What exactly does AI level do?

[PatrickAWlson]

We know that higher level makes AAA and aircraft gunners more accurate.

It probably makes fighters more accurate.

What does it do in terms of flying skill?  Does low AI level pare down the maneuver tree?  Does it make the AI fly more conservatively within the envelope?

 

Curious, as TBH I really don't know beyond the vague statement that higher AI level is "better".

[CUJO_1970]

I believe one thing it does is more situational awareness - the AI at higher settings will “check six” more often.

[PatrickAWlson]

36 minutes ago, CUJO_1970 said:

I believe one thing it does is more situational awareness - the AI at higher settings will “check six” more often.

 

I have not seen that.  Last time I checked the answer was "600 meters".  You could fire from 601 meters and no evasive action.  Get to 599 meters and they notice.  I still have yet to catch the AI unaware.  Sometimes I catch them fixated on a target, but that is different.  Sometimes when they want to go home they will not react until you get closer.  That seems to be a relatively new change and I really like it.  Feels realistic.  But I have never really had the feeling of catching them completely off guard in a bounce. 

 

Maybe that has changed (would be a very good thing if it did).  Interested to see what others think.

 

Would love to get a dev on to state definitively what the intended results are.

[40plus]

Reads first posts. Thinks "Patrick will be able to answer this...I wonder who posted it"....looks.....?

Edited March 11, 2021 by 40plus

[354thFG_Rails]

Changing their experience also changes the limits they push the plane. The files show minimum and maximum limits they will push the plane. Gun accuracy and awareness as others have pointed out are also affected. 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

19 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I have not seen that.  Last time I checked the answer was "600 meters".  You could fire from 601 meters and no evasive action.  Get to 599 meters and they notice.  I still have yet to catch the AI unaware.  Sometimes I catch them fixated on a target, but that is different.  Sometimes when they want to go home they will not react until you get closer.  That seems to be a relatively new change and I really like it.  Feels realistic.  But I have never really had the feeling of catching them completely off guard in a bounce.

I have caught whole formations of bombers unaware at night (QMB, Fw190 vs 8x B-25), so they at least take into account visibility. On other occasions during the daytime, I've been able to sneak up from below up to a distance of 200-300m or so before they spotted me.

 

10 hours ago, QB.Rails said:

Changing their experience also changes the limits they push the plane. The files show minimum and maximum limits they will push the plane. Gun accuracy and awareness as others have pointed out are also affected. 

True. On the other hand, it seems they also more often exceed these limits. A rookie pilot may occasionally go into a spin out of nowhere, whereas an ace spins rarely if at all (I've once seen an ace spin, but to me it seemed a deliberate evasive manoeuvre - or at least it worked as such).

[354thFG_Rails]

The only times I’ve seen them spin is when they go straight up and don’t pitch out at the top and let they plane stall out. I haven’t seen them do it any other way. I just meant in a turn a rookie AI won’t pull as much as the ace AI to try and make the shot. It’s no programmed for them to do it. 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 minutes ago, QB.Rails said:

The only times I’ve seen them spin is when they go straight up and don’t pitch out at the top and let they plane stall out. I haven’t seen them do it any other way. I just meant in a turn a rookie AI won’t pull as much as the ace AI to try and make the shot. It’s no programmed for them to do it. 

I've occasionally seen rookie pilots spin during "regular" evasive turns, and once an ace when he wasn't really doing much at all (that's why I thought the spin itself was meant as an evasive action). But indeed, an ace will generally fly closer to the limit than a rookie. Although since one of the last AI updates, if they have an energy advantage, they'll often try to move a bit less aggressively to conserve energy.

[354thFG_Rails]

38 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I've occasionally seen rookie pilots spin during "regular" evasive turns, and once an ace when he wasn't really doing much at all (that's why I thought the spin itself was meant as an evasive action). But indeed, an ace will generally fly closer to the limit than a rookie. Although since one of the last AI updates, if they have an energy advantage, they'll often try to move a bit less aggressively to conserve energy.

Interesting I’ll have to keep an eye on that. 

[JG_deserteagle540]

In QMB ace pilots spin a lot in the p-51 & spitfire IX.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

2 hours ago, JG_deserteagle540 said:

In QMB ace pilots spin a lot in the p-51 & spitfire IX.

Hmm, interesting... I don't think they wrote a different AI for every plane, so in that case it's perhaps indeed just the limits that are set differently for each plane, instead of a conscious attempt to spin.

 

But at least I'm very sure that occasionally the ace-level AI resorts to some sort of energy fighting. My most frustrating engagement ever was me in a Dr.I versus a SPAD S.XIII. I could easily turn away from the Spad making it nigh-impossible for him to hit me. However, no matter how much I tried to tempt him, he consistently refused to get into a turning fight with me, instead always flying away full power . This would then give me just a few seconds to send some long-range bullets his way, and given how unstable a gun platform the Fokker is, I don't think I ever hit him with more than one or two stray bullets. This went on for literally 15 minutes (I timed it) until I just gave up, landed at the nearest aerodrome and quit the mission.

 

At the time it was really frustrating since I felt powerless to do anything more than dodge his bullets. In retrospect, however, I really like the engagement because this is, I imagine, exactly what a real Spad ace would do when confronted with a good Fokker pilot.

Edited March 12, 2021 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Ram399]

The most prominent difference I've noticed between the AI types in the current build is in spotting and awareness.
In the career mode if you fly with a varied set of pilots the aces will always spot enemy aircraft and break off to engage before the rest of the flight does at first contact.

Aside from that the higher levels of AI also make more usage of altitude and verticality in their fighting, they will attempt to boom and zoom their targets effectively.
Due to the AI's less than stellar accuracy however (at least for me they rarely ever seem to consistently hit anything smaller than a P-47) this often doesn't result in much, which explains why the less skilled AIs are sometimes more combat effective, as their MO is to just get behind their target and shoot- though it should be noted that these tactics do greatly improve the ace AI's survivability.

In the past AI level also seemed to affect trigger discipline, where rookie pilots would be more prone to holding the trigger down while the ace pilots would fire in bursts.  This seems to have changed a few builds ago though so that now all the AI levels will just hold sustained fire so long as their target is roughly in front of them regardless of whether or not they are actually hitting anything.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Ram399

[oc2209]

10 hours ago, Ram399 said:

 so that now all the AI levels will just hold sustained fire so long as their target is roughly in front of them regardless of whether or not they are actually hitting anything.

 

This is true, but I think the AI accuracy is not as laughably bad as it was. At ace level, it's definitely not ace quality; but I'd say the gunnery is probably close to an average human. I've seen them paste targets when the stars align. They're getting pretty good at accurate head-on passes. Lately I've been doing 4x4s in quick missions, instead of the usual duals. I therefore have more opportunities to watch AI behavior. 

 

In a really funny scenario, I put my flight of 4 early Sturmoviks (clean, with 23mm cannon) against P-38s. I damaged one P-38, using almost all my ammo in the process (he was pulling away from me and I shot everything I had while he was still barely in range), and later on, one of my wingmen actually shot the damaged P-38 down. Not sure how he caught up with him; maybe one of the 38's engines was dying. I know I gave him bad wing damage which likely prevented any tight turns. But I was watching it all unfold, and the Sturmovik absolutely annihilated the 38. Multiple cannon strikes, fire everywhere. And the Sturm had been damaged prior, so his aiming stability probably wasn't perfect.

 

All the remaining enemy P-38s had been hit at some point in the fight. 2 had stopped engines (besides the one I damaged).

 

I know P-38s aren't small targets, but neither are Sturms supposed to be dogfighters.