The A7M2 Reppu Experience: The Pet Fighter of Sakurasou // War Thunder

Описание: I still cry when I hear this song (not really).

An (inaccurate?) look into the A7M2 experience.

---

Music:
Kimi ga Yume wo Tsuretekita (君が夢を連れてきた) - Pet na Kanojotachi

Anime:
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (さくら荘のペットな彼女 )

---

//(PLEASE TAKE MY OPINIONS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT)//

This is literally my favorite plane in the entire game.

It looks like the A6M and the Typhoon had a love child and produced the perfect offspring of an aircraft.

Overall, I prefer flying this over the A6M5 because it’s only .3 battle ratings higher, it sacrifices some turning capabilities but in return, you get overall better flight performance and armament. You become a Jack of All Trades essentially, but you’re a REALLY GOOD Jack of All Trades, especially in the turn department!

//Flight Performance//

In general, the A7Ms* are excellent turn fighters; they have excellent maneuverability and responsiveness, outturn basically everything at its BR, but they aren't terribly slow unlike the A6Ms and they have decent energy retention, so you don't stall out after the first turn and can actually get on the six of your enemy with some energy to chase. In my experience, I had no trouble outturning and out-dogfighting most people. Spitfires, Yaks and Italian fighters may be a bit more challenging though. The engine performance is excellent with very manageable overheating. This thing can actually go scarily fast in a dive without ripping (compared to other Japanese planes), but compress pretty badly beyond 600-650km/h.

*I'm assuming the A7M1 has very similar performance to the A7M2 just worse energy retention due to the weaker engine

//Armament//

The A7Ms come equipped with a deadly array of weapons.

Two 20mm cannons and two 13mm cannons with 400 rounds of cannon ammo and 600 machine gun ammo. That accounts for about TWENTY-FOUR SECONDS OF FIRING TIME, making short work of anything! For comparison, the A6M5 hei only has 250 cannon rounds! Keep in mind, the 20mms are kinda slow firing but that just makes the ammo last longer, so you have the option of spraying till your enemy is dead :D

Take the “Tracers” belt for the 20 mils, because you want people to see that they’re going to die.

In addition, it comes with suspended ordnance like rockets and bombs that you can take into ground RB. Don’t take the bombs, Ý̥̪̻͋̌́O͔̦͕̖̦͎̖ͧ̄̏̌͞U̢͇̹̹̥̬͎ͬ̎̉͜'̪̳̭͔̦̯̦ͭͦ̕ͅL̡̥̝̹̝̤̮͎ͧL̢̫̲͉͍͍̈́͗ ̘͇̣̥͉̗̃̓̆͢Ȏ̴̜̙̻̾̑ͭṊ̶̘͕͈̳̟̎̌ͅͅL̸̠̝̣͚̿̊̊̿Y̗̮͛̍͟ ͯ͛̔͏͇̖̠̯Lͥ͒̅̏͏̯͇Ō̮͈̱̺͞S̛̺̜̝̣̱̤̪ͥ̽E͇̺̗̠̬̍ͭͪ͡ ̩̤̓ͥ̓ͣ͟Ä͉͍͙̫͖͍̊͠ ̭̼̅̅ͯ̕P̧̪̻͇̬̓ͅA͋̄͏̥̖̥͈͕̦̦R͛͏̫̹̫̭ͅT̷͖͍͇̫̩͋̆̿ͅ ͉͍ͩ̇͜O̮̮̹̤̣͖͂̿͛ͫ͝ͅF̧͇̝̭̘͙̙ͣͬ̚ ̡͍͙̫̩͚̬̩̀Yͯ̍͏̭̬O̫̩͖͕͔ͦ͡U̡̲̥͙̔ͣŔ̾͌҉̙͖S̸͈̟̤̭̭͕̊Ë̡̻̮̅̏͑L̠̲̩͗ͭ͜ͅF̘̞̜̝̫̊͞

Armament Settings:
13mm ammo - Air Targets
20mm ammo - Tracers

//Tactics and Survivability//

Most people will try to run away from you, so you can’t really take the fight to others unless you have an energy advantage or good positioning.

My main tactic when dogfighting people is baiting them into turning into me by turning in front of them, because as soon as they do that, they die because I can quickly reverse them or energy trap them and blow them up while being relatively close. That was my bread and butter when playing that thing. It’s a bit of a Cat and Mouse playstyle, but that’s just the thrill of this thing.

I don’t want to really explain tactics much, but Defyn made a very good video on the A7M2 so go watch that if you want to learn how to fly the A7M:
   • Master Bait - A7M2  

This thing is tougher than the A6M by a bit and can survive a few fires and shots if you’re lucky, but overall it’s best to not get hit in the first place because you’re a massive plane and need to keep it in tip-top shape in order to perform well.