questions...

[dasboot1960]

Hi all, and any who might comment. Just got Dec ( from the Yankee Capitalist. I still have massive studying to do on IJ merchants, shipbuilding and AC research/production. Before all of that, a couple of questions occurred to me. Ant takers?

If I do not specify search arcs, are they truly random or commander's decision?

How do you ensure that you get pilots of the classification you want - fighter, twin engine bomber whatever?

Thank you to any who reply. I get the feeling I may be regular as I learn, but to much of a puss to commit to doing a full AAR.

[Korvar]

The random search arc applies a penalty to the search, although in practice they are often more effective than you'd think. Many of us still set search arcs because it is part of the 'cat and mouse' game that was the Pacific Theater. Regardless of the search setting you use, a 360 degree search will always be conducted 4 hexes out from the point of origin. For manual searches you ideally want 1 plane per 10 degrees of search arc, although you can stretch that to 20 degrees per plane and the aircraft will cover one arc in the morning phase and one in the afternoon phase (with 10 degrees per plane, the same arc is covered in both phases). I've also heard on the forums that searches beyond 12 hexes become more unreliable. Take that with a grain of salt - I want to say Alfred mentioned it, who is a good source, but I may be misremembering.

Pilot classification works on different (but somewhat analogous) criteria than the number of engines. The first big classification is which pool the pilot is in. The two biggies are the Replacement (new pilots deemed to have completed basic flight training but not much else) and Reserve pools (pilots of all skill levels, from brand new pilots to hardened veterans). You can select which pool a particular squadron will draw upon - usually training squadrons will draw from Replacement pilots and front line squadrons will draw from Reserve pilots (using the 'Get Veteran' feature of the squadron menu). Pilots are then grouped into Fighter, Bomber, Patrol, Transport, etc. groupings, but this is often determined by what type of aircraft they trained in - it doesn't for certain indicate their suitability for a particular role. Pilots can also switch between these pools by being assigned to different aircraft types. What determines suitability is a pilot's individual skill ratings. Different mission types will draw upon specific skill(s) and completely ignore others. A fighter pilot will need a good AIR skill rating at the very least, and a high DEF rating is also desired, whereas a naval dive bomber pilot will want high ratings in both Naval Bombing and Naval Search (a higher DEF rating also doesn't hurt), then perhaps a high Ground Bombing rating in order to attack ground targets and ports more effectively. A rating of 70 is considered the separation point between what can and cannot be accomplished with training. The default goal when training pilots is to train them up to a rating of 70 in a given skill, then transfer them to another squadron for further training in a different skill or to begin frontline service. With experience in a squadron, the pilot's ratings will increase beyond 70 and their experience will also increase to further differentiate them from trained but rookie pilots.

As you can tell, it often takes quite awhile to fully train pilots, and their loss can be felt for quite some time (as it did historically).

[BBfanboy]

What Korvar said, plus train your pilots at 100' level (even if the pilot does not need the strafe skill) for a long enough time to bring up their Defensive skill - it really helps them survive.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

The random search arc applies a penalty to the search, although in practice they are often more effective than you'd think. Many of us still set search arcs because it is part of the 'cat and mouse' game that was the Pacific Theater. Regardless of the search setting you use, a 360 degree search will always be conducted 4 hexes out from the point of origin. For manual searches you ideally want 1 plane per 10 degrees of search arc, although you can stretch that to 20 degrees per plane and the aircraft will cover one arc in the morning phase and one in the afternoon phase (with 10 degrees per plane, the same arc is covered in both phases). I've also heard on the forums that searches beyond 12 hexes become more unreliable. Take that with a grain of salt - I want to say Alfred mentioned it, who is a good source, but I may be misremembering.

Pilot classification works on different (but somewhat analogous) criteria than the number of engines. The first big classification is which pool the pilot is in. The two biggies are the Replacement (new pilots deemed to have completed basic flight training but not much else) and Reserve pools (pilots of all skill levels, from brand new pilots to hardened veterans). You can select which pool a particular squadron will draw upon - usually training squadrons will draw from Replacement pilots and front line squadrons will draw from Reserve pilots (using the 'Get Veteran' feature of the squadron menu). Pilots are then grouped into Fighter, Bomber, Patrol, Transport, etc. groupings, but this is often determined by what type of aircraft they trained in - it doesn't for certain indicate their suitability for a particular role. Pilots can also switch between these pools by being assigned to different aircraft types. What determines suitability is a pilot's individual skill ratings. Different mission types will draw upon specific skill(s) and completely ignore others. A fighter pilot will need a good AIR skill rating at the very least, and a high DEF rating is also desired, whereas a naval dive bomber pilot will want high ratings in both Naval Bombing and Naval Search (a higher DEF rating also doesn't hurt), then perhaps a high Ground Bombing rating in order to attack ground targets and ports more effectively. A rating of 70 is considered the separation point between what can and cannot be accomplished with training. The default goal when training pilots is to train them up to a rating of 70 in a given skill, then transfer them to another squadron for further training in a different skill or to begin frontline service. With experience in a squadron, the pilot's ratings will increase beyond 70 and their experience will also increase to further differentiate them from trained but rookie pilots.

