13 replies to this topic

[CorvusCorvax]

Watching videos of flights here, I see some folks run fewer pilots than they have planes.  I have tried to figure out what is going on here, but about all I can figure out is that there is some benefit to using one pilot in multiple planes, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.  I have searched, and the info seems contradictory, and I end up more confused than when I started.  Currently, I have one pilot per plane (plus gunner, if the plane swings that way), and train each individually.

 

Please tell me why I should pick a particular pilot to train in multiple planes, and how.  Does a premium plane pilot start off "better"?  Do those pilot skill points I've won through grinding multiple battles transfer from plane to plane?

 

Note - back a while ago, you could select a special pilot from a group of them, and I chose a pilot who has some sort of steep dive/head-on attack skill that no other pilot has or can get.  So far, that pilot's special skills have got me four or so aerial victories, but really hasn't been all that great otherwise.  Should i be training this pilot up in multiple aircraft?  

 

Truth be told, I have just not maximized all the potential advantages the game can offer, and have just been zooming around shooting at stuff based on my knowledge of energy management and relative aircraft capabilities.  Can someone please help me cut this knot I have regarding pilot training?  Thanks.

[StoptheViolins]

Premium planes are a great way to train 100% pilots.  You can't fly multiple planes, so you don't need "specialized" pilots for premiums most of the time, so why not train your tree pilots in them.

[General_Lee_Miserable]

When you compare World of Tanks vs World of Warplanes, crew skills in Planes do not qive nearly the benefit that they do in Tanks. In tanks, you are just asking for trouble if you run T10 tanks with less than 2 or 3 skill crews. But, you are just fine in Planes running a T10 plane with a 100% pilot and no skill points. So, for what little benefit you'll get, it's almost not even worth it to move pilots between tech planes and prem. planes.  I'm sure some super try-hards will chime in and refute me. But, you are fine. If running 1 pilot per plane works for you, then it won't have a negative effect on your game play. 

[MARS_REVENANT]

Rico_CotC_, on 05 January 2018 - 11:06 AM, said:

Watching videos of flights here, I see some folks run fewer pilots than they have planes.  I have tried to figure out what is going on here, but about all I can figure out is that there is some benefit to using one pilot in multiple planes, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.  I have searched, and the info seems contradictory, and I end up more confused than when I started.  Currently, I have one pilot per plane (plus gunner, if the plane swings that way), and train each individually.

 

Please tell me why I should pick a particular pilot to train in multiple planes, and how.  Does a premium plane pilot start off "better"?  Do those pilot skill points I've won through grinding multiple battles transfer from plane to plane?

 

Note - back a while ago, you could select a special pilot from a group of them, and I chose a pilot who has some sort of steep dive/head-on attack skill that no other pilot has or can get.  So far, that pilot's special skills have got me four or so aerial victories, but really hasn't been all that great otherwise.  Should i be training this pilot up in multiple aircraft?  

 

Truth be told, I have just not maximized all the potential advantages the game can offer, and have just been zooming around shooting at stuff based on my knowledge of energy management and relative aircraft capabilities.  Can someone please help me cut this knot I have regarding pilot training?  Thanks.

 

Pilot skills do affect game play.  Any slight advantage is worth pursuing.

 

Theoretically you NEED high skill pilots for use in end-game content like ranked battles, clan wars, strongholds or tournaments.  Unfortunately this content isn't incorporated into WOWP, but I always like to be prepared for the future so that I have pilots to use if/when those things are implemented.

 

As a basic rule I don't worry about changing any pilots tier 5 and below, and generally leave a pilot in each plane as those tiers are ground through so quickly that you barely accumulate any pilot skill at all.  I would then recommend that you use 1 or 2 pilots per nationality to grind from tier 6 to tier 10 that way you will have them for use and by having more than 1 you are not constantly switching them and you can still grind t lines per nation.

 

In terms of grinding pilot skills in premium planes, yes, it is possible however imo it is a waste of time as the time you spend in your premium plane is less time that could have been spent grinding up the lines you are working on.  by staying in a regular tech tree plane you are both grinding your pilot skill and plane exp, so it is 2 birds with 1 stone.

