Matrix Games Forums

Hello,
i'm currently playing scen. 17 as Allied Player. It is now late march 43 and it's going better for the Allied Force (just retook Gili-Gili) but i have a question.
In 9th FS there is the pilot Bong who has 99 experience rate. The prob is that he has only 35 missions and while 9Th FS is daily engaged in CAPing Gili-Gili, this guy never fly. Why?
I would like him to reach it's RL performance. what can i do to get him out his bed and fly his P-40? :rolleyes:

get him his own personal P-38.

Nikademus wrote:get him his own personal P-38.

Probably very accurate actually.

Bong got most of his kills in a P38..and his favorite tactic was getting Japanese pilots in a head-on engagement.

just out of curiosity, how many pilots does Bong's squadron sport? That might be part of why he's not flying.

pleeeeeaaaasssssse let me know. I have another USAAC pilot I want desperately to get into the air....and maybe spend the rest of the war in Tokyo.

Nikademus wrote:just out of curiosity, how many pilots does Bong's squadron sport? That might be part of why he's not flying.

Sure, there are 62 ready pilot for 24 AC.....Bong must be slower than the other pilots and always loose his place :rolleyes:

But most pilots from the 9 FS are now exhausted.....but do not rotate (as far as i see). Is it normal?

And for the Bong's personal P-38, i know he really wants it, but i do not manage upgrades....so

I encountered this in a game I had as well. Had a sqaudron of about 60 pilots and 24 aircraft, but only about 30 of them rotated through the planes. The rest just sat back cheering and drinking beer. They accumulated zero fatigue over a period of about a month before I stopped keeping track of them.

The game seems to do some unusual things when the pilot/plane ratio becomes badly unbalanced. I've had situations where one squadron has planes sitting in reserve because of a lack of pilots, while a squadron of the same type, at the same base has an excess of piolts who do not fly. You just have to watch and use the disband function if you get a chance (I don't use disband if both squadrons are near full strength, so there's a problem with the high replacement-rate aircraft).

Dunhere wrote:Sure, there are 62 ready pilot for 24 AC.....Bong must be slower than the other pilots and always loose his place :rolleyes:

But most pilots from the 9 FS are now exhausted.....but do not rotate (as far as i see). Is it normal?

And for the Bong's personal P-38, i know he really wants it, but i do not manage upgrades....so

ok, thought so. the overfill of pilots to planes is an annoying and persistant little bug, harder to kill than a cockroach. We are trying to nail it down for WitP, the fixes of which will eventually filter down to UV.

In the meantime, I can only suggest that you unleash your supply seargant for some er....inventive bartering. Who knows, you may end up with that P-38 yet!

Then you will have one happy Mr Bong

Nikademus wrote:ok, thought so. the overfill of pilots to planes is an annoying and persistant little bug, harder to kill than a cockroach. We are trying to nail it down for WitP, the fixes of which will eventually filter down to UV.

In the meantime, I can only suggest that you unleash your supply seargant for some er....inventive bartering. Who knows, you may end up with that P-38 yet!

Then you will have one happy Mr Bong

The only "inventive bartering" i see is to increase risky mission rates to have a faster "turnover" by eliminating weaker pilots

Hi, If you have 2 groups with same type AC and 1 group has excess pilots. Fly the group with excess till you have at least 1 damaged aircraft. Now transfer that group to another base. It will leave the damaged ac and excess pilots behind. Now withdraw that partial unit. The AC will transfer to other group but the pilots will return to pool. (if you disband the pilots will transfer to other group as well) Since a pilot shortage is fixed simply by flying all ready aircraft you don't have to worry about pilot shortage. But excess pilots can be freed up the way I explained. Hope this helps. (its a pain but it works untill a fix is installed)


variations on a theme. I have group of P-40E at PM with excess pilots. It has been in combat and morale is low. It has 1 damaged AC. At Cairns I have fresh P-40E sqdn. I transfer tired group to Cairns (or where ever) It leaves behind damaged AC and excess pilots. I move new group to PM and then withdraw the partial unit. Problem solved.

Sure that helps a lot! :p
Thank you Mogami

Hi, If you withdraw a normal airgroup it leaves it's ac behind but the pilots stay with the group. It will reform in 30-90 days. (number of ac on return will depend on number of that type in pool)

If you disband a normal group it leaves both planes and pilots behind and will reform in 300+ turns. (it might return as a 0 AC 0 pilot unit and require some time to rebuild)


Emergency procedures:
OK so you built up a forward base, moved in plenty of support and then transfered in large numbers of airgroups ready to deal a blow to the enemy.
But the tide of war turns against you and you find your base closed by enemy heavy bombers or bombardment TF's and a large enemy force is about to capture your base. You of course do not want to lose all your pilots. What can you do?
Airgroups that have another same type group (including the remains of any group that you managed to transfer before airfield closed) Can be used to save some of the pilots. Find the group with the pilots you want to save and withdraw it. (it will return with the pilots in 30-90 days) If you need pilots more then aircraft. (you have plenty of aircraft in pool but have been getting low rated pilots and have groups with room to grow ) and you have a partial airgroup at the closed airfield
disband groups into it. (make sure to save 1 airgroup for final step) Then withdraw the partial group (since partial groups do not reform the pilots return to pool)
If you see in adavnce what is to come. (last turn almost but not quite closed your airfield) Begin transfering groups to safety.(no matter how few AC can fly) Do not disband or withdraw partial units left behind yet. (as aircraft repair they will fly out to rejoin parent on their own)
When airfield closed (or about to be captured begin withdrawing groups (with best pilots) This will place them back into pool.