Demographic time bomb: random death and replacing personnel early

[dgorsman]

With a long running campaign it's common to end up sitting on a demographic time bomb: your most experienced personnel are the oldest, typically there from the start, and the random death equation eventually starts catching up to them.  With that in mind, is it better to start rotating these people out of important positions early, perhaps sacrificing their valuable skills?  Or keep them in and backfill their positions on an as-needed basis, which lets them be of full use but potentially leaves things in the lurch if they die at an inopportune moment?

[Bludlust]

I would think that with a big enough demographic, you could train up several people with the appropriate skill and at a level to be useful as a back up for when the inevitable happens.

[pokefan548]

The old guard should probably be spending at least half of their deployments leading training rotations. I forget how exactly MM models this as compared to CO/AToW.

[dgorsman]

The old guard should probably be spending at least half of their deployments leading training rotations. I forget how exactly MM models this as compared to CO/AToW.

It'll be another year or two before I can rustle up enough for rookies for that, but it's not a bad idea.

It's done with a Training role assigned to the formation in the Briefing tab.  The ranking member of the formation must be veteran rated or higher; I can't remember if they need to be an officer/O-rank or not.  The trainees which are ultra-green or green gain an XP per week they are set with this role.  Doesn't always work - I've had artillery vehicle crew members not earning XP despite being green.

[Bludlust]

I would think that if the system doesn't award the XP, just go into GM mode and make the award yourself. I've had to do that on occasion.

[dgorsman]

The ranking member of the formation must be veteran rated or higher; I can't remember if they need to be an officer/O-rank or not.  The trainees which are ultra-green or green gain an XP per week they are set with this role.  Doesn't always work - I've had artillery vehicle crew members not earning XP despite being green.

Finally took the time to dip into the code for this.  The CO must be an officer/O-rank, they cannot be enlisted/E-rank.

[Rince Wind]

And the trainees get XP as long as they are (ultra-) green. Which means if you forget to use the XP they'll rack up a lot of it.
*looks at his field gun formations that have quite a few soldiers with 80 unallocated XP