AI cheats?

[bean man]

For some odd reason, the AI flies way faster than me. Can someone explain how? Is it cheating? Am I missing something?

[bean man]

Also, to let you know, I fly exactly like how the AI does, meaning that I'm following the AI closely, but can never seem to get close.

[Ofensiva de Extrema-Direita]

I don't know, but I've read about it and some people think it's really cheating. AI goes very fast and climbs at a high rate

[Not Vandice]

Revisiting... the AI cheats so f'ing hard.

[Booba]

Yes. Their engines don't overheat, they're perfectly trimmed at all times, they don't have that outrageous recoil, and they have a really hard time letting the player go once they have aggroed. The thing that really makes me angry though, is their perfect awareness of the player and where the nose of your aircraft is. When you're on an enemy's six, you always know when your shot is lined up because they suddenly change direction.

All of this made for an incredibly challenging dynamic USSR campaign back in the day, but I've noticed that some patch or other in the intervening 15 years has made the AI more prone to turn fighting and less abusive of its advantages in energy fighting. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

[SlimShanks]

Back when I was playing the 4.13 version, it seemed very campaign dependent. Playing 4.15 the AI accuracy, awareness, and speed is usually reasonable. That said I was chasing a P40 today and it was moving away at insane speed, and then I later caught up to it anyways. I also had a mig land a few shots on me from 800 meters.
I do hate how they often they break at the exact right time. Makes fighting planes with high instantaneous maneuverability a nightmare. Landing hits on a I-153 is the WORST, I have to leave it to my AI wingmen XD. You can't even see out the back of that plane, how the f do they see me?
I started playing this game when 4.09 was current, and overall the experience has improved massively since then.