[certificate]

AI wingmen (in .12, haven't tried .13 yet) don't seem to do much but follow the leader. I spent a good deal of time stalking a MiG pair in my 109E and finally managed a crossing deflection shot that lit the lead MiG on fire. All the while I could ignore the wingman since he did absolutely nothing aggressive ... until his leader was shot down, then he went full aggressive.

It was a bit odd having the wingman AI totally disregard my presence. Occasionally we were almost in formation together, both of us trying to get closer to the lead MiG.

I think this is a feature of Oleg's default AI routine. The wingmen (#2, #4) do nothing against enemy fighters and almost always follow the leads. (Except a few rare times; when the lead is *actually* under fire, they engage the enemy that's on the lead's tail).

Instead of engaging only when the lead guy is under fire, can the wingman be programmed to engage the enemy on his lead's tail when it is a bit far away (from opening fire)? And when the wingman engages, it never disengages, until it has shot down the enemy, or has been shot down itself. Can you write a *scare away and rejoin* routine?

Maybe all these factors- stick to the lead like glue, engage while lead is under fire, engage while enemy is approaching on six, engage the enemy and don't let him go, scare away and rejoin- can be combined so that the wingman follows any one randomly? Combined with appropriate weights of course, for example "engage while enemy is approaching on six" should have more weight than the first 2 options. (My personal opinion entirely)

Another thing I feel is that in combat, the wingman follows the lead a bit too closely. Combat formation should be a bit loose, isn't it?

S.

I commented on this earlier in the thread:

2. Wingman behavior. I'm of the opinion that the wingmen are currently far too willing to go down in a hail of shells while they're covering their flight lead. Of course, reducing this behavior would also mean that they're less willing to do it when you're the flight lead.

I've flown online extensively, and I never see the type of wingman tactics that the AI executes. It's preferable to loosen up way before the enemy is on you, so the enemy has to try to choose someone to attack while making sure the wingman isn't maneuvering into position to help.

Keeping a tight line astern formation while someone is closing on your 6 is incredibly stupid, and I intend to fix it.