Salut

I just noticed something on Basels last brush with death. Sent out on a line patrol, flight of 4. After looking around I pick out three dots dancing as if a fight was on. So off we go to have a look. Turns out its 3 Huns playing around like puppy's, 2 run and 1 is left to himself.

I drop down and its the red baron himself. Then his friends come back, other J2 aces and a melee starts.
Nothing new to anyone here. But then planes from both sides start to leave the fight. I pump one Hun with nice long bursts and another forces me to turn.

The one I had hit decided to run. I manage to get on the tail of the other one and after a few bursts he runs too.

So this seems to be what happens...when an aircraft takes a number of hits, it turns to run for it. We are Human and can cancel this by just fighting on. Its hard to recognize just when they turn but I let him go and went home too. So it turned out like some of the accounts that I have read about. 4vs4 and no one missing at the end.

I'm not sure how to play this in Basels DID campaign but I will try to. Perhaps if my squad mates refuse to attack anymore then the scrap is over???? Or I'm the only one and the Hun runs...


any ideas out there??

If I am I understanding your post correctly the AI pilots are responding exactly as they are programmed.
One of the Dev's can correct me but....
If the AI pilot runs out of ammo, sustains (presumed serious) damage, has a morale issue, or "thinks" it is in a bad spot it will break off combat and attempt to flee.

The "kamikaze AI" (fight to the death always) was a major OFF complaint now fixed in WOFF by OBD through programming magic.

In my reading inconclusive engagements are not uncommon at all but if you knew all this and asking how it relates strictly to a DiD campaign I do not know.

EDIT: if I had as much sense as the AI my campaigns would probably last longer!

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While I don't normally fly with the labels on if you do hit the comma key you will get the labels that tell you the 'status' of each plane you see. If the AI are breaking off, (or not engaging at all), it will often say 'Going Home'. As noted, it can be for a variety of reasons, one of them being the odds. It is a quantum leap in AI behavior over that found in OFF, and for that matter other WWI combat flight sims as well. 'HAP' was discussed at some length in this back issue of the BOC News:









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Oh man, oh,...I am speechless

Lou! Back from Fiji I see...

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I'm commuting. LA traffic is hell, as usual.

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RAF.....priceless! Now crowned the poet laureate of WOFF....

If you are asking how to incorporate the AI behavior into the role playing of your pilot, I think you can historically go either way.

What I was taught when I was in was that, as a single you are far less than half a section (element if you are an Air Force guy). If you are wandering around solo, you are a veritable baby seal waiting to be clubbed. Anecdotally, 75% of planes that were shot down, never saw their attacker. This didn't mean that you might not consider continuing your mission if you found yourself alone. But you were probably only going to find trouble, if you stuck around unnecessarily and went looking for it.

But as WWI saw the dawn of air combat tactics, including group tactics, I think you can argue either way that you should strive to stay with your mates or that, once the battle was joined, you were YOYO (You are On Your Own).

In Open Cockpit, the author seems to do both IIRC. He takes part in the initial bounce by firing in formation of course. But, there seem to be accounts of him both trying to regain formation after the engagement and also at least one circumstance where he continues a solo patrol after losing the rest of his flight...ostensibly with the intention of attacking as a single should the opportunity arise.

Yesterday, I was leading a balloon busting mission and after the target balloon was destroyed, I saw an inviting "balloon of opportunity" if you will, several miles away. As I turned to engage it, I saw that my wingmen were working over the ground targets in the immediate vicinity and not following me. Like you, I had that moment of indecision where I debated whether to stay with my wingmen, or to wander farther afield. I chose the latter, after which I turned around and found my wingmen gone.

I made it home just fine, but I decided that from then on, I would stay with my wingmen, as much for the play of the thing as for mutual support. One thing I really like in WOFF (and which it shares with the great campaign games like F4 and BOBII) is the notion that you are a cog in the war wheel...not the wheel itself. Many games perpetuate the notion that you can go into battle armed with 8 Mk82s, AMRAAMs, and HARMS and come home with five A/A kills and eight tanks destroyed. The worst of the offenders considers the mission a failure if you DON'T come home this way. But real life isn't like this. You may well be only afforded the opportunity for "one pass, haul A$$". You may go out on an escort and see absolutely nothing or have to avoid the temptation of chasing distant bandits at the expense of your mission.

In short (which I never am ) I think you can certainly argue that historically you could "lone wolf" it, in WWI particularly. But I think that it's far more immersive, and certainly no less historically accurate, to stay with the group when possible and run for the lines when you look around and all you see are iron crosses (German pilots notwithstanding of course).

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And, you could also add, that the lone wolf patrols were far more common in the early part of the war with formation flying becoming the norm in the latter part.

