Guadalcanal Proposal

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

So with the next campaign is almost guaranteed to be Guadalcanal, seeing the inclusion of a mini map for it in the game editor so I thought I’d get ahead of the curve and make a proposal for the campaign. I did my best to stick to historical realism, but for balance reasons certain ahistorical things were added. However, everything fall into the “it existed during the time of the battle, we can add it” rule the devs follow. I’ll explain every ahistorical choice after, but for now here is the proposal.

Historical inaccuracies.

Sten and Owen SMGs:
Now obviously the Americans did not use either of these guns, but the Americans in 1942 early 1943 lack any low level SMGs. Meanwhile, the Royal Australian Navy brought both and while none of them actually landed, the guns were present and due to the Americans need for low level SMGs, I included both.

Winchester M1895:
The Americans really lack in bolt actions and while I could do the same thing I did with the Sten and give an SMLE, I figured the Winchester fit the Americans better and thus gave them that.

Type Mo rifle III:
It’s just a vz. 24 and while I’m not sure where or if it was used, it seemed like the best gun to include, better than the Type Mo I or II which are Kar98k variants.

Type 89 I-Go Ko:
Ironically, Japan needed a more low level tanks and the I-Go kinda fits nicely into this spot so while it was never in Guadalcanal, it was in service from 1936 and was still being used at the time of Guadalcanal, so I figured it was an ok inclusion.

SB2U-2
The SB2U-2 was a phased out before the start of WW2 with the SB2U-3 being the only SB2U that saw service in WW2. However, that one has 4x .50 cals which would be complicated for balance, so I opted to make it the SB2U-2 in the name of balance.

Type Ko, Otsu and Hei rifles:
These are semi-automatic rifles that competed to be adopted by the Japanese army prior to the Second Sino-Japanese war and while none of these were adopted, all of them had prototypes made and existed to the same degree that the Zh-29 did, so I see no reason they should not be included. The Type Ko and Hei rifles are Pederson rifle copies with the Type Ko having an internal magazine and the Type Hei having a removable box magazine, while the Type Otsu is derived from the Zh-29. all of them are chambered in 6.5 Arisaka, but there are longer variants of the Type Ko and Type Hei rifles.

Flamethrowers:
The M1 flamethrower only saw service in the European theater, and the Type 93 and the Type 100 flamethrowers were typically used in places like Burma and the Philippines, with only a few sketchy records of them being used on the islands, but for gameplay sake, all of these should be included.

Experimental Model 1 SMG/Model 2 SMG or Nambu Type 1 SMG/Type 2 SMG:
Both of these are Nambu machine guns designed prior to the break out of the World War and as a cosnequence of the Second Sino-Japanese war. Neither were probably on Guadalcanal, but they were probably used at some point, with Chinese forces reporting having captured them, and later producing a copy of the Model 2 with the Mukden Type 2 SMG. The name of these SMGs depend on weather you want to call them by the direct translation from Japanese or use the English naming conventions for Japanese weapons, but either is technically correct.

Lewis and Vickers K:
Similarly to the situation with the Sten and the Owen, the Us lacks any real LMG that can be considered “end game” levels, with the M1919a6 coming out fall of 1943 after Guadalcanal wraps up so we turn to the nearby Royal Australian Navy to borrow a few guns. The Lewis and Vickers K were both used in Commonwealth ships, so the presence of the Australian navy justifies these guns in my eye. As for balance, the Type 92 light machine gun is literally just a copied Lewis and so the 47 round pan can match the Lewis no questions asked, while the Vickers K can have a 60 round mag to make up for it’s faster ROF. The 60 round mag was the more common mag anyways.

Ki-44:
The Ki-44 was an interceptor plane by design and was not really going to be used to fight for air superiority over any island, however that is the case for most of the German Aircraft in Normandy and since the Ki-44 did exist and was used extensively during the time frame of Guadalcanal, it should be ok to add.

Other notes.

