Jets

Introduction

Jet planes are a new type of plane that have been introduced to Kantai Collection as of the December 9th, 2016 Update. Unlike normal planes, Jet planes are able to attack twice during the Aerial Phases they take part in. In addition, only Land-Based Air Squadrons and Armored Carriers* such as Shoukaku Kai Ni A and Zuikaku Kai Ni A can use these they jet planes and when in use they will consume steel along with other resources.

(*Evidence so far suggests that Taihou is not able to use Jet planes despite being an Armored Carrier.)

Mechanics

Jet planes come with the unique ability to participate in a pre-emptive Aerial Attack phase known as the Jet Assault Phase. Jets will launch and conduct this per-emptive attack against enemy units, while fighting off enemy jet planes that also participate and attacking enemy units.

During this phase, the Jet planes are less likely to be taken down by enemy Anti-Air attacks. Keep in mind, however, that they are not completely immune to Anti-Air attacks and can possibly result in planes being lost while in this phase. It is also not currently known if the Jet Assault phase is capable of triggering AACI, where applicable.

Once the Jet Assault Phase is complete, the Jet Planes will assist in the main Aerial Attack phase (or after LBAS takes place), and participate with all other planes to conduct a second attack against enemy units. Jet planes are more susceptible to attack from all other fighters and fleet Anti-Air attacks during this phase.

Furthermore, for every sortie you use Jet planes in, Steel will be consumed upon use.

There are two known Jet Assault Phases which have been proven to exist at the time:

• Fleet Based Jet Assault Phase
  
• Land-Based Air Squadron Jet Assault Phase

Fleet Based Jet Assault Phase

When Shoukaku Kai Ni A and Zuikaku Kai Ni A are armed with a Jet plane and take part in a sortie, the Jet plane will be used before the main Aerial Phase takes place. The above mechanics regarding how Jet Planes attack will occur during this phase.

Following this, they will take part in the shelling phase in the same way all planes do during this phase when the Armored Carriers attack.

The Steel that is consumed is dependent on how many Jet planes you have in your carrier that are still available at the start each node battle, and the type of Jet plane that is used. Steel will be consumed for each node where the Jet planes take part in the Jet Assault Phase.

Land-Based Air Squadron Jet Assault Phase

When a Jet is equipped to your Land-Based Air Squadron, the Jet plane will take part in a Jet Assault Phase before the Land Based Air Squadron conducts their main attack. They will perform the Jet Assault Phase in the same way as mentioned above and then follow up with taking part in the Land Based Air Support Phase.

Steel consumption is is dependent on how many Jet planes are in your LBAS slot at the time. It will be consumed for each node where Land Based Air Support is used, and also during Enemy Air Raids, if the Jet is set to perform Air Defense.

Summary of Attack Order of Jet Assaults and Aerial Strikes from LBAS and Carrier

When equipped with enough jet planes and normal planes between your carriers and LBAS, the order of which carriers and LBAS will perform thier attack will be conducted in the following Order:

• Jet Assault from LBAS (All Squadrons will combine and use Jets from thier squadron in one attack phase)
• Carrier Jet Assault (Carriers armed with Jets will attack enemy units with Jets)
• LBAS Aerial Strike (1-2 Air attacks depending on what node you target)
• Carrier Aerial Strike (All Carriers will use thier planes to attack the enemy fleet during this phase.)

Depending on how many Jet planes you may own, it may be possible to arrange Jets to utilize them to attack with planes for a total of 4 phases before the Shell phase begins.

Steel Consumption

Steel is used for Jet plane equipment to help maintain the engines and will be consumed for each node Jet planes are involved in: Nodes where LBAS are used, when Armored Carriers Shoukaku Kai Ni A and Zuikaku Kai Ni A are equipped with Jets and deployed to battles, or during Enemy Air Raids when a Jet is equipped in your LBAS and attempting to intercept.

As mentioned above, the steel you consume is dependent on the number of Jets available on each slot, the number of nodes they participate in, and/or the number of times they attempt to intercept an Enemy Air Raid. In addition, the type of Jet you use will also vary in terms of steel consumed as well.

The following table illustrates the steel consumption rate for each plane:

Jet Type	Steel Consumption
Kikka Kai	2.6 Steel per Plane
Jet Keiun Kai	2.8 Steel per Plane

Using this as an example we can determine a basic idea of how the Jet planes work.

For example, if Shoukaku Kai Ni A is armed with a Kikka Kai in her 34 slot and participates in a sortie. During the first node, she will use all 34 of her planes, and will consume steel for all 34 of the Jet planes (which totals up to 88.4 steel.). She loses 4 planes during the Aerial phase in the first node, and then proceeds to the next node in which she uses the 30 planes she has left (which will consume 78 steel). She now loses 6 planes during the Jet Assault Phase, and then 4 more during the Aerial phase for this node, resulting in her having 20 planes left. In the final node, she uses the 20 planes remaining, which results in 52 steel being consumed.