 

The only advantage of grinding pilot skills in premium planes that I can see is that you can develop your pilot faster, then once you move them into the plane, you are starting with a better pilot and your battles will be somewhat easier, however, imo the time you spend grinding the pilot in premium planes for outweighs the benefits.

 

hope this helps.

 

 

[Dude9872]

The_World_Needs_A_Hero, on 05 January 2018 - 11:32 AM, said:

When you compare World of Tanks vs World of Warplanes, crew skills in Planes do not qive nearly the benefit that they do in Tanks. In tanks, you are just asking for trouble if you run T10 tanks with less than 2 or 3 skill crews. But, you are just fine in Planes running a T10 plane with a 100% pilot and no skill points. So, for what little benefit you'll get, it's almost not even worth it to move pilots between tech planes and prem. planes.  I'm sure some super try-hards will chime in and refute me. But, you are fine. If running 1 pilot per plane works for you, then it won't have a negative effect on your game play. 

 

I actually think this is a pretty fair assessment, with the exception of tail gunners. There it makes the difference between tickling a plane at 700m and knocking out half of their modules at 1km.

 

If you would like to take advantage of the training capabilities of your premiums, I would suggest not giving them a dedicated pilot if you have tech tree planes from the same country. Any pilot from the same country as a premium can be used in that premium without retraining and with no penalty to skill level.

 

As long as you don't mind shifting around crew members before you play some of your planes, there really isn't any reason to not use your premiums to train your tech tree crews.

 

Edit: As Mars said, playing premiums solely to grind crew xp might be a waste of time compared to grinding a line. I typically use mine to grind credits or just play for fun. In that case, why not get some crew training in at the same time?

Edited by Dude9872, 05 January 2018 - 06:20 PM.

[General_Lee_Miserable]

Dude9872, on 05 January 2018 - 06:16 PM, said:

 

I actually think this is a pretty fair assessment, with the exception of tail gunners. 

 

Good point. I forgot about those. 

[Mini_Marine]

While it may not be worthwhile to play premiums just to train crews, but if you're having to do lower tier stuff to get daily missions done, may as well get some extra crew training in.

[CorvusCorvax]

Excellent explanations of the "why".  And nuanced discussion of using premium planes.  Now, I ask about the "how".  I see, from context, that if I want a German pilot to be my main guy, he can only be the main guy in the German plane line.  Likewise, if I want a super-awesome rear gunner, I need to grind a German one, and a Russian one, and a British one, each for their respective lines.

 

So, let's say I just got a premium plane.  The IL-2(t), say.  I have a pilot and a rear gunner from my TSh-3 that have some skill points, and I want those skills in my shiny, new GAA.  What transfers?  Or should I be swapping the new IL-2(t) pilot around  to my new P-40 M-105?  I guess the "how" of it is where I get confused.  I'd love to have a pilot that can kick serious tail from T1 to T10, no matter what Russian plane I stick him in, but if I have to spend silver to retrain him at every plane switch, that doesn't make any sense at all.

 

One of the reasons I ask this is because I have a couple of pilots that have several skill points, but are sort of wasted in lower-tier aircraft.  If I could retain their points and move them to higher-tier planes, all that seal-clubbing, errrr, learning how to play the game would not have gone to waste.

[Wombatmetal]

On a 3x or 5x weekend, turning on accelerated training, running a pilot through a bunch of premiums can really help 

[pyantoryng]

Rico_CotC_, on 05 January 2018 - 07:29 PM, said:

Excellent explanations of the "why".  And nuanced discussion of using premium planes.  Now, I ask about the "how".  I see, from context, that if I want a German pilot to be my main guy, he can only be the main guy in the German plane line.  Likewise, if I want a super-awesome rear gunner, I need to grind a German one, and a Russian one, and a British one, each for their respective lines.

