Offline challenges.
 

Lately out of boredom I have been setting up missions in the QMB that are tough just to see if I can beat them. For instance a Stuka vs. two or four fighters, things like that.

The mission can not be so ridiculous that it is meaningless, but it is interesting to see what you can dream up to challenge yourself.

Of course I am flying Realistic settings, but sometimes I will use icons just to learn at what distance enemy aircraft will open fire etc..

A tough mission is to get into four Ace late Stukas and fight four Ace late I-16s or four Ace Spit MkV Earlys. Or maybe one E4b vs. four I-16s or one I-16 vs four Ace E4bs.....

Lets see if we can come up with a reasonable mission that is especially tough to crack so we can all give it a try.

Ace AI La-7 vs anything in the game except jets. VERY hard to beat.

A/c of the same period, or different? Otherwise the toughest would be Hurrie vs 1945 fighters or alike. ;-)

It does not matter if the aircraft are of the same period, but if you pit yourself in a biplane against a jet then you will end up with a draw every time because you will always be able to move out of the way of the jets fire, eventually one of you will just run out of fuel.

Ace La-7s or anything are not tough unless the odds are three-to-one against you or more, and I can usually even beat four of them fairly easily if I can get down to the ground, AI has never been able to handle flying close to terrain at all, especially if there is any sort of a hill or ridge you can get to.

The late Stuka vs. I-16 is one of the toughest ones I have found especially if you have four vs. four because although the Stuka has good firepower, it is no better than the I-16 and the I-16 is more maneuverable and faster, so you can not run. The only way to beat them is to shoot them down while they are concentrating on another Stuka.

The Ace AI is still not that good, it can never beat a good human pilot 1 vs.1, I wish it could but if they have not done it in the last 17 years they probably never will.

My squad used to fly every week on a map after it split into two teams, both sides would have Ace AI helping them out, fighters and bombers and AAA etc... My side always had to go up against a group of four Ace La-7s but I usually took care of them all by myself because I knew about where they would spawn and I tried to wait above them in a late P-47. I could zoom down on them two or three times before they got up to my altitude, then I would dive and have the remaining two or three of them chase me to the deck where I would just fly around hilly terrain and shoot them to pieces more often than not.

Ok, then try this: Start at 1000m, non hilly terrain, P-47 vs 2x Ace AI La-7 :-P
Or even better, same, but with Fw-190A8 instead of P-47 :D

Gaunt thanks for the mission. It was challenging but not too so, vs. Four La-7 is a better challenge. I did it on the Smolensk map which is pretty featureless and starting at 1000m alt as you suggested. Of course I get the 190A8's radiator wide open, put on the combat flaps and get right down on the deck as quickly as possible because it makes it easier to keep track of them and the AI as always are not as good on the deck as a good human pilot even if the ground is flat and featureless.

The mission I have been having fun with is picking any 1942 axis aircraft vs. four Ace 1942 Lagg 35 and four Ace 1942 P39N1 on the Smolensk map starting at 2000m alt.. Even if you take an AI wing-man with you they are pretty brutal.

I beat them using the 109f4 and the 190a4, but often I had to climb up over 7000m alt where they could not climb well, or get down on the deck to finish them off. If I take a few Ace wing-men they will often wipe them all out very quickly for some reason.

which 190A4 did you use? The standard one is quite good, but the other is not so, I imagine it must be significantly harder to fly that in such a mission

Most of my online adventures are in twin engine a/c. So when I have time for some QMB training I choose combinations of Pe-3/Pe-3bis vs Bf 110 E2, F2, G2 or alike.
P-38 as human player choice is out of question, she is just too good. Wish we could have flyable Ki-46 (without 37mm cannon) - decent match to any version of Lightning.

I used the "good" A4. Spent a lot of time in the bad one online though because servers run by former allied countries, which is just about all of them, used to love to use the "bad" A4 in their plane set.

I remember that Spits_vs_109s eliminated all 190s from one of their late-war maps except for the heavy F-8.....

I will give it a try with the low-power A4 but I do not think it will make much difference because I am either zooming and booming or am down on the deck using less than full power in slow maneuvers anyway. As long as you have those four-20mm cannons you are doing well.... Would be interesting to try it with outboard cannons removed too. Supposed to save some weight but I don't think it is worth the sacrifice of firepower.

Set yourself up an early North Africa scenario. Hurricane Mk I against the Italian G.50 for beginners. For a harder challenge, the Mk I Hurricane or Tomahawk IIb against the 109E7.