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Fill the normal quota with actual trainees. The extra spaces use 70/70+ Pilots to “average” upwards the trainee stats. Of course this only works one year into the game, after one builds up a reserve of “operational” Pilots.

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

I am surprised that no one has made the connection of my tread title and a porn flick. [8D]

Everyone must be clean living people. [;)]

It doesn't have the alliteration of 'Debbie Does Dallas'. Perhaps 'Bill Brings Banzai'? [&o]

Billie Blows(up) Borneo?

I don't know, I kinda liked the original title:

Billie Bombs Brisbane?
I was trying to weave Bangkok into this but that wouldn’t make sense as it starts with the Empire.
Ok, that’s the last one from me...

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

I’m trying to train my pilots to the 50/70/70 targets but getting the last bit from 65-70 is a struggle.
I’ve generally swapped out squadron commanders who are pilots, especially if their leadership and air skills are poor.
Do people overfill their training squadron with pilots or is it better to just post the same number of trainees to match the number of planes so they have a higher chance of flying/training every day?

According to tests posted at the forum, years ago:
-Training from green to 60 skill takes 2 months
-Training from 60 to 70 takes another month
-Pilots train even without planes
-Planes increase speed of training by about 20%

I found this post by Paxmondo in Mike Solli's thread, it seems right.

I'm no longer a fan of accelerating NF's. The issue is so few groups and then so few planes in those groups. Don't miss understand. I build the best one. I'd rather have some really good fighters early.

As you note, you can't get everything early.

If you are going N1K and A7M for IJN and Ki-84 and Ki-83 for IJA, i would go 12x30 N1K, 12x30 A7M, 18x30 Ki-84 and 12x30 Ki83. Minimum. that's 54 taken. Then 6 - 9 on A6M. It's your best fighter through '42. The rest pretty much as they arrive. They all have trade-offs.

You should see:
N1K in early '43. If you are lucky Feb/Mar. Yes the statistics say Apr (50%), BUT this is a one sided curve AND a high deviation (meaning broad, not sharp). It comes in Sept 100%. It's like a 20% chance to have it in Jan IIRC with 12. People forget that, they only remember the 50% mark … plus remember the second benefit: you have 360 production right away. 12 planes/day. 3 days to fill a 36 plane group. You get 2 groups converted to N1K every week.

A7M - Late 44. 12/44, close to that.
Ki-84 - 8/43 - 9/43. Something like that. Just after you get the Tojo-c. So you are going to fly the Tojo-a a long time.
ki-83 - somewhere just at the beginning of 45 … 1/45 or so. This will give you a 430 mph AC when the allies are also flying them. 9/45 when they start flying +460 mph aircraft you'll still be competitive.

I tend to agree with Pax on almost everything. I like his discussion above with one difference. I LOVE the Tojo IIc. I will put some R&D into the Tojo line to get the IIc early. Yep, that means something else will be later. I'm willing to do that because the IIc kicks butt early and mid war. I would probably drop the Ki-84 to 12 and put 6 on the Tojo.

Just my preference...

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

I’m trying to train my pilots to the 50/70/70 targets but getting the last bit from 65-70 is a struggle.
I’ve generally swapped out squadron commanders who are pilots, especially if their leadership and air skills are poor.
Do people overfill their training squadron with pilots or is it better to just post the same number of trainees to match the number of planes so they have a higher chance of flying/training every day?

You must absolutely overstuff the training squadrons to the gills with noobs. They will train regardless of number of airframes assigned the group, so don't let that be your limiting factor. Research from 'lo these many years ago' suggests that having zero or two functional aircraft in a training group really doesn't matter for trainee development.

The 65-70 experience / skill level is an asymptotic curve. I don't get hung up on the difference between a skill 68 pilot and a skill 71 pilot. Especially if the latter takes another month of training to scratch out those 3 meager skill points or isn't available for monthly pilot 'harvesting' when you're ready for it.

I assume that the training procedures I use as Allies will work for Japan.
All units have pilots at 133%.
I have some units training escort, 100% at 10000 feet until air to air at 70.
After they are at 70 air to air then they go to a unit that trains sweep, 100& at 100 feet until defense is 65+.
Then off to a second line airbase to fly CAP at 100%, 15,000 feet, range 0 until experience is about 70.
I cull every two weeks or so.

There are so many other little things that I am sure there are no real right or wrong answers. How many PBs, which ones. How many AVs, which ones. How many ACMs, which ones. And so on. Many little
questions and only through experience can they be truly answered since we all play differently.

Yep, experience will help. One thing though. I usually do 100% CAP last or sometimes just before sweep at ground level. The other training will also boost experience. It may save a little time.

Concerning PBs, I convert all the Ansyu-C to PBs. They are invaluable for escort and fast transport missions.

You have to be careful with Pax's language.

When he talks about accelerating planes, he means a minimum of 3 size 30 factories.

Put two factories on Nick D and two on Irving S - SA. I also usually put one on Dinah NF, one of Zero NF (to enlarge the navy squadrons), and perhaps 2 on Frances.

Some of the most definitive threads on night fighting can be found in Obvert vs Jocke in the last several pages.