 

So, let's say I just got a premium plane.  The IL-2(t), say.  I have a pilot and a rear gunner from my TSh-3 that have some skill points, and I want those skills in my shiny, new GAA.  What transfers?  Or should I be swapping the new IL-2(t) pilot around  to my new P-40 M-105?  I guess the "how" of it is where I get confused.  I'd love to have a pilot that can kick serious tail from T1 to T10, no matter what Russian plane I stick him in, but if I have to spend silver to retrain him at every plane switch, that doesn't make any sense at all.

 

One of the reasons I ask this is because I have a couple of pilots that have several skill points, but are sort of wasted in lower-tier aircraft.  If I could retain their points and move them to higher-tier planes, all that seal-clubbing, errrr, learning how to play the game would not have gone to waste.

 

You mean IL-2 (mod). The proper IL-2t is the successor to the one-seater IL-2.

In any case...you can use ANY pilot on ANY premium plane of their corresponding nations (crews aren't international, so forget about using one pilot on every plane) and everything will carry over, without retraining. You can use your TSh-3 pilot in the P-40 M-105 if you need that extra boost from daily bonus...not that his skillset would all benefit the plane he rides, but he will be performing as if he has been fully retrained. Unlike WoT and similar to WoWS, there are no class penalties, so you can plonk your TSh-3 pilot in a USSR prem fighter or your Yak pilot in the IL-2(mod) and they would perform just fine.

 

You do, however, need to retrain the pilot for normal, tech tree planes. Unlike WoT, the skill point and proficiency (percentage) are completely separate and won't draw upon one another's EXP to retrain, and unlike WoWS, there are no scaling in retraining as skill and proficiency are completely separate. You pay 100k silver, you get 90% pilot, 10k pilot EXP later and they're at 100% and ready to continue on their next skill point. Just pay the silver and move on with your grinding.

 

Simply put: You can plonk one guy on all the premium planes of his nation and expect him to perform...but you need to retrain him if you want to use him in other normal planes you ground up.

[CorvusCorvax]

pyantoryng, on 05 January 2018 - 08:01 PM, said:

Simply put: You can plonk one guy on all the premium planes of his nation and expect him to perform...but you need to retrain him if you want to use him in other normal planes you ground up.

Bingo!  You summed it up perfectly.  Thank you.

[CamuMahubah]

 None of my Premium planes have their own special crew except for that tier 3 bomber that I have 2 games in.

 

Anytime you fly a premium plane for credits, XP, or fun, you should put a 100% crew of that nation in it.  As long as they are 100 percent trained for any plane they can fly premium plane if that nation.

 

Don't over think it.

[Wombatmetal]

Rico_CotC_, on 05 January 2018 - 11:29 AM, said:

So, let's say I just got a premium plane.  The IL-2(t), say.  I have a pilot and a rear gunner from my TSh-3 that have some skill points, and I want those skills in my shiny, new GAA.  What transfers? 

 

Just for historical reference, the IL2 originally had no gunner, so they did a field modification. They started with an IL2, took a saw and cut a hole in the plane behind the pilot, welded a mount for a gun, and affixed a wooden board or cloth strap for the gunner to sit on, and that's an IL2 mod. Total kluge job. 

 

That's the premium. Love it. 

[crzyhawk]

pyantoryng, on 05 January 2018 - 08:01 PM, said:

 

Simply put: You can plonk one guy on all the premium planes of his nation and expect him to perform...but you need to retrain him if you want to use him in other normal planes you ground up.

 

Pretty much this.  I play mostly T5 and below because I'm not very good, although I have unlocked some T6s and 7s.  When I decide to play my Spitfire Ia, Venom or the Supermarine 224 (I think it is), the pilot from my T7 Spitfire IX goes in.  There's no benefit to leveling up separate pilots in them, and the Spit IX pilot benefits from the extra exp he picks up in the premiums.  Only tech tree planes get their own pilots; premiums all use a pilot from one of my tech tree planes. 

 

The one caveat seems to be that the pilot has to be 100% in the tech tree plane, or else he does not gain exp towards his next skill point.  Unfortunately, you can't just drop a pilot into a premium and work off the re-train penalty for him.