To balance the fact that no Japanese tank (other than the Ka-Mi) has a coaxial, I chose to make it so that they tend to have larger HE rounds. The only breaks from this are the Ha-Go vs M2a4 and the Chi-Ha Kai against the M8 Scott. For the Chi-Ha Kai against the Scott, I figured the Scott’s open top and lack of coaxial justified it’s match with the smaller caliber Chi-Ha Kai, but that be debated on. As for the Ha-Go, yeah that one is kind of fucked regardless. The American don’t have a tank that either has a smaller caliber main cannon that fits the time frame, or a tank without a coaxial machine gun so I just said fuck it and let the Japanese start of with a slight disadvantage. The I-Go at level 9 should make up for the Ha-Go’s pitiful anti-infantry abilities.

The M8 grenade launcher, or the grenade launcher for the M1 Carbine does not exist until 1944, meaning it cannot be included in any early war campaign. However, grenade launchers for the M1903 Springfield and the M1917 Enfield exist and predate the war, so those can be added in their stead. The Marines probably brought a few with them as they were issued with Springfields, so yeah.

The Garand, Carbine and Johnson are all historically accurate as the Army followed the Marines ashore, and the Army had had the Garand as standard issue since 1936 and the Carbine as standard issue for reserve troops starting mid 1942, meaning the Army brought both of those. As for the Johnson, the Dutch government ordered a bunch of them to be shipped to the Dutch East Indies but after that fell in early 1942, The Marines swooped in and acquired the remainder of the shipment with the permission of the Dutch government. From there, the Marines would use the Johnson all throughout the Solomon Islands, including at Guadalcanal.

Technically this proposal could apply to the entire Solomon’s islands campaign and include all the islands, but I only proposed Guadalcanal as that is what is in the mission editor.

The Corsair would be the USMC modification of the F4U-1A where they removed the hardpoints, got rid of the arrestor gear and lightened the aircraft in other ways improving it’s overall performance. At this time, the Navy was not operating the Corsair and the Marines were the only ones who where but in that modified state, meaning the Corsair has no payload.

The Jeep, Kurogane and the motorbikes have no records of their combat modifications at Guadalcanal, but they were all there and considering the fact that the Harley’s modification as shown in game isn’t even real, it should be fine.

Another note about the Jeep and the Kurogane, the guns are fixed forwards in the passenger seat, as that is the only recorded mention of the Kurogane having a weapon mounted to it. Think something like this (yes I know it’s Germans in this picture, but that is clearly a Jeep and a 1919, and it’s the only picture I could find of the 1919 mounted in the place it needs to be to be balanced):

About the gold order/premium squad weapons.

The M1922 Cavalry Machine Rifle is another BAR variant designed for the Cavalry before they shifted to being an armored force. It didn’t enter service because it couldn’t sustain fire well enough and when the Cavalry moved to mechanization, the downsides of the 1919 became irrelevant.

The Type 11 LMG is that hopper fed LMG the Japanese made.

The Remington Model 8 is a Semi-Automatic rifle designed by John Browning for civilian uses that competed against the Garand. It lost because it had to be chambered in either .25 Remington or .30 Remington which the US did not use at the time.

The Type Hei rifle is the shortened version of the Type Hei rifle long

The Thompson Autorifle was designed by John Thompson, the creator of the Thompson SMG, and competed against the Garand. It used a Blish lock like the Thompson and had an internal 5 round magazine or could take BAR magazines depending on the variant. It was found to be unreliable, difficult to maintain and ergonomically poor.

The Hino-Homuro M1904 was a Japanese semi-automatic weapon weapon designed by Captian Hino Kumazo some time between 1897 and 1904. Not much is know about this gun and even the name is up for debate.

The Thompson light rifle is a Thompson chambered in .30 carbine. It competed against the M1 carbine and lost, but had was able to go full auto before the carbine had it.
(no good image available in any reasonable image format)

The Tokyo Aresnal Model 1927 was an SMG built by Tokyo Arsenal and trialed by both the Japanese Army and Navy where it failed to impress either due to reliability issues.

The Austen SMG was a gun derived from a Sten built in Australia. While it did not enjoy nearly the same amount of success the Owen did, it was still adopted by the Australian armed forces in 1942 and was used throughout the war

The Mauser C96 M712 is the fully automatic version of the Mauser C96 broomhandle pistol. It was popular among Chinese warlords, as well as the Nationalist and the Communist forces. The Japanese who captured them also liked them a great deal. The stock is technically optional, but the one in game has a stock so whatever.

