Aircraft Upgrades

[Didz]

Is there any way to influence the upgrade of aircraft in UV?

In PACWAR it was possible to switch production priorities so that effort was not wasted on producing crap aircraft like the Wirraway.

I have had the 5th and 23rd RAAF squadrons stuck on Training duties at Brisbane since the start of my campaign but there does not seem to be any way of speeding up the replacement of their aircraft with something more useful.

[Erik Rutins]

There is no way to change when you will start getting new aircraft types sent to your theater. That's up to your bosses and sticks to the historical schedule. However, keep in mind that only squadrons in range of Brisbane or Noumea will upgrade.

If you want a particular squadron to upgrade first, keep it within range while putting the others of the same type out at your front line or near-front line bases. For instance, this works with those P-39 squadrons when the P-38s start rolling in.

Also, if you don't have a readily available squadron in range to upgrade, reinforcements in the pipeline will receive the first upgrades.

Regards,

- Erik

[Beckles]

I've seen this asked in other threads and still haven't seen an answer for it ... What are the aircraft upgrade paths? Are they anywhere in the game (someone said they were in the game somewhere, but darned if I can find 'em)?

[Slaughtermeyer]

Originally posted by Didz
Is there any way to influence the upgrade of aircraft in UV?

In PACWAR it was possible to switch production priorities so that effort was not wasted on producing crap aircraft like the Wirraway.

I have had the 5th and 23rd RAAF squadrons stuck on Training duties at Brisbane since the start of my campaign but there does not seem to be any way of speeding up the replacement of their aircraft with something more useful.

In the Feb '43 scenario the 4th and 5th RAAF squadrons have the Wirraway but in the June '43 scenarios they have the Boomerang II, so it's likely that you will have to wait until you start getting the Boomerang II in your replacement pool before you see the Wirraway squadrons upgraded. In Pacwar the CA-12 Boomerang did not become available until 11/43.

[HARD_SARGE]

Originally posted by Didz


In PACWAR it was possible to switch production priorities so that effort was not wasted on producing crap aircraft like the Wirraway

Hi Didz
gee why you want to be dissing the Wirraway ?, in my war at least, it is one of my favorite attack planes

don't try and use it as a fighter, but on naval attack it does pretty good, it may only carry a 250, but for some reason it seems to hit pretty good, I have sunk a number of DD and AP with it, and it is very good for working over the AG's

I had both Squadrons based at Baku, and was kicking until, they went and attacked some shipping in Rabal and the fighters forgot to take off (1 Zero jokey got at least 6 kills that day, it reported the 2nd kill to 7th kill, so don't know if he had 1 kill to start with or not)

I have now moved them back to NG to try and help out on the ground attacks

to be honest, I thought the plane would be worthless, but have been very supprised at how well it has done (as long as it has support)

HARD_Sarge

[MKSheppard]

My P-39 squadrons have been sitting
in Brisbane for the last couple of days,
and they're not converting over to the P-38,
even though I have 22 P-38s in theatre!

[Erik Rutins]

You'll find that you need replacements equal to the squadron's Max Size before they convert. I'm guessing that would be 24.

Regards,

- Erik

[Didz]

Originally posted by HARD_SARGE


Hi Didz
gee why you want to be dissing the Wirraway ?, in my war at least, it is one of my favorite attack planes

HARD_Sarge

Its a bit of a carry over from PACWAR.

I found sending the poor Aussie pilots up in Wirraways was a bit like commiting murder so I got in the habit of moving all the Wirraway squadrons in reserve as soon as the campaign started and using them as trainers so that when decent fighters started arriving I'd got some fresh pilots to fly them.

[HARD_SARGE]

Hi Didz
yes I can agree and see your point, but in this game at least, I think you should give a try, I have been very happy with my 2 squadrons of them, besides, I got a number of replacement bomerangs sitting around and they have not upgraded yet (?)

of course, it may depend on the battle being fought and how well the Allied Air Force is doing, if the goal being to knock down JP fighters and bombers, the Wiraways may be in for a HARD time, but if you are hunting ships, they are a decent bird

(don't get me wrong, would rather see a pack of Helldivers with F4U's flying cover then some Wir's and Hawks)

HARD_Sarge

[Didz]

Originally posted by HARD_SARGE
Hi Didz
yes I can agree and see your point, but in this game at least, I think you should give a try, I have been very happy with my 2 squadrons of them, besides, I got a number of replacement bomerangs sitting around and they have not upgraded yet (?)

of course, it may depend on the battle being fought and how well the Allied Air Force is doing, if the goal being to knock down JP fighters and bombers, the Wiraways may be in for a HARD time, but if you are hunting ships, they are a decent bird

(don't get me wrong, would rather see a pack of Helldivers with F4U's flying cover then some Wir's and Hawks)

HARD_Sarge

I'm only bothering with the big #17 scenario as the other are too short so at the start the main priority is maintaining a strong CAP over New Guinuea. I'm limiting this role to Kittihawks and P38's at the minute as I don't think the Wirraways would do well against all those Zero's.

