AIR PROODUCTION
All this assumes Realistic R&D is OFF and PDU is ON. Also I am using BabesLite mod, not sure if this has different upgrade paths but the principle is the same.
Thanks for the new document - from this I'm going to have a go at working out how i think things work - apologies if this is so wrong that its effectively irrelevent. If it is anywhere near correct i also apologise for probably stating what should be blindingly obvious
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PRODUCTION
Lets take the humble A6M2 Zero - using its ID numbers it seems to upgrade as follows:-
This plane starts in production.
603 ==> 604 ==> 614 ==> 616 ==> 619
The only starting production factory is Maebashi producing 56 a month. I'm assuming that what happens in practice is that:-
* on 44/2 the factory upgrades to the Sen Baku (604)and still produces 56.
N.B. there doesn't seem to be a R&D factory for the Sen Baku, i assume this doesn't stop the factory from Auto upgrading?
* then on 44/6 the same factory upgrades to the A6M5b (614) and still produces 56.
I assume this this auto upgrade could be earlier or later depending on how R&D goes at the Nagoya R&D factory (which is researching 614)
* then on 44/10 the same factory upgrades to the A6M5c (616) and still produces 56.
Again, the actual date is subject to change depending on how R&D goes.
If you don't want a factory to auto-upgrade you can set it from 'Upgd' to 'Keep' in the industry/air screen.
R&D
If we then look at the A6M3 (609) it starts in R&D status in Nagoya with the following upgrade path.
609 ==> 610 ==> 612 ==> 614 ==>616 ==> 619
If i do nothing the R&D factories will always remain R&D factories?
As mentioned in the Production section above i assume that as soon as a plane has completed R&D that the production factories can either be switched to this model and those due to auto upgrade do so automatically (or do you have to manually change it?)
How do you know when R&D on a plane has been completed - is there a message in the log? Or is the only way to tell that the R&D factory will be seen to have switched to another model?
Does Tracker update the 'Available Date' to show an earlier date if you allocate extra R&D to get it researched earlier. As mentioned above i assume the production factories then auto upgrade earlier.
If i want to change a R&D factory to actually produce a particular plane i can select this in the industry/air screen BUT then it will need to be fully repaired(?).
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As a more general point how much earlier do you get some of your planes based on the strategy you describe in your document? Also, are there problems getting the right engines for these ealrier than normal builds?
Once again many thanks for all your time in producing a very helpful document.