[Winter_Storm]

why don’t we make the assaulter 1 squad actually Australians

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

Because the only Australians there were the Royal Australian Navy.

[TheRockFID]

Bro idk about historical payloads of the aircraft in that time period but it’s kinda unfair that the Americans airplanes most of the time get more bombs than the japanese airplanes …

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

The Japanese get bombs on 4 fighters and 3 attackers, while the Americans get bombs on 3 fighters and 3 attackers, as well as an attacker with rockets. I think that is fair.

[Brrady]

I can see several issues hear.

Kind of depends on the time frame your looking to model as well

You have British infantry kit for one, the US did not use any on Guadalcanal, and the hellcat for another one.

Wildcat and the A6M2 are a better pairing imo and there are a couple different Wildcat models you can chose from, for the A6M2 and the A6M3

The US did not use a 2 inch mortar, the 60 mm, and the Knee mortar is unlike any other mortar really

F4U is also a bit late in the game but would be better matched against something like the Ki 61

I cant see the Rider squad in the Jungle myself

D4Y1, another really kind of late war plane. Guadalcanal was really over by early 43, and the only D4Y’s operational were a couple recon variants in 42 on KB.

No Ki 44’s were operational in the SWPA , a Ki 45 would work though

The P 38 is another over kill US plane imo, The Best Japanese performer will be the Ki 61 that was in theater in this time frame, I would sujest selecting a US plane that that matches it better for the top of the food chain, and Ki 61 did not actually operate over Guadalcanal, but were at Rabaul.

So, some period correct and a campaign correct Japanese planes are:

A6M2
A6M3
Ki-43
Ki-48
D3A1 and 2
B5N2
G3M
G4M
H6K
H8K

All those flew operationally over Guadalcanal during the fighting these, I left out things like float planes.

In theater, Ki 61, Ki 45, J1N, Ki 46

Allied Planes:

F4F-3
F4F-4
SBD
TBF
B25
B17
PBY
Hudson
P 400
P 39
P-40

In Theater:

Brewster, Vindicator, Devastator, B 26, B 24

The problem you have with the P 38 and the F4U and to less extant the Hellcat is they possess a huge performance advantage over the Zero and Oscar, so it would imo, play better f you went with the planes that were actually operational over Guadalcanal for the most part.

The P 38 could be Collectors plane

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

First off, the British kit for the US is there because the US lacks infantry equipment at the appropriate power level, Thus their inclusion.

Secondly, the only Wildcat in service at the time was the one with the 6 .50 cals, with the F4F-3 being phased out just after Pearl Harbor. Thus, the only Wildcat that should be included is the F4F-4.

The Two-Inch Mortar in this game isn’t a real thing, it’s a generic mortar that is used for the western allies in game for balance reasons so I just opted to use that as the American M1 and M2 mortars seem a bit too powerful.

The F4U-1A (USMC) should be a fairly decent match with the A6M3, it is the fastest plane I proposed but the Zero swamps it at low speed dogfights. Also, a second Zero makes more sense in that slot as it should be a Marine Corps squad against a IJN Aviation squad.

In combat, yes the motorbikes would have been useless but that is not why they were used. In game, there will be paths where it can be used, and the ability to rush ahead and set up rallies, get to places quickly and set up a field of fire will always be useful, and I’d argue that having cover in the Jungle would make it more useful than in the open dunes of Tunisia.

I debated between the D4Y1 and the B6N1 Model 11, but the B6N seemed to be underpowered in terms of it’s offensive armament. I know the only D4Y1s out at the time were the D4Y1-C scout planes, but in terms of game balance, it just seemed better and there was at least a loose historical justification

There were Ki-44 squadrons operating as early as 1941 with the purpose of intercepting bombers and while none of them flew over the pacific, from what I have read the Ki-61 was in the same situation, and not near the Solomon’s but I could be wrong. However, assuming that was true, I basically just flipped a coin to decide which one I was going to include and just went with that. Although again if they do extend Guadalcanal to the rest of the Solomon’s, yeah the Ki-61 would be better.

