Are hostile aircraft fighting back now that we have the newest updates?

[Blitzen]

I haven't been shot at in QM's and its not because i'm such a hot pilot .I wonder if the enemy is having jamming problems or what?

 

[6./ZG26_Loke]

I was in a qm combat with two Fokker VII's, and while I was chasing one of them, the other one was chasing me and tried to shoot me down. 

[Luftschiff]

I haven't noticed any improvements in the QM, it seems rather consistently broken in terms of AI. I can sometimes get them into a left-hand turnfight if it's a duel with very short distances set up, but mostly it's me chasing down planes that are mindlessly flying away in a straight line, next to my wingmen who are also flying away in a straight line. They don't seem to engage each other and they don't seem to engage me. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Luftschiff

[Chief_Mouser]

45 minutes ago, Luftschiff said:

I haven't noticed any improvements in the QM, it seems rather consistently broken in terms of AI. I can sometimes get them into a left-hand turnfight if it's a duel with very short distances set up, but mostly it's me chasing down planes that are mindlessly flying away in a straight line, next to my wingmen who are also flying away in a straight line. They don't seem to engage each other and they don't seem to engage me. 

 

If anything it's got worse. After the initial pass all flights, friendly and enemy, go sailing away from the action. 1v1 is better, the enemy plane here does at least make an effort.

[Zooropa_Fly]

Yesterday when 10 waves of enemy were selected, they started spawning before I'd despatched the current one, ended up vs x4 DVII's in a damn Spad !

Fortunately they don't do teamwork that well.

 

Generally I found the bots willing to fight, they often tried to scarper when smoked but that's fair enough.

[Blitzen]

Ok ,I’m a believer : I did a one on one with a Pfalz  and he did fire off a burst or two but I have to say he seemed very reluctant to do so...

[Feathered_IV]

I gave it a try in QMB, but noticed most aircraft were wafting about in lazy turns with no real sense of urgency or aggression.  A couple fired, albeit rarely and from outside effective range.  Most eventually crashed into trees, while a section of Pfalz did not engage at all.

[JGr2/J5_Baeumer]

What setting for the AI are you guys using to get these results?  There are several to choose from depending on if you want to have target drones for practicing gunnery or if you want "expert" opponents to practice SA and maneuvers.

[DD_Arthur]

A.I. still very reluctant to engage in the QMB.  Get the same results as Feathered. 

 

Selecting Expert, Veteran, Average, etc. makes no difference to A.I. tactics; only to their gunnery accuracy.

 

 

[BMA_West]

In ROF QM at 2000m high one could at least have some fun against 3 Albs d2lt/d3/d5 or Phaltz d3 like those were working as a team, guess that was not ported over while no hope for better in a near future (((

Edited March 9, 2019 by West

[Poochnboo]

Yeah, I'm trying to get the hang of the Jug. I put myself up against a '109 or '190, but they fly off. Pretty frustrating. And surprisingly, I can't catch them. I thought I'd have a bit of a speed advantage in theP-47, but I just can't close the distance. I have everything to the wall and I see the distance numbers climbing until the plane disappears. 

[DD_Arthur]

20 minutes ago, Poochnboo said:

Yeah, I'm trying to get the hang of the Jug. I put myself up against a '109 or '190, but they fly off. Pretty frustrating. And surprisingly, I can't catch them. I thought I'd have a bit of a speed advantage in theP-47, but I just can't close the distance. I have everything to the wall and I see the distance numbers climbing until the plane disappears. 

 

Give yourself a height advantage and dive on them.

 

I'm not having any trouble getting the WW2 aircraft to engage.  This seems to be a problem specific to Flying Circus.

[Hot_Rod]

The day 3.011 came out, I set up a QMB (4 D VIIIs vs 4 Spads - head to head - 2,000m apart at the spawn - 1,500 meters altitude - everyone on “Ace” skill level - everyone with 60 liters of fuel).  

At the merge, I fired ineffectively at the oncoming Spads - but immediately after the merge, all of the AI (friendly and enemy) turned for home!

I followed the trailing Spad hoping to close the distance, but the separation just continued to increase.  At one point he turned slightly, and I thought “Here’s my chance to close the distance”.....but then he crashed into a river!

 

I then tried again - but substituted 4 Dolphins for the Spads (all the other parameters remained the same).

This time, at the merge I managed to latch onto the tail of a Dolphin.  All of my wingmen immediately headed for home - but (surprise - surprise), ALL of the Dolphins stayed and fought!

I continued after my initial prey, while the other Dolphins made repeated firing passes at me.  During one of these firing passes, I was hit and heavily wounded.

Seeing nothing to lose, I continued the fight and ended up downing 3 of the Dolphins.  The 4th seemed to lose interest at that point and turned for home - so I did likewise!

during the fight, the AI I was chasing at the time would use multiple tactics to try to loss me - not just turning, but climbing, diving and scissors.  All in all, a damn good fight!

 

The next night I repeated the D VIIs vs Dolphins to see if they would all stay and fight again - but sadly....no.

At the merge I took a few hits, but I wasn’t wounded, and the engine seemed fine.  Again, I managed to latch onto the tail of a Dolphin (however, this time his buddies - and mine as well - ALL turned for home....and didn’t look back).

This Dolphin as well, used multiple tactics to try to shake me.  I managed to get a few quick bursts off at him and got some hits in - when suddenly...my engine died!

Apparently, one or more of those hits I took at the merge punctured my fuel tank.  I did make a successful forced landing - so that was something!

 

To sum this all up, I would say the AI in FC is at best, inconsistent - but the overall tendency seems to be to go home unless an adversary is in VERY close proximity (it’s like the AI’s “sphere of awareness” - if there is such a thing - is very small). 

I agree that the WWII AI in the QMB - while not perfect - are much better at initiating engagements.

 

While this is currently a frustrating situation in FC - I feel confident that this will be fixed before the game is released.

[Feathered_IV]

It sounds like everybody is doing their testing in QMB.  Is it possible that the problem is not with the coded AI, but instead is a problem with the mission templates and .group files used in QMB?

[DD_Arthur]

3 hours ago, Feathered_IV said:

  Is it possible that the problem is not with the coded AI, but instead is a problem with the mission templates and .group files used in QMB?

 

Quite possibly.  In BoS - using the QMB - fighter flights always seem more reluctant to attack bombers than they do fighters.

[Blitzen]

Making them ( or us) aces or veterans in D-VII's didn't seem to matter much except they seemed to vanish to the four winds even faster , giving proof to the old saying 'He , the AI,who runs away lives to fight another AI day! Maybe they just wanted to go home for lunch : sausages & beer? '??