AI levels are not balanced: The USAAF AI needs major tweaking

[JG7_X-Man]

Backstory:

I sometimes fly the career mode in game and some of the missions generated are quite fun, so I edit them to fly them again as a Single Mission, this is how I got into single mission making. Now I am into recreating historic missions  (currently working on Operation Market Garden with 357th FG and JG 26 based on the war dairy) and in the testing phase.

 

In this battle the USAAF are flying P-51s (all set to ACE) 6 flying attack and 6 flying cover for 12 C-47s. The Luftwaffe with 8 Fw190A-8s (all set to NORMAL).

On contact the attack P-51s engage 1st, like I want to tie up the Fw 190s keeping them away from the main element. The battle then slowly gets close enough to the transports to call the 6 P-51s on cover duty into the fray. I love the ME! 

 

Issue:

The 8 Fw 190A-8s decimate the 12 P-51s 10 out of 10 times I have run this test.

 

My test show American AI don't line up well for tracking shots and deflection shooting is simply horrendous and worst of all, they don't give enough clearance when attacking the same target (shoulder shooting) and end up with several friend kills. No such issues are noticed on the German side. 

 

Granted in a 1v1 P-51D AI Ace vs Fw190A-8 AI Ace, I would expect the Fw190A-8 to win because your average Luftwaffe "Experten" has more experience than your your average USAAF Ace (We can discuss why later ). However, in this case I would expect at least 6-8 P-51s survive the battle at least.

 

The idea is to make the mission challenging enough for a human player playing either side (so setting the German fight to Low is not an option...) but with the current state of USAAF AI, its not possible to get the desired outcome. FYI the P-47s and especially the P-38s are just as bad and should be looked into please.

 

Also, I can't sing enough praises for the Mission Editor! Question: Can the team please add "Cover Friendly Transport Flight" and "Attack Enemy Transport Flight" to the mission objects? Thanks!

 

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by JG7_X-Man