The P-38 should be fine, it’s best qualities (speed and firepower) require a lot of thought put into using them, while the Japanese planes can all easily out maneuver it and then down it with ease due to how big it is, as low speed dogfights are the most common engagements in this game.

Again, the F4F-3 was phased out shortly after Pearl Harbor, and they were most defiantly gone by Midway. The Marines operated Their modification of the Corsair from Henderson, and the P-38s was operating literally everywhere the Americans were in the Pacific at that time. They should be fine against the Japanese planes, as the Japanese planes all outmaneuver them, but the American planes can all outrun them. In WT, these matchups happen all the time and I don’t ever feel like either side is overly dominant when they do.

[TardGuardLord]

Can’t believe they are making yet another campaign which splits the already dead playerbase up even more. These devs are something else and this game has no future.

[Brrady]

There were F4F-3’s in theater and operating from Henderson, not all wildcats used the 6 .50’s if they carried bombs, they would take 4 of them out of the plane, and many piolets prefeed teh 4 .50’s to the 6 .50’s because of the longer firing duration.

F4U-1A has a huge performance advantage over the A6M3, but if the F4U wants to turn fight he’s already lost.

The D4Y and the B6N are 44 eara planes and not suited imo to a 42/early 43 game.

Ki 44 was in operation in early 42 over SE Asia, only 9 of them as I recall in a trials unit, and non were used in the SWPA.

I can dig out the reference for the F4F-3 in the SWPA area if need be, but they were really short of planes the US in 42/ and early 43 and used what ever they could get there hands on.

A Brewster could be included as first tear US plane if need be, as they were in Theater as well.

Heck even a Helldiver (SBC) could be used as they were still operating over Samoa in late 42.

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

Everything I have ever read has stated that the F4F-3 was phased out before Midway, and that the F4F-4 was the only Wildcat to see service after that.

The Corsair is fine where it is, in WT it is 3.0 while the A6M3 is 4.0 and while al lot of that is bad due to players being bad players, the two planes always were able to fight each other on equal terms, each one being able to duke the other in at least one way at any point.

The D4Y and B6N are the only low tier Japanese bombers with offensive armaments, so they are kind of necessary for an early war campaign. Both of them have counterparts that saw service earlier in the war so I think that it could slide with the “if it existed, it can be added” rule.

Yes I know the Ki-44 was mostly flying in the CBI theater, but the Bf 110 and the ME 410 in Normandy were only flying over Germany intercepting bombers during D-day and the rest of Operation Overlord so I don’t think that matters too much.

The Brewster Buffalo was only used as a trainer after Midway IIRC and furthermore, it would get completely swamped by any of the Japanese fighters. being slower and less maneuverable than anything other than the first Ki-43. the P-400 works a bit better because at least it has some redeeming qualities.

[Raf1307]

The tanks present in the Guadalcanal Campaign that I’ve been able to find some reference to were:

1. M2A4s and M3s of the 1st Marine Division’s Tank troop (Coy Strength - doesn’t mention the ratio of M2A4 to M3) - 1st tank action cited was by two M2A4s on Tanambogo Island in August '42, on the Florida Islands just N of Guadalcanal.
2. M2A4s of the 25th Infantry Div which replaced the Marines on Guadalcanal in late '42, where 3 Stuarts proved decisive in the battle against the Gifu pocket on 16 Jan.

From the Japanese perspective, I’ve got anecdotal comments that the Type 95 Ha Go was present, as well as the amphibious Type 2 Ka Mi apparently saw its combat debut here, but not much more detail than that.

There are probably other sources (than random internet page searches) but that’s all that came up with a quick search, I don’t personally have any books on the Campaign, as my interests lie more on the Eastern Front.

My recommendation for tank squads would be as follows:

For level 2 - use the motorcycles if anything leave the tanks off till later.

For level 9 - I would recommend the LVT-1 with a .50 Cal vs the Type 2 Ka Mi -both are amphibious and relatively thinly armoured, noting the 37mm on the Type 2 Ka Mi is an overkill for the LVT, but equally the .50 cal will rip through the 11mm of hull armour of the Ka Mi at 500m like a hot knife through butter, and it will also be lethal to infantry.

