Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: ElvisDaKing

Hi

To train my new fighter recruits, i put them in squadron CAP 30 / Train 70 , range 0, so my pilots increase their Air Skill as well as their Experience...
But question is, how do you increase their Defensive skill ?

quote:

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Training sweep at 100m seems to be the best way for fighters to gain Def, after they are 70 in Air. But training any other skill also will increase Def

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

quote:

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Training sweep at 100m seems to be the best way for fighters to gain Def, after they are 70 in Air. But training any other skill also will increase Def

I prefer ground attack at 100 feet - trains Strafe and Defense.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I don't keep track of how many days this takes, but it works the best.

Also, the proof isn't statistical it's empirical.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I never train General, because I don't want the skill gain to be randomized. I want them focused on particular skills. I also never train on Range 1 - why would you do this? It will just result in an increase in Ops losses due to fatigue.

And the results I get show it. I put pilots into reserve at 60+ Exp, Air 70+, and Defense 60+ as well as Strafe 60+. Typically what happens is I train until most of the pilots in the group are 70+ Air skill, which will result in a low-50s Exp level and Defense in the upper 40s/mid 50s. Then I switch to Strafe, and by the time Strafe is in the 60s their Exp will be in the low 60s and Defense will be at least in the low 60s.

I don't keep track of how many days this takes, but it works the best.

Also, the proof isn't statistical it's empirical. Train on Ground attack at 100 ft and you will see Strafe and Defense skills increasing.


Bonus to this method: you can put Strafe-trained fighter pilots in attack bombers with all the nose guns (as Strafe is the skill they use, not LowG or LowN bombing skills), and Air skill does seem to affect how well the bombers perform against enemy fighters. A month ago or thereabouts I had a bomber pilot get "Ace in a Day" status.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Big B

This is a good question and deserves some thought.
Like some previous posters have mentioned Defense is all-important.

What I have found works best for fighter units is the following (but this takes a bit longer)-
1) Fill the training unit to 100% of allowed pilots (ratio is now more pilots than aircraft, which slows it down a bit - but will pay dividends if the unit is sent intact to combat).
2) Have the Unit train ESCORT 100% under 10,000 feet, and ZERO Range (reason is NOT to Waste air-frames, greater altitude has no effect anyway). ESCORT seems to raise Defensive Skill, Experience, and Air Skill Simultaneously faster than any other, until the unit hits Experience 55 or greater.
3) When the unit hits about 55 Exp, check it EVERY DAY - to see to what experience is being gained. Once gain is down to one or two pilots per day - switch to 100% CAP... Again check daily to watch until experience gain AGAIN drops to one or two pilots per day.
4) At that point, Switch back and forth between CAP and TRAINING ESCORT until, after a day or two - no one is gaining experience.
5) By this time, Air Skill should be around 70, Experience above 60, Defense above 60 - now is the time to introduce a week or two at a time of Strafing to gain more Defense (ground/naval attack at altitude 100 feet), and to a lesser degree Experience.
6) At this point your Air Skill should be a solid 70+, Experience 64+, Defense over 60. Now it's a matter of giving the unit new training missions every couple days to boost the three key Experience Ratings - Exp\Air|Def, and intermix with CAP every few days (Flying CAP increases Air Skill and Experience fast).

Using this method takes a level 25 bunch of newbie pilots - to combat readiness in about 3 or 4 months.

Last and biggest recommendations: Train at the biggest bases possible, with OVER 20,000 Supply and (hopefully) an Air HQ - gets 'em all flying daily.
One Last bit of advice - take the time to give the training squadron a good leader.

Hope that helps.

B

quote:

ORIGINAL: bushpsu

Big B,

What constitutes a "good training leader?"

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I don't think it was ever true - that was only ever just conjecture, and remains so.

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There was information having 1-2 pilots with good skill improves gains,

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that was only ever just conjecture

quote:

ORIGINAL: szmike
There was information having 1-2 pilots with good skill improves gains, but I don't know if it holds true with all the changes over the years.

quote:

ORIGINAL: InfiniteMonkey

quote:

ORIGINAL: szmike
There was information having 1-2 pilots with good skill improves gains, but I don't know if it holds true with all the changes over the years.

The number of pilots and Exp of the pilots that are required varies. The key is that the high skill pilots raise the average experience of the unit. In my screenshot above, the numbers in the parenthesis above the skill heading are group averages. In that example, all the pilots below 38 Exp will get a bonus when training. The 6 x 62 exp pilots cause the group average (38) to be greater than the rest of the pilots in the squadron (35/36). All of the 35/36 Exp pilots will get a bonus when training.

