training pilots, am i doing this right? (WiTP)

[lostsm]

i tried figuring this one out for a while now. there's a lot of threads out there concerning pilots, pools and training but i couldn't find something definitive.

so what I was doing, I kept a few Nate air groups (presumably the huge nate pool is great for kamikaze later on?) in china doing ground attack. when the experience reached the upper 80's, I would disband them, and select 'reform in 90 days'. the idea was to disband these units to get army pilots for the front line groups, and then repeat the process in 3 months

okay, so the first group would disband into the 2nd, the 2nd into the 3rd and the third (now with many many planes and pilots) would be disbanded. I then can see the 3 air groups in the air reinforcement schedule... but what I don't see is the 100+ experienced pilots in my 'Pilot replacement pool' under currently in pool. not on the turn i disband, nor the following turn. all it showed was 1 pilot on the turn i disbanded, and 0 on the following turn.

so what happened to those pilots and is this the right way to go about to get experienced pilots available to man the front line units? i was hoping to do the same with some spare home defense navy air groups, but if it's not working I wont

basically I thought that disbanding would put the planes back into the pool, but not the pilots; whereas withdraw would take both planes and pilots out... but I didn't withdraw, I disbanded the units.

[Barb]

in WITP you are disbanding/withdrawing one unit into another - check the unit you disbanded others into. there could be your pilots
in AE squadrons that are due to be withdrawed send their pilots and planes to pool - it could take few days to reach it...

[lostsm]

yeah i did check the units.. like i wrote, the 1st air group gets disbanded into the 2nd, effectively doubling it's amount of planes and pilots

next, this 2nd AG gets disbanded into the 3rd AG that was also training. now AG #3 has 3x the planes and pilots.

finally, #3 is also disbanded. since there weren't any other nates at the base I get the pop up 'disband into pool?' and I click yes. I didn't check the Nate pool but I'm betting the 108 planes went into there, which will be used in 90 days when all 3 units come back.

what about the pilots though? they were very experienced pilots, where in the world did they go? the pilot pool info screen wasn't updated at all. if all my army based AGs had replacements on, and more than likely I had a lot of pilot shortages, did all the pilots get distributed over the turn?

[Mike Solli]

I -think- it may take a few days for the pilots to migrate into the pool. You just took their planes away from them so they have to walk, ride, hitchike, etc. to get to wherever the pool is.

Also, keep in mind that in AE, if you take fighter pilots and train them in ground attack, their ground attack values increase but their air-to-air value does not increase.

[lostsm]

well its been a several turns since I disbanded so I can't really check if it was a case of pilots needing to swim back to japan. it's a good explanation, logical and all, but does anyone else think that is really it?

[Mike Solli]

I recall ~7 days being mentioned. Can't find it though with all these threads.

[erstad]

I believe for at least one case of pilot reassignment I saw that it took 1 to 15 days. Couldn't swear to that.

Of course, 1 to 15 could mean "random" or could have deterministic components (e.g., location when returned)

[TheElf]

There is a random delay when transferring pilots. From memory I believe it does not exceed 14 days.

[lostsm]

well i still couldn't see the pilots assigned into the pool.

i had a zero AG on the home island assigned to the south area HQ that i disbanded into the pool on dec 2nd 42. for the rest of the month I kept checking my pool but I never saw an extra 27 in there.

mind you that i did notice, 2 turns after disbanding into the pool, that i had forgotten to turn off replacements for naval DBs and TBs... so is it possible they all got sucked into there? afaik my AGs everywhere were pretty well filled up with reinforcements, my game was about to end and just about every unit was just standing down as there was no more action

this is for WiTP btw, and am I assuming it right that AGs 'disbanded into the pool' will then send the pilots into the reinforcement pool, correct?

[medicff]

Are the messages in the OP report "G Grisby is available for reassignment" have anything to do with pilots entering the pool?

[lostsm]

not sure the only thing i found in the OP reports related was a 'G Grisby expands fortifications to size 10' but that has nothing to do with the pilot pool now does it?

[Halsey]

ORIGINAL: medicff

Are the messages in the OP report "G Grisby is available for reassignment" have anything to do with pilots entering the pool?

Recent fix before the game release.

This is a message text showing leaders replaced, with the old leader (G Grigsby) now reassigned to officer pool.
It's a sweep program that takes the old leader out of the unit.

[medicff]

Thanks for answer Halsey.

I disbanded philipine unit (no replacement pilots) and was able to track that they ALL were placed into the reserve pool (button on replacement screen) as "fighter reserve" and had dates of appearance from 1 month to years away.

How does this reserve pool work? Some are assigned to squadrons, some fighter reserve?, some have dates of entry, some don't. Can you actually get them or do they pull out when you click on get pilot? Does it only happen when you pull from squadron that pilot is listed under?

Inquiring minds want to know. [:D][:D]

[Halsey]

Pick a single valuable fighter unit that's low on pilots.
Max it out with pilot replacements, and see who got drawn.

You'll be surprised.[;)]

BTW, this works for all nationalities.
I've done it with all of them.

Some of the fixed retricted can be used too, not all though.
You can test them by attempting to disband them and see what the text message says before you actually disband them.[;)]
Put them on max training in what skill you want.
After they reach an acceptable training level, disband and reform the unit.
Start it all over again.

Voila!
Extra better skilled pilots in the pools.

BTW
Pilots are assigned to specific type aircraft.
So you can do this with fighters, bombers, and patrols.[;)]

[medicff]

thanks I will give it a try. Some much to learn in this game [8|]