A fairly old thread, in which I'm not sure if it has been handled yet by the game designers, but I thought I might put in an option.
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Veterans have full combat values.
Trained crews take a hit in defense. They can hit their target well, but have yet to learn to cover each other yet.
Green crews take a hit in both defense and accuracy. They are still working on which side to point at the target, much less how to cover each other.
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Brand new fighters groups start 'green'. They need to be 'maintained' one turn, at a base of operations, to become 'trained'.
'Trained' groups become 'Vets' after two turns of being 'maintained' at their base of operations.
Trading groups from one base to another base of operations cause them to drop a skill level. (Ships, planets, stations are each their own 'base')
Having a fighter wing take casualties, then resupplied to full drops them a skill level.
Combining two or more casualty laden originally 'vet' groups into a full group, turns it to 'trained' for only a single turn while they learn to trust each other's skills.
The reduction in combat effectiveness created by dumping a brand new hoard of fighters would have a serious offset of being unbalanced of the new base of operations, or just getting their brand new, shiny fighters for that matter.
After considering this, I'd definitely add this to my own house rules. Can anyone see any serious defects with them?
Shain