Suggestions for improving and balancing the Pilot Career - In particular soviet careers

[Aleksander55]

The 1st thing to be done is fixing the many bugs and flaws in AI behavior, especially the players wingmen, but also adjusting behavior and balancing of enemy and friendly units in most missions. I think there's a lot of potential in the Pilot career, and many of the templates to improve it are already in the AQM. A bug free, varied, 'natural', random, realistic feeling Pilot Career would elevate the whole product. With that said, and these suggestions are in particular for soviet I-16 careers but probably many of these could be applied to other careers as well:

 

 

SUGGESTIONS:

 

More variety of missions in pilot career. Give fighters the missions available in AQM: Train hunt, airfield attack, intercept transports, protect/attack shipping where/when appropriate, etc. Have missions to attack 'real' rail/road bridges instead of always only the pontoon ones.

 

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(Protect shipping) An example: When stationed at Klin or Rogachevo, before the winter ice, have cover missions over the big reservoir to the north, protecting boats, ships. Scenic and no problem for performance. Of course, do this only if this was ever done in real life, if there was real boat movement in this reservoir. It can be protecting bridges, harbors too. Stalingrad, Kuban, same thing, obvious scenarios:

 

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Escort Il-2s going in these more varied missions as well (airfields, trains, vehicles, troops, bridges, etc). As with fighter missions, have missions to attack 'real' rail/road bridges instead of always only the pontoon ones.

 

The same thing when escorting bombers, more targets than only ever the factories. Airfields, bridges/bridgeheads, harbors, etc.

 

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In Moscow, if it ever happened, have a small chance of getting escort missions.

 

In Stalingrad have a chance that the player's squadron is escorted in bombing missions. If we are back to escorting IL-2s and PE-2s then probably fighter to fighter escort was also back to happening sometimes.

 

Related, very important: When escort missions become available for the I-16s again in Stalingrad, but this is applicable for every career, based on every mission template available for Kuban: I'd like to be able to escort Fighters in bombing missions instead of always IL-2s. If the player's fighters sometimes get escorted in bombing missions then it's only logical that we would get missions to escort fighters in their ground attack missions as well. Since the I-16 is slow It would probably be only for other I-16s and maybe Hurricanes. Other types of fighters would of course be able to escort a wider range of faster fighters.

 

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In FreeHunt: Have higher chance of crossing paths with enemy strike aircraft instead of always interceptors. Have a possibility of being given general location of bombers on the map as well. Have the possibility of stumbling on already ongoing dogfights. Have the possibility of finding friendly strike packages and deciding to escort them as well. For I-16s: Let me take the full squadron, call it fighter sweep/agressive patrol, 4 aircraft is always a suicide mission.

 

For freehunt and many other missions: Don't have the entire LW always going exclusively for my squadron. Have it go after other juicier and easier targets. Let us be the rescuers sometimes. Have the possibility of 'radio' (map) general position (colored map square or coordinates by radio) of hot spots with friendlies needing help.

 

Me-110s in pure fighter roles where/when applicable. For example: Those waves of fighters sent with awacs guidance towards the player's squadron ignoring everything else in the air in many diferent missions/situations: Have one of them be of 110s. I could swear I read somewhere that they went back to using them this way in the east. At least intercepting/escorting bombers.

 

 

(FreeHunt Stalingrad) Example of what happens right now: When we take off from Akhtuba we usually climb going south west, more or less paralel with Stalingrad/Volga then turn north/northwest for a circuit over enemy airspace, where the whole LW comes at us. That's what happens every single time, no variation, no randomness, no realism. There may be a few friendlies patrolling close to the city/frontline, but they never atract the enemies, so we can never go help them, and they despawn after we distance them, so we can never run back to them for help?. No friendly strike packages or bombers in enemy airspace to atract them either. A sterile, artificial, empty, repetitive death ride where I go with 3 of my bugged, blind, weak-pink-floating-butterfly wingmen in inferior aircraft to get swamped by up to 20 enemy fighters. This is a ridiculous suicide mission with the parameters being used right now.

