AI roll rate: why can't I make my plane move like that?
 

Of course there have been at least several mentions on this forum about the crazy things the AI controlled planes do while in combat.

The way AI planes roll and dive and make evasive maneuvers is pretty extraordinary. Even the BF110s perform like stunt planes.

The only way I can make any of the planes flip around that fast is when I go into a terminal flat spin.

My question is, how is this happening? Is the AI constrained by the same FM as everyone else? If so, I would guess that someone proficient enough could make his virtual plane do those same things but I've never seen anything close.

Use the rudder and the ailerons.

You are not aloud to repeat the negative points on CloD, the defenders of CloD will be here to demand your public execution any minute, or at best riducule you en-masse. They know fine well that the AI cheat and that it is impossible for you to do the same manouvers but make excuses like, "use ther rudder and the ailerons". Luckily the vast majority of people see this as a major problem.

The AI don't use real world physics or FMs. They always get full control deflections, full engine power and fly perfectly trimmed. In short, they defy phyiscs and gravity.

No.

It isn't so, you or nobody else will ever get your aircraft to behave in that way. The AI is broken, ironically it was fine in the release version and was broken in a patch.

You can change the FM characteristics in notepad , it's great doing this and going online.

Ownage.

Ah, but that is all the AI have to survive. They do not have the creative thinking, forward planning or low cunning of a human pilot. Without their unrealistic manoevers they would be swatted like flies and who could possibly want that? Now, if you'll excuse me I'll go and look for my blindfold and trusty musket. :-P

Are you kidding? Did you get confused between CoD and CloD? Or have you been banned from every other gaming server and you heard that VAC hadn't been activated yet?

You can alter this AI behavior yourself in the FMB. A little bit of experimentation leads me to believe the two main factors are the tactics and advanced flying skills, but especially tactics. If you set tactics skill to about 15 ticks on the 20 tick scale (that's about veteran level) then the AI pilot starts corkscrewing all over the place. Advanced flying makes him roll even faster. But if you set advanced flying to a high value and leave tactics low, the AI retains more realistic roll rates.

It's interesting (to me) to note that we aren't limited to just the skill levels on the 20-tick sliders. Any value between 0 and 1 is viable, so with some effort it should be possible to carefully fine tune the behavior of every AI pilot or aircrew.

This explanation makes sense. I guess its fairly complex to program the AI to fly more like a human would and still be competitive.

I know that Luthier had posted somewhere that the AI system is getting an overhaul, which will be nice.

In the mean time, I am still enjoying the game quite a bit despite my criticism. My modest rig can handle it and I am still honing my flying skills, my marksmanship, engine management etc, all offline. And chasing those barrel rolling, fast twitching hypermaneuvering AI 109s and 110s as they perform their strange little jigs.

Thanks for the tip I will check out that menu.

Ditto :)