Matrix Games Forums

#1 - Perhaps I misunderstood the method, but aren't Bombers-A supposed to upgrade to to Bombers-B, and Fighters-A upgrade to Fighters-B (or maybe Figher-Bombers)?

But I was going thru my British and Australian squadrons last night and I noticed that

1. British and Australian Buffalos do NOT upgrade to the same type (Aussies to Hurri-2, and can't remember the Brit upgrades).
2. I even have one Brit-Buffalo squadron upgrading to C-47s?
3. One of my Vildebeest will upgrade to Hurri-2? Shouldn't these upgrade to Swordfish?
4. Some of the Blen-1s upgrade to Blen-4s, and some of them to something else (can't remember, I'm at the office).

If they're following the historical upgrades of the actual squadrons, ok, it then makes sense. Altho that would make it that much more important to really know the "future" of a squadron's next upgrade (I'd care less about disbanding a Fighter squadron that was only going to upgrade to a Patrol aircraft; while holding onto a Fighter squadron that was going to upgrade to the lasted and greatest would be important). Seems a bit painful to -also- have to worry about the future upgrades of your aircraft tho.

Or it -possible- that because the date is not yet March (or the start date for British upgrades), that the DISPLAY of the future upgrade is actually wrong (and that the issue will go away once I'm actually allowed to upgrade them). The "cannot upgrade" issue certainly works, as it gives you raspberry message. But upgrading squadrons to different types of aircraft (Fighter -> Transport) and/or marginally that all Brit Buffalos do not all upgrade to the same fighter (some to Hurri-2s, some to another fighter), is confusing.

#2 - And on the same vein, it seems that that remnents get stuck in the old type if the parent unit is upgraded. For example, I had an Aus-Buffalo I squadron that had an sub unit at another base with one Buffalo in it (didn't realize it). I upgraded the parent unit to Hurri-2s, then noticed the sub-unit at the other base. I transferred the sub-unit (w/ Buffalos) to the same base as the parent, but it would not rejoin (differnet AC I'm guessing). So I tried disbanding and withdrawning the the sub-unit, but it wouldn't allow it (again, different AC). I also tried moving a squadron of Brit-Buffalos to the base and disbanding/withdrawing the Aus-Buffalos (hopefulling into the Brits). Again, no such luck (didn't expect it to work). And I dodn't have another squadron of Aus-Buffalos to put there, in order to disband the sub-unit.

But now I've got a sub-unit of a Hurri-2 squadron, with a single Buffalo I in it. It's just got to sit there until another Aus-Buffalo squadron comes along (about 2 months)?

Regards,
-F-

1. There are two upgrade paths. Each aircraft by default upgrades to another type and that's set. Each squadron can have an upgrade path that overrides that so that if a squadron was upgraded to transport planes instead of staying a fighter squadron this can happen. The ones you mentioned are set that way by the OB designer based on historical upgrades and changes that were made.

2. This is something you have to watch for before upgrading. Make sure a unit is together is the only way to prevent this. To keep things simple partial units do not receive replacements or upgrade as that would cause more headaches. If you accidently do it and you have that aircraft type on the map move it to the other unit's location and disband it to remove the partial from play.

Thanks for the response TOTN.

I had figured they were doing something that matched the historical path of units. It just means that I've got to keep an eye on things, to make sure that I'm able to retain enough fighters in theater (most important early on). I don't doubt their research, but I was really surprised to see Buffalos going to Dakotas, and Vildebeests going to Hurri-2s.

Flying a fighter is VERY different than a transport, and torpedo bomber is VERY different than a fighter. Again, if that was the historical path, then so be it. I'm just suprised it was done.

My neighbor is ex-pilot of the Air Force. We've talked on quite a few evenings (over many beers), and he was saying in training that they rated you for formation flying and acrobatics (among many other things). The guys that did well in formation flying got bombers and transports, the guys that did well in acrobatics went into fighters. Not -that- simple, but you get the gist. I would think guys that used to flying fighters would make lousy transport pilots, and guys flying low-level bombers would have a tough time adjusting to being fighter pilots.

(* shrug *)

-F-

Well keep in mind that the upgrade paths for air units in game is abstracting things a bit for simplicity. If I remember when I questioned the fighter squadron going to transports it was done historically but was done after the group was withdrawn from action and then made the switch. I doubt all those fighter pilots were given a crew and put into transports. THey probably transferred to existing units. The squadron name took on the role of flying transports and crews were assigned.