ORIGINAL: rustysi
Cancelled all transport too the payload is too low.
Careful my friend as you will/should discover that your air transports are extremely useful early on, and op losses tend to be high. Their pilots are not the best of the best. How about unloading all those fat transport ships, bonus or no, they are slow at the small ports you will capture in the beginning. OK bring in some stevedores. What you say? NS units. How? Fly 'em in those transports that have a payload that is too low.[:D] Need to protect that just captured base? Why not fly in some AS in those same transports. Bingo an operational airbase the day after its captured (that is of course if you didn't tattoo the base before you grabbed it [:-]).
Waiting for 43 when the copy of the DC transport will appaer.
Again, careful my friend. If this is the plane I think you're referring to you will be sadly disappointed. I don't recall its name, but if I'm not mistaken this is a navy plane and there are only a few naval transport units that can use it. So PDU on or not army A/C can not become naval A/C, and vice versa.[;)]
Edit:Another use for those air transports is paratroopers. They too can be quite useful and pesky early on for the Japanese player.[8D]
I agree with some more game time. Also checked some data again, yes the plane I mean is a navy plane. The name I cannot remember but it has 9000 or so payload. The others have 3000 or less [X(]
Yes I noted that transports are useful. Dropped some para already, some only encounted a base force and overcame them. Some other encounter a phil div (I believe at Tacloban) and were a bit disrupted. However we still can send 2-3 ships to land reeinforcements in this locations which *should* be isolated. Not always in AI games, as they get some bonus. Also lack of supply is very slow to lower combat readiness generally I noted. I will let some unit from em starve a while to see if and when they get disabled devices and their morale drops. Of course I will send them stuff before they die, I am not that cruel.
Re. transport, they are very useful also for training, you can put them on general they will gain all kinds of skills if only slow, but later you can check which skill(s) they developed best and maybe use some of the pilots for other duties too. My op losses are ok, I mostly do not use long range and put them on rest for a while. Rest can mean here also 40-60% training...
These air support companies are good for air transport btw. They only have 8 air support but if you transport 3 of them you have 24 which means a complete air unit can operate (depending on size). Btw, I am surprised that Japangets so much air support units at Tokio to ship away, I thought they were short of them in real life.
Another thing that came to my mind, what are "good" pilots. IIRC from the Allied game 60 is kind of a threshold. Now we need to look at skill and exp. Exp is gained with "real" combat and flights. While skill can be gained with training. Skill will and can also improve in combat. But more exp. Is a pilot of 60/60 good ? And 70 is exceptional ? Or is only over 80 considered outstanding? I believe these must be quite rare.
Btw: Skill can be gained without planes. I had a unit from which allplanes were gone (Kate) but most pilots survived. While waiting to get new planes, put themon training. They gained skill, it seems this is theoretical and simulator training. In the classroom etc. or they borrow planes from the other units nearby...
The Kate unit above suffered unescorted raid but not far away, some planes were shot down. But most made it back somehow but were so damaged that they crashed on landing or were written off after But most pilots ok
