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Mr.Frag -> (7/27/2003 5:26:01 PM)
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Each group has it's own pool of pilots (Army, Navy, etc).
There is a hidden training school that adds pilots back into the pool, but it only produces a set number. If you ask for more pilots then are available, the school sends pilots that have not been fully trained.
In this way, you will always get a replacement pilot when needed but his skills will be so poor that he is likely to crash and die on his very first flight.
This causes two problems: (a) you now need another plane and (b) you now need another pilot. The new pilot is likely to have even worse skills then the last one who just flew into the ground. This starts a vicious slide down the skill pool where you are basically just throwing away pilots and planes for nothing.
Anytime you take a large batch of losses that need replacements, you need to very carefully watch what happens, ideally grounding the air group while it rebuilds (do not even fly training missions) until you see the skills of the replacement pilots.
Withdrawing or disbanding air groups is your way of countering this to a certain extent. See rule 10.19 in the manual for the exact details and turnaround time.
Poorly skilled pilots are worse then no pilots as at least with no pilots you will not loose planes as well. Be aware that the USA side starts short a lot of aircraft and is quite likely to deplete the pilot pools which means you are likely to get stuck with some of these suicidal pilots. Your only defence is to merge some of these units together to free up some pilots, but this will also remove the group from the theater for 90 days.
I look at it this way: In 90 days, you'll have useable planes and pilots vs no planes and pilots when playing the USA. This is one of the added problems with attempting a forward defence at PM. It becomes a pilot/plane sinkhole, causing all your Army units to fill up with useless level pilots (<60 skill) which means they just become training targets for Japan pilots who continue to climb in skill due to your target donations. The best defence during the opening months are AA units, not planes. (others may disagree on this point)
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