Dogfighting in the game is abysmal, and you can only win if your plane can fly and turn faster than the other, assuming neither of you have homing missiles.
My idea is that if you spawn in a plane in Sandbox, there's a third list, which you can use to select the combat method. For the list, I will use WW2 planes as examples of each combat method.
Energy: Enemy will try and raise altitude and pull of maneuvers that will maintain the plane's speed. Any fighter should fly like this, but it is intended for moderate turners with powerful engines to make up, such as the Messerschmitt Bf-109 and P-51 Mustang.
Turn: Current method, enemy will simply try to outturn you. Intended for fast turners like the Supermarine Spitfire and A6M2 Zero
Defensive: Plane will have the same exact flight patterns as a default plane, using turrets to defend itself. Works with turretless planes as well, who simply won't make an effort to attack you but will still fire at you if you are in their firing lines. Planes intended for this are heavy and slow to turn, such as the Avro Lancaster and Convair CV-240.
Passive: Will not fight back, but will be targeted by and try to escape predatory planes and use some evasive and energy maneuvers. Will try to fly to allied planes. Intended for smaller, defenseless recon and civilian planes like the Cessna 140 and L-2 Grasshopper.
Predatory: Will attack passive or defenseless enemy planes if there are any, if not will attack the nearest plane. Bombs and torpedoes aren't counted as defenses. Expected to be faster than their targets. No specified aircraft intended, but is intended for planes with evil pilots.
With these combat methods, there would also be a new relationship for AI planes, which is Friendly. Friendly planes will not attack players or other friendly planes at all and will stop firing if another friendly plane or the player is in their firing line. They will target and attack aggressive planes, who will also target and attack them.
Another idea is turrets. There will be a control option for rotators called "automatice." There would be a new option for the first person camera called "direct turret" which will try and turn itself automatically towards an aircraft marked as an enemy. It's turn speed is affected by the speed of rotators. It will only work if not attached to a structural part or wing connected to the cockpit via nothing but structural parts and wings. In other words, it can only function if connected to a rotator. The camera will try and lead shots) Guns mounted on parts connected to a turret camera wilI not be able to be manually fired, but will instead have invisible, 1.5mi long "firing lines" that cause the guns to fire when triggered. Turret cameras have a range of 2mi.
If all of these are considered and added, imagine how much more fun and realistic dogfights would be.
I agree with everything you said, I also think that AI could be a little braver and not commit suicide when someone is in their 6, Because it doesn't make sense to build a plane for months and just not use it for absolutely nothing.
@F104Deathtrap Some said he was a developer, some said he wasn't human at all...
Why did it delete "Apple" @IssaIwan
Agreed, but if only allowed its users to download and extract files just like on every other company's devices. @F104Deathtrap
Ain't got Xbox Live Gold. I can't. Stupid subscriptions and all that trash. @CptJacobson
@SledDriver The Legend of Sled continues to grow!
@Jim1the1Squid Well, I'm not sure what part of my bio gave you that impression, but I'm not one of the game developers.
No, I meant moderator, @SledDriver. I saw your bio, and I thought that you helped make the game.
@Jim1the1Squid Did you mean modder? Because I'm not one -- I use external scripts, not mods, to build my creations.
As for dogfighting AI, is there any point when most aircraft posted here can barely fly at all? There's other, much more important stuff that needs fixing.
BTW, SledDriver is a SimplePlanes Moderator.
@Jundroo
I can imagine. Wow. If I were someone like @SledDriver then I would do everything I could to get this into the game ASAP.
@Issalwan
@IssaIwan I don;t think the AI is horrible, I feel like it's descent for this game, but I don't play it to dogfight, btw, I do agree with @F104Deathtrap, it's a good idea, I just don't know if this game needs it really badly
@IssaIwan I think this is an excellent idea for a mod, because I think it would tremendously benefit a segment of the playerbase. There are some pretty clever modders around here, maybe they could cook something up.
As for making planes that fly right, I ABSOLUTELY AGREE 100% Why in the hell would someone spend weeks building a gorgeous plane and then not bother to make it fly? What is wrong with these people? It's sickening.
@BlackhattAircraft @CptJacobson I already have War Thunder (name is IssaIwan if you want to add me), but War Thunder isn't available on Android or iOS. Plus, you can't build planes on it. @F104Deathtrap it would be a lot of effort for such a small team, but it can be worked on on the side when new items haven't been thought of and there aren't any bugs to fix. And how do you know if barely anybody uses the AI? Onto effort of realistic aircraft, nobody has to make their planes have realistic performance that would force them to use different fighting methods. I think people should actually make their planes able to fly properly, because there are so many good looking planes that often make it to the front pages that can barely fly. An example would be hfusiwjf29's Bf-109G-2 Trop that looks amazing but has a low speed and barely any pitch. But people can do what they want.
PLAY WAR THUNDER IF YOU WANT DOG FIGHTING
PS sorry for yelling but so many new players complain about the AI in this game this game is a sim nothing like war thunder were realism is important
Personally, I think dogfighting is fine in this game, but if you want to dogfight, just play War Thunder
For all that to work the 5 or 6 people who work at Jundroo would have to spend their time building a fairly sophisticated AI that only a few people would use. That means virtually no other new content whatsoever. Not to mention us the users would have to start building planes that fly realistically (something only about 3% of us actually pay attention to).
Or you could march yourself over to the mod section, pickup the Multiplayer mod and make some new friends on here. That sounds like a win-win to me.