Two Late-War Aircraft Bugs

[michaelm75au]

One problem could be the pilots who not arrived yet, ie the have a delay date in database which has not been reached yet. This could be holding onto slots.

Also, from what I worked out a while back, if a pilot in the scenario database is not assigned to a Group, he does not even get loaded into the in-game pilot slots. The inverse holds true too, if a pilot is assigned to a group that never arrives, that slot is basically used up for the game period.

Michael

[michaelm75au]

If you have a current save, I can examine it and see if all the pilot slots have been assigned. Send it to (michaelm75@hotmail.com)

Michael

Gilligan and I have put our PBEM game on hold until we can figure out how to proceed. We have been using 2-day turns and have reached mid-August '44 so we may be a bit ahead of some people. We are hoping for a quick fix, such as a change in this one variable ( or the limits thereof), recompile and put out another beta. This hope may be unrealistic but without my daily fix(es) I cannot guarantee that I will remain an unproductive member of society.

I see now the 20K number when I examine the scenario using the database editor. We jointly have over 23K planes already in the game. I have not tried to count all of my empty slots ( not a quick task but may do so if someone needs this info to work toward a fix) but it seems to me that we are not 3000 pilots short. This condition has only been noticed by us in the last 2 weeks or so of game time.

[Speedysteve]

Hi,

Do KIA and MIA pilots stay in slots?

If so could there be a way of clearing them out? The reason I say this is because BTR also has a pilot limit. I know WiTP has 'moved on' in many ways but with an editor in BTR you could cull these KIA and MIA pilots freeing slots up.

Regards,

Steven

[michaelm75au]

I have seen no indication that they stay in the pilot table.

Michael

[michaelm75au]

I am wrong.[:o]
If the pilot is listed as a top pilot and has suffered a fate (MIA,KIA), it appears he will stay in the pilot list (because you need his name, group, etc for the list) until he drops off the list.

Michael

[Sharkosaurus rex]

KIA and MIA drop off the Top Gun pilot list the turn of their calamity.

We'll all have to go back to the Coral Sea scenario! Not too many planes here.

[WiTP_Dude]

ORIGINAL: Sharkosaurus rex

KIA and MIA drop off the Top Gun pilot list the turn of their calamity.

I have lots of KIA and MIA on my list:

[Sharkosaurus rex]

I have never seen a pilot with any fate other than -.
I have only played scen#15.
I have played PBEM, h-2-h (testing) and a little -v-AI.
I have used both sides.

[WiTP_Dude]

ORIGINAL: Sharkosaurus rex

I have never seen a pilot with any fate other than -.
I have only played scen#15.
I have played PBEM, h-2-h (testing) and a little -v-AI.
I have used both sides.

One of us most have another bug. [:D]

[Sharkosaurus rex]

I'm currently playing with 1.6 and haven't seen any pilot fates.

[Speedysteve]

As say guys I don't KNOW on this i'm just speculating based on BTR. In BTR KIA and MIA still took a pilot slot and kept it. Only by a utility made for the game could they be cleared which meant the pilot limit problem was resolved in BTR.

Steven

[Sharkosaurus rex]

WitP has a secure save game file.
But it doesn't matter if the poor-fated pilots are still in the slots because 10,000 Jap planes and 19,000 Allied planes will need more than 20,000 pilots. Also a lot of units will have gone through heaps of pilots so 20k is way too low.
My eye brows are still up on the ceiling from reading this thread.

[michaelm75au]

I have examined a save file which has filled up the pilot table.

I now have to revise the number of pilots that can be in a game.

The game has 30K slots for pilots.
Thats 10K over the editor limit, which makes sense as there has to a bit of room for expansion due to random names.

Sorry for any confusion.
[I know I was[&:]]

Michael

[Aawulf]

ORIGINAL: michaelm

I have examined a save file which has filled up the pilot table.

I now have to revise the number of pilots that can be in a game.

The game has 30K slots for pilots.
Thats 10K over the editor limit, which makes sense as there has to a bit of room for expansion due to random names.

Sorry for any confusion.
[I know I was[&:]]

Michael

Thanks for digging deeper. I guess the easy way to test the 30k (couldn't resist [:D] ) limit would be to test a head to head for a few days with all air units on the board and at rest to see what happens.

[michaelm75au]

From a closer examination of that save file, two other things to be aware of with pilots are:

(a) pilots in the scenario file are only loaded if they are assigned to a group.

(b) pilots in the scenario file must not have a delay date of 9999 and be assigned to a group. Otherwise, the pilot is loaded to arrive in 9999 days and never shows ie a wasted slot.

Michael

[WiTP_Dude]

So basically I am stuck in the water then. I am running out of heavy industry so it doesn't really matter though. However, for Japanese players who manage to do better in the industry department, this really isn't helpful.

[bradfordkay]

For quite awhile I have seen pilot fates listed for aces (never for any pilots with fewer than five kills). I don't recall which patch included this...

[Sharkosaurus rex]

Thanks michaelm for looking into this roblem area. It have left many of us confused.

[Gilligan]

What I would like to know is this: Anyone from Matrix looking at this problem? Our game is now in 8/44 and we'd like to be able to carry on without resorting to some half-baked scheme to share the pilot slots that are freed up.

Not a critisism, just asking if they're aware and are looking into it. Matrix is top notch in my book.[:D]

[michaelm75au]

ORIGINAL: Sharkosaurus rex

Thanks michaelm for looking into this roblem area. It have left many of us confused.

Yea. Me,too
Generally, if a delay is equal to 9999, it means don't include in the scenario. It does not mean "don't load" into scenario game tables. Subtle difference. In most cases, this does not matter because the slots are not re-cylced. The pilot and leader tables are different in that regard.

One thing I am curious about is how big that Top pilot list can get, and where the cut-off line to be included in it is.
Showing a list of 500 pilots with more than one kill is over-kill (excuse the pun).
And if a top ace is KIA/MIA, then he is basically using a permanent slot.
Michael