Does coming from the sun mean anything against AI

[jokash]

I doubt it is but asking anyways

[dgiatr]

2 hours ago, jokash said:

I doubt it is but asking anyways

Interesting question!

Edited July 18 by dgiatr

[BigMotor]

Very good question.

[Duckman]

My guess is no, but I'm very curious about the answer.

[kraut1]

Nice question.

I know in reality it was a topic ("Beware of the Hun in the sun!").

When I am a flight leader it would be to complex / difficult for me to manoever my flight in such a position and additionally to consider the vertical angle for the attack. But maybe others are able to do so I myself will not try, but in general test missions could look in this way:

Player's plane flyes to north

the enemy flight is north of the player's plane and flies either north- or southward.

Date: ca. 21th december (sun is very low, estimation of vertical angle easier)

Time:

for the test with sun in the back of the player (advantage): 12:00

without sun advantage save cooy of mission with time 9:00 or 15:00 for example.

Range to to tried out, maybe for a head on attack 15000m.

heigh advantage of player: to be tried out, maybe 2000m, start mission  pause, switch to external view of enemy watch sun and players plane...

Watch both missions with / without sun advantage and observe the reactions of the enemies...😄

 

 

[Stonehouse]

13 hours ago, kraut1 said:

Nice question.

I know in reality it was a topic ("Beware of the Hun in the sun!").

When I am a flight leader it would be to complex / difficult for me to manoever my flight in such a position and additionally to consider the vertical angle for the attack. But maybe others are able to do so I myself will not try, but in general test missions could look in this way:

Player's plane flyes to north

the enemy flight is north of the player's plane and flies either north- or southward.

Date: ca. 21th december (sun is very low, estimation of vertical angle easier)

Time:

for the test with sun in the back of the player (advantage): 12:00

without sun advantage save cooy of mission with time 9:00 or 15:00 for example.

Range to to tried out, maybe for a head on attack 15000m.

heigh advantage of player: to be tried out, maybe 2000m, start mission  pause, switch to external view of enemy watch sun and players plane...

Watch both missions with / without sun advantage and observe the reactions of the enemies...😄

 

 

Often as well your flight will often dissolve once your AI mates "see" the enemy so to manoeuvre your flight you have to do so far enough away that your flight remains coherent. I've often found that you see the enemy aircraft and maybe try to climb your flight to get some height prior to engaging only to find that some or all of your flight members have broken away to fight already before you give them any orders to attack.

[Kubert]

5 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

I've often found that you see the enemy aircraft and maybe try to climb your flight to get some height prior to engaging only to find that some or all of your flight members have broken away to fight already before you give them any orders to attack.

You can prevent that with "Follow me" order. After this order, they will ignore everything and will be following you no matter what. Then, in altitude, you can "activate" them again with "Continue our mission" order. Just be careful with "Follow me" order. With this active, your flight will ignore everything, so as far as this is active you are the only eyes on the sky.

Edited July 23 by Kubert

[Stonehouse]

53 minutes ago, Kubert said:

You can prevent that with "Follow me" order. After this order, they will ignore everything and will be following you no matter what. Then, in altitude, you can "activate" them again with "Continue our mission" order. Just be careful with "Follow me" order. With this active, your flight will ignore everything, so as far as this is active you are the only eyes on the sky.

I've found that if you don't do that soon enough it didn't seem to work, for me at least. I'll try it again when I can as it's been a while so maybe it has improved.

[Redeye]

On 7/23/2026 at 9:35 AM, Stonehouse said:

I've found that if you don't do that soon enough it didn't seem to work, for me at least. I'll try it again when I can as it's been a while so maybe it has improved.

I have found you need to make sure to give the ‘follow me’ command before the AI sees them. Once they see them and they manoeuvre for attack and they are committed. So I usually give the commands as soon as we switch to the ‘attack’ waypoint (red marker).

[pr0x]

More importantly: Do clouds?

[jokash]

Iv seen them follow each other and me through clouds but i think it also maybe does matter...im not 100% that it doesn't influence them

[MaxPower]

The developers say that clouds affect the ai but I've never found that it does in any way that matters.  Certainly, they have no fear of fighting nevermind flying in imc conditions, even in aircraft with limited instrumentation.