Pilot Training: A not-so-learned commentary

[pompack]

After extensive reading, testing and general playing-around with pilot training, I have decided to share all that I know, surmise, or deduce with the general population here in hopes that someone can explain where I went wrong. Indeed all of this effort has not so much enlightened me as lifted me to a higher and more confused level of ignorance. Here, in no particular order, is what I have learned; areas where my ignorance is near-total are highlighted in bold.

1. There are three (not four or five) pools from which you can draw replacement pilots: a) Replacement, b) Reserve (aka General Reserve), and c) TRACOM. The replacement pool is what you see when you see when you look at the Pilot Replacement Screen. The Reserve pool is what you see (mostly) when you select the “Reserve Pool” button from the Pilot Replacement Screen. The TRACOM Pool is a displayed as part of the Reserve Pool display with the discriminating designation “Training Command” in the Group Column for those pilots that are actually in TRACOM Pool instead of the Reserve Pool

2. Pilots enter the Replacement Pool by completing basic pilot training per the manual. Pilots enter the Reserve Pool in one of two ways: a) by manually selecting a pilot from a group Pilot List for transfer to “Group Reserve” and then selecting again for transfer to “General Reserve” or b) by selecting the option button “Release X pilots” from the air group display screen when the air group is in dedicated training mode.

3. Pilots enter the TRACOM pool by selecting a highlighted name from the “Reserve Pool” screen and approving the “transfer to Training Command” option; sometimes they will transfer and sometimes they won’t. Pilots can be transferred out of TRACOM back to the Reserve Pool by selecting the highlighted name noted as being in Training Command and approving the “Transfer to Reserve” option. Note that pilots transferred from “Group Reserve” to Training Command will be returned to “General Reserve” NOT Group Reserve.

4. Pilots are MANUALLY drawn from the Replacement Pool by selecting the “replacement” option under the “from” heading and either the “Get new pilot” button or the “Get X pilots” button. You are not allowed to select for skills; you get what you are given

5. Pilots are MANUALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool by selecting the “Reserve” option under the “from” heading and either the “Get new pilot” button or the “Get X pilots” button. You are not allowed to select for skills; you get what you are given

6. Pilots are also MANUALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool by selecting the “Request Veteran” option. A screen will open displaying a SUBSET of the Reserve Pool for the applicable nationality/service branch. (This subset includes some but not all of the pilots in the Reserve Pool for the applicable nationality/service branch. I do not know which are not shown or why they are not shown). Select a pilot from the list and it will be shown as assigned to the Group Reserve of the air group in question with a delay. If you then look at the pilot list for the air group, the veteran you just selected may show up on that list “grayed out” with the delay show; conversely it may NOT show up on the list at all (I don’t know why). Note that until the delay expires the “Ready Pilots” number will be shown in this form XX(0) indicating XX pilots ready and none unready; after the delay expires the number will be in this form XX(1) indicating one pilot in “unready reserve”. As soon as there is room (I think), the pilot will be shown ready (not “grayed out”) on the pilot list and the number in parenthesis will change back to zero. Note that this is the only way that you can select a pilot with desired skills (I think)

7. In theory, pilots can be manually drawn from TRACOM by selecting the “TRACOM” option; however I have never verified this because I have not tested long enough for pilots moved to TRACOM to achieve their “Due Date” Until that occurs the TRACOM transfer option is “redded out” as unavailable

8. Pilots can be AUTOMATICALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool or Replacement Pool by selecting “Automatic” at the top of the aircraft group display screen and then selecting a band option with selections “Any”, “Trained 50+”, “Rookie 60+” etc. “Any” seems to always select from the Replacement Pool and although each band is labeled X0+ the selection seems to be from X0 through X9 experience level. Note that a given unit, such as a fighter, will draw from any unit not just the pilots designated as “fighter reserve” in the Reserve Pool display.

9. Sometimes new pilots are added automatically to the Reserve Pool. I think they are pilots in Group Reserve for reinforcing air units not yet in play. Maybe.


Major Questions: Please pile on if you have any insight to any of these. In fact, go ahead and let fly even if you don’t

1 Is there a way to use Manual “get pilot” or the automatic (“Rookie 60+” for example) and get a pilot trained for the air unit (e.g. fighter) requesting replacements?

