Col_Wolf,
While i do agree that the CFS2 AI wingies on low settings generally tend to be a stone drag on mission success, there's a lot to be said about how we utilize them in command of our flights. Many players endure poor AI performance because they haven't mastered the art of studying their patterns of behavior and commanding/managing them accordingly. In my early CFS2 days i spent a lot of focus on mission success for myself alone while regarding my flights as dead weight and cannon fodder in the process - it was all about me and my kill numbers in the end, while the wingmen suffer and die to keep the enemy occupied. Over time i got the revelation that i could achieve all required objectives in every mission and still fail a campaign due to heavy squadron losses. So i learned to divide my mission focus between my personal role against the objectives and my management of the flights. In this development i saw how the AI operated in a new light and even learned how to delegate my personal attack role to certain elements or individuals so that i spent less time killing stuff and more time directing the killing. Naturally, my campaign numbers dropped and the medal-pinning and promotions came slower, but the average of my squadron losses also dropped and i even began to see some personality patterns in the way my AI guys went about their business, feeling the loss when a really "good one" didn't make it home.
Learning when and where to use the command keys are essential to this process. It took me years in the sim to discover how powerful the Rejoin and Help commands can be in organizing and directing the flight. Even the direction in which the player's aircraft is pointing when these commands are given can make an impact on how the AI respond, e.g., you can't be flying away from your group at a high rate of speed and expect them to come running in your direction on the Regroup command. But they will make a better effort at it if you call for help even though you may not need it. The best way i've found For Rejoin is to fly
towards them at around 225 mph or less and let them join up as you close on them.
Learning how to use the Attack command is another thing that's often taken for granted. I've gotten the impression from many here over the years that most think that hitting the 'A' key twice on anything will settle it. If you hit the key twice on a single target with a flight of six or eight guys on your wing, they'll generally split in multiple directions while the sim sorts out which two it wants to lock onto the target. The rest just start wandering about and now you have a herding problem on your hands while the two focused guys go in for the kill. I simply hit the key once on a selection to assign a two-man element, select another target and hit it once again and so on until each element has an assignment while i monitor their progress if i'm not too busy myself. You always want to place your best man as leader of the last element (#7 for an eight ship formation or #5 for a six ship), because as you approach multiple targets, when you select the first tango and hit the 'A' key once, this command goes to the last element first. The next attack command goes to the next to last element and so on until you get to your personal #2 wingman. Sometimes its good to just let him lead and you support his actions and back him up. Of course, in a furball with opponents closing head-on at 400 mph you have little time to think this through. So you have to do this really quick with some room for error and just let it roll.
Its just like a business enterprise, get to know the folks who work for you and you'll eventually figure out their performance buttons.
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