4.11 - AI debugging

[Jumoschwanz]

I like playing with the AI a lot and just have a few observations about it.

The first thing I would like to bring up is the way the AI seems to be "wired" to your brain when you fly against it. By this I mean when you are on an AI pilot's 6, even though he should be having a little trouble seeing what you are doing back there, they seem to move in a way that is directly dependent on your control inputs, almost as if you are controlling the AI aircraft with your control inputs.
I can make almost all AI opponents do what I want to do and even fly in front of my guns with various control inputs. This lets me shoot down Ace AI that are in much faster aircraft by "commanding" them to climb and turn and scissor with my slower aircraft.

I thought that the ace AI would be more realistic if a slight delay was introduced between the time you moved your controls and the AI reacted to it. Not much but enough to make it seem like they had to look at what you are doing and move their own controls during a fight.

Of course I do not want to make it easy to shoot down Ace AI, I just want them to appear more human. I hope that the Ace AI are not dumbed down because noobs cry about not being able to shoot them down or escape them. I believe they should offer the experience of jousting with an actual human IL2 online Ace with many years experience, where the average player would rarely be able to shoot them down or escape their attacks. The best human opponents should be able to shoot them down maybe one out of two times, that is what would keep the sim interesting for old-timers and make a great goal and practice tool for neophytes and those who enjoy flying offline as much as on. If someone wants target practice or satisfaction let them set the AI to a lower setting than ACE.

Lastly I notice that the Ace AI should be a lot more effective than they are but for some reason when they are on the tail of an opponent or target they take extra time to do some redundant and useless barrel rolls etc.. This may help them foil certain tailgunners, but when they are on the tail of an enemy fighter aircraft all it does is wastes their energy and a lot of opportunities to make shots.

I still have the original IL2 installed, and the old FB also, which are both fun to play with now and then for various reasons. When fighting the Ace AI in the original IL2 a combination of their behavior and the vastly different flight/weapon models compared to IL246 makes it as interesting a challenge as ever. I would definitely say that IL246 is far better than the original IL2, but that there may be a few things worth looking at in the original IL2 AI etc. that might offer a useful perspective.

Thank you for all the wonderful work that is done on IL246.