If you screw up your NF r&d you can potentially get really punished. Of course you can do everything right, and the Allies totally ignore night bombing.[;)]

Tojo IIc is a valuable plane for the whole game, but isn't nearly as important as the Sam and Frank and becomes a special use/defensive plane in 44+.

Jack vs George. Jack is a more defensive fighter, George is a great sweeper. I like to have both.

Be wary of building a ton of twin engine fighters, very tough on the economy, but with Scen 2 you have some to spare hopefully.

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

I found this post by Paxmondo in Mike Solli's thread, it seems right.

I'm no longer a fan of accelerating NF's. The issue is so few groups and then so few planes in those groups. Don't miss understand. I build the best one. I'd rather have some really good fighters early.

As you note, you can't get everything early.

If you are going N1K and A7M for IJN and Ki-84 and Ki-83 for IJA, i would go 12x30 N1K, 12x30 A7M, 18x30 Ki-84 and 12x30 Ki83. Minimum. that's 54 taken. Then 6 - 9 on A6M. It's your best fighter through '42. The rest pretty much as they arrive. They all have trade-offs.

You should see:
N1K in early '43. If you are lucky Feb/Mar. Yes the statistics say Apr (50%), BUT this is a one sided curve AND a high deviation (meaning broad, not sharp). It comes in Sept 100%. It's like a 20% chance to have it in Jan IIRC with 12. People forget that, they only remember the 50% mark … plus remember the second benefit: you have 360 production right away. 12 planes/day. 3 days to fill a 36 plane group. You get 2 groups converted to N1K every week.

A7M - Late 44. 12/44, close to that.
Ki-84 - 8/43 - 9/43. Something like that. Just after you get the Tojo-c. So you are going to fly the Tojo-a a long time.
ki-83 - somewhere just at the beginning of 45 … 1/45 or so. This will give you a 430 mph AC when the allies are also flying them. 9/45 when they start flying +460 mph aircraft you'll still be competitive.

So, by that logic, no effectively new airframes until 9/43? Wait until 12/44-1/45 for your most competitive fighters? Flying antiquated Ki-44-IIa throughout most of 1943?

With all due respect, I disagree with this logic. Perhaps this optimizes *very* late war production, but at what expense? By ceding the qualitative air war to the Allies throughout 1943, what is the strategic cost borne by that? Do you get your premiere fighters online and distributed just in time to have the home islands firebombed into oblivion anyways? Will you be able to attrit Allied fighter pilot quality as well as you would with earlier more capable fighters?

Bill: Perhaps I misunderstood your 'sounds about right' comment. Were you referring to the contribution of late war fighters to your war production effort or were you referring to the comparatively 'tamed' advancing of the late war fighters (only pulling them forward 8-12 months) versus the 18-month option that I outlined previously?

Bill, as you're probably realizing, no two JFBs agree on Air R&D. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli



Bill, as you're probably realizing, no two JFBs agree on Air R&D. [:D]

[:D]

It's not that we disagree, Mike. It's just that every other JFB out there is doing it wrong. [;)]

Reminds me of an observation I heard about American men: Every American man thinks he can do something better than every other American man: 1. Build a fire and 2. Manage a professional baseball team.

For the JFB stalwarts of this game, I'd say managing air R&D is our baseball team.

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli



Bill, as you're probably realizing, no two JFBs agree on Air R&D. [:D]

[:D]

It's not that we disagree, Mike. It's just that every other JFB out there is doing it wrong. [;)]

Reminds me of an observation I heard about American men: Every American man thinks he can do something better than every other American man: 1. Build a fire and 2. Manage a professional baseball team.

For the JFB stalwarts of this game, I'd say managing air R&D is our baseball team.

[&o][:D]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

I found this post by Paxmondo in Mike Solli's thread, it seems right.

I'm no longer a fan of accelerating NF's. The issue is so few groups and then so few planes in those groups. Don't miss understand. I build the best one. I'd rather have some really good fighters early.

As you note, you can't get everything early.

If you are going N1K and A7M for IJN and Ki-84 and Ki-83 for IJA, i would go 12x30 N1K, 12x30 A7M, 18x30 Ki-84 and 12x30 Ki83. Minimum. that's 54 taken. Then 6 - 9 on A6M. It's your best fighter through '42. The rest pretty much as they arrive. They all have trade-offs.

You should see:
N1K in early '43. If you are lucky Feb/Mar. Yes the statistics say Apr (50%), BUT this is a one sided curve AND a high deviation (meaning broad, not sharp). It comes in Sept 100%. It's like a 20% chance to have it in Jan IIRC with 12. People forget that, they only remember the 50% mark … plus remember the second benefit: you have 360 production right away. 12 planes/day. 3 days to fill a 36 plane group. You get 2 groups converted to N1K every week.

A7M - Late 44. 12/44, close to that.
Ki-84 - 8/43 - 9/43. Something like that. Just after you get the Tojo-c. So you are going to fly the Tojo-a a long time.
ki-83 - somewhere just at the beginning of 45 … 1/45 or so. This will give you a 430 mph AC when the allies are also flying them. 9/45 when they start flying +460 mph aircraft you'll still be competitive.