For level 18 - I would suggest the M2A4 vs the Type 95 Ha Go noting that the Ha Go’s low velocity 37mm will struggle to pen the M2A4 at 500m and fail to pen it beyond that or if its angled. However, given that most combat occurs at around 300m in Enlisted, then the Japanese tankers will just have to exercise some patience and let the Stuarts close in a bit.

For level 31 - I would recommend the M3 vs the Type 97 Chi Ha Kai, even though this Type 97 variant was not specifically on Guadalcanal, but it was used earlier at the Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines in Apr’42, so as with the T-50 teleporting from Leningrad into Moscow, we can do the same here. The Chi Ha Kai’s 47mm is a good match for the M3’s 37mm and both tanks can easily achieve penetration within LOS.

For level 38 - I think the M8 is an interesting extrapolation it didn’t really take part in Guadalcanal either but was used later on in the Pacific, so you could drop it in here as well. For the Japanese we could use the Type 97 Chi Ha with the 57mm gun, but ensure it was issued with the HEAT ammunition, so it would be comparable to the M8 in capability. Even though the M8 round is an overkill for any vehicle in the Campaign, equally the 57mm HEAT round will have no issues with any US tank in LOS, not to mention that the previous 2 tanks will be more than adequate to neutralise any opposition in LOS. The increased HE effects of the HEAT rounds on infantry will nicely round out the line up of tanks and provide options to players of both teams.

[Brrady]

In the morning I can take the time to debate the finer points of this, but by the very loosey-goosey rules of inclusion, the F4F-3 was still technically an operational aircraft, I research this not too long ago for a different game and I came up with some references for them having been used from Henderson field, I’ll have to crack America’s hundred thousand tomorrow to double check that but that’s what my memory banks are telling me, I believe some of the Marine Corps units were still using them and I believe there were still some photo reconnaissance Versions being used operationally from there, the B6N line the B5N has no forward firing machine guns.

Even the TBF only has one .50 firing forward.

There were P 38’s operating out of Henderson late in 42, But because of their vast performance difference even if you took out the 20 mm which was usually done anyway they’re still a very potent aircraft and should be at the very end of whatever food chain they draw up in my opinion, F4U’s we’re not operational while they were still fighting for Guadalcanal at least not over Guadalcanal.

My only real objection to your plain sad is that you have too many late war planes when there are still plenty of very early war planes that would work.

And my thinking is that we will eventually see a late war Japanese scenario and this would give them more wiggle room for creating something that felt different if they were not to use up all of these mid war planes too early.

The nice thing about the Val, is that it has to forward firing machine guns and was notable for being very maneuverable and could be used as an ersatz fighter.

The only two IJA plane types that were operational over Guadalcanal were the KI 43 and the KI 48, i’m not including the Dina as it was only used as a reconnaissance platform.

I think the Ki 48 or G3M could be paired with the Hudson

The B 26 with the Betty

The A6M2 with the F4F

The A6M3 with the P 40

The ki 61 with the P 38

Val with the SBD

TBF with the Ki 48

The P 400 and P 39 could be collectors planes or somehow matched in there, there’s any number of different ways they could do these pairings I think just the idea would be that you would focus on early war instead of mid war, I get that the course there is something that a lot of people are fond of but I think it just pushes the timeline too far away from what could be an early war start.

Brewsters were still operational in 42 from CV’s and the USS Long Island still had them on board as I recall in the summer of 42.

It’s not so much that I’m criticizing your choices I’m just thinking that it would be better to try to go earlier than lean more towards the middle of the war, there is no one right answer

I just went over what were thunder has for the Japanese and, there is no KI 48 so…

KI 45 seems to be Probably one of the better options it’s period Correct even if it didn’t serve over the Island.

Probably the only option that you would have would be to replace the KI 48 with a KI 21 noted above even though speaking it’s not really correct.

There were Claud’s still operational in different parts of the empire at this date so they could possibly be included along with the Brewster if you wanted to go really early

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

Armoured LVTs don’t exist until after Guadalcanal, as Guadalcanal was the reason the LVT(A) program was initiated. If you just do a base LVT, that will be incredibly weak to the point where there is no point in playing it.

