I was shocked to see that CloD's AI is worse than IL2:1946 even pre 4.11 (where TD did a tremedous job improving the AI).

I really hope all the grafics engine recoding is finished by now and the devs get to work on the sim aspect of CloD.

Ai WAS changed;) Bombers no longer fly like fighters, stupid roll rates fixed, comms implemented, etc

Excellent.

Yes Big improvement!!!

You must be new here right? fps has improved largely because many game features have been turned off or dumbed down. Disabled or dumbed down: No cloud rendering beyond middle distance, no upper level clouds, no weather (heavier clouds/rain etc) rendering, mid-distance shadows now only render as a darkened blurr only becoming sharp at close distance.

Do you really believe that the improvements are only the result of omissions and reduced effects?
That stuff was turned off for trouble shooting, not to improve fps!
The easiest explanation is not always the correct one.

It surely indeed increased performances too but we would like both all effects and graphics enhancements back and improved performances, plus aircrafts tuned rightly, weather also, and finally, wing tip lights, wingtip smokes, no crash to desktop at all, no framerate anymore beyond what's normal for modern hardware, enhanced and balanced damage model, there is a lack in certain types of ground objects too, and by the way, the mouse view lags, so do the control surfaces, and new aircrafts should be available, certainly ground types in British side are missing.

The current flight model in terms of stall, spin, flutter and so on needs some tuning but is one of the best available I've seen.
That's the first stone along with awesome huge maps.

I think they have improved AI but it still has a ways to go to be as good as IL2 or ROF. It is better but AI still acts a little robotic at times and at times the plane's movement seems a bit jerkey that screams "Game." I can fly ROF and while it's far from perfect, I feel like I'm dogfighting with men, not a machine.

Please, Rof is a tremendous sim, but AI is pretty pathetic there. Yes it does fly "honest" FM, but its dumb beyond belief. RoF ai is all about spiralling to the ground level and then just keep circling in one direction. Its almost funny, just how one dimensional it is -whether it flies an agile Dr1 or speed demon Spad - it does the same thing ALWAYS. Yes, current clod ai is better (on balance) imo - at least it will mix and match a few different tactics.

Spit AI is pretty smooth now, 109 ai are just a touch jerky - but its worlds better compared to the current steam version CLoD.

I really don't care about AI. Online is where it's at. Human competition is so much better in every way that once you have played online you would never go back to flying offline.
I don't play CLOD or ROF offline cause I just don't get that feeling you get when you are fighting a human opponent that you know is really good pilot. The fear of getting shot down and humiliated and the triumphant moment when you shoot a human pilot down and you know he is good pilot. And you know you were lucky to survive that fight.
I just came back to CLOD after leaving disappointed. The lastest patch really impressed me.