 

 

Instead of this, as I climb southwest, have a high chance of me getting messages of the friendly fighters starting to engage in combat (like they announce their presence when they spawn), looking right as we climb I see a dogfight over the city, or bombers comming, or attackers at low level going for troops, boats, etc; any mix of all of these. Improve fighters messages to have them tell us their aproximate location to a city, lake, airbase.

 

If this doesn't happen, as we get to the southern tip of our trip, passing over friendly positions (Strong radio transmitter) they tell us there are bombers coming east for Stalingrad (big diffuse colored arrow instead of exact bomber location, enough only to give approximate position and heading), so we fly right back north to the city in hopes of catching them. Or they are coming from the south over the lakes, so we are in perfect position to intercept them. Or they tell us there's a friendly strike package with or without escorts behind enemy lines in trouble close to one city/target or being pursued on their return leg (again big colored square around city, target location or big diffuse colored return route) so we can go there to 'rescue' them or get anihilated ourselves.

 

If this still doesn't happen, no 'radio' messages, arrows or coordinates, just have a higher random chance of one of the friendlies that normally despawn, NOT to despawn and to actually attract the atention of the LW for a change, so we can quite simply stumble upon them in our way, or these strike packages going or returning, so we can again stumble upon them.

 

Right now, when escorting IL-2s, we are almost always crossing paths with escorted enemy attackers (This also happens a few times when escorting Pe-2s). Simply do the same for the FreeHunt mission. Let us stumble on friendly attackers, enemy attackers, fighters/attackers/bombers from all sides already embroiled in a dogfight.

 

And of course, nothing of this can happen and we can go get swamped by the LW, I know the war could be like this. But not every-single-mission.

 

Any kind of these random events can happen, making this mission much more varied and realistic.

 

 

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No matter what mission, it's imperative to change the behavior of spawned interceptor groups: They should not always come for the player's squadron. Have a much higher chance of at least one of them going for the friendly patrols that are usually patrolling close or over the frontline already. Let us stumble upon/catch up to an already ocurring dogfight.

 

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Friendly groups going on attack/bomber missions in enemy territory should also be used depending on the mission. They should also obviously attract the attention of these  spawned interceptors.

 

I understand that the devs are worried about too processor intensive missions where time dilation and even low frame-rates could happen. I'm in fact a very potential victim of this, as my system is getting very oldish - Core I5 4690, 16gb RAM, Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB.

 

So, for example, in Intercept bombers/attackers, or in Escort bombers/attackers, where the player is intercepting or escorting big formations of aircraft, these extra friendly attack/bomber packages should not be used.

 

However, on a mission like FreeHunt, where there's no big formation of bombers or attackers, I think at least one small group of friendlies going on an attack mission should be spawned. Small groups similar to the ones spawned on the german side: One small strike package (2-3 IL-2s escorted by up to 4 fighters), or one small bomber group (2-3 Pe-2s escorted by up to 4 fighters), or one fighter-bomber package (Up to 6 fighters carrying bombs/rockets).

 

 

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Intercept bombers/attackers: No more invulnerable bombers/attackers when the player's squadron is far away. This has no place in a sim of this caliber. Let the player squadron find an enemy formation that already has less bombers/attackers/escorts. If this is happening because of limitations in the scripting/triggers/etc: Have the friendlies that get there before us always go for the escorts. At least we have a chance of getting to the enemy formation with less escorts.

 

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For the I-16 I'd really like if firing a red flare would activate an 'agressive behavior' for a few minutes. Give me back the rabid chihuahuas from AQM that would go after dogfights kilometers away.

 

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'Big' missions: If it ever happened. For example, airfield attack: the player's squadron escorting IL-2s, coordinated with another squadron, either in pure fighter role or also as fighter bombers. Or the player squadron is going on a ground attack mission coordinating with a small strike package of escorted IL-2s (3 IL-2s escorted by 4 fighters). Processor heavy mission but no more than cover missions can get sometimes.

 

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In escorting IL-2s: Have them go after moving armor. If it's possible for the player to go after on road moving vehicle columns of some... 40 trucks or so(?) with escorts too, on Kuban, then it's probably possible for the escorted IL-2s to go attack some 20 tanks advancing in line or V formations over open terrain that won't give them trouble to traverse, without much lag. They don't always need to be advancing on friendly positions, but it would be awesome if they did, firing and getting fired back. Let's say some 30 tanks mixed with trucks (acompanying logistics/HQ trucks/troops) if they are just moving around deeper on their own territory; or 20 armored only vehicles if they are attacking friendly positions closer to the frontline, to avoid lag.