As you can tell, it often takes quite awhile to fully train pilots, and their loss can be felt for quite some time (as it did historically).

A couple of clarifications on the above.

1. The 12 hex range for searches is not a line in the sand where crossing it automatically introduces penalties not otherwise faced. Ceteris paribus the effectiveness of naval search diminishes with distance. A range 8 search will tend to be less effective than a range 6 search; a range 10 search less effective than a range 8 search and so on. The 12 hex range limit is really the point at which ROI generally turns negative. However this does not mean one should never have a search beyond 12 hexes. Increasing the density of search planes in a sector helps to improve the ROI always and this applies whether the range set is 7 or 14 hexes. One can therefore both reduce the number of sectors which are searched and increase the number of planes tasked to search beyond 12 hexes.

2. Pilots in the General Pilot Reserve pool are classified as fighter, bomber, transport et al solely on the basis of the last aircraft type they were assigned to prior to being moved to the Reserve pool. If they are subsequently retrieved from the Reserve pool and placed in a different aircraft type they will suffer a drop in their Experience level if they have experience of 50% or more. They suffer no experience drop if they are below 50% in the Reserve pool. Pilots who do drop their experience level do not suffer any decrease in any skill level.

Alfred

[dasboot1960]

Thanks Korvar - If I understand your correctly, the skills that ppilots are most highly trained in will determine when/where they are selseted. ie If I had a bunch of high navT guys and aircombat skill guys in the pool, the high navT guys would go first if I was requesting for a torpedo squadron?

Thanks also for the search feedbak. I had picked up the 4 hex/360 deg deal. I was most likely seeking absolution for laziness in assigning arcs on less combat-likely TFs

Thank You!

[dasboot1960]

Hi BBFB - does this 100' deal apply across the board or is it a fighter thing? - I understand there really are few absolutes

Thank You!

[dasboot1960]

Hi Alfred - I see this feeds back into other replies I got, but knowing they'll tend towards familiar types is a help, as long as I equip perhaps 'advanced training squadrons' with front line AC - if affordable. It makes good sense if I can get beyond just trying to learn the basic how-to.

Also, I assume youre the Alfred of the economic primer which has been a great help - Cheers!

Thank You!

[rms1pa]

if you have the OCD you can choose select veteran and reserve pool then sort by the skill you are looking for.

pay attention though, some of your high skill you are looking for may be even higher skill in something you value more. IE; high nav search but really high low nav.

rms/pa

[dasboot1960]

Thank you all for your responses. I have studied this game for a long time, but the learning vs the doing. I am about to return my 12-9-41 to the capitalist enemy. I still am grappling with a/c r&d and production, but have my factory sites set for the needed extra supplies, and am counting on tracker to clarify what is working and where. I am sure I will post frequently with more questions. Thank You All!

[dasboot1960]

Just whenI thought I was done... Re a/c r&d is more economical to take factories foduced on late war stuff at the geginning and change them to a/c available sonner, and then go back? I understand the factories would be damaged and need repair each time. ugh this question seems sillier as I take the time to ask it

[Korvar]

ORIGINAL: dasboot1960

Thanks Korvar - If I understand your correctly, the skills that ppilots are most highly trained in will determine when/where they are selseted. ie If I had a bunch of high navT guys and aircombat skill guys in the pool, the high navT guys would go first if I was requesting for a torpedo squadron?

That's the general process, although to optimize the pilots in a squadron, you'll want to manually recruit as rms1pa suggests below, as the automated process doesn't always account for all the important skills:

ORIGINAL: rms1pa

if you have the OCD you can choose select veteran and reserve pool then sort by the skill you are looking for.

pay attention though, some of your high skill you are looking for may be even higher skill in something you value more. IE; high nav search but really high low nav.

rms/pa

Let's pretend this is a front line squadron of USAAF B-25Cs which we are optimizing for naval attack missions. The reserve pool is where our trained pilots reside, so we'll set the "From..." setting to "Reserve" and then we'll hit the "Request Veteran" button.





Which then brings up the Reserve pool list. Click on the "All" category once or twice to de-select all "Air Type" categories (they will all be yellow, not green), then click the "Bomber" category to narrow the pool to just the bomber pilots. Then we can click one of the skill types to sort by ascending or descending values. In this case I clicked "NavB" which is the higher altitude naval bombing skill.




The only weakness of this list is that you can only sort by one skill. So you can't have it automatically give you the pilots with the best overall average of NavB, NavS, LowN, and Defn. You'll need to sort by one of them and then use the "Most Skilled" buttons at the bottom to recruit pilots IF you only care about that one skill OR you have enough pilots trained in the applicable secondary skills that it doesn't matter what order they're in. For example, even though I sorted by NavB in this example, there are plenty of pilots with the LowN skill (low level naval attack). If I only cared about those two skills, I could use the "Most Skilled" buttons to recruit what pilots were needed.

