[Geronimo89]

I've been flying in this game (95% of the time offline, mostly QMB) on and off since it came out, at first with external views on, but turned em off when I started getting more into the game and flying more seriously, about when Forgotten Battles came out.
It was then that I grown to like the Hurricane MKIIc. It was a perfect plane for a noob like me. It was hard to stall, turned great, had great guns. Speed was not much of an issue. I had a lot of good time flying that one. Then the Zero came out in some patch. I switched to it because it turned better, was faster, and had better armament. I remember the Jap campaign was the only one ive finished.
When I returned to the game after like a year of playing other stuff, I started learning to fly with 109. Until then I used to stall it when going slow, but when I learned it I was even better with it than I was with the Hurri or Zero. Mostly the G2 version.
Some time ago, I tried flying the hurricane 2c again, but I fail miserably. I remember taking on 4 ACE 109Gs in QMB and beating them all before I stopped flying the hurri. I dont know if they changed the AI or FMs or something, but I can't catch anyone. I can get kills only with a lucky head-on shot, or something. They just keep flying forward and escape, turn around and we get in a head on pass, where its 50-50. Same story with the Zeke, I used to pwn the AI mustangs, and now I hardly beat 1 of them.
Did they change the FMs or AI, or it is something in my head that changed from turn-fighting to energy fighting? It feels like the speed was not as important as it is in later versions of this game.
Got any advice for turn-fighting in current IL-2 version?

[Uzin]

I tried to play "wounded duck" when fighting with faster planes, i.e. turn an fly away from them, the AI then turn to me and I have an opportunity to get them in the turn. Rather risky, but it seems to work.
Perhaps anybody else has better tactics ?

[Alemart_el_Redentor]

Your powers are weak old man.....

)note, this is said as a joke, please do not get mad, i have had that kind of trouble, but you should see my brother, he stops playing anything for more that 2 months and then he becomes a noob on that again )

[agracier]

Maybe the difference lies in the new AI mods that have been standard since a while, the Certificate AI mods which changes the way enemy planes fly and fight ... they are more sophisticated and have been steadily upgrading enemy skills and behavior ...

It could possibly be that the early versions of the game (which i never had) simply reflect simpler AI for enemy planes.

[Axial]

You are also probably trying to apply the flying styles you used on the more modern planes in the Hurricane, which doesn't generally work. It's like trying to fly a P-40 as if it were a Mustang.

One thing I do when flying against superior planes is force them into making passes at me, then diving out of the way. This makes the enemy waste his ammunition which will in turn force him to give up the chase, allowing you to maneouvre yourself behind him relatively unmolested.

[Axial]

I hardly use rudder at all; twisty stick makes it unintuitive.

I've found that gradual motions downward really throws off the AI pilot, and you can climb back up during bursts. The other thing to do is make a climb upwards and then roll, which usually causes him to overshoot underneath you.

[Geronimo89]

After doing some more testing (including installing forgotten battles on my brothers comp lol) Ive figured that the AI in it just wanted to get on your tail by turning, neutralizing any speed advantage it has. It certainly made for some fun dogfight, but it was too easy to kill if he had a worse-turning plane.

[GEORGES44]

Hello,

I started with the original IL2, then continued with Forgotten Battles, AEP, PF, ......in brief all the versions to the UP 2.0 I'm flying now.
I can confirm there is a BIG difference in the present AI compared to the original game; a lot of thanks for that to the modders ( mainly Certificate if I am right) who managed to get a more interesting, and challenging, AI behavior.

Nothing surprising if you could face 4 ACES with the standard AI of the first versions, and cannot any longer do it with the present modded version of the game: nothing to do with you, the opponent has improved a lot and won't get shot down as easily as before.

Work your flying technique, get to know the characteristic of the different aircrafts , avoid giving the AI any advantage, and be more realistic in your missions: if you are outnumbered, you'd better have a lot of speed superiority to escape being shot down.

To illustrate the last point, in an offline campaign, I was flying a P40E and found myself with 4 FW190 on my tail: my only chance to get out was to stay VERY low and keep turning till some friendly could come and take the FW off me. The FW were faster, used boom and zoom techniques and avoided getting involved in a turning dogfight where the P40 would get the upper hand.

Keep training and good flying