B-17s and other Aircraft Issues

[bstarr]

The only problem with turning off production of obsolete aircraft is that you need to make sure that every plane that is in the middle of an upgrade chain has at least some production or you could end up with a unit stuck with obsolete planes, or, worse yet, without planes at all. Example - let's say we do away with Bolo production, and there's a unit equipped with, say, Sopwith Camels that upgrades to Bolos (must be British if it's going from fighter to bomber [:D] ). If you manage to run out of Bolos before the unit upgrades, then that unit won't be able to upgrade at all if there isn't some Bolo production. In '45 the unit will still be in Sopwith Camels, and if Camel production is done away with as well, it won't have these either.
bs

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: bstarr

The only problem with turning off production of obsolete aircraft is that you need to make sure that every plane that is in the middle of an upgrade chain has at least some production or you could end up with a unit stuck with obsolete planes, or, worse yet, without planes at all. Example - let's say we do away with Bolo production, and there's a unit equipped with, say, Sopwith Camels that upgrades to Bolos (must be British if it's going from fighter to bomber [:D] ). If you manage to run out of Bolos before the unit upgrades, then that unit won't be able to upgrade at all if there isn't some Bolo production. In '45 the unit will still be in Sopwith Camels, and if Camel production is done away with as well, it won't have these either.
bs

Leaving the unit on upgrade will allow it to skip to the next available upgrade type. Just make sure the squadron is upgrad capable to at least one aircraft with production.

[Don Bowen]

OK Gentlemen - I've gone over the production items. How's this sound:

1. A number of existing (fully equipped) squadrons were transferred from the East coast to the West Coast immediately after Pearl Harbor. To Simulate this the squadrons have been placed at the United States Base (330) with all aircraft damaged as of December 7, 1941. An earlier plan to place sufficient aircraft in the pools to "cover" their arrival has been abandoned as the pool aircraft could get drained away for other squadrons.

2. Obsolete aircraft no longer being produced are being set to production 1. This simulates availability of a few additional aircraft due to repairs, transfers from off map, or magic. Went to this primarily to prevent squadrons running too low during the restricted upgrade period. A bunch of obsolete aircraft will eventually build up in the pools - far beyond historical numbers. If there is a great outcry I could change the production to zero and see what happens.

3. Off Map production of B-17E set to one and factory at Seattle set to 24/month.

4. Vildebeest, T-IVa and B-18A Bolo production set to 1. 12 B-18A have been placed in the initial pool.

5. Off Map production is retained for Blenheim I (reduced to 10), F2A-3 Buffalo and Mohawk IV.

6. Wirraway "off map" production set to 1 and pool to 15. A Factory at Melbourne produces 40/month

7. Blenheim 1F "off map" production reduced to 1 (only 1 squadron!).

8. P-35 Build rate set to 3 (was 5). Lots of them in training depots in US

9. P-36 Build rate set to 1 (was 20) and pool upped to 20.

10. P-40B build rate reduced to 2 (was 10) and pool upped to 12.

11. 60 A-24 have been placed in the pool to cover the early arrival of three squdrons. Two of these arrive at Sydney to simulate transport on the Pensacola convoy and there are no active squadrons at game start so "United States" base was not used.

12. P-38F off map production set to one (was 20) and the existing P-38G factory at San Diego changed to P-38F (quantity upped to 10). This should switch to P-38G at the right time. The other P-38G factory (Los Angeles) reduced from 75 to 70 to compensate.


And to save a post, Ships:

Destroyer Sampson arrival moved up to 420114 - SE Pacific Patrol of out the Canal
Destroyer McDougal added, arrival 420831 - SE Pacific Patrol of out the Canal

[Andrew Brown]

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

OK Gentlemen - I've gone over the production items. How's this sound:
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Sounds perfect Don.