Also, the Chi Ha Kai has more armor than the Chi Ha at least in the turret, that is why I put it at level 38 instead of the middle of the campaign.

The Scott is there because The Marines did have it in their inventory during the time of Guadalcanal. I don’t worry too much about it, as it’s armor is thin enough for everything except the Ha Go to pen it at a reasonable range especially with the HEAT shell and since the Ka-Mi is at a relatively low level, it will be easy to kill it.

[Raf1307]

All the Japanese light tanks of that Campaign have armour plating slightly stronger than a Willy’s Jeep. The Type 95 Ha Go will struggle vs the M2A4 and even more so against the M3, so ensuring there is early parity in armour - M3 vs Chi Ha Kai will address any potential inbalance mid Campaign.

I think an LVT-1 which was used to land the Marines is a good compromise. It had enough armour to withstand small arms and can still use the .50 cal to effectively suppress buildings or bunkers. It can defend itself against the Ka Mi if the Ka Mi exposes its hull or any side aspect.

Note the Japanese light tanks are extremely vulnerable to Artillery and US aircraft whilst the opposite is not true, the Stuarts can take hits from normal MGs it will take 15 - 20mm rounds to harass them effectively, and depending on the HE caliber used they have thick enough all round armour to weather some shrapnel effects if far enough from POI.

Which is why I think this line up offers a more balanced linear play through.

In hindsight, I think the M8 will actually tip the scale towards US, because something that’s not been mentioned previously is vehicle performance metrics. The US vehicles are on average 25% faster than their Japanese counterparts, and a lot more agile based on the power to weigh ratios. With the M8 this advantage extends to about 48%, so the late game US players will run rings around their opposition. Add into this the manual turret traverse on all Japanese tanks 10-11 degrees per sec vs the Stuarts 14 degree per sec power traverse and you can begin to see the advantage creep.

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

The fact that the TBF has even a single forward facing LMG means whatever matches it should also have something like that, and the G4M1 has a forward facing turret. The B5N doesn’t and thus I don’t think it should be included.

The P-38 isn’t as much of a wonder weapon as you claim it is, it has about the same firepower of the P-40, and is a one trick horse with speed and acceleration on it’s side, but lacks the maneuverability of the Japanese planes and is a massive target.

F4Us were operating out of Henderson by the start of 1943, which puts them in the time frame and they fought in that time frame. Also, the F4U-1A is the early variant of the Corsair, as the P-38 G is an early variant of the Lightning so they are not late war aircraft.

Your lineup really seems to favor the Americans with the Attackers and the Japanese with the fighters, with the A6M3 stomping the P-40 E, the TBF easily beating the Ki-48 with the bomb load. The P-400 and the P-39 are fine where they are. I think it is fine if we have a more midwar start, as Guadalcanal is the same timeframe as Tunisia and Stalingrad.

The Ki 45 and the Ki 48 don’t really work in this game as they don’t have any payloads in WT.

I have never seen anything about a Buffalo operating after Midway, and they are so comically under powered against the Japanese aircraft in every way, so I wouldn’t bother with them.

I leaned towards the mid-war aircraft because those ones are more iconic. Considering the aircraft need to make up a large amount of the campaign because the US and Japan both didn’t experiment with infantry weapons at that time, and thus the draws need to be the vehicles. Furthermore, if I cut the mid war aircraft, the A6M3 has to go as well because the Allies no longer have anything that can match it.

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

Yes, the Ha Go will struggle, but the I-Go will be able to completely destroy everything up to the M3a1 with ease and you get that at level 9 since it gets HEAT, and the Ka Mi being able to destroy every Allied tank with ease. My proposal has enough parity in terms of armor, but offers asymmetrical balance which I think is a good thing for the game. Also, the arty in this game is impotent against tanks so that is irrelevant. Yes, the Japanese tanks don’t have powered traverse, but the larger caliber guns makes up for that. Again, asymmetrical balance.

Also, the LVT-1 gets completely fucked by anything as the Americans found out when they did land at Guadalcanal with it, which is why the LVT(A) program was even initiated. The LVT-1 in this game would just be completely useless.

