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
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.
