Air Groups that are hardcoded to leave and then return

[Micah Goodman]

So air groups that are hard coded to leave the game and return at a later date do the pilots that are with the unit when it leaves return with it later on or is it an entirely new group of pilots? On a slightly similar vain do LCU that leave and return later keep the experience level it had when it left the game?

[wdolson]

I'm not familiar with any LCUs that leave and then return, but there might be.

With air units, if a unit withdraws out of theater, the pilots go with it. For air units that simply disband, the pilots go into the pool. If disbanded units reform, they usually do so drawing pilots from the pool, so some pilots may come back in the same unit by luck of the draw, but it's not hard and fast.

There are also some "named" pilots who are coded into the database from the start. Most of these are notable pilots from the real war. Most of these pilots are coded to go to a particular unit and if that unit gets withdrawn and returns, I believe they stay with it. Though I'm not 100% sure about that.

The actual mechanics of air groups withdraw/disband are pretty complex. We did what we could to make it easier for the user, but unfortunately there still is some complexity.

Bill

[PizzaMan]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The actual mechanics of air groups withdraw/disband are pretty complex. We did what we could to make it easier for the user, but unfortunately there still is some complexity.

Bill

I believe you did good.

[wdolson]

michaelm was the one who did all the air programming.

Bill

[Micah Goodman]

Thanks for the answer. The reason I asked the question is that I wanted to know if it was a good idea to pull the pilots from the affected squadrons before the unit left or just leave them in place.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Micah Goodman

Thanks for the answer. The reason I asked the question is that I wanted to know if it was a good idea to pull the pilots from the affected squadrons before the unit left or just leave them in place.

Depends on how bad you need them. They are not going to do you much good if they withdraw if they are crack pilots. I would pull them and use them or put them in the reserve to save for a rainy day. You will get more pilots when the group returns and can train them up. Or just pull good pilots out of the reserve and put them back into the returning group. The hope is that you will have built up a pretty good pool of pilots in the reserve by then....

[ckammp]

ORIGINAL: Micah Goodman

So air groups that are hard coded to leave the game and return at a later date do the pilots that are with the unit when it leaves return with it later on or is it an entirely new group of pilots? On a slightly similar vain do LCU that leave and return later keep the experience level it had when it left the game?

No LCUs leave and then return. There are some LCUs that leave and are replaced by different units with the same name, for example III US Corps and IX US Corps.

[Gridley380]

I recommend stripping everything you can from a group before it departs - pilots, reserve aircraft, etc. Downgrade it to obsolete birds if you have the opportunity without PP cost.

A lot of the air units that withdraw and return are USMC units that were rotated home to be training units. I have no idea of percentages but at least some of the pilots remained on the front lines.

Some might consider this gamey, but for those who do I'll point out that at least for the US TRACOM assignments don't work the way they did historically either.

[Micah Goodman]

So if you strip a unit like this will it return later in the same condition it was in when you stripped it down?

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Micah Goodman

So if you strip a unit like this will it return later in the same condition it was in when you stripped it down?

I believe so but the theory is by then you will have sufficient planes and pilots to fill it out again. So, you have nothing to lose by doing this.