Aircraft upgrade

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> Aircraft upgrade

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Aircraft upgrade - 10/13/2007 11:17:44 PM

DaveB

Posts: 151
Joined: 8/4/2003
From: Forres Scotland
Status: offline

My apologies if this is already eslewhere, but search produces nothing and following links from stickies has had the same result -
The aircraft upgrade path seems a bit idiosyncratic - some squadrons have a heap of upgrade aircraft listed, others have very few. I thought that this might resolve over time, say (for a mythical example) you had a Lysander squadron that only listed Hurricane IIb as a possible upgrade, and a Hurricane squadron that listed all sorts of interesting options, then I figured if you upgraded the Lysander sqn to Hurri you'd then see its upgrade list expand to reflect the conversions available to match those seen for the sqn that started out as Hurricane.

It seems not to be so though - One of my A-20 sqns had a B24D listed, which was a darn good swap so I upgraded it. I went to a different A20B sqn and no B24D listed.... a Hudson Sqn had A20B as an upgrade listed, so despite the short (aka useless) legs of the A20B I upgraded to see if the B24D would then be added to the upgrade list. I have some 300 or so B24D's in the pool, they'd be a lot more useful than Hudsons and A20's.... No go though, so Sqn X can convert from A to B, Sqn Y goes B to C, but Sqn X doesn't then get to got from B to C, if you see what I mean.

This is making it difficult to plan a coherent upgrade strategy, and as being a WITP devotee automatically earns entry in the Excel user club platimun (UK Platignum) lounge at airports (only in the DEI, I hasten to add, provided you are boarding a C46 or C47) I guess somebody has figured out the hierarchy of aircraft upgrades and could point me towards understanding this? It LOOKS almost random, sort of 'upgrade in the hope it will open a path to a better a/ along the way'... at the moment the relative range of the Hudson and A20 makes me regret 'upgrading' my Hudson, which could bomb Singapore from Batavia, to an A20 which can't hit the far end of the runway without an AAR sortie in support.

Cheers...

Post #: 1

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/13/2007 11:45:47 PM

Yamato hugger

Posts: 5475
Joined: 10/5/2004
Status: offline

Depends on lots of factors.

Some squadrons have their "historical" upgrade path in addition to their "regular" choices for upgrades due to their current type of aircraft. Real world, the Brits especially had a tendancy to bleed out a squadron then disband it, and form a new squadron with the same number, and usually with a different type of aircraft (fighter disbanded, bomber formed for example). This is probably at least SOME of what you are encountering.

PDU on for example is another case in point. An Ann can convert to a Mary and then to a Lily, but once there, it can NOT convert back to a Mary. By the same token, if you convert your last Mary squadron, Mary goes away as a choice, so you want to convert another Ann to Mary to Lily, suddenly you cant anymore because Mary is no longer an option.

There is no easy answer. Play the game and adjust as you go. Learn from playing like the rest of us have

< Message edited by Yamato hugger -- 10/13/2007 11:50:07 PM >

(in reply to DaveB)

Post #: 2

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/13/2007 11:53:14 PM

m10bob

Posts: 8622
Joined: 11/3/2002
From: Dismal Seepage Indiana
Status: offline

It also depends on whether you play stock WITP or a mod, (which in CHS/RHS has been corrected to their historic component when possible(as YH mentioned).

Maybe in a newer version of the game, the programmers will have a button allowing the player to select from a list of similar types, but then that would not be historical.
As for the "short-legged A20b", mods have also corrected some of the ranges.

_____________________________

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Post #: 3

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/14/2007 2:26:21 AM

DaveB

Posts: 151
Joined: 8/4/2003
From: Forres Scotland
Status: offline

Ok,
thanks - I figured that either there would be a list in the code that the program would consult, in which case a sqn flying a specific type would have the same upgrade options as a similarly equipped sqn, or that the upgrade path would perhaps be specified in a database file on a per sqn basis which I might go look at/print out for reference. It seems somewhat disorganised to have to pick an upgrade that you don't really want, on the off chance that it will reveal a useful upgrade further along the line. The manual is it's usual helpful self, of course.

I play Big B, by the way, the 'legs' issue is simply reality impinging for the most part.

As OC Pacific I ought to be able, within reason, to decide who gets what... or at least be able to say 'I'll convert this lot to X, so that along the line I'll be able to turn them into Y'.

RAF squadrons have always operated the way you mentioned - the sqn disbands, sometime later a completely different outfit sets up and becomes the new holder of the sqn number, frequently changing role completely...been like that since 1918 <g>

(in reply to m10bob)

Post #: 4

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/14/2007 10:40:58 AM

bradfordkay

Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002
From: Olympia, WA
Status: offline

"It seems somewhat disorganised to have to pick an upgrade that you don't really want, on the off chance that it will reveal a useful upgrade further along the line."

What I'll do is create a save before upgrading a squadron, in case the future upgrade path is taking the plane in the wrong direction.

_____________________________

fair winds,
Brad

(in reply to DaveB)

Post #: 5

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/15/2007 4:48:43 PM

DaveB

Posts: 151
Joined: 8/4/2003
From: Forres Scotland
Status: offline

Had some password problems .. sorry for the delay. Yep, I keep a string of saves already - although they're really in case of accident/sudden loss of PC etc. I'd much prefer to plan stuff, than fix oddities by reloading, so as the allied player isn't too badly off for hardware I think I'll just imagine I have a small number of Sgt Bilkos in my supply chain applying creative thinking to what I mistakenly assume to be orders. I assumed the upgrade path info was in the database somewhere, and I just wasn't seeing it...but if not then I'll live with it. Thanks for the suggestion.

(in reply to bradfordkay)

Post #: 6

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/15/2007 7:17:16 PM

bradfordkay

Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002
From: Olympia, WA
Status: offline

I've never looked at the editor, nor have I opened the game as the Japanese player. Both of these are to prevent me from knowing more about my opponent's OOB than I should (having studied the Pacific Theatre most of my life has given me plenty of knowledge already). Thus I can't check the database to see if the upgrade path is reasonable. If I upgrade an aircraft and find that the upgrade restricts the future upgrade path, I'll happily restore the game to just before upgrading.

An excellent example of this is in CHS v2.08. There is a Tactical Recon Squadron that starts out in San Diego equipped with B18s. It's scheduled upgrade is the F5A, of which there is a short supply. It does have the option to upgrade to several different bombers, so I thought that I might do so as an interim step. Wrong! Once it was upgraded to a B25C, the option to upgrade to an F5A was lost. Reload! Chez, that squadron is still sitting in San Diego... here's some free intel.

_____________________________

fair winds,
Brad

(in reply to DaveB)

Post #: 7

RE: Aircraft upgrade - 10/17/2007 12:51:23 AM

DaveB

Posts: 151
Joined: 8/4/2003
From: Forres Scotland
Status: offline

Mmm,
your memory must be much better than mine if you can remember enough of the database to gain an advantage, I can just about remember the previous line when looking through it

(Our dog's memory is better than mine I suspect, so this isn't much of a compliment I guess). This is a similar issue to my own aversion to reload - I figure if I reload when the game does something silly, then maybe one day I'll reload just 'cos I did something silly.
Ho hum, it's not a huge problem - apart from a few disappearing P38's (move 72 of them, 54 arrive... that's happend twice so far, that I've noticed) the Alies are well off for a/c...

(in reply to bradfordkay)

Post #: 8