CAP not flying

[Panjack]

My fighter pilots apparently have gone on strike.

In the past two turns, none of my fighters set on CAP have met incoming bombers.

The weather over the hexes was acceptable, and the bombers came in at mid-altitude while my CAP was set to be layered (low, medium, high). The raids were observed in plenty of time (if the CAP was already up). None of the bases are over-stacked and they have supply. But the pilots seem to be refusing to get into their planes, so none are in the air when bombers appear. The combat reports say, "no flights."

Indeed, nothing has changed at these bases or fighter units. Previously, the fighters at these bases always tussled with incoming bombers and/or escorts.

Further, in another bomber raid, the CAP also didn't seem to fly as the unescorted bombers came and left untouched by fighters although, again, layered CAP was set (good weather and plenty of warning of the raid). But, in this case, the combat report said nothing at all: that is, it did not say, "no flights," but it appears that those pilots were also on strike.

Perhaps I've just had a run of bad luck. But, coincidentally or not, these two turns were the first I ran after applying the newest patch.

Has anyone encountered anything similar to the above after applying the newest patch?

[btd64]

Can you post some screen shots of the airbase and the air units....GP

If this does end up being a beta problem, make sure that you post save game with your message in the beta thread....GP

[Panjack]

This is one case. However, I moved one fighter unit away from the base in the next turn so some of the material below show one fewer fighter units than was actually there.
Here is a combat report, which shows no flights.

AA.png (21.61 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

Here is the base screen, which shows plenty of supply and no damage.

A.png (301.58 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

Here is the AF screen which misses one fighter unit (which I moved away in the following turn but I'll show that unit below). The AF is not over-stacked. The two fighter units shown have low fatigue and high morale.

B.png (135.73 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

Here is one unit, which has 50% CAP and is at 15k

C.png (321.69 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

[Panjack]

Here is a second unit, which is also at 50% CAP and is supposed to be at 9,000 feet:

D.png (305.9 KiB) Viewed 1145 times

Here is a unit that I moved the following turn but which was at the base during the bombing attack appearing in the combat report above. It was supposed to be at 6,000 feet:

E.png (329.86 KiB) Viewed 1145 times

But none of these three fighter units flew, although they flew in every previous turn they were at the base.

[Panjack]

Here is a second case, where the combat report omits any reference to defending fighters. The bombers had the bad luck to attack an AA unit:

0.png (12.77 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Here is the base screen, which shows supply and no damage to the airbase.

1.png (305.3 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Here is the AF screen, which show three fighter units (which were at 7k, 10k, and 15k). They were at 50% CAP and 20% training.

2.png (164.19 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

Yes, the morale is lowish (which could be an issue), but some of them should have flown. In any case, the combat report fails to make any mention of the fighters.

[Panjack]

Here is a final one in the same turn, where again "no flights" is indicated although two fighter units were told to CAP during the day:

100.png (15.55 KiB) Viewed 1128 times

Here is the AF screen:

101.png (217.86 KiB) Viewed 1128 times

Daily air battles have been brutal at this base, but still the fighters have good morale and low fatigue. But none flew their CAP missions.
These units were quite experienced and always flew CAP whenever assigned. Here is one of the units with 192 kills.

200.png (300 KiB) Viewed 1128 times

And here are the individual pilots for that group:

[12doze12]

Not sure what's the main cause but few advice:

• If those fighters are at the base you want to defend set the CAP range to 0 so they are only doing CAP over that base and not over hexes within that range. It's possible the CAP is somewhere else completely when the attack comes. Also with range 0 you can safely put the CAP at close to 100% without causing too much attrition to it.

• When you transfer an airgroup they are more limited in how much they act in the following turn, sometimes not doing anything at all (it simulates the time taken to transfer to a new base)

[Panjack]

Hi 12doze12. Thanks for taking the time to look at what I posted.

• If those fighters are at the base you want to defend set the CAP range to 0 so they are only doing CAP over that base and not over hexes within that range. It's possible the CAP is somewhere else completely when the attack comes. Also with range 0 you can safely put the CAP at close to 100% without causing too much attrition to it.

All good points. You're right that maybe some fighters might have gone off seeking trouble away from the base and didn't get back home to attack the bombers. But, in the cases above, that didn't seem to have happen. And, I generally set fighter ranges to maximum ("set and forget" is my motto) so the fighters can do battle over TFs away from the base and to defend against enemy ground attacks also away from the base. But people have different styles and reasonable people, like you, have different priorities. I probably should do less set and forget and manage things more closely.

