newb question

[Sardaukar]

Well..I thought that first line of my first post on that AAR would have cleared what that AAR was all about:

This AAR is meant to ease the new AE players into playing AE Grand Campaign vs IJ AI as Allies.

If one wants to leard game mechanics, it's more recommendable to try smaller scenarios first, like 1000 mile war or Coral Sea or Guadalcanal, before jumping to GC.

[erstad]

If one wants to leard game mechanics, it's more recommendable to try smaller scenarios first, like 1000 mile war or Coral Sea or Guadalcanal, before jumping to GC.

I would second (or it's probably third or fourth by now) starting with Coral Sea. You start with all of your TFs formed, relatively simple objectives, and limited space and time. That's a great way to start getting use to the game interface and concepts versus starting with a scenario or worse yet the GC where you look at a bunch of assets scattered in ports or bases across the map and have no idea what to do next. Try some AI games as both sides them maybe play a PBEM or two and then decide how far you want to jump next.

[thebigJA]

Fair enough. I always have been the type to try and bite off more than I could chew.

I really wish they'd actually put the tutorial in the game. The way the interface works, a lot of the things that are going on are buried, or are happening behind the scenes. It feels like there's a wall between me and what's happening. It makes it hard to figure things out on my own. The manual doesn't seem great to me, either. I'll keep at it.

Thanks. Especially to you, Sardaukar. I didn't mean to let my frustration come across as a disparagement of the hard work you did on the tutorial.

[chrisol]

You might find the following thread helpful, containing links to various resources for newbies (such as the excellent video tutorials):

Useful info for Beginners thread

bw
Chris

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: thebigJ_A

Fair enough. I always have been the type to try and bite off more than I could chew.

I really wish they'd actually put the tutorial in the game. The way the interface works, a lot of the things that are going on are buried, or are happening behind the scenes. It feels like there's a wall between me and what's happening. It makes it hard to figure things out on my own. The manual doesn't seem great to me, either. I'll keep at it.

Thanks. Especially to you, Sardaukar. I didn't mean to let my frustration come across as a disparagement of the hard work you did on the tutorial.

No problem, I just wanted to clarify why and to what purpose that AAR was written. It's not something I'd recommend reading first before starting to play, though. [8D]

This forum is full of helpful players and sooner or later (usually sooner) you will get your questions answered. And thread chrisol gave in previous post is good start to get some insight to game mechanics.

[Capt Hornblower]

I have a quibble with the pilot training protocols. If the training routines haven't changed from Uncommon Valor, then squadrons used for training should NOT be overfilled with pilots. My recollection is that the TRAINING mission option for a squadron preferentially assigns the pilots with the lowest experience to fly training missions. Logically, if a squadron is overfilled under these conditions, the pilots with the highest experience (who should be the first to graduate to the desired experience level) will fly the least often and thus their increase in experience will be prolonged.

It seems to me that a better procedure is assigning as many pilots to a training squadron as there are aircraft, and then when a number of pilots have reached the desired experience, add pilots to the squadron to take the place of graduating pilots BEFORE transferring the latter pilots out of the unit.

[Alfred]

Except that in AE there is no correlation between airframes and training. A squadron with a TOE of 25 planes but with zero airframes on issue will still train all 25 (or 33 if overfilled) pilots. Think of it as class room training which does not require chalking up flying hours.

Alfred

[Capt Hornblower]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Except that in AE there is no correlation between airframes and training. A squadron with a TOE of 25 planes but with zero airframes on issue will still train all 25 (or 33 if overfilled) pilots. Think of it as class room training which does not require chalking up flying hours.

Alfred

Please excuse me, but are you sure? I am 3 days into a GC scenario, and in the squadrons I've designated to do TRAINING, the pilots with the least experience have done most of the skill improvement.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Capt Hornblower

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Except that in AE there is no correlation between airframes and training. A squadron with a TOE of 25 planes but with zero airframes on issue will still train all 25 (or 33 if overfilled) pilots. Think of it as class room training which does not require chalking up flying hours.

Alfred

Please excuse me, but are you sure? I am 3 days into a GC scenario, and in the squadrons I've designated to do TRAINING, the pilots with the least experience have done most of the skill improvement.

Yes, I am certain.[:)]

There is no correlation between airframes and training. Pilots without airframes will train.

The rate at which experience is gained in the class room is a different issue, but still unconnected with the presence or otherwise of airframes. Pilot experience will increase at a slower rate than pilot skills, and the more experienced a pilot is the slower will be his improvement.

If you are adding 8 pilots from the "Replacement Pool" to a 25 TOE USA fighter unit at the start of your GC, the rate of improvement will be greatest on the 8 rookies, but all 33 pilots (assuming you have the unit on 100% training) will attend the training class room if they are active pilots (see earlier posts). Whether or not you actually have 25 airframes will not be an issue.

The best way to increase the rate of improving is to:

1. Have the unit on 100% training
2. Concentrate on an appropriate skill, as increasing a skill will increase the odds of experience increasing
3. Undertaking "General Training" diffuses the training amongst the various skills and that will tend to slow down the experience gain rate.

The rate at which anything increases does tend to slow down once it reaches about 65. It is most definitely not unusual to have pilots go for days without improving. Whether the unit is overfilled with pilots or lacks airframes is not a consideration.

Alfred

[foliveti]

I am pretty sure that the number of available aircraft does have an impact on training.  I am playing as the allies and have a number of bomber squadrons equiped with only two aircraft.  The training is painfully slow and it is starting at a really low level of training.

[jeffk3510]

I see only Ground Attack as a skill - not airfield attack. Will training for one or the other accomplish the same thing - Ground Attack Skill

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

I see only Ground Attack as a skill - not airfield attack. Will training for one or the other accomplish the same thing - Ground Attack Skill

Skill used in Airfield Attack is either GroundHigh or GroundLow, depending on altitude used.

[jeffk3510]

OK thanks. Also-

I saw a post somewhere that listed the altitudes for high vs low training for all trainings.... anyone know where that might be or a link?

Thanks.

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

OK thanks. Also-

I saw a post somewhere that listed the altitudes for high vs low training for all trainings.... anyone know where that might be or a link?

Thanks.

6k is the divider. Below it is Low, above High. I do not remember right now if 6k altitude itself did belong to high or low band, but it is the divider.

[jeffk3510]

ok great. Is this high vs low the actual attack or approach? If I have SBDs set at 12k is that considered high or low sinse they dive for attack yada yada...

[jeffk3510]

I guess an easier question-

4e bombers will have high alt attack
does that mean all of my dive bombers will want better low alt attack numbers?

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

ok great. Is this high vs low the actual attack or approach? If I have SBDs set at 12k is that considered high or low sinse they dive for attack yada yada...

Dive bombers act differently, as do Torpedo bombers...those train Dive Bombing or Torpedo Bombing.


Between 10-15k DB does dive bombing and uses DiveB skill.

If you set Dive bomber between 6k-10k, it will perform Glide attack and use (IIRC) relevant High skill.
Under 6k it will use relevant Low skill.

There are those DB altitudes on forum, search michaelm posts (or maybe he will clarify himself these).