Miscommunication with AI Aircraft

[Autothrottle]

Hello all,

Can anyone tell me why is it that the CFS3 wingmen obey your orders to a degree, but when they open fire behind or near you, there is no command that you can tell them to break off.

In the game if you fire on them it tells you ceasfire! Or You are shooting at friendlies.But when they fire on you they seem to ignore you, What's up with this ?

[BeauBrummie]

It's just the limitations of the ai mate. They tend to open fire behind you when you're approaching e/a. You could try to order Rejoin (R), this often acts as a reset. I've never used it in this situation, but have if I want them to break off an attack on targets. I just accept this a a friendly fire incident. Having now read many combat accounts, this would not be regarded as unusual. I've just read of one incident where when flying in a tight low level formation over the sea, one pilot was getting angry by the bad flying in front of him. So rather than break radio silence he fired a cannon burst over the offending pilot's wing! Needless to say on return the pilot was disciplined.

[Daiwilletti]

Hi Autothrottle,
like Beau says there is no perfect command for this situation. Another option is "S". This causes the AI to break off whatever attack they are on, and form up behind you, but at a wider spacing.
I don't like to use it on campaign missions because I've assigned all my wingmen to different targets, and I'm busy trying to accrue as much points/experience for my wingmen as possible to knock'em into a halfway decent fighting unit :icon_lol:. As they gain experience i suspect they fly and shoot better and are less likely to bring you down with friendly fire.

I remember one particularly egregious incident where a newb AI shot down one of my Flight Lieutenants. I took him out with extreme prejudice, but did feel guilty about it afterward.

[BeauBrummie]

Yes S would work too, but Split puts half the flight at a higher altitude. Rejoin would make them tuck in closer. I use it to do that when flying at wave top height as ai don't like that.

[remcoc]

Hi Autothrottle,

You could also open the mission with the missionbuilder.
Then go to the player-aircraft/formation.
Check the load-out of all the aircraft of the playerformation: check that the some sort of load-out: but not 'none'. Don't ask me why, but the AI aircraft in your formation are much more likely to follow your orders.

RemcoC

[lewis11777]

What is the command when you land and you want your wingmen to land when playing QC?

[Autothrottle]

Lewis there is one, but there is really no way to tell them.

Thanks for tha advice everyone! I will stick to a closer formation profile.