[Raf1307]

I’ve played/spaded the I-Go in WT, its borderline combat ineffective due to its slow speed and lack of armour. If the current maps are anything to go by, the majority of the Japanese tanks will be defeated by terrain and are unlikely to even get into combat. The other assumption we’re making here is that Gaijin will give this tank the HEAT round, which it only got in the next expansion after this tank was released. So for months on end players either suffered or skipped this tank as its low velocity 57mm could not penetrate a Stuart at >100m.

The LVT on paper is about as effective and maneouverable as the Ka Mi, it just lacks an AT gun…

I see the assymetry in your proposal, and I’ve elaborated on it, if you have a look at what I suggested it follows your precis.

[秋YUI绘_Beaver食過炸蛋]

Well in the terrain of Guadalcanal, all tanks will be restricted which will make it so that it’s slow speed won’t matter so much. Furthermore, the lack of armor is present in just about every tank I proposed so it doesn’t matter. Yes the APHE is mediocre, but since it lacks an HE shell, it will likely get HEAT in that slot.

The LVT-1 is open top, lacks an AT gun and any sort of way to fight against infantry without exposing a crew member, so it would be a disaster.

[Brrady]

F4U’s Did not operate out of Henderson Field until after the campaign for Guadalcanal had ended, I know we’re splitting hairs with this and I appreciate what you’re going for as far as salability but many games have suffered horribly from this and I was hoping that maybe we could avoid it with this one.

I think the early war aircraft are interesting because we rarely see them see them in games.

The Ki-45 could be a collectors item, The problem you’re always gonna have with Japanese bombers compared to their Allied counterparts is their comparatively anemic bombloads, this is one reason why the Hudson would be a nice addition, you can put it in Royal New Zealand Air Force colors and it would fit nicely with some of the early war Japanese medium bombers.

There is almost no performance difference between an A6M2 and an A6M3, and only the later versions of the latter mounted the type 99 MK II.

A5M - Brewster
A6M2 - F4F
A6M3 - P 40/P39
D3A - SBD
G4M - Hudson
H6K - B 26
H8K - B 17
Ki 61 - P 38

Ki 45, collector
F4U, collector
F1M, collector

Lots of possibilities

Even the P 38 E gas something like a 100 mph speed advantage over the Zero

[Raf1307]

Like you said, assymetry is the key here -LVT-1 starts off weaker vs Ka Mi, M2A4 is much better than Ha Go, the M3 and Chi Ha Kai are on par, and the M8 and Chi Ha have some comparable HEAT capabilities, although in all these cases, the US vehicles are 25-48% at the top end faster, and have a faster acquisition time due to a faster turret traverse.

I think you underestimate maneouverability of tanks based on power to weight ratios, and this is where the US vehicles really shine. They are very agile and can both turn and climb very well. The same cannot be said for any of the Japanese vehicles, which are sluggish and very slow to accelerate.
The tanks speed in a straight line is only very situationally relevant on relatively flat ground, something that most Gaijin maps have in very very limited amounts.

EDIT, the LVT-1 has 6-12mm of armour vs the Ka Mi’s 10-12mm not including the turret mantlet. Both vehicles have the same top speed. The LVT has a power to weight ratio of 16.7 hp/t, whilst the Ka Mi has 12.63 hp/t - so less agile, the turret traverse on the LVT would be between 14-16 degrees per sec on manual traverse, arguably faster if powered compared to the 10 degrees per sec in the Ka Mi, the vertical guidance between elevation and depression would be very similar on both, and the ROF will be a big differentiator - the LVT is a HMG so can hose onto, suppress and overwhelm the Ka Mi with approx 576 rpm. The Ka Mi has a ROF of 11rpm, and so each is likely to kill each other with a solid hit, but if the Ka Mi misses its shot or the shot is somehow ineffectve/absorbed by the space/overpenetrates, its going to take another 5 or so sec to reload its next shot, whilst the LVT is hosing it with .50 cal.
Finally the pen of the .50 Cal AP round is approx 26mm at 500m and 30mm at around 100m so once close enough this thing can kill any of the Japanese tanks in game from the side and rear and the early ones from the front.