Reports that suggest adding highly skilled pilots does not help in training are likely due to the fact that most players pull their pilots in from the replacement pool and take whatever they get.

Consider a squadron with 20 pilots drawn from replacements with the following Exp:

(27, 29, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32, 32, 33, 34, 34, 35, 35, 35, 35, 36, 36, 38, 39).

Group Exp = 27 + 29 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 34 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 36 + 36 + 38 + 39=664
664 / 20 = 33 (fractions round down in virtually every calculation in WitP:AE)

Therefore, in that group the pilots with Exp = 27, 29, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32, 32 will get a training bonus.

If I add a 70 skill pilot,

Group Exp = 27 + 29 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 34 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 36 + 36 + 38 + 39 + 70 = 734
734 / 21 = 34

Therefore, with the extra experienced pilot, the trainees with Exp = 27, 29, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32, 32, 33 will get a training bonus.

If I add 2 x 70 skill pilots,

27 + 29 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 34 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 35 + 36 + 36 + 38 + 39 + 70 + 70 = 804
804 / 22 = 36

Therefore, with two experienced pilots, the trainees with Exp = 27, 29, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32, 32, 33, 34, 34, 35, 35, 35, 35 will get a training bonus.

The problem is that anyone looking for those effects will be looking at a very small change in experience gain and conclude the bonus does not exist. In the example above, one experienced pilots gets precisely 1 pilot a bonus, while in the 2 pilot example, 7 pilots will get the bonus.

This is why I stratify my pilots. Consider the same example with all 35 skill pilots:

20 x 35 = 700
700/20 = 35 group Exp

20 x 35 + 70 = 770 = 36
All pilots get bonus from one experienced (exp = 70) pilot.

The bigger the squadron, the less experienced the "good" pilots, the wider the gap between the most and least experienced trainees, the more "good" pilots you need to maximize the bonus.

quote:

ORIGINAL: InfiniteMonkey

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I don't think it was ever true - that was only ever just conjecture, and remains so.

I've run a pretty large set of sandbox tests on training and to this point I can tell you that ALL of the following affect the rate of pilot exp gain:

1. Number of aircraft - You should have the max aircraft available in the squadron for maximum rate of exp gain.
2. The leader - specifically the Leadership of the leader should be greater than the exp of all the pilots training in the group. To save PP, move the pilots, not the leader.
3. The group experience bonus - the reason for putting a few good pilots in the group is that they raise the group's average experience. If a pilot is below the group's average experience, they gain skill and exp faster.
4. The presence of 81+ skill pilots in the training group increases the rate of experience gain, but not as much as items 1-3 above do.

One thing I don't see anyone mention is pilot stratification. I stratify my pilots - I throw every pilot I have into the Reserve Pool and then pull them back into air groups by Exp. The effect of that is that I get the group exp bonus for all the trainees with a minimum number of advanced pilots. Note in the attached screenshot how every pilot is either 62 or 36 Exp (every pilot in the group is exp 62, 36, or 35). Every 36/35 pilot will get the group exp bonus when training. Compare that with an air group where pilots are loaded straight from the Replacement Pool, the range of pilots will range from about 28-40. It takes a lot more, and better, pilots to bring the average up so that all the trainee pilots get the group exp bonus.

Note by the way that all of the above bonuses are documented in the Pilot Management Addendum, C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Manuals\Pilot Management Addendum.pdf, Section 7. Training

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aurorus

Many would consider using Akagi to resize air-groups to 81 "gamey." This is a very unrealistic size for an air-group. You can use Petes as fighter trainers and have a sufficient number of well-trained naval fighter pilots, if you do not over-produce A6M2s at the beginning of the game.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ElvisDaKing
Does it apply on getting Experienve or also on increasing skills ?

I mean if I train pilots for Air skill and average Air skill pilot is 40 in the squadron, then all pilots with Air skill below 40 will get bonus ?

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ORIGINAL: Pilot Management Addendum.pdf, Section 7. Training

"if the pilot’s experience is less 50 (plus pilot’s missions and kills) and less than the overall group experience level"

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ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

It's worth noting that when you pull a pilot from replacements, the pilots skills are generated based on the unit type. Later in the war, Allied pilot average skills (and XP) for replacement pools is at least around 40. If you're out of trained pilots for a unit type, it's better to just pull in from replacements than your cross-trained pilots as you mentioned above.

Example: Fighter pilot that had randomized general training for a while and has NavB/NavT skills in the 30s. Better to pull from Replacements(40), as the NavB/NavT will be about 40 in that case.