2 What good is “Group Reserve”? Why do some pilots shown as “Group Reserve” in the Reserve Pool display show up “grayed” in the group pilot list and some don’t? How, when and why do “grayed” names move into the “Ready” condition i.e. “ungrayed”?

3 Under what conditions does a pilot on the Reserve Pool list show up as a candidate for transfer as a “Get Veteran Pilot” and under what conditions will it NOT show up?

4 What is the purpose of the “Group Designation” (e.g. Fighter reserve, bomber reserve, transport reserve, etc) since the “get pilot” function seems to ignore it (e.g. put veteran bomber pilots from “bomber reserve” with GrdB 70/Air25 into fighter units) ?

5 How do you use the “Get Instructor” function? I always get the “No instructor available at this time” response

6 Where do the pilots automatically added to the Reserve Pool come from?

7 Why can I sometimes select a highlight name for in the Reserve Pool display and it will NOT transfer to TRACOM even though it says it will?

[ckammp]

ORIGINAL: pompack

After extensive reading, testing and general playing-around with pilot training, I have decided to share all that I know, surmise, or deduce with the general population here in hopes that someone can explain where I went wrong. Indeed all of this effort has not so much enlightened me as lifted me to a higher and more confused level of ignorance. Here, in no particular order, is what I have learned; areas where my ignorance is near-total are highlighted in bold.

1. There are three (not four or five) pools from which you can draw replacement pilots: a) Replacement, b) Reserve (aka General Reserve), and c) TRACOM. The replacement pool is what you see when you see when you look at the Pilot Replacement Screen. The Reserve pool is what you see (mostly) when you select the “Reserve Pool” button from the Pilot Replacement Screen. The TRACOM Pool is a displayed as part of the Reserve Pool display with the discriminating designation “Training Command” in the Group Column for those pilots that are actually in TRACOM Pool instead of the Reserve Pool

2. Pilots enter the Replacement Pool by completing basic pilot training per the manual. Pilots enter the Reserve Pool in one of two ways: a) by manually selecting a pilot from a group Pilot List for transfer to “Group Reserve” and then selecting again for transfer to “General Reserve” or b) by selecting the option button “Release X pilots” from the air group display screen when the air group is in dedicated training mode.

3. Pilots enter the TRACOM pool by selecting a highlighted name from the “Reserve Pool” screen and approving the “transfer to Training Command” option; sometimes they will transfer and sometimes they won’t. Pilots can be transferred out of TRACOM back to the Reserve Pool by selecting the highlighted name noted as being in Training Command and approving the “Transfer to Reserve” option. Note that pilots transferred from “Group Reserve” to Training Command will be returned to “General Reserve” NOT Group Reserve.

4. Pilots are MANUALLY drawn from the Replacement Pool by selecting the “replacement” option under the “from” heading and either the “Get new pilot” button or the “Get X pilots” button. You are not allowed to select for skills; you get what you are given

5. Pilots are MANUALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool by selecting the “Reserve” option under the “from” heading and either the “Get new pilot” button or the “Get X pilots” button. You are not allowed to select for skills; you get what you are given

6. Pilots are also MANUALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool by selecting the “Request Veteran” option. A screen will open displaying a SUBSET of the Reserve Pool for the applicable nationality/service branch. (This subset includes some but not all of the pilots in the Reserve Pool for the applicable nationality/service branch. I do not know which are not shown or why they are not shown). Select a pilot from the list and it will be shown as assigned to the Group Reserve of the air group in question with a delay. If you then look at the pilot list for the air group, the veteran you just selected may show up on that list “grayed out” with the delay show; conversely it may NOT show up on the list at all (I don’t know why). Note that until the delay expires the “Ready Pilots” number will be shown in this form XX(0) indicating XX pilots ready and none unready; after the delay expires the number will be in this form XX(1) indicating one pilot in “unready reserve”. As soon as there is room (I think), the pilot will be shown ready (not “grayed out”) on the pilot list and the number in parenthesis will change back to zero. Note that this is the only way that you can select a pilot with desired skills (I think)

7. In theory, pilots can be manually drawn from TRACOM by selecting the “TRACOM” option; however I have never verified this because I have not tested long enough for pilots moved to TRACOM to achieve their “Due Date” Until that occurs the TRACOM transfer option is “redded out” as unavailable

8. Pilots can be AUTOMATICALLY drawn from the Reserve Pool or Replacement Pool by selecting “Automatic” at the top of the aircraft group display screen and then selecting a band option with selections “Any”, “Trained 50+”, “Rookie 60+” etc. “Any” seems to always select from the Replacement Pool and although each band is labeled X0+ the selection seems to be from X0 through X9 experience level. Note that a given unit, such as a fighter, will draw from any unit not just the pilots designated as “fighter reserve” in the Reserve Pool display.

