Survival In the Air Series - Discussion Board

[Guest British_eh]

HI THERE,

 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT HERE ON ANY ASPECTS OF THE TOPICS PRESENTED. THE OTHER SITES HERE ARE PRIMARILY FOR UPLOAD AND DOWNLOADS. THANKS, BRITISH_EH DEC, 2010

 

 

Survival In the Air

 

Welcome, to all the OFF enthusiasts, who look to enhance their flying skills or insight into OFF Aircraft and Settings for the game. This series of aircraft flight instruction notes are geared from a pilotperspective, and are prepared totally with OFF as the predicating factor. OBD has endeavored to provide us with the most realistic Flight Model characteristics, and we look create the accompanying flight guide for various aircraft. We will also look to provide ideas on what settings that are in the OFF Workshop, or available as a download, that may enhance the realism of OFF.

 

Thanks to Dej, who has been instrumental in getting the OFF Aircraft flight manuals off to a flying start. Thanks also to each “Pilot” who has contributed their expertise in providing these manuals. They are not perfect, but I’m sure everyone may learn a trick or two. Similarly with OFF settings, thanks to Bletchley for his impeccable research, and input. More to come………..

 

The first is the notorious Sopwith Camel, written by Dej, with some technical expertise provided by RAF_Louvert.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2010 by British_eh

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Brit,

 

I don't think you're getting the feedback you deserve, so I'd just like to say thank you and that I've downloaded all of these documents.

 

I might even write one concerning surviving in a BE2c and living through Bloody April!

 

Cheers,

Si

[Morris 2]

thanx Brit.

 

[rabu 9]

Wow, this looks really interesting. Will take a look at them tonight after work. Thanks guys!

[Dej 17]

Hi Brit,

 

I don't think you're getting the feedback you deserve, so I'd just like to say thank you and that I've downloaded all of these documents.

 

I might even write one concerning surviving in a BE2c and living through Bloody April!

 

Cheers,

Si

 

Please do... the more the merrier Richard is on holiday at the moment but I think there's another guide on its way when he's back.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Dej

[Hellshade 110]

The work is indeed excellent! I dare say it should be required reading for any serious P3er. People need good information on how to survive in the air and what it takes to really Master each type of plane. A few minutes spent reading each of these guides doubtless would save many in-game pilot lives and countless hours of frustration. Thanks for creating these guys. Keep up the great work please!

 

btw, British_eh inspired my latest video with these SA guides. Look for a fairly large "Air to Air Tactics" video to be posted soon. Kudos to him for helping turn as many novice pilots into veterans as possible.

Hellshade

[DeathJester 0]

As I'm finding difficult to adjust from my WW2 flight sim tactics, this advice is priceless - thanks guys, and keep up the good work!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Another wondeful bit of technical writing and instruction. Well done Dej. Many thanks to you and British_eh and all those who have put in their time and talents on this series.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Hellshade 110]

Hi there,

 

Yet another offering from Dej, who has done a super job on writing this up from an Aussie perspective. Make sure you have a cold one waiting for you after your initial flight as this crate is as smooth as your favorite beer.

 

Good'ay,

 

British_eh

 

 

 

Damn well written Dej. I agree with you on every point. The pup is a joy to fly and fight in as long as you don't mind being limited to 1 gun, 500 rounds and avoid chasing huns in a dive. Well done sir.

 

Hellshade

[Dej 17]

Damn well written Dej. I agree with you on every point. The pup is a joy to fly and fight in as long as you don't mind being limited to 1 gun, 500 rounds and avoid chasing huns in a dive. Well done sir.

 

Hellshade

 

Thanks HS, glad you enjoyed it... and glad it conformed to your experience.

 

Canvas Wings has brought up a few points which I'll incorporate in a revised version. He'd almost finished a guide himself (which matches mine very closely) but was waylaid by some RL issues, which is why we've not seen him around.

[nbryant 8]

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Very, very well done, British_eh. Top hole work, Sir. Stop by the pub and I'll buy you the first round!

 

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Bletchley 8]

Some of the background to the ammunition loadout figures can be found here:

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/other-wwi-aviation/49045-how-many-rounds-did-they-have.html

 

The figures for Lewis gun loadout is based on the 47 round drum up to mid 1915 and the larger 97 round drum thereafter, and assumes that the pilot will not reload it in combat (we found pilot statements that indicate that the early Lewis mounts made it extremely difficult, if not impossible to reload the Lewis whilst also flying the plane). With the introduction of Foster mounts it became easier to reload the Lewis whilst flying, but was still a difficult and time consuming operation (particularly when at altitude, and gloved up) and many pilots would not attempt it unless they really had to (and would have to break off combat to do so), so we made a larger ammunition loadout optional.

 

The figures for belt-fed guns are speculative (see link above), but there is evidence that most pilots did not normally take the maximum amount that would fill their ammunition boxes (unless ground strafing), and that British aircraft peformance figures assume a much lower looadout (around 40% or 50% of maximum loadout) for the twin Vickers (so 40% or 50% should be an optional figure for the Camel and twin-gun Sopwith Triplane). There is also similar evidence that German pilots would normally restrict themselves to a 40% loadout (2 x 200 round Parabellum belts) for the twin LMG 08/15.

 

This is still rather speculative and very much WIP, so I am sure British_eh would welcome comments on this (as would I).

