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Hmmmm. Interesting. Morris, what kind of flights are you swatting down Krauts like flys in? Just curious, maybe we can refine our focus a tad. Is this against enemy fighters exclusively and in campaign mode? Its good to know we are actually comparing apples and apples you see. Mightysrc....so what you are saying is the outnumbered enemy craft just bungled in and attacked anyway...(sort of aka old AI version, always aggressive) even though the odds were against them? I have yet to see this happen, so its interesting to classify it. Dunno, guess it could be an example of a green rookie squad being stupid and paying the penalty......did happen on occasion.....just not a lot. ZZ. Any other ideas...refinements welcomed.

Okay,just wrapped up a campaign mission that I must say was simply the most realistic "AI" wise that I have ever been on. Was patrolling behind German lines on balloon defense and we were jumped from behind by quite a squad of Nupes. The turning fight began,with some who closed first either being shot down (I beleive I saw at least one going down in smoke) or breaking off into thier own personal fights. I attacked one who head on pass fired at me, and after my return burst he dove away, leaving me to pursue another who was attacking a friend close by. My friendly dove for safety as I attacked this new opponent, putting some shots past and into him. He then climbed, and I had a devil of s time catching him (very realistic I might add, cause this is what I would do if I were him, and in his plane) after a long climbing turning struggle, I finally dove enough times to get energy for a few nose high shots. These finally damaged him enough that he turned and nosed down for home. I hit him breifly again and he combination dove mixed with evasive left and right dodges (damn realistic!!) But I've got you....or so I thought. See I'd forgotten about what was below us...so focused I was on my quarry, and as he levelled off again to sprint homeward I thought I fairly had him in the bag. That is until the tracers from his freind he dove in order to have assist him streaked past my head! I evaded in shock, but my engine and tail surfaces were already shot up badly. So badly that I broke off the attack, and landed quickly at a friendly field before my engine died. And that my friends is how a realistic account of a WWI air struggle sounds. I'm sure some tweaks will help refine the current HITR AI...at least I hope so. But anybody who says the current AI is too easy and will simply increase your hours and kill tally hasn't seen the action I have so far. In fact, my kill tally has decreased substantially as a result, and as I stated earlier...I'll post my best pilots hours and kills against anyones here. That being said, we are all on the same side....that being the refinement of this realism. All I can say is, though, that this new AI has a remarkably "real-enemy pilot" feel to it. I'm still being suprised by it. ZZ.

Excellent point HPW. ZZ.

my two eurocents. if there is a poll wich AI one prefers, maybe the voter should also note how many hours in average he has in a campaign. wouldn't surprise me if the "i die after 2 hours" simmers prefer the new one, and the "i have every now and then a decent career" guys prefer the old one. know what i mean? Well, I will play it some more and see if your assessment stacks up. As for me though, i'm one of those who would actually like it harder, and am not advocating for an easy AI. But i would like to see a realistic one. And I must attest to the fact that I NEVER snuck up on an enemy like this with the previous AI, it was simply impossible, or perhaps I was just unlucky. Nobody wants sitting or lame ducks so they can live longer in a campaign. A more realistic variation of pilots and responses however, would be wonderfull. I do agree with you though Creaghorn, they do need a bit more agile aggression. ZZ.

My answer. YES, they hound you better at ground level. I just made a dash for my life yesterday in a N-28 with two Fokker DVII's in close chase that (unlike previous AI) made every opportunity to dismantle my machine all the way home!!! Not just stunting about behind me.....I mean they did a little, but mostly just shot my arse up!! ZZ.

"We should expect a more aggressive behavior from a veteran than a rookie." I'd say yes, but dependant upon situation of course.......IF that can even be factored in. ZZ.

One interestng encounter (another aspect of the new AI that I do like) was on a flight, minding my own business, and flying with the sun at my back, I spotted a squad of german machines below me...(sorry Olham but I was playing the traitor that day ) . they seemed not to see me even though I was closing on thier rear.....very realistic, as in the oldAI it seemed they ALWAYS spotted you as long as you were close by. I got to a safe range....being alone and decided to take a chance at a diving pass on the tail end charlie, and then skedaddle, knowing I couldn't, and wouldn't want to face them all....again, very realistic. I nose in, wind howling now, tail end charlie and rest seem unaware....I'm coming out of the sun like an eagle on fire. He is within range now as I drop from 45 deg above....he still hasn't flinched. I open up as he looms in the N-28 windscreen, my tracers rake the fuselage and cockpit and then I'm past him, turning and diving away for home. I look back,...the first four machines have now turned to evade and are now regathering to pursue me. My victim lookslike he's struggling with the machine, as it smokes and bobbles, then falls over on one wing and tumbles to earth. I speed towards home.....well ahead of my pursuers who break off the chase after a few minutes. Ok, so what I'm saying is, is even though I hope it can be tweaked in areas and not simply discarded in favor of the old, the new AI produces some very realistic results that simply wouldn't have ocurred in the former. what i just described, and some others I've had, are very similar to real accounts, and so I believe there is merit there. ZZ. I hope its tweakable....again though, thanks for such a great product Dev's, whose complexity inspires such ardent desire for refinement.

