Aircraft Proficiency

This Page contains new and unconfirmed information, use the information herein with caution.

Introduction
The Aircraft Proficiency System (tentative name) is a system introduced in the August 10th 2015 update along with the Summer 2015 Event which enables planes to acquire experience in sorties. This system applies to all aircraft in the game with the exception of autogyros and Liason Aircraft.

By acquiring experience from repeated sorties, pilots eventually gain ranks. As planes reach higher ranks, they acquire hidden stat bonuses that increase their overall effectiveness during battle.

Planes may lose their accumulated experience when they are shot down, which would downgrade their proficiency rank, or worse, strip them of their ranking emblems entirely. It is thus of imperative importance to send out your planes under the most favorable aerial situations whenever possible.

Ranks
As the plane gains experience, the plane may acquire a ranking insignia at the right side of the plane slot.
 * The ranks progress as follows: [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 1.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 2.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 3.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 1.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 2.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 3.png]] -> [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Chevron.png]]
 * The rank after triple yellow stripes are the double chevron insignia, which are the highest known attainable rank.
 * Planes without any symbols have the default stats as stated on the status page.
 * It have been speculated that these ranks are just generalization of planes' actual proficiency, thus not all double chevrons are created equal.

Acquiring Experience
Planes gain experience in regular sorties and PvP, and up to 24 aircraft (4 slots x 6 ships) may be trained by aircraft carriers or aviation cruiser/battleships at a time.
 * Carrier-based fighters and bombers planes gain a rank approximately every 6 battles.
 * Carrier-based reconnaissance planes gain a rank approximately every 8 battles.
 * Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane are capable of gaining ranks. However, the rate appears to be very slow.
 * Type 96 Fighters, Type 3 Command Liaison Aircrafts and Ka-type Autogyros do not receive ranks.
 * Method 1: Concentrates on training 4/3 bomber planes repetitively in quick succession. Training in 1-1-A cycling Shouhou and Zuihou or Chitose and Chiyoda can be done almost non-stop, low exp but uses less resources and requires less micro-management.
 * It is possible to bring along two more light carriers to level up reconnaissance and fighter planes while retaining the ease of micromanagement, though the latter two would be subjected to fatigue.
 * Method 2: Concentrate on ranking up lots of planes simultaneously. A red fatigue setup in 3-2-A with 3-4 CV/CVL and 1 BBV plus a submarine to tank can be used to yield good ship exp and pilot experience gains.
 * Method 3: Utilizes ASW capabilities of light aircraft carriers. Training in 1-5 allow one to rank up both seaplane bombers and carrier planes simultaneously in a full run of the map but may require buckets.

In 3-2-A, it take around 60 battles on average for planes without experience to reach double chevron.

Leveling

 * -|Fighters=
 * -|Dive Bombers=
 * -|Torpedo Bombers=
 * -|Carrier-based Recons=
 * -|Seaplanes=
 * -|Others=

Effects
An aircraft may gain any of these benefits as long as they are capable of fulfilling any of the following roles:
 * According to the official Kancolle Twitter account, planes [with LoS stats ?] gain increased Line of Sight and contact rate. However the increase in contact rate remain unconfirmed.
 * Planes (mainly fighters) gain an increase in fighter power stat. Experiments shows that:
 * With double chevron, pure fighters can gain an additional 24.6-25.5 fighter power per slot (regardless of the type of fighter or the number of planes a slot has). However, additional experimentation shows that there exist some additional and currently unknown variable affecting exactly what bonus value those planes are getting within that narrow range.
 * Bombers give an extra 3-5 air power with double chevron regardless of whether they have anti-air stats or not.
 * Torpedo Bombers (Blue Planes) give 3.443-3.519 extra air power value.
 * Seaplane Bombers with double chevron most likely give an extra of 9 fighter power, but there are too many variables that are unknown to say whether or not this is actually the case.
 * Bombers (dive or torpedo or seaplane) gain increased damage when they score a critical hit. However normal hit damage are not affected by the system.
 * A double chevron bomber in one slot increases post-cap damage by 10%. Two of them increases the damage by 20%. Three increases the damage by 30%. Four increases it by 40%.
 * If the first slot is filled by a double chevron bomber, it gives an additional 10% increase in post-cap damage. So a carrier carrying bombers in all 4 slots will receive a 50% increase in post-cap damage.
 * This bonus applies to the opening airstrike and shelling phase as well as Shelling Support Expedition for Carrier-based bombers. However it only affect the opening airstrike phase for Seaplane Bomber.
 * The bonus increases linearly according to rank.
 * Current untested theory suggest that the first slot bomber actually gain double the bonus they would originally get on other slot, and hence the extra 10% with double chevron.
 * Current untested theory is that [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 1.png]] give 2.5% extra firepower when it give out critical hit, 3-3.5% for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 2.png]], 4.5-5% for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Blue Line 3.png]], no data for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 1.png]], 7.5-8% for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 2.png]], 8% for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Line 3.png]] and 10% for [[File:Aircraft Proficiency Gold Chevron.png]].
 * Accuracy and critical hit rate for bombers increase for both the opening airstrike and the shelling phase.
 * It has been observed that seaplane bombers do increased damage on critical hits when performing anti-submarine attacks with double chevron planes and this seem to follow the same formula as carrier based bombers.
 * No sign of Saiun's Aircraft Proficiency system affecting engagement form, but still not clear enough.

Fighter Planes' Air Power Bonus Test Result

 * See text above for brief situation of other type of planes.

Factors Affecting Rank

 * Numbered air group planes such as Zuiun (634 Air Group), Suisei (601 Air Group) and Reppuu (601 Air Group) start with single blue stripes.
 * Famed and skilled air group planes such as Type 21 Zero Fighter (Skilled), Type 99 Dive Bomber (Egusa Squadron) and Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Tomonaga Squadron) start with double blue stripes.
 * Converted plane models of famed air groups such as Suisei (Egusa Squadron) and Tenzan Model 12 (Tomonaga Squadron) will retain their original rank if it's higher than the default rank.
 * Capability of planes slots affect their speed to acquire proficiency, though the extent of its effect is currently not-well-tested, and occasionally plane on smaller slot can gain rank faster than that are in higher slot by chance.
 * Ranks can decrease slightly (1-2) if a large proportion are shot down.
 * Planes will have their rank reset if the entire squadron occupying a slot is shot down.
 * When a slot of planes is completely shot down, it still receive ranks for their performance prior to the event, and the ranks will be added after the rank reset. So in some cases, a wiped-out squadron can return to base with 1 or 2 stripes left, given that the squadron performed well before being wiped out.
 * Planes that are assigned to equipment slot with 0 planes will neither gain nor lose ranks.
 * Planes in escort fleet do not gain or lose ranks.
 * Planes that are used in aerial support do not lose their rank even if they are completely shot down.
 * Bombers are vulnerable to enemy AACI and are at risk of getting completely shot down in smaller plane slots, whereas fighters are not. It may be recommended to put fighters or reconnaissance planes instead of bombers in the smallest aircraft carrier slots.
 * Planes may gain experience in Exercises (PvP) runs and their ranks may be reduced when they are shot down in PvP, though the rank reduction is not shown until subsequent sorties.
 * There was a bug during the early implementation phase where the bomber plane ranks could be reduced when shot down by another player in PvP when they challenged you, which has since been fixed.

External Link

 * The following Air Power calculators already (at least partially) supported this Aircraft Proficiency system.
 * http://kancolle-calc.net/aircrafts.html (Japanese)
 * http://aircalc.net (Japanese)
 * KanColle English AS Calculator (English)