9. Sometimes new pilots are added automatically to the Reserve Pool. I think they are pilots in Group Reserve for reinforcing air units not yet in play. Maybe.


Major Questions: Please pile on if you have any insight to any of these. In fact, go ahead and let fly even if you don’t

1 Is there a way to use Manual “get pilot” or the automatic (“Rookie 60+” for example) and get a pilot trained for the air unit (e.g. fighter) requesting replacements?

2 What good is “Group Reserve”? Why do some pilots shown as “Group Reserve” in the Reserve Pool display show up “grayed” in the group pilot list and some don’t? How, when and why do “grayed” names move into the “Ready” condition i.e. “ungrayed”?

3 Under what conditions does a pilot on the Reserve Pool list show up as a candidate for transfer as a “Get Veteran Pilot” and under what conditions will it NOT show up?

4 What is the purpose of the “Group Designation” (e.g. Fighter reserve, bomber reserve, transport reserve, etc) since the “get pilot” function seems to ignore it (e.g. put veteran bomber pilots from “bomber reserve” with GrdB 70/Air25 into fighter units) ?

5 How do you use the “Get Instructor” function? I always get the “No instructor available at this time” response

6 Where do the pilots automatically added to the Reserve Pool come from?

7 Why can I sometimes select a highlight name for in the Reserve Pool display and it will NOT transfer to TRACOM even though it says it will?

re: 'Request Veteran'

AFAIK, there are two factors that affect whether a pilot will show up on this list - Due date and Status, both listed in the pilot reserve screen.
Under Status, the pilot must be listed as 'OK' to show up in the 'Request Veteran' list.
Under Due date, the pilot needs to be listed as either ' - ' (meaning available now) or the current month (e.g. - if it is Dec 41, pilot must have '41/12' under Due).
AFAIK, the pilot must have a further delay of less than 7 days to show up on the 'Request vetean' list. IDK how to determine exact due dates, you just have to check the list.

As for your other questions -
1) AFAIK, the purpose of Manual/Automatic simply determines whether the player (Manual) or the computer (Automatic) selects pilot replacements. Like everything else in AE, I stringly recommend keeping the selection in Manual. To get pilots for units, I use 'Request Veteran'.

2) Group Reserve consists of 'named pilots' in the database who are assigned to particular units. Many of these pilots will be available when their unit arrives; others are trained replacements with delayed arrival dates. Also, if a pilot is WIA, he will be placed in the Group Reserve until "healed" and available for action. Pilots who are 'greyed-out' and have an availability of 1, can be activated by right-clicking.

3) See above, re: 'Request Veteran'

4) Like everything in AE (SAIAW in WitP), leaving things to the computer is NOT a good idea.
When using 'Request Veteran', click on 'Reseve'; this will show a list of available pilots and their type - 'Fighter Reserve', 'Bomber Reserve', 'Patrol Reserve'. Pilots assigned to these will have better stats in these areas (e.g. - a pilot in 'Fighter Reserve' will have higher Air skill, 'Bomber Reserve' better GrndB skills, etc.). Assigning pilots manually then, is the best way to go.

5) Haven't tested enough to have an answer.

6) They come from several sources - units that are disbanded; WIA pilots whose units are destroyed; pilots can be assigned to the pool by the player; pilots released from training groups.

7) Haven't tested enough to have an answer.

Hope this helps.

[FOW]

ORIGINAL: pompack

5 How do you use the “Get Instructor” function? I always get the “No instructor available at this time” response

Instructors are those 80+ Exp pilots you transferred to TRACOM. If a pliot of the requisite skill set (fighter / bomber / patrol) and nationality is available he will transfer to the unit.
In my limited experience of using this, I've pulled instructors for my fighter training units. But for my bomber training units, I always get 'none available' - which is correct as I've NO 80+ Exp pilots with high bombing skills back in the flight schools.

[Central Blue]

Pilots in units with instructors and good leaders train up at a rapid rate for me so far. After I send a pilot to training command I revisit my favorite training command unit and click the get an instructor button until I do.