Can you have a pilot last from start to finish?

[YankeeAirRat]

The game is obviously broken! I can't seem to have an Allied pilot survive more then a year before death or POW takes him and yet here we have a real incident of a pilot that flew P-40s during the raid on PH survive the war all the way until its end at Nagasaki.

[PaxMondo]

[:D]
 
Go Rant go!!!
 
[:D]

[dcpollay]

Oh! Oh! Let me have this one![:D]

I'm assuming you are playing as the Allies. I'm not sure how far into your game you are, but if all, or even most, of your original pilots are dead already, you are clearly misusing your pilots. Bad Commander! [:-]

Seriously, as the Allies you have a lot of advantages throughout the war. Unfortunately, most of those advantages do not exist during the early days. One advantage you do have is the ability to "live to fight another day." What happened in real life, and what the game allows you to do (or not), is that the Allies did not commit large forces to decisive battles early on, because that would result in the destruction of their forces, including the few good pilots they had. A not uncommon mistake for new players (myself included) is to fight too hard early on rather than saving forces until they can win the fight they pick.

I don't have a pilot problem in my game vs. AI, but as an example, at February 28, 1942, my usable B-17 forces in the theater consist of one plane, and I have converted 3 aircraft carriers into submarines and stationed them underneath the Marshall Islands.[8|]

This is a game where you have to play smarter, not harder. It's a long learning curve, but most of what happens is determined by your decisions, including whether your pilots are dead or alive.

[Gunnulf]

However reading the article (but not the book): "flew 220 combat missions during World War II, engaging the enemy in three dogfights. In his military career, he flew 122 different kinds of airplanes".

So the standard to achieve is for the game to match 3 dogfights. I am reasonably sure there are plenty of instances of this happening in game?

[crsutton]

My top ace has over a thousand missions. I tell you the guy is made of tempered steel.....

[Miller]

All my Jap aces seem to be hardcoded to die when they achieve between 16-20 kills. Allied pilots seem to get to 3x that score without much problem.....

[Chris21wen]

Luck

[jmalter]

ORIGINAL: Colonel Mustard
I have converted 3 aircraft carriers into submarines and stationed them underneath the Marshall Islands.

hee!

a great strategery, Col. M - i'm trying this a bit myself, but am having trouble sending my submarine AO 'milch cows' to the refueling rendezvous.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: jmalter

ORIGINAL: Colonel Mustard
I have converted 3 aircraft carriers into submarines and stationed them underneath the Marshall Islands.

hee!

a great strategery, Col. M - i'm trying this a bit myself, but am having trouble sending my submarine AO 'milch cows' to the refueling rendezvous.

Damnit, that was my plan as well. But no joy. Where are the IJN Betties when you need em? Seems like the correct wording is: "No plan survives no contact with the enemy"?

This is a game where you have to play smarter, not harder. It's a long learning curve, but most of what happens is determined by your decisions, including whether your pilots are dead or alive.

Hear, hear! Wise words. Increasingly rare these times.

[ilovestrategy]

ORIGINAL: YankeeAirRat

The game is obviously broken! I can't seem to have an Allied pilot survive more then a year before death or POW takes him and yet here we have a real incident of a pilot that flew P-40s during the raid on PH survive the war all the way until its end at Nagasaki.

Wedge Antillies flew against both Death Stars and was at the Battle of Hoth. [:D][&o]

[dcpollay]

[/quote]


Wedge Antillies flew against both Death Stars and was at the Battle of Hoth. [:D][&o]
[/quote]


You're talking about the wrong game....I think that's War Plan Orange!

[CaptBeefheart]

Against the AI in Ironman I haven't had that problem. Greg Boyington gets 130 kills after flying 1400 missions or something. The RAF's Cooper-Slipper is up there with him. Unfortunately, all it takes is a few unplanned bad naval air strikes and you lose great USN guys like Butch O'Hare and Jimmy Thach. I even lost Tommy Blackburn of the Jolly Rogers to a landing mishap once. However, I've had a lot of guys survive over 1200 missions.

Cheers,
CC

[dcpollay]

I'm playing the Grand Campaign vs. AI. I'm at March 5, 1942. My best ace now is a British guy. 80 missions, 90 experience, and 19 kills. And, to top it off, he's flying a Buffalo I, out of Rangoon.

[jmalter]

in my DBB_B game vs. the IJ AI, the odometer has just turned over to 01 Jan 44.

my most mongo pilot is a Dutchman, who (along w/ ~24 compatriots who also achieved TRACOM status) defended the skies over Batavia & Soerabaja 'til they ran out of supply & replacement aircraft.

all hail MAJ de Waardt, ThJ. - 38 kills, 383 missions, 99EXP, 75AIR, 71DEF. my Dutchmen gained their nut in the 'Brewster Buffalo' analog (B-339-23), some of them upgraded to P-40Es.

in the early-war, they chewed on the IJ airstrikes enough so that the base damage was minimal. that allowed base engrs to build up the forts, while CD-gun defenders kept putting large holes in land/sea attackers. Ughfortunately, the Dutchman air-attacks vs. enemy shipping were completely useless, & eventually their bases were overwhelmed.

but the Dutch Air Forces live on, flying out of bases along the north coast of Oz.