Swapping Airframes early game

[Willaverill]

Has anyone had success swapping airframes. I sure don’t want to lose those p-38s and was hoping to be able to outfit those squadrons with older airframes owned by squadrons not withdrawing.

Are the Dutch pilots worth sending to reserve and if so when? I have sent a few but they do not get replaced and the squadrons get thin.

[btd64]

First of all, do you have PDU (Player Defined Upgrades) on or off? If it is off your stuck with it the way it is. All though there might be a squadron or two that you can "Downgrade". If PDU is on, then you can downgrade some squadrons as long as you have enough airframes in the pool.

Now Dutch pilots, in my opinion, Are best left in the squadrons. You will get upgraded airframes for there squadrons in the first half of 42. So if you can buy them out, they can be moved to OZ later on when and if you are losing the DEI's.

Others will post as well. Everyone has there own way of doing things.

Hope this helps....GP

[GetAssista]

Sure you can upgrade withdrawing squadrons with older airframes in PDU on. I sometimes do it for some P-38s that start the game in Eastern US.
The catch is that for withdrawing units you have to upgrade to a full complement of planes. So you gain couple dozen rather shitty 2engine fighter and lose a full roster of the perfectly good training platform whatever it is. Might be beneficial, but not really exceptional exchange

[BBfanboy]

Be careful where you are doing such a swap. If the base does not have the required size/HQ support the swap may not work immediately. IIRC, you need a level 7 AF to do an "upgrade", with some exceptions if an Air HQ is in range. The manual covers all the parameters.

As for the point about training, the Gorn (geofflambert) insists that training goes on just fine with only a couple of airframes in the squadron, and a bit slower if there are NO airframes in the squadron. [8|]

[Uhionk]

There is another way to recover these frames.

Pick a Catalina island base, transport a engineer and a base force, and min supply. Build the base to level 1. Reduce supply to the absolute min. Then fly in the restricted air units to over stack. Over time the airframes will move to reserve from where they can be moved back into the pool. This can be done for the P-38, B-25's and B-17's.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
As for the point about training, the Gorn (geofflambert) insists that training goes on just fine with only a couple of airframes in the squadron, and a bit slower if there are NO airframes in the squadron. [8|]

That myth was long debunked with tests. Actually flying the plane is very important for faster training in the skill. Some points can be gained w/o planes due to other bonuses

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
As for the point about training, the Gorn (geofflambert) insists that training goes on just fine with only a couple of airframes in the squadron, and a bit slower if there are NO airframes in the squadron. [8|]

That myth was long debunked with tests. Actually flying the plane is very important for faster training in the skill. Some points can be gained w/o planes due to other bonuses

It is not a myth. The only myth is the flawed testing.

Even with perfectly constructed tests most pilot learning is not visible to the player/tester and erroneous conclusions are thereby drawn. The role of the several different die rolls in pilot training is extremely misunderstood. These die rolls have zero association with the number of planes in a squadron, instead they address several other inputs into the multiple pilot training algorithms. A failed die roll does not prevent a pilot from the opportunity of learning, only the application of that learning to their stats. This is an extremely important point to understand which no tester has ever worked out, made more difficult by the fact that even when the learning is applied to the pilot stats the result is not visible to the player until the threshold is reached which results in the "green" number on the pilot unit screen being displayed.

Some of the pilot learning algorithms take into account flying, in particular combat. This is why pilots who already have high ratings (70+ in individual skills/experience) and engage in combat can result in their high ratings increasing even further. But the simple fact is that most of the pilot learning algorithms specifically deal with non combat and non flying. None of the algorithms are mutually exclusive and this leads testers to ascribe all the visible results to a single input, usually the hobby horse they are peddling which is pilot training is dependent on having planes in the unit.

When one adds the opportunity cost, which no test ever does, the usefulness of the flawed tests is even further reduced. There are certain factors which do prevent a pilot from the opportunity to learn. Not having a plane is not one of those factors.

Alfred

[GetAssista]

I'm the Occam's razor proponent. Training airgroups w/o planes show consistent and statistically significant slower training in skills compared to groups with the full complement of planes, all other things being equal and set by the editor or pilot selection (commander stats, base, xp level of trainees). I attribute this sloweness to the lack of airframes since it is the best explanatory factor there.
Algorithms can be written however they are, it is the result I am interested in.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Sure you can upgrade withdrawing squadrons with older airframes in PDU on. I sometimes do it for some P-38s that start the game in Eastern US.
The catch is that for withdrawing units you have to upgrade to a full complement of planes. So you gain couple dozen rather shitty 2engine fighter and lose a full roster of the perfectly good training platform whatever it is. Might be beneficial, but not really exceptional exchange

Yeah. I'm not bothering anymore. The extra 25 to 50 P-38s just aren't really worth it in exchange for cobbling together 25 or 50 P-36s, or worse P-39s/P-40s.

P-38s do well against the A6M2 and Oscar, but that's about it. Won't be facing those for that long.