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Hi I'm having a VR squadron on the Nassau acting very badly. I had it in a replenishment TF and everything seemed to work as designed. As the operation came to a close I sent her TF back to PH. The next turn she had both squadrons on her back at 50AC a piece...

The next Turn 4 and 29. The next turn 50 and 50. The next turn 4 and 33. The next turn 0 and 0. Now it's like 4 and 33 but the fighter squadron has no pilots.

Any idea how to fix this? At this point I just want to scuttle her.

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

Hi I'm having a VR squadron on the Nassau acting very badly. I had it in a replenishment TF and everything seemed to work as designed. As the operation came to a close I sent her TF back to PH. The next turn she had both squadrons on her back at 50AC a piece...

The next Turn 4 and 29. The next turn 50 and 50. The next turn 4 and 33. The next turn 0 and 0. Now it's like 4 and 33 but the fighter squadron has no pilots.

Any idea how to fix this? At this point I just want to scuttle her.

Are either of the air groups set to fly missons or are they stood down? All of my vr airgroups have more planes than pilots.

Are any other vr carrier effected?

Are your cv's up to full strenght?

Hi,

Initially they were not flying missions since the CVE was overloaded. After enough flew off to resupply the CV's they did start flying some missions (CAP only). I let them since their aircrews could use the experience.

I think I did stand them all down on the return to PH, however, I remember that airgroups only draw replacements when they fly. I then formed an aircombat TF with the CVE in it, put the fighters on LR CAP and the DB's on 100% Naval Search. That's when the fighter squadron lost all it's pilots and the DB group started behaving normally (grew to 33 planes).

My CV TF's have been disbanded into PH and I think they're at full strength.

IIRC VR squadrons only need to be in supplied ports to draw planes. They don't normally draw very many pilots as they are used mainly to replace planes not pilots

And who flies the plane from the replenishment carrier to the line carrier if no pilots are assigned?

Hi, I played a bunch of turns last night and right now the DB squadron is growing with planes and pilots nicely, but the fighter is now completely empty:

0 Planes Active
0 Planes Damaged
0 Planes Reserve
0 Pilots

The turn before it was:
0 Planes Active
50 Planes Damaged
0 Planes Reserve
0 Pilots

I didn't say they had no pilots. They generally have enough pilots to transfer all non-damaged non-reserve planes

What happened next turn?

I'm going to play a bunch this weekend, I'll leave this CVE disbanded in PH and see if it ever rights itself. I'm not entirely optimistic, but it's worth a try.

I just got 2 more CVE's with replacement squadrons so I'll keep a close eye on them, and I'll be sure not to change any defaults.

Good luck! I just formed up a replenishment task force with CVE's they all loaded to two 50 plane groups with the F6F's on 3 of them all damaged.They never repaired and then they disappeared![&:] There were enough supplies, enough replacement plane and enough pilots. I'll be interested in your results. I think It's broke.

I did it againand got yhe Sb2c's to work. Still failed om the F6F's[&:]

Hi,

I played about 10 more turns this weekend. The poor troubled VR squadron had F4F's moved into the and out of the squadron every other turn. One turn 50, next turn 0, ad infinitum. It never added any pilots. The VR squadron with the SBD's remains at 33 planes, 27 pilots.

Both squadrons are set to "Acceopt Replacements"

These replenishment groups were often flown by "ferry pilots", not combat pilots.
So in a sense, they should not draw from the combat pilot pool.

The same sort of thing happens with normal replacement aircraft subunits. They appear and move towards their parent, often with no pilots.
Michael

If a ferry pilot flies an aircraft off a CVE for use on a CV, how does he get back to the CVE? And where does the pilot come from on the carrier ( at sea) to fly the new aircraft?

Ferry Pilots flew aircraft from production sites to military sites and on to more forward positions where normal pilot rotations occurred. What would be the point of assigning ferry pilots to a CVE? The carrier getting the plane most likely needs a pilot as well, though not always. Why would you train someone to be carrier capable and then just use them to ferry aircraft?

ORIGINAL: michaelm

These replenishment groups were often flown by "ferry pilots", not combat pilots.
So in a sense, they should not draw from the combat pilot pool.

The same sort of thing happens with normal replacement aircraft subunits. They appear and move towards their parent, often with no pilots.
Michael

I'm not quite sure I'm finding your point. There should be no pilots in the squadron? 50 planes should appear and disappear from the squadron every turn? If there are supposed to be no pilots in the squadron, why did it start with pilots in it? Why does the DB squadron get replacements pilots but not the fighter squadron?

I would love to go back to the old Pacwar system of replenishment squadron. In addition if a carrier is within range of a land base we should be able to place R squadron at that base and replenish directly freeing up CVE for use by marine squadrons.

The basis for suggesting that these units might be moved by "ferry" pilots is below.
I am only referring to the fact that these units seem to be able to move around without dedicated pilots.

Michael

ORIGINAL: michaelm

Especially, the VR groups. I just noticed in a late-era game, I got all these VR replacement fragments showing up at PH. I looked for their parents and found them (not at full strength) on CVEs at the front.
Of course, these guys come in with no pilots or commander.
Now wasn't I suprised to find the next turn that they all had "flown" to Johnstone Is, still with no pilots or a commander.

Is it normal for these guys to island hop without pilots?

Quote

Hello...

Yes. W.A.A.F.

Bye...

Michael Wood

Actually its really odd that the game gives you tremendous control over all sorts of minutae but the VR sqns pretty much do what they want -

KEvin

ORIGINAL: michaelm

The basis for suggesting that these units might be moved by "ferry" pilots is below.
I am only referring to the fact that these units seem to be able to move around without dedicated pilots.

Michael

ORIGINAL: michaelm

Especially, the VR groups. I just noticed in a late-era game, I got all these VR replacement fragments showing up at PH. I looked for their parents and found them (not at full strength) on CVEs at the front.
Of course, these guys come in with no pilots or commander.
Now wasn't I suprised to find the next turn that they all had "flown" to Johnstone Is, still with no pilots or a commander.

Is it normal for these guys to island hop without pilots?

Quote

Hello...

Yes. W.A.A.F.

Bye...

Michael Wood

Ok thanks Michael, I see what you mean. For now I'm just going to etern-o-dock(tm) the offending CVE and not worry about it. I wasn't sure I liked those 43exp pilots poluting my squadrons anyway.

Update:
The problem seems to have sorted itself out after about a month. I'm not sure exactly what happened to fix it, but here's how it played out.

-Formed a few CV TF's and sent them out with a Replenishment TF in tow (including the bugged squadron). Kept an eye on the bugged squadron and the odd behavior continued for at least 5 turns

-Sent the CV's to operate in the Guam area for a little commerce raiding. Parked the Rep. TF at Midway.

-Ended up in a major CV battle and lost track of my little replenishment TF. Sent the CV's to Midway to refuel as the first leg back to PH. Forgot to check the bugged squadron.

-Kept the Replenishment TF at Midway for a long while as quite honestly I forgot about them.

-Remembered them about 15-20 turns later and checked the bugged squadron - which much to my delight, was bugged no more.

So something in there must have snapped the loop that the bugged squadron was in. Anyway, thanks to everyone that helped me try and get this sorted.