AE Air Issues and Air OOB Issues [OUTDATED]

[okami]

Balistics! Are the effect numbers of guns going to be changed to reflect that 20mm cannons are not just larger .50cal machineguns. Will the effect numbers have an effect on armour ie 20mm is better than .50cal which is better than 7.7mm?

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: TheElf

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli




OMG. I'm in heaven. Taking this a bit further, are new classes added periodically? This expansion is getting better and better. [:D]

Yes they are. The classes are on a 12 month curriculum. When one graduates a new one takes it's place in "ground school".

So basically, there is a limit to the number of "pilots" you can remove from the training school, right? Also, can you throw out a couple of numbers as to the class sizes? Will the new classes increase in size as the war continues and the Japanese realize their pilot shortage?

Later in the war, the shortage was due to lack of fuel for training and lack of experienced instructors. The first can be modelled as a supply draw; the second can be modelled by rotation home of experienced pilots. If they don't survive to be rotated, you don't have the instructors.

[herwin]

Will you be modelling air units as sortie producers? That's how we think of them in real command and control systems.

[Barb]

I would like to see a better Night air strikes model. Can there be also a night naval search?
The more moonlight and radar equipment should boost night spottings and also make night attacks more frequent (from 1943 the dawn/dusk or full moon night attacks were frequent).
The night search frequency should be lowered by higher fatigue denying to fly it full scale as day search.
Have you thinked about something like this?

[Jim D Burns]

Would it be possible to add a new secondary air mission of ground attack for air groups set to naval attack missions? I always found it annoying that I couldn’t have my bombers on a primary mission of naval attack and hit enemy units in a non-base hex marching towards their base on turns no naval targets were present.

Jim

[TheElf]

ORIGINAL: Barb

I would like to see a better Night air strikes model. Can there be also a night naval search?
The more moonlight and radar equipment should boost night spottings and also make night attacks more frequent (from 1943 the dawn/dusk or full moon night attacks were frequent).
The night search frequency should be lowered by higher fatigue denying to fly it full scale as day search.
Have you thinked about something like this?

We are working toward something like this.

[Weidi72]

Some Navy squadrons are only carrier capable not trained because they arrive on land. Is this fixed?

[TheElf]

ORIGINAL: Weidi72

Some Navy squadrons are only carrier capable not trained because they arrive on land. Is this fixed?

This is an OoB item. It's an easy thing to address in the editor. Not saying we won't have it fixed for the release.

[Grotius]

Because of the way detection levels work and because the Japanese see what is at the base before the Allies do their aircraft transfers, but the Allies see the numbers after the Japanese do their turn, it gives Player 2 an advantage.

Elf, did you notice this inquiry from Yakface? I haven't played PBEM for about a year, so I'd forgotten about this, but it's a valid concern, isn't it?

Related question: Is there any restriction on transferring planes and using them on the same turn? That might partly address Yakface's concern.

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Because of the way detection levels work and because the Japanese see what is at the base before the Allies do their aircraft transfers, but the Allies see the numbers after the Japanese do their turn, it gives Player 2 an advantage.

Elf, did you notice this inquiry from Yakface? I haven't played PBEM for about a year, so I'd forgotten about this, but it's a valid concern, isn't it?

Should it be? The Allies get very little to reflect the huge advantage "magic" intercepts gave them in real life.

[Yakface]

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Because of the way detection levels work and because the Japanese see what is at the base before the Allies do their aircraft transfers, but the Allies see the numbers after the Japanese do their turn, it gives Player 2 an advantage.

Elf, did you notice this inquiry from Yakface? I haven't played PBEM for about a year, so I'd forgotten about this, but it's a valid concern, isn't it?

Should it be? The Allies get very little to reflect the huge advantage "magic" intercepts gave them in real life.

I wouldn't object to an improvement to Allied intelligence, but this feature is not a satisfactory way of achieving it

[VSWG]

With different pilot experience values, is it possible to train a specific value using the training mission? For instance, can I tell a fighter-bomber squadron to train only/mainly their ground bombing skill, and not their A2A skill?

[TheElf]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

With different pilot experience values, is it possible to train a specific value using the training mission? For instance, can I tell a fighter-bomber squadron to train only/mainly their ground bombing skill, and not their A2A skill?

Yes. When you select training as a mission, the other missions for which the unit is qualified may be selected. All Skills that are used for that mission may then be improved in the normal fashion.

[Historiker]

What about "fly-by" interception?
ATM, a bomber may fly over 20 bases with large numbers of fighters without getting attacked. Will this be changed?

[MineSweeper]

Elf, so to be clear...Pilots can be trained for different A/C missions?
So you can have a pilot with 75% exp. for Naval Attacks and say 85% for Airfield Attack ?

Does this graphic have a bearing on this.

[Bahnsteig]

All Skills that are used for that mission may then be improved in the normal fashion.

While flying strafing missions, will the A2A skill improve to a max value, like 60, which may be the maximum A2A experience without seeing air combat?
And will allied replacement pilots still be higly skilled with 70-75exp without seeing a battle before?

What about "fly-by" interception?
ATM, a bomber may fly over 20 bases with large numbers of fighters without getting attacked. Will this be changed?

That's what I'm asking for all the time, but no chance.


And maybe an "undo" button if a transfer goes to a wrong base Happens sometimes.
Or a possibility to select all squadrons which should transfer to the same base.

[cantona2]

Just like to say i like the KIA,MIA,WIA additions to the unit screen. Nice to track its service record through the game. Little details like this will make this game immense

[1EyedJacks]

ORIGINAL: TheElf

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Also can you change weapon loadouts a la BTR?

No.

Can you list the different areas of pilot experience?

• Air attack
• Air defensive
• Naval bombing
• Naval torpedo
• Naval search
• Recon
• ASW
• Transport
• Ground bombing
• Low level naval bombing
• Low level ground bombing
• Strafe

Hi Elf,

I was looking at the different types of experience for pilots and the different pools that a player can pull pilots from.

If I'm adding pilots from a pool to a fighter squadron does the program automatically pull pilots based on, say Air Attack/Air Defense experience or is there just as likely a possability that a pilot will be pulled from the pool to fill a fighter squadron with a high level of Transport experience...

[Lannes_]

How will be treated airbases? For example:
There will be air stack limit for different size of air bases?
Will be affected also the number of planes that can do CAP or attacks depending on the air base level, or a restricted maximun range for a big air group attacking coordinately?

[ctangus]

I have to say "Wow!" again - all the changes look great but the more I think about it, the air war changes seem most profound at first glance. I have a few follow-up questions:

ORIGINAL: TheElf

when in the TrainING pool, pilots are un-named, and un-designated. Generic if you will. Once they area drawn to an operational unit they are designated as TB, DB, FF, MB, REC etc. Once this happens they remain designated as a "Type" of pilot. And when they are moved from pool to pool they are in seperate pools based on their type.

The one exception is where they are in the Training Command pool as "instructors". Here is where they affect the output of "students" in the TrainING pool.

1. Do pilots get assigned as "instructors" in the Training command automatically, by player choice, or by both? Can they be reassigned to the front as desired?

2. How do instructors affect the output of students? More pilots trained? Better experience when they graduate? Both?

3. Is there an advantage to keeping highly trained fighter pilots as instructors, or could I get the same advantages by just sending lots of transport pilots back to the States or Japan?