Air unit upgrade question

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

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dereck
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Air unit upgrade question

Post by dereck »

How do people handle upgrading of air units?

I'm okay with having my medium bombers on auto because they will still upgrade to a medium bomber but I would like to have specific squadrons/wings use B-24s over B-17 and don't want the B-24s being downgraded to B-17s.

Do I have to have ALL on auto or all on manual or is it pick and choose? Will B-17s upgrade to B-24s or is it only the B-24s that would downgrade to the B-17s?

I'm also wanting to have my fighter squadrons and escorts eventually be P-51s while I use the other aircraft for my tactical fighter/bombers. Same question as above - are there some I need to manually take care of and others I can just leave on auto?

Thanks for any insight into this.
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loki100
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by loki100 »

my feeling is some things take care of themselves pretty well, so as examples the Lancaster, Halifax, B-17, B-25 etc, Spitfire (if I don't want to swap role) chains all sort themselves (assuming you don't want their at start role to change).

I tend to force the other British bombers (the stirlings etc) to change mainly to either Lancasters or the rather useful Wellington X (this is not hugely effective in any role but very versatile - its got a very nice naval interdiction payload for example).

I do a lot of fiddling with allied F/FBs. Its mainly as I want some planes in some roles. So to me Spitfires in FB (as opposed to FB-F) units is a waste. With Commonwealth FB squadrons I want Typhoons and Hurricanes, possibly some Kittyhawks, Mosquitos and Mustangs (the extra range of these is nice). With the Americans I swap and juggle to try and get the P47s (esp -15 and -25) into FB and keep on using the P-40 for FB-F if I need. That means sometimes changing newly arrived FB-F formations from P47-25 to either P-51 or P-40 so I can then swap another airgroup to P47-25 (you don't want to make too many new P47-25s squadrons as when the US units expand to their late war size you can end up with a real shortage).

So in the hunt for a good mix of plane/role, I put in quite a lot of effort with allied FBs and the British odd collection of LBs.

With the Germans, I find the problem is lack of pilots, not lack of planes. So I do intervene to ensure that they are using the best possible plane for their role - but reckon that 90% of this can be easily left to the AI routine.

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KWG
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by KWG »

What the AI will upgrade to is shown in the current airframes factory screen. You can set auto upgrade at squadron level, pick and choose .


I like to do all myself as the AI will follow a linear upgrade path. I may want to switch airframes, not just to upgrade.

I take notice of what is and is not still in production. How many are in the pool vs. how many in action so as to know the replacement numbers available.
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HMSWarspite
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by HMSWarspite »

I do my own upgrades, since it is rarely more than 5 sqds a turn that I change. I doubt if I have ever changed 10 in one turn...
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dereck
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by dereck »

Will something like this possibly work?

Keep B-17 squadrons on Auto but B-24 squadrons on Manual. Would that prevent the B-24s from downgrading to B-17 and let the B-17s upgrade normally?

Thanks
PO2 US Navy (1980-1986);
USS Midway CV-41 (1981-1984)
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bairdlander2
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by bairdlander2 »

ORIGINAL: dereck

Will something like this possibly work?

Keep B-17 squadrons on Auto but B-24 squadrons on Manual. Would that prevent the B-24s from downgrading to B-17 and let the B-17s upgrade normally?

Thanks
B24's dont downgrade at all,look at production screen and click B24 or any aircraft and it tells you what they upgrade to,if at all.
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LiquidSky
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by LiquidSky »



B17s will be replaced by B24's (or vice versa) if the pool is low and your units are also low.

The AI thinks it is better to have crappier planes flying in quantity then none flying at all. So if you take a large number of losses, you may see a 'downgrading' of planes.

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great
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bairdlander2
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RE: Air unit upgrade question

Post by bairdlander2 »

Thanks. .I didn't realize that
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