 

I know that IL-2s weren't actually that effective against armor, but they attacked them anyway, right? Imagine, I-16s escorting IL-2s attacking panzers, half-tracks and flak-tracks advancing on a friendly artillery position with a few T-34s or KVs dug-in, then enemy fighters swoop in, or an enemy strike package goes to attack the friendly positions the panzers are advancing on, chaos at low level, that's the most pure essence of east war in IL-2 right? What a waste of the game that it simply hasn't been done yet.

 

Stalingrad and Moscow are perfect for this with their wide swaths of open terrain that wouldn't give much trouble even for the mission generator to place these set pieces. The campaign doesn't need to be dinamic, in fact *can't* be, we have to respect the historical events, but each day the tanks formations move closer or attack units closer to the frontline, or to certain important cities etc. It would give a great sense of the changing, advancing or retreating frontlines.

Related: Cover moving friendly tank formations with the same parameters, more if they are deeper in our friendly lines, less if they are attacking the frontline to avoid lag. One word: Stukas, we need at least AI version of the appropriate Stukas for Moscow.

 

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Escort air transports mission as well as intercept enemy transports.

 

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I feel like Stukas should attack frontline positions sometimes instead of only always strategic targets deep behind the frontlines. That means, use them as attackers in intercept attackers missions instead of bombers in intercept bombers missions. I don't really know how they were being used historically though. I guess they already do this in cover missions, but it's always small numbers.

 

Moscow really needs at least an AI Stuka of the type that was used. Really glaring flaw. In exchange give the Germans an AI soviet target for them as well.

 

Stukas cruise so fast. I didn't know they could cruise that fast with a full bomb load. They seem to be going at least some 400kmhs. They seem harder to catch than even the JU-88s.

Il-2s cruise so slow. They seem to be doing only 250kmhs, I thought they'd be able to do at least some 300kmhs. At least on the return trip after using/ditching all weapons they could go a bit faster.

 

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Defend (Scramble) the players airfield. I know the I-16s would suffer with their slow landing gear, still I wish for it. I know there's a problem where aircraft will automatically enter the landing circuit of their own airfield just by flying close to it even when they shouldn't. Fix this.

Maybe have the player's airbase have a circle of 'radar' or spotters. Maybe half the size of the circle in normal cover missions. I don't know if it would be realistic though.

 

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Protect landing aircraft/Cover airfield - from those pesky vulchers that like to pursue/prowl deep behind enemy lines and seemingly stay there forever, even when their wingmen get shot down one by one by the airbase's flak. A good revenge against these stalkers that are the bane of my existence, and it would be really cool protecting landing Pe-2s, IL-2s, Po-2s, Li-2s or other fighter types at their own airbases, so as to have no problem with my wingmen entering the landing pattern automatically. With the help of plenty AA to boot. The long time it takes for any group of aircraft to land makes for the perfect 'natural' timer for the mission.

 

 

It can be protecting aircraft taking off and forming up too. Returning, damaged fighters being pursued - Go there and help them. A good use of 110s in long range missions. Bombers, Stukas, attackers may attack the base like a normal cover mission as well. A randomised mix of all these possibilities would make a great varied mission. Or have it be either one or the other if it's too script intensive and prone to bugs: A normal airfield cover where we are guarding against bombers and ground attacks and minimal friendly traffic; or a fighter cover protecting intense friendly traffic against vulchers.

 

 

(Please improve both the Moscow and Stalingrad soviet autocannon airbase defenses. I notice that german auto-flak has gotten better, I'm being hit much higher, more energy, faster, maneuvering, (400kmhs+, 2500meters+, diving from 3500+meters-accelerating(350to500kmhs+)-pulling Gs going after enemy fighters)  since the latest patch. While enemy fighters I can make them start turning at less than 250kmhs, at less than 100 meters, right over my airbases autocannons, or making straight passes over batteries of 4 autocannons at less than 50 meters with them following me, still taking ages to be hit.)

 

Edited January 24, 2024 by Aleksander55