I was reading the Developer's comments.pdf file found in the AI Rules of Engagement thread when I saw the following, which reminded me of something that I, and a few others, have noticed about the AI’s ability to avoid wing damage in a steep dive:

Quote
All AI craft now use the same flight models and engine models as the player craft - they have no advantages, so they are flying the same complexity of flight model as the player.


From the above quote, it seems that the AI is limited by the same aerodynamic factors (wing speed damage, wing stress damage, etc.) as the human player, but I have never witnessed an AI flown craft shed any of its wings in a dive, unless it has already been severely damaged by gunfire.

Is this because the AI automatically knows the exact instant to slow his descent in order to avoid wing damage, or is the AI truly limited by the same FM factors as the human player?

Assuming it is the former, is there a way to limit this AI super-human ability somewhat? For instance, might there be a way to limit this ability by skill level, so that rookies might occasionally “forget” to slow their rate of descent while an Ace pilot never does?

JJJ65 has discovered that wing overspeed damage results from staying above an FM controlled wing damage speed for a set number of seconds. Would it be possible to introduce a random delay of 0 to 10 seconds, for example (0 for Aces, 0 to 10 for rookies) before the AI “reacts” to wing overspeed damage?

Perhaps this post better belongs in the wishlist thread, but it seems to me this might be a more realistic way to model AI behavior in regard to this important aspect of WWI aviation. For the sake of argument, I am avoiding talking about how difficult this might be to code, but that is obviously a factor as well.

Sorry for the long post. I would be interested to hear other posters observations or comments on the matter, though.

“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”