Flights spawns

[Campus]

I was wondering about enemy/friendly flights spawning during a mission. Most of the time i take off and in the general area where i have a patrol path there are flights sort of spawning in the air, some bomb or whatever and return to airfield. 
I thought if i stay in the air long enough will i see additional flights spawn maybe on airfields and going to the combat area. I know you can set the limit of how many allies and axis flights are in the air at once but if one of the flights heads home will another one spawn somewhere in the air, airfield or they wont spawn no more in the mission.

I am asking because i always make contact in the combat area right when i get there (sometimes i get dived by some surprise planes) and if i deal with them and patrol the area if there are more coming 

Also i see planes spawning right in the combat area on the frontline and then they are turning around and after a while they head for their target. Are there any config options which make them spawn a little further from the frontline and eventually once i get to the front line i wont see them spawning there but you know seeing them coming from their front if you know what i mean.

[PatrickAWlson]

PWCG AI flights do not spawn at a point.   The spawn points move along the AI flights intended path.  When you trigger an AI flight it spawns and completes the flight as a real flight.

 

PWCG makes a flight for every ready squadron, but it can't keep them all.  The flights are processed through an algorithm that measures proximity to player one kilometer at a time over the flight path.  Several criteria are in play as to which flights to keep.  Proximity to players flight path is probably the most important one.  In other words, if PWCG could keep every flight that it generates, these are the ones that you would most likely encounter anyway.

 

Missions are designed from the ground up, not from the air down.  An area of activity, usually ground combat of some sort is defined.  Missions are assigned to AI flights based on many factors, with area of activity being one of them.  The player's flight is created last.   

 

Since ground activity attracts planes, most of the planes are going to be in the same vicinity.  Since planes attract other planes ... you get the idea.  I suspect this is what it was really like.  The enemy planes were not there to be interesting targets.  They had a job to do.  That job had a lot to do with what was happening on the ground.  That would naturally create a cluster of activity around an event.

 

Planes spawn at a distance of 20 or 30 km.  PWCG virtual waypoints (moving spawn points) are only 1KM apart, so the odds of spawning right on top of you are minimal.  They might spawn right over the combat area as you are approaching, but they should be some distance from your flight.

 

The circling thing is the AI getting its act together.  Once a flight spawns it has to go through a sequence of getting into formation and moving in the right direction.  I try to set them up to have that done as well as possible, but that is the delta between the way I position them and the AI doing what it thinks is the right thing to do.

[Campus]

I dont want to create another topic for this quick question.

I have option to set AI adjustment from -4 to 4... setting it to 4 makes ai harder or weaker?

thanks for the response in advance

[PatrickAWlson]

Harder. 

Supported AI Level values are:

0 = Player

1 = Novice

2 = Average

3 = Veteran

4 = Ace

 

That number gets added to the pilots actual skill level.  Add a negative number and, of course, you are subtracting.  Any number below 1  is set to 1.  Any number above 4 is set to 4.

 

[Campus]

I seem to have and issue with my AI squad mates, they are not attacking anything and anybody in a mission. I dont know what caused this. I give them commands as flight leader- I tried every command that there is and even tried not to command them anything just let them mind their own bussines. 

But still they ignore all the enemy planes around and they dont even call out on targeting any. In most situations i dogfight 5 russians and my mates are just circling around.

I tried to reset campagin setting but still nothing. And it started happening suddenly. I dont know if it is issue of the game, my playstyle or there is some mistake in the campaign.

[PatrickAWlson]

AI is mostly not in the hands of the mission designer.  pretty much amounts to two waypoint priorities that can be summed up as "prefer to fight" and "prefer to stick to the flight plan".  Fighter missions use the former.  Attack/Bombing missions use the latter.  Other than that there is not much the mission maker can do to influence AI.

 

If you are enroute or returning from and attack mission be wary of engaging aircraft.  That was not the purpose of the mission and odds are your flight mates will not join you.

 

If it is a fighter mission then I'm not sure.  I do find that the AI seems much more tentative that I would be.  To compensate, I almost always hang back with them and wait until they engage.  This also prevents enemy AI from getting fixated on me.