I didn't include aircraft growth and ability values because its the same for everyone.

As the data shows, only a German pilot with +12 fighter (a very rare find!) can match an American pilot with a +11 initial fighter growth. Data for an American pilots with +12 starting growth isn't included because it is, without debate, the best fighter pilot in the game.  More importantly, the data also shows that a British or Japanese pilot with +12 fighter growth will not be as good as an American one with only +10, although the gap has closed considerably.

The Planes

Of course a fighter pilot is only as good as the plane he's flying, and visa-versa.  So in order to determine who has the best fighters, we're going to have to move beyond the pilots themselves and take a close look at what machines they're flying!  Some stats aren't listed below to save space and because they're all the same. For instance, every level 40 fighter takes 10 seconds to prepare and every level 60 fighter 11 seconds.  All fighters have a HE defense of 1, and all level 40 fighters weight 2.7 tons and take up 60 space, while their level 60 counterparts weigh 3.1 tons and take up 80 units of hanger space. Since they're all even, neither nation has a particular advantage over the other.  However, these plane attributes tell the real story...

		Level	Durability	AP Def.	Speed	Attack	Fuel
F4F Wildcat		40	164	20	560	100	134
F6F Hellcat		60	184	23	600	115	129
Sea Gladiator		40	174	25	550	100	124
Sea Hurricane		60	194	28	590	115	119
A5M Claude		40	196	20	560	100	134
A6M Zero		60	189	23	600	115	129
Ar-197		40	164	23	550	115	124
Me-109		60	184	26	590	130	119

Here we start to see some balance take shape. Great Britain and Japan, the two countries with the least capable pilots, are sporting the most durability - an aircraft's ability to take damage. Great Britain also takes the lead in AP defense, with Germany in a close second, and the United States and Japan forming the rear. Unfortunately for pilots of the Royal Navy, while their planes might have the best defense and hit points, it comes at the cost of speed and fuel consumption. Japan and the United States boast the fastest planes with the greatest flight time, with Germany not far behind. The Germans, with decent durability, armor, and speed, boast the biggest punch - it's level 40 starting fighter does as much damage as the level 60 fighter for the other three nations.

Conclusion

It's too hard to say which fighter plane is the best because they all have good strengths and weaknesses, so the question ping-pongs back to a matter of pilot skill. In that case, since the Americans are not at any distinct disadvantage, their already excellent pilots are going to keep the #1 position. The Japanese and Americans have some fast planes with good hitting power and endurance. The Germans have hitting power and the British with survivability in place of speed. In a classic fighter head-to-head before the inevitable circle jerk I think the Germans really have a big advantage, but when it comes to chasing down enemy bombers and knocking them down, the Americans and Japanese are the only ones with the speed to really get the job done in the early stages.

Dive-bomber speeds are such that all of them can out-run the British and German level 40 fighters, so if a quick interception isn't made, they can get away or reach their target. The American and Japanese fighters can at least run them down, especially the level 60 ones weighing in at 600 kph. Alas, the Germans really do make a come-back with the Me-109. Even though it's slower than most level 60 counter-parts, it has no equal when it comes to giving out damage, meanwhile also having good durability and defense. I think the Me-109 can give the Germans some sort of parity with the United States in the fighter realm.

A properly trained American pilot with enough experts to maximize his potential ability is going to have a distinct advantage - especially over the British and Japanese.  The only hope of meeting on equal terms is to deploy more fighters to compensate, train pilots with very high fighter growth, or make sure you have enough veterans and experts to over-power your pilot. To further strengthen your fighter wing, the player can use better combat tactics than his opponents, and learn to avoid situations that put his crew at a disadvantage.