Aircraft Usage

[ComradeP]

Fatigue for aircraft I figure is a mostly light damage to the aircraft then pilot fatigue. Fatigue recovery would be plane maintenance. Remember, the plane is only taking fatigue from being shot at from AA...not from flying missions.

I interpreted the AA values of non-AA units as sort of an abstraction of pilot fatigue and operational damage/losses, instead of actual light damage to the aircraft from enemy fire.

What are you trying to say with this? As I just posted above, my testing shows the units don't become unavailable if you don't use them. They are still "available" but due to the limit only a portion of the available units show up. They do NOT become unavailable if not used. The testing I did showed positively that they do not become unavailable unless used.

OK, to avoid more confusion:

The low air visibility rule forces only a certain percentage of the total amount of air units to be able to fly missions.

The air availability rule forces units that have flown missions to have a certain per turn chance of being available again.

If the visibility is poor, which it is in the initial days of Moscow '42, Axis air availability percentage and visibility limits can both be, say, 25%.

That can lead to a situation where you don't use air units, but they still drop off the list (I confused this with being unavailable, that was my bad). Their percentage chance of being available for action is similar to their percentage chance of being picked from a full list.

I initially thought the air unit available was cumulative, as in: you could save up air units, but due to the visibility conditions, that doesn't really work.

[Liquid_Sky]

I did a test using Normandy '44.

The Allies have 72 aircraft squadrons available. I set the weather to be visibility 3, which allows 25% air to fly.

Allied turn: 18 planes available to fly. Which is exactly 25% of 72.
I fly all 18 squadrons.

Next turn: 18 squadrons available to fly. None of the others came back. I fly all 18 squadrons.

3rd turn: 18 squadrons available to fly. A couple of the ones I flew the first turn are back in this group.

4th turn: 18 squadrons available.

5th turn: Now I am thinking I should have less then 18, but nope...I have 18 available. Assuming that a plane that flies cannot come back the next turn... I should have received 20% of 18 back for turn 3 (3.6). 20% of 33 (6.6) for turn 4 and 20% of 39 for turn 5 (7.8)...which adds up to 18.

6th turn: I have 18 available.

7th turn: I have 18 available.

8th turn: (and the last turn before night) I have 17 available...

So flying every mission I could gave me maximum number of planes (except 1 squadron on the last turn before night)

This was with 25% availability due to weather, and a 20% squadron return rate to the pool.

[Liebchen]

Thanks for doing this test and sharing the results.