Japanese Pilot Training

[Historiker]

How many pilots for each role do you train simultaniously? I have so many units on training that I almost drained my pilot pools despite haveing neglible losses. So: What is your rough estimate of pilots in training groups?

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Army :
60% fighters
30% bomber
10% transport/recon

Navy is a bit more tricky but fighter pilots are always in high demand.

At the start of the game Japan seriously lacks dive bomber pilots so they are normaly my first priority at the start ah and fighters of course.

I would say if in doubt train fighters [:'(]

[Historiker]

Yes, but how many are simultaniously in training? [;)]
For example: three units with 100 pilots combined training naval fighter...

[Grfin Zeppelin]

As much as possible of course. If I had spare training groups I would use them to pick pilots from the pools and train them further of buy some out.

[PaxMondo]

I always struggle to have enough training groups ... demand is really high early in the war for air power.  It is a key deciding factor for most campaigns.

[Knyvet]

Easy part - use almost all the air units in manchuko for training - they are restricted, so it will cost you to pull them out + most of them are very slow to upgrade if playing PDU off (those few that do upgrade early you may want to pull out). Bad news is that almost all of them are Army units.

Hard part - use the majority of the restricted command air units on the main Japanese islands for training (especially the Navy units with old airframes). The hard part is that you want some on ASW and Naval search instead of 100% training. How many - that's a tough call. In addition, you will likely want to pay the points to pull a select few out for combat areas - if you pull too many of the Navy guys you, you may be hosed in the long run because your pilot replacements will have little training before you need them.

The number of units you use strictly for training is a balancing act and you need to careful to leave enough Navy units training. It may come down to whether you want your "I'm finished training them" experience in the high 40's? 50's? 60?? - what can you tolerate? If you want higher exprience before putting them in action, you are going to need more training units.

Finally, whether you use your CVE's for training is an interesting issue with many pros and cons.

The Japanese balance of training enough, but not too many pilots through dedicated units is yet another fun game within the game (I have lost count of how many there are in WitpAE).

[Historiker]

Will you push the training so far that you pull pilots out of school before they have finished it? My pilot pools are already down to two ditig numbers, so I'm expecting this to come, soon.

[USSAmerica]

You don't need no stinking training! Send those pilots out to drink some sake and then put 'em in the air against me. [:'(]

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

Army :
60% fighters
30% bomber
10% transport/recon

Navy is a bit more tricky but fighter pilots are always in high demand.

At the start of the game Japan seriously lacks dive bomber pilots so they are normaly my first priority at the start ah and fighters of course.

I would say if in doubt train fighters [:'(]

I play PDU off and I have lot of Pete units, so I use them to train DB pilots. Of course there's a small penalty changing pilot's plane type. Pete's can also be used to train fighter pilots.

It seems that I'm always short of navy fighter pilots, and there is not enough training units, especially in 1942.

[Commander Stormwolf]

scenario 1 / scenario 2

1942

use oscars as padding for sally strikes

use zeroes to kill allied planes

transfer all good army pilots to reserve until the frank is available

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Knyvet

Hard part - use the majority of the restricted command air units on the main Japanese islands for training (especially the Navy units with old airframes). The hard part is that you want some on ASW and Naval search instead of 100% training. How many - that's a tough call. In addition, you will likely want to pay the points to pull a select few out for combat areas - if you pull too many of the Navy guys you, you may be hosed in the long run because your pilot replacements will have little training before you need them.

The number of units you use strictly for training is a balancing act and you need to careful to leave enough Navy units training. It may come down to whether you want your "I'm finished training them" experience in the high 40's? 50's? 60?? - what can you tolerate? If you want higher exprience before putting them in action, you are going to need more training units.

Finally, whether you use your CVE's for training is an interesting issue with many pros and cons.

+1

Nice summary of the issues. Exactly the issues I face ... I struggle NOT to pull too many into combat

[Barb]

Good rule of thumb is to have 1 unit training for each two fighting - of similar pilot capacity of course [;)]
With skill per month you can get pilot "classes" each two or three months (depending on number of skills needed).

[Coach Z]

Curious must you leave a CVE or CVL in Japan to produce Carrier Trained air groups?

[erstad]

ORIGINAL: Coach Z

Curious must you leave a CVE or CVL in Japan to produce Carrier Trained air groups?

Nope.

although that requirement is in the SPI monster game of WITP

[Coach Z]

Yeah thats where I remember it from -lol.

Wasn't in WitP the original wasn't sure if it had been included in any patches.