Tough to be German

[Baywing 0]

At least in the summer of 1917. Every mission I'm outnumbered and the Crumpets shoot very well. When I get one on my tail, it seems my Albatros is no match for a SPAD7, I can't shake him. I haven't made it back from a mission in quite a while. Captured or injured, I consider myself lucky to land anywhere. From what I can see, it isn't going to get any better anytime soon......

[shredward 12]

You are right, it isn't. If you live long enough, you will have to fly an aeroplane tastefully decorated in manly shades of pink, coral, puce and lavender.

 

shredward

[rhythalion 0]

At least your not flying a DH2 during "Bloody April"..... then you'd have something to complain about!

[Blue781 0]

You think thats bad wait till 1918 and the last 100 Days Campaign!! it gets downright HARD for the German Jastas then.. (not to mention all the wonderful shades of colors previously mentioned..) like a big bullseye in the sky.. Im starting to see 7-9 Spads/Camels vs our 4 or so Fokkers.. Hair raising stuff.. Granted the German Aircraft with the two guns are deadly killers.. but up against the sheer numbers of Allied planes is making it increasingly harder and harder....

 

Now i know why the jasta gets raving smashed every night.. just to deal with the stress of loosing so many so quick!! ha,ha,ha (That and Widowmakers new Album Hit..) See attached pic.. its causing many a Hangover.. and sleepless nights for our machanics!! ha,ha,ha

 

Cheers and here seeing you over the front!

 

Blue781

Edited March 7, 2009 by Blue781

[Todt Von Oben 0]

At least in the summer of 1917. Every mission I'm outnumbered and the Crumpets shoot very well. When I get one on my tail, it seems my Albatros is no match for a SPAD7, I can't shake him. I haven't made it back from a mission in quite a while. Captured or injured, I consider myself lucky to land anywhere. From what I can see, it isn't going to get any better anytime soon......

 

I got my OFF/BHAH about a week ago and still haven't gotten it running yet due to business priorities. I have this weekend off from work so I plan to get airborne ASAP.

 

My experience is limited to Red Baron, but I've always been a German pilot and always had great success during my campaigns in 1917. I love the Albatross D-III, and felt very comfortable in it when opposed by a Spad 7.

 

If the AI in OFF/BHAH is that much more formidable, it will be a welcome challenge.

 

But I think I'm still going to be of the opinion that, overall, the German planes are superior.

 

And I will continue to fly a Fokker and send the crumpet dunkers and croissant munchers back to their mommies in nice neat little pine boxes whenever the opportunity arrises!

 

Wir, werden meine Freunde sehen. Wir werden sehen.

Prost!

 

TvO

[Todt Von Oben 0]

You think thats bad wait till 1918 and the last 100 Days Campaign!! it gets downright HARD for the German Jastas then.. (not to mention all the wonderful shades of colors previously mentioned..) like a big bullseye in the sky.. Im starting to see 7-9 Spads/Camels vs our 4 or so Fokkers.. Hair raising stuff.. Granted the German Aircraft with the two guns are deadly killers.. but up against the sheer numbers of Allied planes is making it increasingly harder and harder....

 

Now i know why the jasta gets raving smashed every night.. just to deal with the stress of loosing so many so quick!! ha,ha,ha (That and Widowmakers new Album Hit..) See attached pic.. its causing many a Hangover.. and sleepless nights for our machanics!! ha,ha,ha

 

Cheers and here seeing you over the front!

 

Blue781

 

Okay (and again relating to Red Baron) I've got to agree with that. Towards the end of the War the German pilots were so badly outnumbered it just wasn't funny. Since OFF/BHAH seems to be as technically and historically accurate as you guys can make it, and even though I'll be in a D-7 if I live that long, I'm expecting the Fall of 1918 to be something like flying through a shooting gallery.

 

But I still think that, by and large, the German planes were better. (And no, I'm not German, nor am I even of German decent. I'm an American of Irish nationality. I just think the German planes fly better, is all.)

 

Prost!

 

TvO

[Blue781 0]

But I think I'm still going to be of the opinion that, overall, the German planes are superior.