By the end of the sortie, the amount of steel was consumed by using Jets with Shoukaku Kai Ni A is as follows:

88.4 (Rounded to the higher number 89) + 78 + 52 = 219 Total Steel consumed

Upon return to base, the steel will be consumed and used.

Land Based Air Squadron Jet Assults can be calculated in the same fashion, but only on the node which they set to attack on, or when conducting Air Defense against Land Base Enemy Air Raids.

Acquiring Jets

Currently the only way to acquire Jets is by obtaining a few special items from Quests or from ranking that are necessary in order to produce the Kikka Kai and Jet Keiun Kai :

Ne-Type Engine
New Air Craft Plans
Prototype Keiun

You can acquire the Kikka Kai and Jet Keiun Kai via the steps below:

Producing the Kikka Kai

Obtaining the Kikka Kai will require you to complete a long series of quest chains which will involve organizing a Submarine Dispatch Operation via Expeditions and extensive Modernization of Aircraft Carriers as well as obtaining a healthy supply of Bauxite, Steel, Shiden Kai 2, Reppuu, and Ryuusei

The Following quests will need to be completed:

ID	Prereq.	Quest Name (Original) Quest Name (Translated)	Description	Rewards					Note
								Other
D20		潜水艦派遣作戦による航空機技術入手 Obtain Airplane Technology from Submarine Dispatch Operation	Send a Submarine Fleet of 4 subs or more to Expedition 30 and Expedition 31 and successfully complete them.	0	100	0	100	x1 New Aircraft Blueprint	One time only.
D21		潜水艦派遣作戦による噴式技術の入手 Obtain Jet Engine Technology from Submarine Dispatch Operation	Send a Submarine Fleet of 4 subs or more to Expedition 30 and Expedition 31 and successfully complete them.	100	0	0	100	x1 Ne-Type Engine	5000 steel and 1500 Bauxite will be consumed upon completion of the quest One time only.
F46		噴式戦闘爆撃機の開発 Develop the Jet Fighter-Bomber	Scrap 3 Shiden Kai 2 and have 2 New Aircraft Blueprint and 1 Ne-Type Engine in your inventory upon activating the quest.	0	0	0	100	x1 Kikka Kai	One Ne-Type Engine and two New Aircraft Blueprint will be consumed upon completion of quest One time only.
F47		ネ式エンジンの増産 Increase Production of Ne-Type Engine	*Scrap 3 Type 52 Zero Fighter and have two Reppuu, two Ryuusei and 8,000 steel in your inventory while the quest is activated.	0	0	0	0	x1 Ne-Type Engine	Two Reppuu, two Ryuusei and 8,000 steel will be consumed from your inventory upon completion of quest One time only.
G5		航空艤装の近代化改修 Modernization Improvement of Flight Rigging	Modernize a Standard Carriers using a total of 5 CVL/CV for each modernization two times while the quest is activated.	0	0	0	0	x1 New Aircraft Blueprint	5,500 steel and 2,500 Bauxite will be consumed upom completion of quest. One time only.

Completing these will give you the necessary items needed and will provide you with the Kikka Kai (and give you one more Jet Engine for the Jet Keiun Kai.

Producing the Jet Keiun Kai

Jet Keiun Kai will involve more extensive effort as you'll need to have a Prototype Keiun, a large amount of resources (especially steel and Bauxite) along with a large amount of screws, at least 6 Ryuusei, 4 Reppuu, and a Ne-Type Engine. You will need to improve the Prototype Keiun to its maximum level via Akashi's Improvement Arsenal, and then upgrade it into a Jet Keiun Kai.

To get the Prototype Keiun you will need to complete the following quest:

ID	Prereq.	Quest Name (Original) Quest Name (Translated)	Description	Rewards					Note
								Other
F45		新機軸偵察機の開発 Develop the New Reconnaissance Plane	Scrap 2 Type 0 Recon Seaplane and have 1 Type 1 Land Attacker and 2 Saiun in your equipment inventory upon activating the quest.	0	0	0	100	x1 Prototype Keiun x2 Development Materials	one Type 1 Land Attacker and two Saiun will be consumed upon completion of quest One time only.

From there, once you have the Prototype Keiun, you can begin to modify it through Akashi's Improvement Arsenal using the following:

250 100 700 650 per upgrade
8/10 Development Materials , 6/8 Improvement Materials and a Ryuusei form 1-6★
10/15 Development Materials , 7/10 Improvement Materials and a Reppuu form 7-10★
20/30 Development Materials , 10/13 Improvement Materials and a Ne-Type Engine to upgrade to a Jet Keiun Kai.

Once this is complete, you will be able to use the Jet Keiun Kai.