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I was thinking about that. Does anyone know if WOFF takes that into account at all? What I mean is, are you more likely to get a lone patrol in WOFF in December 1915 than December 1917?

Even if not, you could always play the role and be brash (though I think that often wound up being synonymous with dead) if you are playing early in the war and be increasingly conservative later on.

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I believe it has been taken into account in WOFF as I've been assigned a higher number of lone wolf missions in my early-war careers than I have as things progress. I'm sure the devs will chime in here either way.

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I just did what Lou said about the labels, in a quick combat.

Turns out that my guys actually chased 2 Huns while they ran for home.

Guess I'll drop this thread then.

Sorry, rereading your post I'm less sure that I was answering what you were asking. I thought you were asking about the realism of the wingmen bugging out. But it sounds like you are asking how to comply with the DiD campaign rules when your wingmen scamper off.

Correct me if I'm wrong lederhosen, but the question sounds to me like 'How do I behave more like the AI? (Leading to more inconclusive engagements)

If so, I suggest remembering the major points the AI takes into account. A few house rules might look like this:


Awareness: Are you outnumbered? By what? This is the most subjective of factors of course. 1 Sopwith Strutter taking on 3 Eindeckers has a much better chance than 1 Eindecker taking on 3 Strutters.

Location: No prolonged dogfights over enemy territory.

Damage: If you're wounded, hear fabric tearing, or bullets striking metal, then it's time to go.

Other maluses: If your engine is malfunctioning or for some other reason your plane isn't acting right, avoid an encounter.


The AI doesn't 'let injured planes go', which seems to be where you may have been headed. I've been hunted down after being hurt plenty of times. However, there is a point when the AI kinda gives up (too deep behind enemy lines, too low to the ground, and so forth.)

Hope this helps.

The answer is easy. Do what you would do if it would be in real. Do what you do if your real life is at stake.

Some tipps to get away from the gamish attitude but emulating the real one as good as possible:

- Go through the training missions before entering a campaign. This PITA makes your pilot more precious because you invested some time on him before making the first combat flight.

- Always think what would you do if that would be real. Think of your alter ego as a living being.

- Flight hours are your reward, not victories. Try to reach 100, 300, 500 flighthours. The victories will come. It is far more rewarding to have 300 hours and 5 victories, than gamish 30 victories in 8 flighthours and quick Frank Lukish deaths.

- Your fellow mates are individuals whom you can virtual befriend and also track their careers, so you don't want to get out alive yourself, but also your mates, so you protect each other. I is really cool to fly for many months and still having the same AI mates on your side, with them having hundred flight hours.

- And if you are really tough, don't fly WOFF for some days if you get killed. Then you will also think twice before attacking enemies in a gamish heroic way. But that's too much asked I think. That's like forbidding to eat :-).

That happens to me also, especially if the AI squadmate in a Historical Ace (HA). They often will chase enemy planes to an enemy airfield and attack them as the enemy goes into that very long landing pattern. HA's don't die, but man they can destroy and damage many of our aircraft doing that.

Yes Would not mind a AI tweak for that one.

I have been flying German lately (after my last SE5 death) and to see the AI (and it's seems a HA leads the way) taking the formation miles and miles behind British lines chasing some distant target always seems a little ahistorical. Except for the mad dog British of course!

Is it possible to have one AI for the British/Allies and another for the Germans?
Since two-seaters react differently then fighters in the game it may be possible?

Not having the HA's vampire-like resurrection powers I find myself, if I have an excuse like being too far away or damage, often breaking off and trying to live a little longer by loitering near the lines.

When I'm flight leader the German HAs stay in formation. It's during a DF that they will chase enemy craft running for home. They often fly very low over the Front when chasing them. I do like you and loiter on my side of the Front and see if they come back.

Yes. This is where the HA is leading
One time after they were out of sight, chasing RE 8's trying to land at their airfield (I am not afraid to throw Labels on now and then) I slowly flew home so as not to strand anybody on the wrong side of the lines when I ended the game.

In the debrief it said the HA (Jasta 11/Schaefer) had crashed, destroying his aircraft, but he was back and ready to fly the next day though it didn't say WHERE he had crashed.

I have no problem with the idea of the indestructible HA until it his time finally comes. I suspect without it they would all be dead in a month of game time.

And you're right so far I have not noticed this behavior when I am leading the formation though that hasn't been too often.

There is a quick fix for this behavior by adjusting the simulation.xml:

maxRange_met and perfectRange_met

I use:

maxRange_met="3000"
perfectRange_met="1500"

I lowered it to 500 meters at one time to experiment and in QMB both planes flew right past each other.