 

 

 

Grüsse Todt,

 

That may be true 2 guns are sometimes better than one, but the RE5 for example will give you a good challenge especially in the hands of a skilled flyer.. If you are in an Albatross against a RE5 in my opinion u will have a very tough time... (the alb turns like a flying sink.. UGH) now with a Fokker especially late war models... you are a butcher and are unstoppable especially against Camels.. ;) Have Fun and Pop around to Jasta 12 sometime.. Its my favorite Jasta to fly with.. (We are the black tailed bastards of Jasta 12)

 

LG,

 

Blue781

[Todt Von Oben 0]

Grüsse Todt,

 

That may be true 2 guns are sometimes better than one, but the RE5 for example will give you a good challenge especially in the hands of a skilled flyer.. If you are in an Albatross against a RE5 in my opinion u will have a very tough time... (the alb turns like a flying sink.. UGH) now with a Fokker especially late war models... you are a butcher and are unstoppable especially against Camels.. ;) Have Fun and Pop around to Jasta 12 sometime.. Its my favorite Jasta to fly with.. (We are the black tailed bastards of Jasta 12)

 

LG,

 

Blue781

 

 

 

 

Greetings Blue!

 

RE5? Is that the same as an SE5 or SE5A? True, a good plane. And the ability to fire the Lewis gun vertically does have advantages.

 

Again, my experience is still limited to Red Baron and I won't have my OFF/BHAH working until tomorrow. But the D-III seemed to me as one of the first German planes I could really FLY and not worry about it breaking...at least until I sustained battle damage. In RB3D I found it very nimble. Perhaps that game was less than accurate? I don't know.

 

But I totally agree with you about the D-7. In that plane I feel like a shark. I can fly it as aggressively as I want and do not worry about it breaking. It is a strong, agile weapons platform with formidable armament.

 

In RB3D I couldn't actually hang a D-7 on the prop and fire the Spandau's vertically; but I'm told the real plane could do that, and I'm hoping the OFF/BHAH version will do that as well.

 

Jasta 12 it is! i will do all in my power to get my OFF/BHAH running in the next two days. Lucky for me, I have my wife to help me! She's the computer expert in the family.

 

Prost!

 

TvO

[Baywing 0]

Flying for Jasta 21, I've had the Albatros D3 and now DV (early). They are both tough a/c, I've never had damage other than from lead. They don't turn as well as the N17 or SPAD7, don't climb as well and are generally out-classed. From what I've read in several books, though, it seems the Albatros should be more capable than the Allied planes. Could be I'm not a good pilot.....

[Geier 0]

The Albatros DIII outturns the SPAD VII all days of the week. It outclimbs and outruns the N17 all days of the week as well. It rolls really poorly and has far nastier stalls than the N17. The N17 can stall out at 100 feet and recover. You can't. The Alb DII and DIII are also crap above 10.000 feet, at least compared to the lighter Pups and N17s. If you want to shake a SPAD, hard turn with full bank should do it. Get behind him and be prepared to fire most of your ammo to down him unless you can get dead close and/or is a dead shot.

 

I think Olham54 summed it up best: The Brits and the French made great flying machines - The Germans made great fighting machines. If you think your Alb will handle like in RB3D you're in for a nasty surprise. That said, I believe that the Alb roll rate might be upped a notch or two and the N17 DM downed a notch in the upcoming patch. Just guesswork (or wishful thinking) on my part though. In my Bloody April campaign(s) N17's are by far the most dangerous foe, even worse than the Tripehounds.

 

If attacking fighters at higher alt with inferior numbers on your side is your thing, prepare to Die-A-Lot in OFF. Why you are attacking Allied fighters at all I don't know. Their main purpose is to keep you away from the two-seaters and they're more than happy to let you help them with that. The two-seaters are your main target and your only priority is to get them. Attacking scouts is something you do when you have a strong upper hand. Like altitude and numbers.

 

Almost no plane outclass the contemporary opponents so much they can disregard the Dicta Boelcke. The BMW D7 might be an exception, I don't know, never flown it.

[Baywing 0]

Biggest problem is that I'm always grossly outnumbered. By the time I turn and get a SPAD in my sights, I've got 2-3 more of them on my 6 perforating my ship. Last mission was a home airfield defense (they call it that, I call it a massacre) 6 DV's against 10-12 SPADs with them having altitude advantage. At least I can make it back to the ground.........

[Blue781 0]

RE5? Is that the same as an SE5 or SE5A? True, a good plane. And the ability to fire the Lewis gun vertically does have advantages.

 

Hi TVO,

 

The RE5 was the first version of the later to be RE5a Woolsey Viper had a more powerful engine.. Both aircraft are deadly killers.. Hope you enjoy the game.. and remember to load the new patch!!

 

Greetings,

 

Blue781

[DerMo 0]

With my Albatros DII i cannot outrun,outdive,outclimb or outmanouver the N17 at any altitude.When you try to outdive,the Albatross gets stiff like a bus when reaching only 200km/h while the N17 does what it wants to without getting stiff or loosing its wings.a bit unrealistic.Hard Opponent.best to avoid them when you are outnumbered

[Todt Von Oben 0]

Hi TVO,

 

The RE5 was the first version of the later to be RE5a Woolsey Viper had a more powerful engine.. Both aircraft are deadly killers.. Hope you enjoy the game.. and remember to load the new patch!!

