Matrix Games Forums

Where are my Transport Pilots?

Why are they not listed in the Commander's Report?

---

---

I know I have Transport Pilots...

They even have flown missions:

---

---

Why is there no "Transport" Pilot type? What type are they anyways?

I believe they need to have scored a kill to be listed there

i wonder how recon pilots got their kills

never seen it in my games

Denniss wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:32 pm I believe they need to have scored a kill to be listed there

You are correct, it is pre-filtered to only list pilots that have scored a kill for some reason. And you cannot disable the built-in filter.

And apparently, even though the Ju52s have defensive armament, it is impossible for them hit anything and score a kill.... even by accident?

Stamb wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:35 pm i wonder how recon pilots got their kills

never seen it in my games

My recon pilots have mad skillz. It is from all that Strat Bombing training they got along the way.

no, experience/skill comes from winning combat and flying missions. Since recon missions tend to take low losses (relatively) then the pilots build up their skill value over time

since a lot of recon planes have weapons, its feasible they may win A2A if forced to fight, so yes, they pick up wins

actually i was surprised that i did not see any kills made by non fighters planes, ever

for example if you fly GS unescroted and you get wiped in the air - your bombers will have 0 kills

is defensive weapon on a planes working at all?

yes, by this evidence, T7 of a scenario so some Sturmoviks have won A2A actions.



2 bits to bear in mind. First, if the damage caused by a bomber or recon plane is not enough for a kill but later causes an operational loss then there is no credit given. Second, fighter-other interaction in this part of the war is not like fighter defensive battles over Britain or Germany where both sides stuck around and operated in narrowly defined corridors

edit - helps to attach the right image

i mean when i observe air battle reports, i did not see any kills made by a non fighters

but somehow they get counted and later displayed in CR

not sure, but you may have to run it speed 5 or more to see the individual interactions, but it should show in the battle report cross tab.

Pavel once clarified that bombers can't attack bombers under any circumstances - which isn't immediately relevant but could have some bearing if one side lacks escorts

loki100 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:38 am Pavel once clarified that bombers can't attack bombers under any circumstances - which isn't immediately relevant but could have some bearing if one side lacks escorts

I hope fighter-like Tacs like Fw 190F/G may still use their forward guns in defense and are not treated as sitting ducks with the only option to use rear arc defensive guns they don't have.

I'm going by a comment by Pavel. QBall did those 'friday night follies' in WiTW setting up all sorts of odd fighter combats, it was really informative to see exceptionally high experience I-153s taking out low experience Me-262s - as ever by going to extremes it showed up what really is fundamental.

but he couldn't get Lancasters to fight B-17s and Pavel said the code stopped bombers attacking bombers. Now he may have meant LB but I think its anything with bomber as its code/role - they will cleary defend but won't attack as such

as i wrote before, looks like weapon on non fighters is not used in most cases or if it used then it is super ineffective

only one bomber squadron managed to deal some damage

i would be not surprised if it is bugged

I think its WAD, at the end of the day bombers are not there to go seeking air combat, if the escort fighters do their job then they don't need to be engaged, if the escort fighters fail to keep the enemy fighters away bombers will defend themselves but certainly don't go hunting air combat. If the escorts fail badly then the bombers are sitting ducks (with a few exceptions such as the German FW190 tactical bombers)

Allied doctrine for both tactical and strategic bombers was to stay close in formation and fight defensively, I doubt the VVS had a radically different doctrine. Clearly by 1944 Allied tactical bombers could operate with little concern for the LW but in Italy they used a block structure if caught out.

I'd suggest watch a battle at very slow resolution, you will probably see stuff like 'fighter breaks off' reflecting bomber defensive fire - in effect its there to deter not kill

edit: and this is where morale comes in, high morale fighters will press home against bomber A2A defensive fire, low morale pilots will often break off

Axis recon planes of all different types can get kills. Also I have seen a few Naval Patrol planes get kills as well.

its funny how they can get kills if they are not intercepted

maybe they can be intercepted? Which triggers combats ...

i think in last 40+ turns i saw 1 interception for a recon

i made a tech support thread where i described that it is broken for quite some time
as well as GA interception

I got intercepted plenty of times as Axis. That's why my recon had A2A kills. At some stages I escorted my recon planes.