How to level up recon planes?

[gunnergoz]

I see that recon planes get a greater accuracy bonus with each experience star they earn. But how do they earn stars? They earn no experience because they "attack" nothing. I don't see them earning "vicarious" experience from the units they help destroy, which would be the logical way for them to gain stars. But no. Seems to be an oversight by designers, unless I'm missing something.

[SineMora]

They don't. If you absolutely must have a higher level recon plane you'll need to convert a tactical bomber, but that's not likely to be high on anyone's list of priorities.

[KesaAnna]

I'm ... not ... so ... sure ?

I get the impression , perhaps , that the designers have worked it so that different things gain experience in different ways ?

As a possible example ;

While my strategic bomber apparently wrecked a lot of havoc suppression - wise in Poland , it never knocked off a single point of strength / never scored a single kill.

I know , I was watching.

Indeed , I was so disappointed by that initially that after my first play - through of Poland I disbanded my strategic bomber !

But then I read somewhere that , no , you don't get many or any kills with the strategic bomber , but strategic bombers wreck havoc with suppression.

So in my second play - through I gave the strategic bomber a chance.

It still didn't score a single instance where it knocked off a single point of strength.

Never the less , when I got to Norway my strategic bomber had one stars - worth of experience , and was halfway through another star.

This was roughly comparable at that point to my Stuka's , and my Pioneers , in experience.

In my play - style , my Stuka's and my pioneers are my darlings , and my go - to units. They certainly gain a lot of experience , or they wind up wiped out.

So that my strategic bomber would have roughly the same experience as my Stuka's and pioneers ?

As I said , my best theory to explain it at this point is that different kinds of units acquire experience in different ways ?

[nexusno2000]

Damage converted into suppression by artillery, strategic bombers and aa still give experience.

[gunnergoz]

I often use recon planes and send them on missions to "spot" for both artillery strikes and land battles in the hex they fly over, and have never seen a single experience point given the recon plane, no matter what happens to the enemy below. That seems to be a design oversight as far as I can tell. Hope it is fixed (hint, hint!)

[Kerensky]

Does it matter for recon planes to gain experience, if experience does not affect them?

I think it would be silly to insist on the former when the later is what actually matters.

[MickMannock]

Does it matter for recon planes to gain experience, if experience does not affect them?

I think it would be silly to insist on the former when the later is what actually matters.

Aren't they supposed to get an accuracy bonus, just like the wheeled recon vehicles?

[gunnergoz]

Does it matter for recon planes to gain experience, if experience does not affect them?

I think it would be silly to insist on the former when the later is what actually matters.

Aren't they supposed to get an accuracy bonus, just like the wheeled recon vehicles?

Indeed, Recon Planes are supposed to get an increasing accuracy bonus as they gain experience stars. But Catch-22 applies: there's no apparent way for them to gain the experience since they do not directly participate in combat.

[comradep]

Let them loiter in range of enemy AA or enemy fighters. It costs some prestige, but they'll slowly gain experience from casualties suffered.

[Duedman]

Since I think its only +3% accuracy bonus per level of xp its not worth the hassle I think.
To actually notice it you would have to convert like a level 3 strat bomber .... and since there is only 1 spot above a target I'd rather have the bomber taking the spot than the recon.

If recons would gain xp from "assisting damage" to "assist even better in the future" it would be a nice feature tho.

[Hexaboo]

You cycle between your Tactical/Fighter Bombers and recons. Put your top guys in recons as necessary, and send the greenhorns off to get experience bombing/intercepting (ideally with 2x experience leaders). This might lower the offensive strength of your air force, but if you're interested in recons, you're probably ground force/artillery-oriented to begin with.

[gunnergoz]

You cycle between your Tactical/Fighter Bombers and recons. Put your top guys in recons as necessary, and send the greenhorns off to get experience bombing/intercepting (ideally with 2x experience leaders). This might lower the offensive strength of your air force, but if you're interested in recons, you're probably ground force/artillery-oriented to begin with.

Yeah, that seems to be how the game presently forces you to gain recon experience, by taking fighter bomber units off attack roles and switching them to recon. That seems odd since no other unit in the game does this. I still think it is an oversight and hope it is fixed.

[Duedman]

You cycle between your Tactical/Fighter Bombers and recons. Put your top guys in recons as necessary, and send the greenhorns off to get experience bombing/intercepting (ideally with 2x experience leaders). This might lower the offensive strength of your air force, but if you're interested in recons, you're probably ground force/artillery-oriented to begin with.

I do think the manual states that you lose some XP when switching unit types.
So this would certainly not be the intended way to level scoutplanes up

[gunnergoz]

You cycle between your Tactical/Fighter Bombers and recons. Put your top guys in recons as necessary, and send the greenhorns off to get experience bombing/intercepting (ideally with 2x experience leaders). This might lower the offensive strength of your air force, but if you're interested in recons, you're probably ground force/artillery-oriented to begin with.

I do think the manual states that you lose some XP when switching unit types.
So this would certainly not be the intended way to level scoutplanes up

You only lose XP if you change classification, like from fighter to strategic bomber. Changing unit type within a category (basically upgrading or downgrading the unit) does not affect XP, from what I've seen.

[Hexaboo]

Yep, recon planes are the same class as tactical/fighter-bombers, so no experience penalties there!