Disbanding Units with no further Replacement Pools

[Scholomancer]

Hello, I'm playing through the vanilla campaign as the Allies. It's July 42 and I've got a number of depleted/under strength Malayan, Burmese Fililand Dutch units. Since the replacement pools for these troops stop production a month after their historic dates of conquest, there is no chance to naturally rebuild their strength.

My first idea is that I will disband some depleted units so that the replacements can fill out stronger units, but I seem to be running into difficulties actually disbanding them, and the manual doesn't go into detail on how a unit gets qualified to be disbanded.

So I have a couple of related questions on this:

First, can you can disband these Malay/Dutch/Burmese/Filipino units?

If so, which locations and under which conditions?

Any hints and tips to switch them on to other production pools?

I also have the same set of questions for Dutch and Filipino air units.

Any responses greatly appreciated.

[GetAssista]

Use those for filling out garrison requirements in India, while indian squads are needed for the meatgrinder.

[Bullwinkle58]

My best recollection of the disband requirements:

1. Cannot be white restricted. Yellow you can disband.

2. Cannot have a withdrawal date.

3. Must be in the national base for its nationality.

I believe it must pass all three checks simultaneously.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

My best recollection of the disband requirements:

1. Cannot be white restricted. Yellow you can disband.

2. Cannot have a withdrawal date.

3. Must be in the national base for its nationality.

I believe it must pass all three checks simultaneously.

Which is why I can't disband any Chinese [:(].

[Revthought]

I get really frustrated with this, but with Dutch air units.

I can withdraw Dutch air units and preserve pilots, which I suppose I could use for the Dutch pools; however, there are a number of Dutch squadrons that have no upgrade path. Once their airframes are gone, they're gone for good. Its a game, I know, but I just have a hard time imagining a trained Dutch squadron sitting around, with neither the United States or Great Britain being willing to give them new airplanes.

And while I am at it, the Dutch plane for squadrons that do upgrade are annoyingly low. Again, for the same reason. I'm swimming in obsolete Allied fighters and bombers, but no... that Dutch bomber group is going to have to wait until the second half of 1944 to get friggen B-25s.

Edit

See, wishful thinking here, but one of the ways you could give the Allies greater control over the economy is by allowing the player to make the decision by use of PPs to move aircraft and equipment (not riflemen or pilots) between pools, or at least into the Dutch/free french pools.

Realistically though, since you cannot change the equipment type LCUs use, this would be confined to airframes.

[BBfanboy]

Some Philippine air units are like that too - no one else has the aircraft they use and there is not upgrade path. So my reward for holding onto the Philippines is to have units I cannot use and cannot even disband and have return with better aircraft.

[Revthought]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Some Philippine air units are like that too - no one else has the aircraft they use and there is not upgrade path. So my reward for holding onto the Philippines is to have units I cannot use and cannot even disband and have return with better aircraft.

YES! Absolutely. In one of my PBEMs I withdrew part of the Philippine Army Airforce right before the collapse of Manila. Now (late Nov 1942) I have a squadron of Filipino fighter pilots in P-26s and a planeless Filipino recon squadron. At least I have the 8 P-26s (9 extra in the pool!), but of course these aircraft are past the point where flying them against anything but unescorted bombers would be suicide.

So I've got some pretty excellent PAAF fighter pilots in obsolete planes flying cap over San Francisco. That's where they're likely to spend the rest of the war. I try to imagine them in brightly painted planes flying Blue Angel style performances to bolster morale on the home front. [:D]

[Barb]

Actually all of the original PAAF and Dutch squadrons were disbanded/destroyed in fighting. RAAF later forms three squadrons:
- No.18 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - flying US B-25s and later Australian Mitchells
- No.119 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - supposed to be flying B-25s and Mitchells, but didnt became oprational
- No.120 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - used Australian Kittyhawks

Even these were somewhat limited in operations by lack of pilots (and ground crews were Australian anyway). So if you saved anything above that, it is just a bonus even if flying obsolete things. Anything that can fly can be used on NavS/ASW/Training

[Revthought]

ORIGINAL: Barb

Actually all of the original PAAF and Dutch squadrons were disbanded/destroyed in fighting. RAAF later forms three squadrons:
- No.18 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - flying US B-25s and later Australian Mitchells
- No.119 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - supposed to be flying B-25s and Mitchells, but didnt became oprational
- No.120 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - used Australian Kittyhawks

Even these were somewhat limited in operations by lack of pilots (and ground crews were Australian anyway). So if you saved anything above that, it is just a bonus even if flying obsolete things. Anything that can fly can be used on NavS/ASW/Training

What point in flying training missions for fighter pilots when they'll never have aircraft to fly? Similarly, getting fighter squadrons to fly ASW is tricky.

But to your point, I think we are all comfortable with the history; however, the game makes it possible to not lose the Dutch or PAAF squadrons in 1942 in a number of ways--you can withdraw them, evacuate them, the Japanese can fail to take the DEI or Philippines, etc,. I guess the suggestion is, that given this, it might make sense for these squadrons to have upgrade paths. I would go further and say, it would also make sense for the Allies to pay PPs to transfer aircraft between pools.

[Scholomancer]

Thank you for the replies everyone - I tend to agree with Revthought the most. I have no problem accepting that if I lost the landmass where these national units from, I would also lose their replacement ground and pilot pools. For me, Singapore and Manila are besieged but not conquered, Burma and the main islands of the NEI are not conquered, although most of Malaya is.

I also get that this was a game designer's attempt to strategically weaken the Allies in the first half of 1942 by denying them much needed reinforcements exactly where they are needed most - in the path of the Japanese juggernaught.

I guess I just feel that (much like Revthought) that after a specific time period, say Jan 1 1943, that IF you've retained the national landmass, you should have ground and pilot replacements and upgrade paths for both ground and air units as well. Which would reflect the Allies attempt to get these troops back in the war. And if you did lose the landmass, then it will work out anyway. (ie, whats the point of squadrons of planes without pilots?)

[wneumann]

Actually all of the original PAAF and Dutch squadrons were disbanded/destroyed in fighting. RAAF later forms three squadrons: - No.18 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - flying US B-25s and later Australian Mitchells - No.119 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - supposed to be flying B-25s and Mitchells, but didnt became oprational - No.120 (NEI) Squadron RAAF - used Australian Kittyhawks Even these were somewhat limited in operations by lack of pilots (and ground crews were Australian anyway). So if you saved anything above that, it is just a bonus even if flying obsolete things. Anything that can fly can be used on NavS/ASW/Training

The RAAF units above plus the Dutch AF squadrons that return (sometime) in 1943 appear to share a common pool of pilots and replacement planes. I have most of the returning Dutch AF squadrons idle in my PBEM (no planes or pilots allocated to them), using only a set of Dutch and RAAF air units that can be adequately supported (long term) with the existing supply of replacement Dutch pilots and aircraft. In my campaign, this includes the small Dutch patrol squadrons plus one or two of the RAAF units - everything funneled into these air units, all other Dutch units kept in a "deactivated" state. The Dutch RAAF squadrons are upgradable to later Australian plane types.

[BBfanboy]

The British had a number of Polish fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain. Can't say their national landmass was unoccupied by the enemy, but the British gave them aircraft and tied them into their fighter direction net so these assets did not go to waste. I am sure the US would have done the same with any available pilots from other nations, at least early in the war when basic-trained pilots were scarce.
I like the idea of paying a reasonable amount of PP to transfer aircraft between pools. That could work for the shallow British fighter pools as well, or even just to give them some longer-ranged fighters to work with their bombers.