What will happen to all currently out of base aircraft when a base is destroyed?

[Gauddlike]

A single squad is optimal under a certain set of circumstances, which may or may not be present in this game.

If you take the assumptions made by HWP as fact then a single squad would be the only real option.

HWP desired final balance appears to be (apologies if incorrect, culled from various posts):

Global coverage from a single base and by a single squad is possible

All missions are balanced so only a player who has concentrated on a single squad and maxed them out can compete

No squad can be maxed out during a game so multiple squads are less useful (unclear how this works with previous)

To win an endgame battle that squad must be perfectly concentrated (I assume best gear in the right combination?)

Only a single strategy can be used to win

That would definitely push the player toward using a single squad (and probably a prima guide).

None of those things are facts though, simply assumptions made in order to promote the single squad strategy and make others seem less desirable.

Currently the highest tier dropship has slightly under double the range of the Chinook and a little over half the speed of the F17 (subject to balance of course).

That would be almost global range and may even be fast enough response to reach most missions from a central site before they are destroyed.

That would only be once you obtain the final dropship and assumes you do not have multiple missions present on the map at the same time.

Having to come back to refuel may leave you unable to respond to some missions.

It does however allow more than a single play style to be used.

I really do think this is going beyond the scope of the thread though.

Maybe we should just say losing a whole squad to a base loss is undesirable, even if you can recover from it, and look for a solution that doesn't involve too much dev time?

[Gauddlike]

Hmm wonder if the troops lost on a dropship that is away from the base at the time of it's destruction could be added back to the hiring pool, keeping their experience etc, so they can be rehired to another of your bases.

[HWP]

By "maxed out" in that context I merely meant as well trained and equipped as possible by that point in the game.

That would definitely push the player toward using a single squad (and probably a prima guide).

None of those things are facts though, simply assumptions made in order to promote the single squad strategy and make others seem less desirable.

All right. Let's change the assumptions.

Now work under the premise that the game is balanced such that it is only just possible to complete using two highly trained squads.

So what happens when you lose one of them?

I don't object to TSL in combat, it's fair. Only to TSL happening this way. 1994's UD was a buggy game, we all knew it, it was forgiven because, well, old and classic.

Maybe we should just say losing a whole squad to a base loss is undesirable, even if you can recover from it, and look for a solution that doesn't involve too much dev time?

Yes. Like I said above, losing a base housing a decent squad will only happen if that squad is out on a mission. So it's not a super-rare event. Every major base loss is going to be like that; if the squad is home, you won't lose it.

A potentially far easier to implement solution I proposed is to disable a defeated base, rather than delete it. The only function the base will retain is transfer. After N days delete it altogether.

[Gauddlike]

It would indeed be easier than many of the other options I can think of.

Especially if damaged base facilities have reduced capacity, reload time for interceptors etc.

The 'destroyed' base would just have all of its functions set to zero for the duration.