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Something to be aware of when pulling pilots from reserve to a squadron is the list of skills that will be used for the selection. This list is present in the squadron interface.

One issue I have run into is with squadrons that can convert from bomber types to fighter types. I recently converted several Wirraway squadrons to Beaufighters. Immediately after conversion, the list of skills to be used in selecting pilots from reserve reflects the bomber skills the squadron had previously been increasing. Obviously, this won't help if trying to pull pilots with Air skill in the squadron. Below is a screenshot of a squadron newly converted that still has its skill list dominated by bomber skills.

Here is a squadron that converted earlier and has spent time training the Air skill. The Air skill now appears in the list of skills, but ASW (a skill the Wirraways were training) is still in the list.

The slow updating of the list has caused me to hold off trying to switch out the bomber pilots for fighter pilots.
It might be easier to start over with raw Replacements and train them up in Fighter skills.

Hans, I thought that list of "Major Skills" was only an indication of the higher skills the pilots were trained in as a group. I didn't know it had any impact on pulling pilots from the Reserve. Are you sure the pilots you get with this method are selected by the pre-existing skills of the other pilots already in the squadron?

I guess I've never seen anything like this mostly because I tend to use the "Request Veteran" method, then sort and select who I want to draw into the squadron myself.

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

ORIGINAL: bush

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

I would have thought the DBB designers would have fixed it.[&:]

If you use WitP Tracker, the task is easier. Just open the Leaders screen, and sort them by name (or ID if you know the ID), et voila !

It is a good habit to take, on the long run, to check every single ship or unit you receive, the turn you receive them. I sometimes found good leaders on base forces, or in restricted units.


EDIT : regarding the Sprague in DBB, I just checked the A version (the only one currently installed on my laptop), and both of them are still encoded as Ship-type leaders. Finding them will be of no use, as you can’t reassign them on either a ship (too high a rank) or TF (not the correct type).

Hans, why are you training them at 11 range? Do you see some advantage in that (as opposed to minimising fatigue and ops losses at zero range)?

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Here is a squadron that converted earlier and has spent time training the Air skill. The Air skill now appears in the list of skills, but ASW (a skill the Wirraways were training) is still in the list.

The slow updating of the list has caused me to hold off trying to switch out the bomber pilots for fighter pilots.
It might be easier to start over with raw Replacements and train them up in Fighter skills.

ORIGINAL: bush

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

Bush, because you are playing DBB-C (so the scenario data base is editable) there is a way you could manipulate things so Ziggy Sprague is in charge of a Casablanca CVE, for ex. Unfortunately the ship will be named CVE "PT-74", that you can't change in a saved game.

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

Hans, I thought that list of "Major Skills" was only an indication of the higher skills the pilots were trained in as a group. I didn't know it had any impact on pulling pilots from the Reserve. Are you sure the pilots you get with this method are selected by the pre-existing skills of the other pilots already in the squadron?

I guess I've never seen anything like this mostly because I tend to use the "Request Veteran" method, then sort and select who I want to draw into the squadron myself.

Doing the same as you.

Bumping this question for Hans. I’d be interested in the answer too.

ORIGINAL: Ian R

ORIGINAL: bush

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

Bush, because you are playing DBB-C (so the scenario data base is editable) there is a way you could manipulate things so Ziggy Sprague is in charge of a Casablanca CVE, for ex. Unfortunately the ship will be named CVE "PT-74", that you can't change in a saved game.

And if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with 300 extra CVE...

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

Hans, I thought that list of "Major Skills" was only an indication of the higher skills the pilots were trained in as a group. I didn't know it had any impact on pulling pilots from the Reserve. Are you sure the pilots you get with this method are selected by the pre-existing skills of the other pilots already in the squadron?

I guess I've never seen anything like this mostly because I tend to use the "Request Veteran" method, then sort and select who I want to draw into the squadron myself.

Doing the same as you.

Bumping this question for Hans. I’d be interested in the answer too.

ORIGINAL: Ian R

ORIGINAL: bush

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

Bush, because you are playing DBB-C (so the scenario data base is editable) there is a way you could manipulate things so Ziggy Sprague is in charge of a Casablanca CVE, for ex. Unfortunately the ship will be named CVE "PT-74", that you can't change in a saved game.

And if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with 300 extra CVE...

I really don't think that the Japanese would worry about that since they would not have all of those PT Boats to worry about. [;)]

Could you just imagine creating CVEs with just some supply . . . [X(]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

Hans, I thought that list of "Major Skills" was only an indication of the higher skills the pilots were trained in as a group. I didn't know it had any impact on pulling pilots from the Reserve. Are you sure the pilots you get with this method are selected by the pre-existing skills of the other pilots already in the squadron?

I guess I've never seen anything like this mostly because I tend to use the "Request Veteran" method, then sort and select who I want to draw into the squadron myself.

Doing the same as you.

Bumping this question for Hans. I’d be interested in the answer too.

ORIGINAL: Ian R

ORIGINAL: bush

Ambassador - I found Ziggy! Just like you said, on PT 74. So I have to start looking at all my ships to discover if his brother is buried somewhere similar. What a task. (By the way, I am playing DBB-C)

Bush, because you are playing DBB-C (so the scenario data base is editable) there is a way you could manipulate things so Ziggy Sprague is in charge of a Casablanca CVE, for ex. Unfortunately the ship will be named CVE "PT-74", that you can't change in a saved game.