Okay, Holy Cripes Amighty! What You Dev's have done with this expansion Pack is nothing short of unbelievable. All I have to say to those whom are on the fence and/or have not purchased this yet is, you are not playing OFF in its full glory until you do. I'm not going to go into all the cool new stuff, cuase its just too extensive....okay okay whatever, here a few: was flying the camel in a mission I had started previously, only now, the two Vickers up front sound fierce!! Cant even compare em to previous. The wind sounds.....excellent...something I had discussed earlier. Every thing is so much more real and the sense of height and speed are full throttle with this addition. I have my own skin and all the previous copy cats inmy squad canKiss it now!!! cause they dont!! Nieuport 28 Nieuport 28 And one last time Nieuport 28!!!!!!! Schweeeet!!!! And so far, I've only flown two missions and soaked all this stuff in, (and yes the fokker EV is remarkable too) but the enemy AI is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!! I actually felt bad finally watching an opponent I fought for about 5 minutes go down...under a friends guns no-less!! Cause I couldn't drop him....and I'm no slouch. It really seemed like there was another human in that crate....his maneuvers were so real. THANK YOU DEV's! YOU HAVE AND ARE CREATING THE FUTURE OF WWI FLIGHT SIMMING. There simply is no equal. This is my humble salute. ZZ.

Interesting points Gous. I hope the Dev's arent simply tossing the new AI in favor of the old....as I do see some improvements, and, if it is tweakable, could be worked into a truly superior version. Once the negatives are corrected that is. ZZ. PS. End result: a long and satisfying - and to my mind, extremely historically accurate - encounter. Not the total annihilation of one side or the other; not about 20 burning wrecks dotted all over the landscape: a few shot down Huns, and one or two of my fellow flyers put down or wounded. And that's what WWI aerial fights were like, if the accounts I've read are up to snuff. Excellent points MSRC. I think the range of different types of encounters have been broadly, (and realistically) expanded.

Good question. Guess thats likely what the Dev's are busy tweaking. ZZ.

Although it will be tweaked and refined, as all expansions in reality are, (and I know there is already another thread dealing with this so I won't belabor it....much) I wonder if the varied accounts of vastly different AI qualities, aren't the fact that people are running into pilots of differing qualities. Which, (eliminating the need for a "settings" panel) would also be very true to life and realistic. Ahem.....so....back to my gushing. I LOVE the improved Flak smoke. Now with whites even whiter!! NICE! I forgot to mention this earlier. Also, was cool to look around me for the first time and realize that no one's AC in my squad looked like mine! At first, I thought I was in the wrong group!! I was like..."who are these guys!!" hehe ZZ.

I think he was "suggesting" this option FB. Am I right Gous? ZZ. ps...otherwise I'm pretty clueless too.

I prefer the "Somewhat Miffed, but Generally Congenial" AI myself. ZZ. PS...The "TAd Tipsy From Last Nights Party" AI are a pushover.

Yeah, I was trailed back to my home field by a group of very veangefull Fokker DVII's, while I was retreating from a failed railyard attack that went awefully wrong. I can tell you this, at low level there is not as much of this "Flitting About" behind you that the pursuing AI used to do without making opportunities to down you. I was literally hugging the tree tops the whole way as they systematically dismantled my plane around me....little by little. Very much more realistic than before at least in that aspect alone. mightysrc.....this may sound trite, but have you defragged your machine lately? I'm getting even better frame rates than before I installed HITR because of doing this. ZZ.

Wooops....Duh!! Its a download so "Nooooo Waiting"!! Woohoo. As an aside, once you've downloaded it and it says you uave "three downloads left"....does this mean three more times you can do so? Or am I missing something? ZZ. Ps, Nice shots of the N-28 Olham....my mouth is watering already!!

Wow! You lucky dog Olham....you got the expansion already.....just ordered mine. Annnnd now the waitiiiiiiiiinggggggg. ZZ.

I dont believe that is the proper way to do colonoscopies on Crawdads Bullet!! But I'll bet they were tasty. ZZ.

Geeesh Olham. I have a hard enough time keeping my dates correct in the regular campaign!! ZZ.

You may have to tweak all of the sliders in the "workshop" to thier minimum settings. But I think you might be alright. All you can do is give her a try! ZZ. Good Luck.

She does a damn quick snap roll as well Olham. This little bird has more tricks than a stunt plane! Just hit full up elevator, and full right or left rudder simultaneously, and I'll bet nobody behind you will keep his guns on you for long. ZZ. Ps. To pull out, as soon as you are inverted, (maybe a little before) hit the exact opposite, up elev, and oppisite rudder tot what you started with. If you time it right, you will level out heading in the opposite direction.....and very quickly!

Yes, this is something that if possible, should definately be modelled with more refinement in the future. Hopefully its not hard wired into the CFS3 code structure. ZZ. PS. As previously mentioned some of the options should be. Pancake(busted LG) belly skid...catch a wing and spin on belly....complete overturn onto top wing....and my personal fav....the prang...nose into ground and tail high as you see in somany crashed albatros pics.

Sounds like a fine first outing, welcome to the addiction H-N. ZZ.

I like the colorization. Does bring it home a touch more. ZZ.

Annnnnnd, he was really an alien, thats why he was soooooo gooood! Cue Twilight Zone Music...........again. ZZ.

Yikes, wat de heck is that HPW!!?? Looks like signal smoke to start a barrage! ZZ.