Hello ROFers,

Those interested in improving the less-than-stellar AI in single-player mode in ROF (United Ed.) might want to take my little AI tweaks package for a spin (based on the Criquet/Gavagai AI tweaks of many years ago). No guarantees that you will experience stellar AI but, from what I've been able to tweak/test, it is an improvement over stock. Have tried to aim for something a bit closer to the fine AI of FE2 and WOFF. Tested only in quick combat mode but should work well for campaigns too.

Link to post (no need to register at CombatAce to download the tweaks; the tweaks are best loaded via JSGME by the way):

https://combatace.com/forums/topic/95745-rof-united-ed-improved-ai/?tab=comments#comment-778869

EDIT: latest Ver. 1.1 of the AI improvements package for ROF added at the link above on Feb. 18, 2021.

Happy flying,
Von S

Thanks for this Von S, downloading 1.1 now, will be the excuse I needed to pick up an unfinished campaign or career in RoF.

You're welcome Lima. Hopefully the AI tweaks will now give more varied behavior in RoF - might release one more version later on once I'm done with some campaigning too (Eindeckers in 1916) - although there's only so much that can be done with the AI files in RoF. Couple of screenies below - nice morning panorama, also my flight mate about to do a magnificent landing through the gap between two hangars. Unfortunately I didn't take a pic. as he was passing through the gap since I was busy with three DH.2s at the time - too busy.

Von S

Just wanted to chime in and say that this is a significant improvement to the AI in the sim. Only done a few short battles, but I'm no longer seeing the slow, descending turns to the right, and they are far more aggressive in a fight. Great work!

Much appreciated Capt., and glad to hear that the AI is now more varied.

Among other tweaks, several of the scouts have had the downward-spiral attack move disabled on them, for added realism, such as the under-powered early Spad 7, the Alb. D.Va, also the early Albies and Eindeckers, etc. Two-seaters have not been modified individually in my AI pack with the exception of two "generic" files that also influence two-seater behavior - but otherwise the two-seaters should, on average, be less aggressive in maneuvers than the scouts and seem to run well with stock AI.

Currently working on a a small series of "modulator" files for the PWCG ver. 16.3.1 that will allow either manual or JSGME loading of different numbers into PWCG, per theater and time of war - since it makes no sense to apply the same congestion settings, no. of aircraft, etc., across all periods on the western front, or especially for the eastern front in 1916 where there should be lots more lone wolf flights and occasionally stragglers popping up.

The "modulator" will be for hard-core fliers who enjoy max. realism at the expense of long, solitary flights, with occasional surprises. Will post the files when done over on the RoF thread on CombatAce - and will include a couple of other modded files that give the Russians and French "Eindeckers" for the early war (will work well with the Morane Saulnier Type G French and Russian skins available for RoF, over on the CheckSix forums - the theory is that this will give early monoplanes more frequently for early-war scenarios, in campaigns - should work well with the Pfalz E.II skin available on CheckSix too - for greater variety).

The tweaked AI file for the Fokk. E.III now has a top speed of about 140 kph near SL and also avoids spiral-type attacks, so it should be more believable when skinned as an M-S Type G/H or Pfalz E.II.

Cheers all,
Von S

Tip: recommended is not to run the old Criquet/Gavagai AI package with the United Ed. of RoF (stock AI in United RoF is more varied than in previous editions - loading that older AI pack gives more repetitive AI behavior on average). That older pack is an improvement over stock AI in RoF up to about 2013/14 from what I have been able to research on the RoF forums. Many thanks of course to Criquet/Gavagai for coming up with that initial AI pack that served as inspiration for my own tweaks.

PWCG ver. 16.3.1 manual "modulations" files (for congestion, air activity, etc.) - for the hard-core simmer, especially early war with sometimes lonesome flights - available at the link below:

https://combatace.com/forums/topic/...d-ai-ver-11/?tab=comments#comment-780470

Detailed instructions/info. included in that post. Have also double-checked ver. 1.1. of the RoF AI mod. and I will leave it as is - since it isn't really possible to do anything further with RoF on the AI mod. side of things. (The FMs are unfortunately encrypted across various files and impossible to unlock/modify - so it's time to hang up the RoF modding hat and jump back into the mod-friendly waters (skies?) of FE2.)

Happy flying all,
Von S