And if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with 300 extra CVE...

Not if you do it as a conversion - and then afterwards delete the bind. That means it would have to be done in the CONUS, and maybe at San Fransisco only.

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Not if you do it as a conversion - and then afterwards delete the bind. That means it would have to be done in the CONUS, and maybe at San Fransisco only.

Oh, you’re right ! I only thought of the upgrade possibility, but conversion works too.[&o]

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

Hans, I thought that list of "Major Skills" was only an indication of the higher skills the pilots were trained in as a group. I didn't know it had any impact on pulling pilots from the Reserve. Are you sure the pilots you get with this method are selected by the pre-existing skills of the other pilots already in the squadron?

I guess I've never seen anything like this mostly because I tend to use the "Request Veteran" method, then sort and select who I want to draw into the squadron myself.

Not certain. I simply interpreted the list to be what was used in selecting pilots from reserve because it is placed directly under the lines for pulling in reserve pilots. I could easily be wrong, but if I am does anyone know what criteria is used?

After switching from bombers to fighter bombers will the engine pull in fighter pilots if I pull from reserve? Guess some experimentation is in order.

ORIGINAL: Ian R


Hans, why are you training them at 11 range? Do you see some advantage in that (as opposed to minimising fatigue and ops losses at zero range)?

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Here is a squadron that converted earlier and has spent time training the Air skill. The Air skill now appears in the list of skills, but ASW (a skill the Wirraways were training) is still in the list.

The slow updating of the list has caused me to hold off trying to switch out the bomber pilots for fighter pilots.
It might be easier to start over with raw Replacements and train them up in Fighter skills.

I guess I just don't place as much stock in the whole 'you get less ops losses at zero range' mantra.
Ops losses in training squadrons are soooooo minimal that the additional tedium doesn't seem worth it.

I was a little surprised that a base engineer unit wouldn't fully unload at Akyab in the game I'm currently playing. It's a level 4 port and I always assumed you could pretty much unload anything at a level 4. The problem was an "improved CH radar" set. So I unloaded it at Chittagong and will let them just drag that sucker through the jungle to Akyab. [:'(]

I'm playing against the AI so there's no great urgency anyway.[8|]


EDIT: just realized I posted this in the wrong thread

Hans, I recommend that you train at range of 0, and altitude between 5-9k. It will definitely reduce fatigue. If you test it then you will see fatigue dropping into the single digits. I also throw in more pilots to get them trained up as well. Your point on Ops losses may be correct, but I wonder. I have to think that fatigued pilots are more likely to endure Ops Losses.

ORIGINAL: Dan1977

Hans, I recommend that you train at range of 0, and altitude between 5-9k. It will definitely reduce fatigue. If you test it then you will see fatigue dropping into the single digits. I also throw in more pilots to get them trained up as well. Your point on Ops losses may be correct, but I wonder. I have to think that fatigued pilots are more likely to endure Ops Losses.

Understand the logic, but what about the flip side of the coin?

Does training at less range to reduce ops losses and at lower altitudes to reduce fatigue ALSO reduce training gains?

If so, I would rather have the increased training rate as a trade off for the higher fatigue and ops losses.

To the best of my knowledge, all those pushing lower range as a boon for lower ops losses have never addressed whether, or not, a reduction in training gains is also a result.

I have a way of finding the black cloud behind every silver lining.

Hans,
I was skeptical at first also. I did not know of the 0 range thing until I heard about it on a YouTube series between THG & XTRG about a year ago. I tried it. Now I'm a believer that it is the best/fastest way to train up the pilots in units. At 0 range and at altitudes not above 10k, I can maintain a 100% training rate for all my units indefinitely because fatigue remains low. As we all know about regular missions, fatigue increases with range & altitudes above 10k. If you train at increased ranges, then your fatigue climbs to unsustainable levels, so that maybe you are only able to train w/50-70% levels, depending on how many surplus pilots you have. I was surprised how quickly my pilots gained experience with 0 range & 100% flying, versus my earlier training doctrine of flying at normal combat ranges & altitudes like 15k. I consider it sufficiently effective that within the first 3 week (game time) trial, I was able to move pilots (w 50+) from air units to the Reserve Pool and then add more rookie pilots to the unit. I had previously thought that my units in constant combat would be the real sources for refilling the reserves. Instead, now I'm getting many more trained pilots from Pearl & CONUS, that I now can feed into Combat units to keep fatigue low. I think it is worth a trial run for anyone skeptical.

ORIGINAL: dwesolick

I was a little surprised that a base engineer unit wouldn't fully unload at Akyab in the game I'm currently playing. It's a level 4 port and I always assumed you could pretty much unload anything at a level 4. The problem was an "improved CH radar" set. So I unloaded it at Chittagong and will let them just drag that sucker through the jungle to Akyab. [:'(]

I'm playing against the AI so there's no great urgency anyway.[8|]

Radars typically take more than one day to unload at ports <7. Depending on port size and naval support 2-3 days at the dock is required. If it will not unload in 3 days it likely will not unload at all until the port is bigger or NS is brought in.