Question regarding pilots

[ekcut]

I am debating buying the game.
one thing I am curious about is the pilots. It says there are thousands of pilots names in the database. Are they names only? or do they have different skill levels or skill sets (eg some are great tactitions, others great dogfighters, others have great situational awareness and can spott enemies sooner, or great leaders that can impove the entire squadron etc) Also, do these pilots improve with experience and training, or burn out if used too much?
For me what I am looking for most, is a chance to become familiar with the pilots (either real or ficticious) and watch them grow into aces and rack up the kills. Of course with there demise, i will also feel the pain of their lose.
To be honest the personal level of the pilots is more entertaining to me then the tactics of battle.

Any info you can provide, and even screenshots of pilots profiles and stats listings would be great!

Thanks

Eric

[JudgeDredd]

Not entirely sure at this moment tbh. Although I have seen some pilots get promoted in my little campaign. I'm just not sure of the "depth" of the skills etc.

However, I'd argue that you will find it pretty difficult to get that level of attachment...there are literally thousands of pilots...I don't know where one would start by getting an "attachment" to them...maybe "linking" yourself to a particular squadron and watching it progress through the campaign?

[jomni]

Dunno about task oriented skills like in WitP AE.
But each pilot has a name, rank, experience, morale, fatigue and of course the kill count.
Dead pilots are also kept in record (honor roll).

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: ekcut

...

one thing I am curious about is the pilots. It says there are thousands of pilots names in the database. Are they names only? or do they have different skill levels or skill sets (eg some are great tactitions, others great dogfighters, others have great situational awareness and can spott enemies sooner, or great leaders that can impove the entire squadron etc) Also, do these pilots improve with experience and training, or burn out if used too much?
For me what I am looking for most, is a chance to become familiar with the pilots (either real or ficticious) and watch them grow into aces and rack up the kills. Of course with there demise, i will also feel the pain of their lose.
...

Any info you can provide, and even screenshots of pilots profiles and stats listings would be great!

Thanks

Eric

The only "hard" factor that differentiates pilots is experience level. This can increase over time due to various factors.
Soft factors are nationality, ranks, names, etc. Meaningless gamewies.
There are "historic" pilots included, but they generally start with higher experience.
The Unit commanders are a subset in that they have two factors -- leadership and inspiration-- that influence the unit's performance.

I have found that over the course of 200 to 300 turns you "notice" certain commanders and pilots for a variety of reasons; most kills, a new pilot that becomes an ace quickly, a very low experience pilot that becomes an ace, the last original pilots of a group that was decimated, etc
For gameplay none of this is important! But for immersion, this is great.

Finally, there use to be a way to get your name into a squadron. That really gets your attention!
I have not checked to see if it can be done in the new version, except to beg Hard_Sarge! [:D]

Hope this helps answer your question?
TS

[ekcut]

Thanks guys!
 
I'm reminded of old Falcon 3.0
Your squadran had pilots with 3 ratings, dogfighting, bombing and basic flying skill.  AI squadmates improved over time.  If you had 2 good winmen and managed to keep them alive for several missions you became and powerful fighting force!   Then when one of them made the ultimate sacrifice I remember being so upset I couldn't eat dinner!  I love that sort of immersion!  I havn't seen it in any game since.
I think I am going to buy this game though!