I came into IL-2 again after a looooong break, and patched up to 4.12 and started flying again. I didn't last very long, until I started respecting the AI and what it could do, even the seemingly impossible
1. Keep energy as long as you can. Avoid trying to pull the wings off if you're not actually getting shot at, wide climbing turns while you clear your tail. Getting slow in a dogfight is going to get you killed, which leads to 2...
2. Avoid Dogfights, or rather kinifefights in phoneboxes. Seriously. Avoid getting into a turning fight, even if every historical reference you have ever seen, says you can out-turn your opponent. While you're keeping him off your tail. his mates are turning up to banjo you.
3. Check your tail. Always. Sounds obvious right? But as the AI seems to be able to kill you from a l;ong way out, watch your tail. Especially if you have a sitting duck you're attacking. It's almost as if the game is luring you in, so the AI can bounce you all to hell and go back for ersatz coffee ond Knight's Crosses
4. Improve and practice your all-angle gunnery. Get in close, hose him down and break off , even if he's not burning. Leave him for your wingmen, and find the next threat, which I guarantee will be least where you expected him.
5. Height. Height. Height. Height is Speed, speed is life. The game always seems to want to put you at a height disadvantage. As you go up the promotion ladder, and you can control flights and squadrons, bang on another 5000 feet above the controller's reccomendation. There is a mod that allows you to go wings level and maintain height (Stabs4all) ? Get it, it's invaluable. It is deeply satisfying to actiually roll in with a height advantage while they're on the edge of a stall, you'll soon start racking up the kills.
6. Flak. Seriously, is it just me, or have the gunners in 4.12 been away to gunnery school since 4.07? The only way I can survive most of the time, is to start ground hugging or take a wide detour. Exhilarating at speed, but dealing with flak positions by strafing seems to be very difficult now. Terrain hugging is also good to avoid the 88's of course. It's also good to try and get some space and build speed in airfield attacks scenarios when you're trying to get into the fight
7. CFIT, or getting the enemy to fly into the ground, as mentioned in another post. It's a proper tactic, and one I use a lot. Split-S'ing after an attack at low-level seems to encourage the AI to come after you fangs out. Find a fold in the terrain, aim for it and pull out at the last moment, get warm feeling in tummy looking at smoking hole AI's, then go back and kill their mates.
8. The Double-Handed polebender or Last Best Move. Sometimes, the best course of action is to literally stuff everything into a corner. A really violent evasive manouvere will get him off you. I'm less worried about bending the aircraft than have him shoot me full of holes.
9. Following your kill down. Don't. A lot of the time in 4.12 you'll end up a smoking hole in the same field.
10. Billy, don't be a Hero. If you're getting hit, and you're out of ideas, roll inverted and get out.
I appreciate what I've just written is teaching most of you to suck eggs, but these are just my observations since playing 4.12