Note that if I cared about the NavS skill (the Naval Search skill, which I would care about in this case), there aren't any trained pilots visible in this list. I would need to scroll down and see if there were any pilots with a better NavS rating than the sub-50s skill pilots shown here, then manually select them.

If you need to manually select pilots because the best secondary skills aren't in order, then you need to find the best individual pilots according to your criteria and click their name(s) one at a time. Note you can use the "Y" and "N" keys to confirm/cancel your choices, so you don't need to constantly move the mouse cursor between prompts. That makes the process go a lot faster.

Keep in mind that for some reason if you use the "Most Skilled" buttons, the game accounts for transferred pilots perfectly and immediately updates pilot numbers. If you use manual selection, the number of pilots in the squadron isn't updated until they actually arrive (remember there are usually a few transit days for transferred pilots).

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: dasboot1960

Hi BBFB - does this 100' deal apply across the board or is it a fighter thing? - I understand there really are few absolutes

Thank You!

Training at 100 feet is the only way for any aircraft type to increase the Straf skill of the unit pilots. Generally speaking the most efficient ways to increase the Defence skill rating is to train in Air and Straf but focussing on any other single skill will also help in getting the Defence rating up. Undertaking General Training is by far the least effective way of improving the Defence rating.

Alfred

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: dasboot1960

Thank you all for your responses. I have studied this game for a long time, but the learning vs the doing. I am about to return my 12-9-41 to the capitalist enemy. I still am grappling with a/c r&d and production, but have my factory sites set for the needed extra supplies, and am counting on tracker to clarify what is working and where. I am sure I will post frequently with more questions. Thank You All!

There is very little found in Tracker which is not already found ingame. The ingame Industry screen is very good at telling you the state of your industry plus it has the immense advantage over Tracker that you can take certain immediate remedial actions from this very same game screen.

Alfred

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: dasboot1960

Hi Alfred - I see this feeds back into other replies I got, but knowing they'll tend towards familiar types is a help, as long as I equip perhaps 'advanced training squadrons' with front line AC - if affordable. It makes good sense if I can get beyond just trying to learn the basic how-to.

Also, I assume youre the Alfred of the economic primer which has been a great help - Cheers!

Thank You!

Depends.

There are a couple of very extensive guides which others have clearly identified themselves as the authors of those guides which restrict themselves solely to handling the Japanese economy, primarily focussed on aircraft production and research.

I instead have posted regularly on game economic considerations which apply to both sides, although there are also detailed posts on certain economic considerations which do not apply to both sides. My contributions are always easily identified by having my name at the bottom of the post.

Alfred

[tarkalak]

ORIGINAL: Korvar
...
Which then brings up the Reserve pool list. Click on the "All" category once or twice to de-select all "Air Type" categories (they will all be yellow, not green), then click the "Bomber" category to narrow the pool to just the bomber pilots. Then we can click one of the skill types to sort by ascending or descending values. In this case I clicked "NavB" which is the higher altitude naval bombing skill.
...

Just nitpicking.

Instead of the above "click" All then "click" Bomber, you can use "rightclick".

Rightclicking Bomber category will select it and deselect all other categories. I usually use this way.

[HansBolter]

In any of the selection set filters in the game right clicking isolates that selection. Right clicking again unisolates it. Very helpful and I would bet many vets don't know this little tidbit.

[rustysi]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: dasboot1960

Hi BBFB - does this 100' deal apply across the board or is it a fighter thing? - I understand there really are few absolutes

Thank You!

Training at 100 feet is the only way for any aircraft type to increase the Straf skill of the unit pilots. Generally speaking the most efficient ways to increase the Defence skill rating is to train in Air and Straf but focussing on any other single skill will also help in getting the Defence rating up. Undertaking General Training is by far the least effective way of improving the Defence rating.

Alfred

While this is generally true I think what really needs to be considered here is simply that it takes longer to develop defensive skills in general. Seems reasonable to me as most training would focus on attack first. In addition to that my bombers never train in strafe and seem to develop defensive skills just fine. Again by the time defense starts to come up much they're already working on their second skill set, which for fighteers is usually strafe.

In my current game I just made the decision to begin to train my fighters in lowG as opposed to strafe due to the fact that as many here have said strafe doesn't work too well anyway. Again I doubt I'll lowG much either, but it could come in handy in China. Only time will tell. Also if I find my defensive skills not appearing to go up as quickly as in the past I'll report back. It'll take quite a while as my observations will simply be empirical.

[HansBolter]

Another important point about using the Request a Veteran function.

The Veteran pool that appears is not limited to pilots in the Reserve, it also offers pilots in other squadrons so you may be robbing Peter to pay Paul if you aren't paying close attention to where the veteran is coming from.

[rustysi]

The Veteran pool that appears is not limited to pilots in the Reserve

It is if you limit your search for veteran pilots to the reserve pool through the intelligence screen.