Pacific Fighters AI improved?

[Blizzard36]

I've been away from Il-2 for quite a while and was wondering if in all these patches the Pacific Fighters AI has been improved? Last version I played was 4.04m I think, 4.03m for sure, so there's been a lot of updates since then and I haven't been able to find all the change logs to do the research, so I'm hoping that people playing the game can tell me. I do have 1946 now, but wont have time to play it until after school is done.

The major problems I noticed before was that the AI files seemed to treat bombers as the wrong catagory, Dive Bombers were the most obvious problem. They seemed to have Fighter-Bomber AI which led to them abandoning thier missions as soon as you shot at them, regardless of if you hit, and in the dynamic campaign as a Dive Bomber I was regularly given fighter missions like scrambles and intercepts along with the scouting and strike missions. There were some instances of Medium and Heavy bombers acting like lighter ones, but those were much rarer than the glaring issues with the dive bombers.

The attack AI on the strike missions was also a problem, if the ships were not at the point they were supposed to be yet, the AI never went hunting for them like they would trains. There were a number of incidents where I could see the ships off to the side, and the AI wouldn't go after them. A naval air combat game where friendly dive bombers don't attack enemy ships is pretty broken.

A major improvement I was hoping to see was the addition of Torpedo Bombers as flyable campaign aircraft.

All of these are things that are already done correctly in IL2+FB, so I don't see that it should be that hard of a fix. I brought these up on the Ubisoft forums way back when, but nothing came of them there. Hopefully here with a new team dedicated to Il2 they have or will.

[Erkki]

I'm afraid the AI has not received any improves apart from "yank and bank evasion program" that makes the fighter AI look as silly as bomber.

Fly online. ;)

[Blizzard36]

I'm not much about online multiplay in my simulations. I bought the Il-2 series for one main reason, the dynamic campaigns introduced in Forgotten Battles.

Autopilot and Time Compression are the tools that allow me to have my exciting battles in the time I generally have available to play, and you can't use those in online games. And of course there's firewall and router issues... to much headache. And then there's the fact that most of the online servers I checked out have realism settings well beyond what I'm capable of working with. If I wanted to fly something requiring the training needed by a real pilot, I'd go back to flight school and fly a real plane! And I'd be able to do it for the money I'd have to spend getting the flight controlls needed to effectively fly with those realism levels too!

[Erkki]

None of the online campaigns use the game's own campaign generator - the ones being used are considerably better and mroe detailed.

Time will be problem though - typically you play the mission in 30-45min if you dont die, but add to that the typical 10min you wait in the HyperLobby for the game to start.

True you need time to learn the game, but you dont need to use quite that much money on controllers - you can cope with just a stick, a headtracking device helps on the learning curve and can be built for 0 money from a web camera, pedals/throttle handle recommended but certainly not necessary.

One of the best online pilots I know uses just two mouses, not even a joystick. He told me its the swastikas he sees in Jerrie aircraft, heh!

[Romanator21]

For whatever reason, within 1946 the AI for the aircraft from the respective games are different. For instnace, flying a dynamic campaign in a Stuka, Il-2, I-16, or Bf-109 the AI leader will fly at a reasonable speed and I can keep my place in formation with just around 55% power! Additionally, I-153 tasked with destroying ground targets will not drop their bombs to engage enemies, but let the I-16s do their job.

However, when flying as a Wildcat from Wake, or as a Buffalo in Singapore, I had to keep the throttle at maximum just to keep up with the leader. On one ill fated mission, my entire group was screaming along at full power, go head on against a group of Zeros, and both flights are wiped out in the resulting collisions. Most lame encounter ever. Douglas SBDs will drop their bombs just as soon as you put your crosshair on it. Don't even get me started on the SBD missions which take place over miles of empty water, at 18,000 feet, looking for one guy in a raft, and with 10 Zeros out for blood.

It's really quite aggravating, and is currently preventing me from enjoying half of the game :rolleyes:

Otherwise the 1946 experience is great. If you can sort out your connection issues, do go online. There are plenty of relaxed servers, and you don't really need TIR for the full-switch ones. I personally just use a $40 stick and a mouse and do better in FR than I do in servers which allow externals and icons. :)