TB DB Pilot Training

[CapnGreasy]

Can get their nav attack skill up to 70 easily enough but unlike their fighter counterparts I cannot seem to get their exp up to 70 very easily.

I have some units that have been on nav patrol or ASW for 12 -18 months and their exp is around 60.

Usually 30 days at 100% CAP is all it takes for the fighter jocks. Most naval attack units are now at 70 attack skill, 40's and 50's exp. Seems like I waste a lot of good air frames trying to attack like that.

If anyone has a better formula I am all ears. Oct 44 and my opponent is knocking on the back door. Hoping to keep him away from the front door still.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike Solli]

I don't shoot for anything higher than 50 for experience. Combat will either increase that rapidly, or they'll die trying.

Edit: Place your rookies (50+ exp, 70+ skill) in "safe" theaters for combat experience before sending them to the tough places if possible.

[CapnGreasy]

That was kinda what I was expecting to hear. Thank you for your reply.

Guess we are just lucky to be able to get the exp up cheaply on the fighter pilots.

[Mike Solli]

It is particularly difficult to build a pool of IJN fighter pilots. There aren't many fighter units available for the first year of the war. You can use some floatplane units to train fighter pilots though.

I save the IJNAF for special missions. The run of the mill ops (Burma, any land/base bombing missions, etc.) should be performed by IJA units if possible. Use the IJNAF planes for operations against ships, something they excel at.

[Mike Solli]

Early in the war, there is an wonderful opportunity to gain valuable experience for the IJNAF. It's called the Dutch Air Force. Unfortunately, there are few land based IJN fighter daitai available to take advantage of this unique training opportunity. The Yamada detachment comes to mind. Put as many pilots into this unit as you can and let them tear up the Dutch. As they hit the magic 81 experience, pull those guys out into TRACOM and replace them with pilots with 78-80 experience. You'll be surprised at how many elite pilots you can produce. Also, the guys that have lower experience will gain it quickly.

[Mike Solli]

One last thing. If you use the IJNAF wisely, you can create a nice reserve of DB & TB pilots. Keep in mind that TB pilots take a while to train up. Ideally, they should have skill in NavB, NavT and also some in NavS and possibly ASW if you can. That takes quite a bit of time unfortunately.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

One last thing. If you use the IJNAF wisely, you can create a nice reserve of DB & TB pilots. Keep in mind that TB pilots take a while to train up. Ideally, they should have skill in NavB, NavT and also some in NavS and possibly ASW if you can. That takes quite a bit of time unfortunately.

I do train NavS for my TB pilots if I can because the planes have better range, but I try to take some stress off the TB units with DB pilots on NavS...that way DB pilots train in 2 skills, TB pilots in 2-3 skills. In '43 the training seems to get a lot easier, to build up IJN pilot reserves. Helps if you aren't using the KB all over the map, too.