So, by that logic, no effectively new airframes until 9/43? Wait until 12/44-1/45 for your most competitive fighters? Flying antiquated Ki-44-IIa throughout most of 1943?

With all due respect, I disagree with this logic. Perhaps this optimizes *very* late war production, but at what expense? By ceding the qualitative air war to the Allies throughout 1943, what is the strategic cost borne by that? Do you get your premiere fighters online and distributed just in time to have the home islands firebombed into oblivion anyways? Will you be able to attrit Allied fighter pilot quality as well as you would with earlier more capable fighters?

Bill: Perhaps I misunderstood your 'sounds about right' comment. Were you referring to the contribution of late war fighters to your war production effort or were you referring to the comparatively 'tamed' advancing of the late war fighters (only pulling them forward 8-12 months) versus the 18-month option that I outlined previously?

Ah, the JFB opinions. None of them wrong, none of them quite right

Holding off till 9/43 makes solid sense, as IMO there's no IJ plane that's real value for money that arrives before the N1K1, and the Allies are asset-limited.

A mix of Zero, Oscar and Nick can perform well-enough against the Allied fighter models, and for most of '42 and into '43 the Allies don't have large numbers of good quality fighters.

In that situation, it makes sense to put more effort in to the later, but more worthwhile IJ airframes. This helps the IJ player get ahead of increasing numbers of better quality airframes by getting key airframes in production earlier.

In short, bringing the Tojo forward by three months has much less impact than bringing any of the late-war fighters forward by the same time frame.

Well, right or wrong I have made my R&D choices.
I went with
6 x A6M2-N Rufe
12 x A7M2 Sam
12 x N1K1-J George
3 x J2M2 Jack

6 x Ki-44 Tojo
1 x Ki-44a tojo
12 x Ki-83
18 x Ki-84a Frank

2 x A6M5d Zero
2 x J1N1-S Irving
1 x Ki-46III KAI Dinah
2 x Ki-45KAId Nick
1 x Ki-49-II KAI Helen

1 x Ki-49-Ia helen
1 x Ki-115a Tsungi

I want to thank everyone for their input

I can still go back of course, I do have a save right before I did the R&D changes. I am going to take a break for a bit
to let everything settle. I see ChickenBoy has an argument against what I did, need to think about it.

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Billie Bombs Brisbane?
I was trying to weave Bangkok into this but that wouldn’t make sense as it starts with the Empire.
Ok, that’s the last one from me...

Bill bangs Bangkok?

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

In short, bringing the Tojo forward by three months has much less impact than bringing any of the late-war fighters forward by the same time frame.

That's a false choice, given the setup though. One can bring forward Ki-44-IIc 18 months, versus the late-war fighters 8-12 months. That's the relevant comparative.

By investing 8 factories in the Ki-44 line, I can produce IIa in May 1942 and rotate the other 5 onto IIc research program (that are fully repaired and researching IIc in April 1942). I can then have IIa in service May 1942, IIc in production December 1942. Those 10 months (12/42-9/43) are the tipping point for the air war. Providing the best opportunity for your pilots to stave off the Allied hordes during that 10 months of the war are not to be underestimated.

Also, I'm only talking about 8 factories here. I don't see this as an either / or. Do you really need 12/12/18 for the late-war models cited? Could you make do with 10/10/14? It's not all about barbell risk profiles: smooth out the production a little and give yourself some resiliency in 1943.

Finally, not to curse Bill's game, but few PBEM games go the distance. Very few. Denying the 1943 window of competitiveness to be modestly more competitive in 1944-1945 is often passing up any mid-late planes altogether, as most games will have 'ended' before then anyways.

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

Well, right or wrong I have made my R&D choices.
I went with
6 x A6M2-N Rufe
12 x A7M2 Sam
12 x N1K1-J George
3 x J2M2 Jack

6 x Ki-44 Tojo
1 x Ki-44a tojo
12 x Ki-83
18 x Ki-84a Frank

2 x A6M5d Zero
2 x J1N1-S Irving
1 x Ki-46III KAI Dinah
2 x Ki-45KAId Nick
1 x Ki-49-II KAI Helen

1 x Ki-49-Ia helen
1 x Ki-115a Tsungi

I want to thank everyone for their input

I can still go back of course, I do have a save right before I did the R&D changes. I am going to take a break for a bit
to let everything settle. I see ChickenBoy has an argument against what I did, need to think about it.

Oops, didn't see this post while I was typing up my most recent.

No worries, Bill. There's more than one way to skin a (Wild/Hell)cat.

But your specific selections above are curious. Are we to assume that you'll switch the A6M2-N Rufe research to the A6M5 line as soon as it is repaired?

Why research the Ki-44 versus the Ki-44-IIa per se? How many of these 6/7 factories will you produce versus switching to IIc research / production? Or were you planning on production with all of them?

Also, why start the game researching the A6M5d? Why not research A6M5 and then 'run down' the chain of A6M5b/c/d when the research factories are completely repaired? If you were going to run down the A6M5 chain, why not start with the A6M2-N since those research factories will be repaired so much sooner?