[US_GRANT]

To advocated for the AI:

Some of my biggest criticisms would be:
1. AI do not come close to the best sustained turn rate for their aircraft.
2. They cannot overheat
3. They still go into the rocket-climb mode just like 4.09m...did I say they cannot overheat?

Couldn't it be that the AI is simply better at energy managment than you are? If you combine 1 with 2 and 3 they might cancel out: AI avoids sharp turns and keeps it's energy high so that it can beat you in a zoom climb and get that extra little bit of distance that makes it look like they're going to fast to overheat in a strait-away.

4. The AI frequently play Joust and collide head-on with each other.

So, you've never flown online or gotten frustrate or target fixated (especially when you were still a 'novice' or 'average' player - when you first got Il-2)? It seems to me that a certain number of combat collisions are perfectly realistic.

The AI is far from perfect. I'm just not sure that these are the biggest problems. In real life pilots who were isolated from wingmen usually headed back to base. Furthermore, in most combat situations pilots (at least those with a little experience) would retreat/climb after making a couple of runs at a target. The main exception would be if they were isolated in a dogfight with another fighter.

So, I'd argue that the biggest and most unrealistic problem is that the AI never retreats and almost never gives up.

S!

I'm afraid I must disagree with some of what you have said. I have sat in my cockpit and let the AI fly it and guess what?
My engine coolant guage NEVER moves. Let me say that again. My engine coolant guage NEVER moves. The Ai pilot will fly most of the mission at full throttle and that guage will sit at the bottom, but as soon as I take control, the temp guage goes right on up.

When in a dive towards an enemy, I have seen my AI pilot go into a vertical dive from 15000 feet go straight down to less than 500 feet at full throttle and pull out without so much as a grayout, let alone losing parts of his plane like a wing like i have done when trying the same maneuver.

As to the jousting; no biggy, I've seen human pilots do the same online so I don't worry about that.