Moderators: Joel Billings, wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
a *wee* bit [:D]ORIGINAL: Oznoyng
Ah... I had assumed that pilots in the case of previously disbanded airgroups would enter the game drawing from the pool levels. The lack of distinction between reinforcements and withdrawn/disbanded changes the analysis a *wee* bit.
ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag
Reinforcement planes come from the pool BUT enter the game with free pilots based on that country's current skill by year.
ORIGINAL: Mr.FragORIGINAL: Oznoyng
Reinforcement airgroups come with pilots of appropriate skill levels for the year. What about previously disbanded groups? Do they enter the game with "free" pilots based upon skill by year, or are they taken from the pool/untrained?
Disbanded and Withdrawn groups are treated as any other group arriving.
[&:]ORIGINAL: Mogami
Hi, A returning group (one that has been disbanded) is not a reinforcement. BOth the pilots and the ac come from the pool.
Are they? Mr Frag indicates that disbanded air groups are treated like normal reinforcements, while Mogami say otherwise. The difference is significant.ORIGINAL: SunDevil
Oznoyng,
They both said the same thing. They draw from the pool, but if the pool is empty, it draws untrained pilots. So pilots in the pool are trained pilots meaning they have some experiece you get 10 of these every month. If the pool is empty because you have used all the trained pilots in the pool, the game then assigns generic untrained crappy pilots to the new planes. This whole method they are talking about just makes sure that the pool of trained pilots never goes empty so you do not have untrained crappy pilots going into front line combat groups.
ORIGINAL: esteban
Does anybody know how quickly pilot quality recharges in the replacement pool?
Lets say you exhaust your IJN replacement pool by drawing it below zero with several squadrons filling up with untrained replacements. And that the pilot quality going to these groups drops down to about 20.
Two days later, two more trained IJN replacement pilots show up in the pool, at 70 experience.
If all of a sudden, you need to refill another couple worn out squadrons, that need about 30 pilots between them, does the quality of replacements "reset" up close to 70 again, and in this case the last of the 30 required replacements would be at about 40 experience?
Mr. Frag did say that, and then was asked...ORIGINAL: von Murrin
Mog is saying that disbanded groups draw from the pool, while Frag is saying that reinforcement groups are pre-filled with pilots of the appropriate skill regardless of pool status.
I believe you are right, but also would like conformation. The difference is significant.ORIGINAL: von Murrin
Bottom line is this:
If it's been on-map before or is currently on map, it draws from the pool.
If it's freshly minted and arrived according to the nifty schedule, it comes with the free mail-order pilot accessory.
Confirmation would, of course, be nice.
ORIGINAL: Mogami
Hi, Maybe I should start from the very beginning here.
This program is mainly for the Japanese Naval Airforce starting pilot pool 100 with 10 added per month. (120 new trained pilots per year)
The Allies do not have pool problems but I do early in the war disband some of the group but this is strictly to get a few groups ready for combat ASAP. I don't worry about training Allied pilots. I don't really sweat training Japanese Army Pilots at start but I know there will come a time when that pool is drained so I go ahead and set up the program.
The idea is not to over load groups it is to keep them at full strength (remember you don't want to overload carrier groups because a carrier with more then an extra 10% aircraft on board cannot fly ops. (you can overload CVE that are being used as ferry because your not flying anyway and you load and unload the aircraft in port)
Normal IJN Daitai can contain 27 aircraft. When you divide a Daitai you get 3x9 AC sub groups. Now all you need is a combat group that has lost 9 aircraft/pilots You merge (disband) the subgroup into the combat group.. Don't worry if the group has a few excess pilots/aircraft Excess aircraft will go into reseve in a day or two and having extra pilots will allow a few of them to rest every day even if all the ready aircraft fly a mission.
Normally if you have a group in combat and it loses a pilot you could just select "recieve replacements" and a pilot from the pool would be issued. This is fine as long as the pool contains trained pilots but if it is empty then you would be sending an untrained pilot to a combat group. If that does not bother you then you can save time and stop reading and move to another thread. On the other hand if you want trained pilots only engaging in combat then you have 2 choices.
Choice 1 Rotate Combat Groups. Here you decide how long a group will remai in combat without replacements. Daitai enter combat with 27 pilots and aircraft. Do you let them fight down to 20? 13? 5? whatever you decide there will come a time when the group is lost it's combat effectivness. You then move it to a secure base with 20k+ supply and select "recieve replacements" In a few days you will have a full group but the missing part will have been filled with untrained pilots so the group will need to spend a period of time training. Once it reaches the level of training you will accept you return the entire group to comabt and start all over.
Choice 2 Send trained replacements from your on map training program. When a group requires new pilots you send one of your sub units down and disband it into the group. The replacements are all trained. The group experiance remains high and it can stay in combat.
The returning groups will draw from the pool. Early on this means your IJA repalcement groups should have trained or mostly trained pilots. (So you can use them right away) But remember the system is meant for when you have depleted you pools. The IJN pool should just about be empty by the time your first disbanded groups return to map. (How long does it take for the carrier groups and Betty/Nell groups to lose 100 pilots?)
These groups will draw the untrained pilots and you begin training them. Hopefully by the time you use all the groups assigned as replacements you will have trained a few returning ones. You will never send any untrained pilot into a combat group.
The overall effect of the system is it delays the decline of the quality of IJN combat groups.
Non system AIrgroups path to decline
Daitai begins with 27 pilots exp 80+ As it suffers loss pilots replacements are 70 while in pool after pool depleted group begins to replace loss with untrained the more untrained drawn the lower the rating.
Eventully group still has 27 pilots but rating are spread from 80 to below 20. In combat it suffers increased loss causing more rapid use of untrained pilots causing ratings to decrease further. 10 pilots per month arrive in pool trained.
System path
Daitai begins with 27 pilots exp 80+ when Approx 9 have been lost 9 pilots exp 80 + arrive restoring group. Late in war pilot replacement quality will have declined to where group is getting replacement pilots in the 50's but IJN airgroups have retained their starting quality longer then in actual war. It's up to the Japanese player to take advantage of this extension to the IJN offensive capabilty.
ORIGINAL: Apollo11
BTW, how do you deal with immediate cleanup (i.e. they are gone immediately even if you have all squadrons set to "Do NOT get Replacements") of Japanese pilot pool (because many air squadrons come with damaged aircraft and when they get repaired they draw pilots form pilot pool no matter what)?
IMHO, that is the biggest starting problem for Japanese player... [:(]
Leo "Apollo11"
