AI vs AI Kill ratio

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sniperton

If my memory serves, Il2 has the following basic classes:

That's more classes than I recall, but is a good selection. The only really necessary class additions are torpedo bomber, anti-shipping, parachute/agent.

Possibly there could be another flag as to whether an airplane is fully aerobatic, to keep planes like the A-20 from looping and rolling like a fighter.

Originally Posted by sniperton

I would disregard 'relative quality' (think of the pathetic attacks of the Polish and the Finns),

This is a really good point, but could be compensated for by relative pilot quality (both Finns and Poles were good pilots, despite their planes) and "desperation factor" (defending the motherland from invasion). Aggressiveness could also be pumped up for Japanese, and reduced for "less motivated" nationalities like the Chinese.

There should also be player and/or mission builder defined aggressiveness for a particular mission - for both friendly and hostile planes of various squadrons. Every nation had their bad days and their moments of tremendous heroism.

Originally Posted by sniperton

- remaining ammo
- remaining fuel (distance to base)
- territory (friendly/hostile) and, yes,
- self-confidence (aka skill).

More good points.

Additionally, a big factor was risk of capture/death in case of a bailout. For example, American pilots attacking Japan in 1945 could be a bit more aggressive since they knew that there were rescue submarines just off shore. But, for early war missions, both Japanese and Americans had to be a bit careful since a water landing was very likely to be a death sentence.

Originally Posted by sniperton

Once you calculated the success/risk ratio (which shall be higher for an ace pilot), you can define a kamikaze to attack even with zero chance, a braveheart with 50% chance, and a cautious pilot only with 75% (or higher) chance.

Exactly what I was thinking. You could even customize values for various pilots, making pilots in a campaign more or less courageous, ranging from foolhardy to cowardly.