Air transports (Ju-52) not flying supply missions

[Joel Billings]

Did you ever click on the AI button for air transport. I found recently that if I do that, the AI changes the transports to night missions, even if it doesn't end up flying any missions. Once set to night missions, they won't fly during the day. I see you figured that was the problem. I noticed that you cannot change the night missions back to day if the air group has moved or flown during the turn. I spoke with Gary a few days ago about this and he couldn't remember why it was set up that way, and was willing to change it so that one could always toggle this. I've been meaning to post for the testers if they saw any reason not to allow this change in a future patch.

[CharonJr]

I think I might even be able to pinpoint when the potential "night mission" switch happened.

During turn 1 I was able to fly support missions without problems (just looked at an earlier save here).

At the end of turn 1 I assigned the transports to 13th LW and was unable to fly air supply missions on turn 2 (thought I made a mistake then).

Took another look at the save from the end of turn 1, all transports were in night mission mode then, but were in daytime mode in the save before that, after I flew the air supply missions during turn 1.

Is there any option to activate night mission for a specific class of aircraft which I might have activated by accident? If thats the case this might be considered a "user error", but if there is no such option to do this with a single click/key combination then I think a closer look should be taken at the beta patch.

CharonJr

edit: Ah, took too long to look at my saves and type my message, "Did you ever click on the AI button for air transport." is very much a possibility even if I cant recall me doing it at the moment, but I might have wanted the AI to recon and still have been in air supply mode.

[ComradeP]

1. Does the airbase need supply and/or fuel to fly missions? If so, what is the minimum requirement(s)?

It needs supplies, ammo and fuel, but I'm not sure if there's some sort of fixed minimum or whether effectiveness scales down like with combat units.

2. Does the supply/fuel transported come from airbase stocks?

I believe it comes from the general supply and fuel pools, but someone else might have a more clear answer.

[rjh1971]

ORIGINAL: PyleDriver

Hum, on turn one Rafael no adjustments should be needed...

That's what I said Jon,

If not

(in turn one)

they may not be flying due to air doctrine settings, if you have more damaged Ju-52 than the % required to fly they won't take off

Anyway the problem seems to be night missions

[Helpless]

2. Does the supply/fuel transported come from airbase stocks?

Yes

[ComradeP]

You learn something new every day, I always thought the supplies and fuel came from a general pool and were directed to the units through the air base/squadron rather than actually being at the air base.

[fthein]

In the ´42 campaign on the first turn i want to supply my troops in the Demyansk pocket but i can´t us my 3 Ju 52 units in the 2nd LW Air Base that is based only 14 hexes to the west.

[karonagames]

I have just checked this and it works fine.

The work around to this issue is to only use manual functions. If the AI get involved, she is flicking the "Night" mission switch on all transports, so to keep the AI out of the mix use the following procedure:



Find the airbase you want to fly transports from.
Set Air transport mode.(F9)
left click on the base with transports, so the base has a blue border.
Find the unit you want drop supplies to.
Shift Right click on the receiving unit.

This will bring up the selection list of the air units that can be used to do the mission. Choose the ones you want then click on the "launch" Button

If you don't select the base or you right click without the shift, the AI gets involved and switches night mode on. If she does this, switch the night flying mode (n)and should should be able to use the procedure above, except that any units that flew in the day may not fly at night. This may be a bug or it may be WAD, I haven't heard back.

[fthein]

I have already do it as you describe but it doesn´t work. I select the 2nd LW Air Base, hit F9 and then shift right click on a unit. On the selection screen the three air units from the 2nd Air Base(KGr zBV 500, 700 and 900)are not listed. Even if i select a unit next to the 2nd LW Air Base it doesn´t work.

[karonagames]

And you haven't pressed the AI key for any other missions - airfield bombing etc.

Are the air units set for Night missions?

edit: You are right - it is showing units from other bases, not the unit itself - I'll get back to you.

[fthein]

No. You can easily test it by starting a fresh ´42 campaign. It doesn´t work even if it is your first action.

[karonagames]

Yes it was my mistake - I got the units and bases confused. I have posted in the dev forum and I think Pavel is on duty and He is usually pretty quick with answers.

[Wikingus]

What exactly is the difference between day and night missions in actual game terms? The manual doesn't clarify.

[karonagames]

Bombing, and supply missions can only be intercepted by units trained and set to night fly. There are penalties for accuracy and increased chances to incur operational losses, but you are right the numbers are not specified in the manual ( or rather I can't find them either)

[karonagames]

OK, I don't know if this is a bug, or something that is not documented, but if you manually switch zbv 500,700 &900 to night mission = YES, then switch to night flights in air transport mode, they will fly.

some squadrons must be set up as night flight only but the button is not being fixed on Yes. I am trying to get clarification.

edit: update I'm still trying to figure all this out but you may find you can only fly one mission even if you have plenty of mileage, and that definitely is a bug. we are trying to get a patch out before Matrix shuts down for xmas, so I don't know if this will make it.

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

That sounds like a bug.

What version are you using, CharonJr and redmarkus?

Can you also select fighter escorts, or only bombers?

I checked the latest version, and my Ju 52 squadrons are appearing like they should.

Had upgraded to 1.01 but had to reinstall 1.00 after I had multiple UI problems. Air supply problem is in 1.00 for sure - can't recall what I saw with 1.01

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Did you ever click on the AI button for air transport. I found recently that if I do that, the AI changes the transports to night missions, even if it doesn't end up flying any missions. Once set to night missions, they won't fly during the day. I see you figured that was the problem. I noticed that you cannot change the night missions back to day if the air group has moved or flown during the turn. I spoke with Gary a few days ago about this and he couldn't remember why it was set up that way, and was willing to change it so that one could always toggle this. I've been meaning to post for the testers if they saw any reason not to allow this change in a future patch.

Ah ha! I have been using the AI to fly supply because I wanted to play some fast scenarios to highlight the south front retreat thing... Will stop doing so now.

[Helpless]

I found recently that if I do that, the AI changes the transports to night missions

Not only transports, but some LB as well.