 

Bletchley

 

If you are wondering what the Pilot Personality Profiles are, they were posted a long time ago as a bit of fun (a game within a game, that will bring your wingmen to life), but I include an updated version here:

[Bletchley 8]

"The figures for Lewis gun loadout is based on the 47 round drum up to mid 1915"

 

Oops! I meant "mid 1916" :)

 

Sorry.

 

Bletchley

[Wayfarer 5]

I have just searched through this thread and can't find the actual links to any pilot primer except for the Pup. I can see the posts where I thought the links were. I have viewed them before without a problem. Have they been moved/removed? If not it seems I have a PC problem.

 

 

[vonOben 55]

Hi

 

Great information in the "Flying and air fighting" series!

 

Thanks a lot for writing them!

 

There are no links to the Fe2b and to the DrI….

 

S!

Cheers

 

vonOben

[Wayfarer 5]

Thanks British_eh.

Thought me or the computer had finally lost it!

And thanks to everyone whose put these together.

 

Wayfarer

Edited September 19, 2010 by Wayfarer

[cptroyce 0]

Brit - Really enjoy this project. The How to fly procedurals are great IMHO!

 

 

Royce

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Bletchley--

 

I love your pilot personality profile! Funny that I never saw it before when I was flying RB3D and helping Bluevoss (I wonder what he is doing now and whether he still has his model trains) with his FM's. Your profiles must have taken a long time to put together, but I bet it makes your squadron and your mates really come alive. It's really too bad that CFS3 took the lazy way out and randomly generates results for you wingmates instead of keeping track of their successes and failures.

 

How did you come up with all 36 personality types? I especially like Alpha Male, Bolshevik, Frontiersman, and Obscure Hobbyist.

 

Very atmospheric to have Field type, Adjutant, CO, Morale, Lodging, and Roomates settings. Also love the work you put into the "Standard Encounter,' and "Goodwill" tables.

 

And then the Advanced Rules! Parties and possible negative effects from breaking formation! Fantastic!

 

This may become a required mod for me. Thank you very much!

[Bletchley 8]

Hello Herr Prop-Wasche,

 

I can't claim any of the credit for that - it is all part of the original PPF by Bluevoss. I just adapted it for OFF.

 

I added the sections on initial training missions, tours of duty, promotions, leave, etc.

 

You are right - the lack of connection between actual outcomes and the fate of your wingmen is a disapointing feature of CFS3/OFF, and I find that the non-ace AI pilots seem to die or disappear probably much faster than they should (at least, in quiet sectors or quiet times). It is a bit of fun, so long as you don't mind all the dice rolling between missions :)

 

Bletchley

Edited September 22, 2010 by Bletchley

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Allo' Bletchley,

 

I took a good look at 3P last night and am very impressed. The new stuff on training missions, leave and promotions are nice additions!

 

The only problem that I noted was that it is hard to keep track of what you have to do and when. To that end, I put together an additional appendix that lists both the scheduled and non-scheduled events that take place in 3P. For instance, what steps to follow when you start a new campaign, what needs to be done at the start of every day, etc. I have included these instructions as an attachment to this message, so anyone can use it.

 

I took the liberty to add just a few minor items or options: 1) For English pilots with > 200 campaign points, I added the option to return to active duty after 6-12 months with a die roll of 1; and 2) for non-English pilots, a +1 modifier for every 5 kills your pilot has to the dice roll that determines length of leave. Let me know what you think.

 

HPW

 

 

[Bletchley 8]

Thanks HPW :)

 

That is a useful schedule, you seem to have got the hang of it very quickly and I like your additions. I am continually tweaking and fine tuning it myself, the most recent change being an additional +5 points for every end-of-mission landing back at the pilot's own airfield: I was finding that my pilot sometimes got stuck in a rather irritating cycle of an initial bad start leading to an early return to the Home Front, only to be followed by the same again on return. Adding that +5 per mission gives a slight positive bias that can help to overcome bad luck at the start. But a bad landing (-5 points fot the 'your aircraft is destroyed' message) would, of course, cancel this out.

 

My aim is to start out in 1915 at the lowest rank and progress through to the highest rank by the end of the war, all in one long campaign: I never axhieved this in RB3D, and I doubt if I will achieve it in OFF, but it fun to attempt it.

 

Bletchley

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Glad you like it.

 

Speaking of bad landings, I thought of another addition to Table 6, listing end of mission events.

 

If you get an aircraft destroyed message at the end of your mission, deduct -2 campaign points. Deduct an additional -5 points if your Flight Leader (highest ranking pilot in your flight) is class TL (Tyrannical Leader), BL (Bully), or NE (Natural Enemy). Deduct -10 points if your C.O. is one of those classes.

Something that would be really nice is a computer program that could tally and keep track of pilot classes, events, goodwill, and campaign points. That would be a pretty large project, though, I'm afraid.

[Bletchley 8]

HPW, I like your change to the 'bad landings' score modifier, and I agree: it would be great if someone could to write a small computer program to automate the whole process - but in the meantime I am happy to plug away with dice and paper :)

 

Bletchley

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

British--

You say you were pounded in the initial attack? Where did they get you--aileron cables or engine damage? Those seem to be the most sensitive to early attacks, in my experience. If you don't want the full damage mod, I can suggest how to fix those areas.

 

Bletchley--

"Bad landings" seemed like the perfect place for a Tyrannical Leader or Bully to take the opportunity to put a pilot in his place: "That's government property you've so carelessly destroyed. Next time, I'll have your stripes!"

Edited September 24, 2010 by Herr Prop-Wasche