LowRider88 Posted June 27, 2020 Posted June 27, 2020 The current AI repertoire of air combat maneuvers seems to be a bit limited. From my game playing, I notice the following from the AI opponents: - merge - break turns - dives - chandelles - horizontal scissors - what can be described as an extended horizontal scissors with longer flares for energy management - high yo yos, mainly used before overshooting or at the end of the flared out scissors described above - vertical loops, which seem to be infinite if the player is at the rear but not close enough for an overshoot, and only varies into a new direction either at the top or the bottom of the loop Missing seem to be other maneuvers (please correct me if I am wrong): - low yo yos - roll aways - barrel rolls (both offensive and defensive) - rolling scissors - vertical scissors - vertical rolling scissors - immelmans - spiral dives - oblique loops (out of plane) - horizontal turning fight (AI always goes for either the flared scissors or the vertical loop) - split-S (no horizontal turn fight) It would be great if these could be added as well to make the AI dogfights more rewarding and dynamic It would also be great if there were module specific special maneuvers the AI would use: - Su-27 -> cobra - Av-8B -> Herbst, J-Turn, low speed hover to force overshoots, thrust vectoring turns (to be honest I don't have the module yet, but assume the AI does not take advantage of these capabilities, please correct me if I am wrong) - P-51 -> I watched the Dogfights series and one episode discussed a pilot who jerked back the stick to cause an abrupt pitch up stall using the high AOA stall of the laminar flow wing, to literally drop out of view of the chasing Nazi plane. Since the stall recovery was good on the plane, he as able to immediately get on the Nazi's tail. - MiG-15, also in the Dogfights series, a mig was described as pitching down in a bank turn, with opposite rudder to also fall out and disappear out of view of a pursuing F-86. It would also be great if AI could do nape of the earth flying for stealth. I understand that this may be a technical challenge since it is not easy with AI scripts to prevent a plane from crashing into the ground or mountains. Would perhaps marking lower altitude corridors in all maps based on their depths and distance to mountains make it easier? I'm sure ED and the DCS community is aware of all ACM and BFM, but I attach links here for reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_combat_manoeuvring#Tactics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_fighter_maneuvers http://www.combataircraft.com/en/Tactics/Air-To-Air/ 1
LowRider88 Posted June 27, 2020 Author Posted June 27, 2020 Just to add, in the old sim Janes US Navy Fighters, when labels were turned on, the label would include the name of the maneuver the AI opponent was using. I don't use labels. However, this was a great learning tool at the time, and it would be great if DCS could match it, for other players who may just be getting into the genre.
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