I'm far from an expert on, well, anything, but my default CAP is 50% under the belief that 100% CAP will tire out my little digital pilots.

• When you transfer an airgroup they are more limited in how much they act in the following turn, sometimes not doing anything at all (it simulates the time taken to transfer to a new base)

In the cases above, all fighters were long-time residents of the bases they were suppose to defend. That one fighter unit at Baker was there just because I had moved it the turn after the combat report I posted to see (in a yet-unrun turn) if that made any difference in whether the fighters left on the base actually took off. That is, an attempt at trial-and-error to see what happened.

But, in any case, I appreciate your suggestions. I'm 32% of the way of understanding the game and appreciate all suggestions and different opinions.

[Yaab]

Panjack, you air leaders in those fighter groups have DISMAL Air and Aggresion skills! Each leader should have at least 50 Air/Aggro skill, or preferably 60 Air/Aggro skill.

[Chris21wen]

My guess is in this order, leader, range and percentage set to fly. Leader really, really important, range important, percentage small.

[Sardaukar]

I can confirm.

I checked mission numbers for couple of units in 2 turns and they do not increase, thus CAP does not fly.

[Sardaukar]

To add,

I checked 4 fighter units in my game in 4 different bases, Saigon, Alor Star, Kuala Lumpur and Pearl Harbor.

None of the pilots (5 in each unit) checked gained any missions in 2 days, set for 50% CAP. It cannot be weather (3 out of 4 bases had decent weather, one had thunderstorms), not leaders (all had air and aggressiveness 60+). No matter with range, they should still fly CAP missions.

In my AAR, I was wondering about lack of air activity for few last turns (after I upgraded).

So I think it's bug in patch. I did send PM to michealm about this.

[Sardaukar]

Reverted back to .26 exe-version. Run one day and checked that same pilots gained 1-3 missions a day.

Thus, CAP started to fly, so it is definitely a bug in newest patch.

[Panjack]

Panjack, you air leaders in those fighter groups have DISMAL Air and Aggresion skills! Each leader should have at least 50 Air/Aggro skill, or preferably 60 Air/Aggro skill.

Yaab, you're absolutely right. I'll sack the head of my personnel department and replace them with someone who more systematically pays attention to quality of leadership!

[Sardaukar]

Panjack, you air leaders in those fighter groups have DISMAL Air and Aggresion skills! Each leader should have at least 50 Air/Aggro skill, or preferably 60 Air/Aggro skill.

Yaab, you're absolutely right. I'll sack the head of my personnel department and replace them with someone who more systematically pays attention to quality of leadership!

It is not Leader issue, it is patch issue.

I have confirmed that CAP does not fly in last unofficial.

Having Air leaders 50-60+ is of course beneficial for all air operations generally.

[michaelm75au]

Hi
I have played a turn myself on the beta, and my CAP flew okay.
Can I get a save from a turn when it didn't fly for someone so I can have a look at it, please?
Please post in the Support forum

[Panjack]

My guess is in this order, leader, range and percentage set to fly. Leader really, really important, range important, percentage small.

Chris21wen, my concern is that a high CAP percentage leads to higher fatigue. That isn't your experience? Or, something you're willing to trade off to have more planes on CAP?

And, I wonder about the impact of range. Range, of course, is directly relevant to how far fighters going on escort missions would travel. But I have also interpreted range as not meaning the planes would definitely be flying all around (reducing planes above the base) but had the potential (in certain conditions) to fly off to meet attacks away from the base (but wouldn't leave the base until they had good cause to fly away). A zero range would stop these ad hoc missions away from the base. I could be wrong on that, of course. But that has been my experience.

On the other hand, I do interpret LRCAP as meaning planes would definitely be flying over selected hexes away from the base, and this would reduce planes over the base but also increase planes over the hex selected for LRCAP.

I'm sure some of the above is right and some is wrong, but I can't say which is which!

[Panjack]

Hi
I have played a turn myself on the beta, and my CAP flew okay.
Can I get a save from a turn when it didn't fly for someone so I can have a look at it, please?
Please post in the Support forum

Hi Michael,
Thanks for looking into this. I"ll post my save for a turn after CAP apparently didn't fly (although I made a few changes).

[michaelm75au]

I need the save on the turn they don't fly so I can see them 'not fly'..And if possible, which base they didn't fly from so I can concentrate on onw instance first off.

[Panjack]

Let me run a new turn to see what happens. Ignore the turn I just uploaded.

edit: done, will post turn in which CAP doesn't fly.