[HARD_SARGE]

Hi Didz
I am on/in the Aug 1st to Dec 31 43 campaign, so we may have a different sort of battle going on, I crippled the IJN Air Forces early, then was able to use my CV's as bait to draw in the Land Base Air

so I got different uses for them then you do at the moment (strange, since I sent them back to NG, can not get them to take off and attack ground troops for nothing, trying to draw up the tonys on the base so my fighters can get to them)

and indeed yes, that is one plane you do not want a lot of Zeros sniffing around for (but it is one heck of a AG hunting)

enjoy

HARD_Sarge

oh yea, think it is april of 43, got 30+ boomerangs in the pool and still have not upgraded yet (that does upgrade the wirraway doesn't it ?)

[Slaughtermeyer]

Originally posted by HARD_SARGE

oh yea, think it is april of 43, got 30+ boomerangs in the pool and still have not upgraded yet (that does upgrade the wirraway doesn't it ?)

I don't know if the Boomerang will be used to upgrade Wirraway squadrons in actual gameplay, it's only something I theorized based on at-start forces in the various '43 scenarios. Are your Wirraways within air-transport range of Brisbane?

[HARD_SARGE]

Hi Slaughtermeyer

interesting, I wasn't thinking along the lines of the unit being with in range of the base, but I moved the 5th RAAF back to Cooktown, to give it a chance (since I moved back to NG, they won't attack any thing, not there have been many good targets or decent weather)

will post back if I get the upgrade or not with in the next few turns

HARD_Sarge

LOL just got my first F4u upgrade, VF26, one of the CVE subsquadrons, oh boy

[HARD_SARGE]

Hi Slaughtermeyer

Good call, dang wasn't thinking along those lines, the 5th RAAF flying wirraways was sent to cooktown and the next turn it was flying 24 brand new boomerangs (hmmm, no longer a FB unit but a pure fighter now)

so I sent VMF-121 back to Lunga, and the next day they are now flying F4u's

I sent 2 P-40 units and a P-39 back to lungoville to see if they will arm with the P-47 c or not, if so, great, if not oh well, they could use a few days rest (Lunga may not of been in range, or is not the upgrade path)

wasn't thinking about needed to be with in flying range of the supply ports, the 38's were changeing over with no hassle (but those are long range buggers)

thanks matey

HARD_Sarge
hmmm, wonder if I got to drop the Carrier planes off to the land so they will change over to F4u's

[Didz]

Originally posted by Didz


Its a bit of a carry over from PACWAR.

I found sending the poor Aussie pilots up in Wirraways was a bit like commiting murder so I got in the habit of moving all the Wirraway squadrons in reserve as soon as the campaign started and using them as trainers so that when decent fighters started arriving I'd got some fresh pilots to fly them.

Just to prove my own point I decided to take the advice offerred and put my Wirraway squadrons on frontline duties in a Naval Attack role.

Everything went fine and they were clocking up AG's and PC's no problem until the first Japanese airstrike on Port Moresby. When the CAP rose to fight off the assault along with the Kittihawks, P39's and P400's were 40 Wirraway's.

The Zero's homed in on them and by the end of the action every single one had been shot down and destroyed.

The lesson learnt: By all means use Wirraways for Naval Attack but make sure that the CAP level on their squadrons is firmly set to '0'.

[HARD_SARGE]

Hi Didz
LOL, well when I put units on attack, I try and send all of them out to attack !, but wow, what a slaughter

in my war, I had them based at Buka, and they would fly into Rabaul and hammer on the AG's at rest in there, and the excourts would cover them fine, then one day, the excourts were busy, and they went in alone, when the smoke and crying were done, think I only had had 24 left

they went on a long R@R after that raid

the Boomerang squadron has held it's own since it changed over, but must say, when it flys, around 20 F4u's and 60 P-38's are in the air with them

HARD_Sarge