 

Greetings,

 

Blue781

 

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Yes, the more I read, the more I see there may be a lot of performance differences between OFF and RB3D...and I am really looking forward to that. Without meaning to sound cocky: after a few years the AI in RB3D seemed a bit too tame and predictable. I've been looking forward to flying against someone / something with a larger bag of tricks, and won't be displeased at all if I get my butt handed to me in a bucket. The greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity for self-improvement. :yes:

 

I've never heard of the RE5 Woolsey Viper, but when I surf the net today I'll try to find out about it. Danke!

 

This afternoon we'll start installing the game into our new computer. I'll be using the ol' Sidewinder at first, but am shopping for a better stick and pedals right now.

 

Wow! I can feel the adrenalburger building in my gut already! :yes:

 

Prost!

 

TvO

Edited March 7, 2009 by Todt Von Oben

[Blue781 0]

Hi TVO

 

I found this today concerning the RE5a

 

The Royal Aircraft Factory Se5 was one of the finest fighter aircraft of the First World War, although its introduction was hampered by problems with its advanced engine design. The Se5 was a superb gun platform, but lacked the dog-fighting agility of the more famous Sopwith Camel. The Se5 design was distinctive in the use of an over-wing mounted Lewis machine gun, which allowed for a greater sweep of firepower, or the ability to fire at an enemy from below. No.1 Squadron was the founder squadron of the Royal Flying Corps in 1912 and as such has a special place in RAF history. In early 1918, the squadron, equipped with the improved SE5a fighters, engaged in low level attacks against advancing German forces and helped to repel their last desperate attacks. As the Allied air campaign moved onto the offensive, 1 Squadron Se5a’s were employed in providing fighter cover for the more vulnerable bomber aircraft.

 

I looked for info on the official name of the RE5a (Viper) and couldnt find much not sure why (and the 'SE' gets me too? look on your claim form for kills and its is definitly RE5 or RE5a) but here is a bit of honest info off of Wiki for ya!!

 

Have Fun,

 

Blue781

Edited March 7, 2009 by Blue781

[Geier 0]

Baywing:

I agree that the Scramble missions are complete suicide missions and are not implemented perfectly. I never fly them anymore. Enable Advance Time Manually in Workshops, then you'll get a button saying Advance Time which is helpful.

 

Blue:

I've never heard of an RE5. There are RE8's which are two-seater bombers/recon planes and there's the excellent fighter the SE5, which comes with either a Hispano-Suiza or a Wolseley Viper engine. If it reads RE5 in your claim form you have a faulty install I dare say.

 

DerMo:

Yeah, I mainly stay away from N17's, even with my Albatros DIII. If the Albs get a roll rate improvement and the N17 gets a slightly more vulnerable airframe in the upcoming patch I'll be all over them. The N17 losses during Bloody April were staggering when they went up against the DIII. So get posted to a DIII Jasta asap, then you can always run away from them until the patch comes ;-)

 

Note:

I have no idea whether the design team agrees on my assessment about the Alb roll rate OR the N17 DM!

[Todt Von Oben 0]

Baywing:

I agree that the Scramble missions are complete suicide missions and are not implemented perfectly. I never fly them anymore. Enable Advance Time Manually in Workshops, then you'll get a button saying Advance Time which is helpful.

 

Blue:

I've never heard of an RE5. There are RE8's which are two-seater bombers/recon planes and there's the excellent fighter the SE5, which comes with either a Hispano-Suiza or a Wolseley Viper engine. If it reads RE5 in your claim form you have a faulty install I dare say.

 

DerMo:

Yeah, I mainly stay away from N17's, even with my Albatros DIII. If the Albs get a roll rate improvement and the N17 gets a slightly more vulnerable airframe in the upcoming patch I'll be all over them. The N17 losses during Bloody April were staggering when they went up against the DIII. So get posted to a DIII Jasta asap, then you can always run away from them until the patch comes ;-)

 

Note:

I have no idea whether the design team agrees on my assessment about the Alb roll rate OR the N17 DM!

 

Hi guys,

 

Surfed around and couldn't find anything on the Woolsey RE5.

 

I could be wrong, but I believe the SE in SE5 stands for "Scout Experimental"??

 

My wife and I just now tried to get my OFF/BHAH working. First problem:

 

Our old computer is a nine year old Dell Dimension 8200 that we upgraded to Windows XP. Our new computer is a Dell XPS with Vista.

 

JOYSTICK PROBLEM: My old Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 (with throttle; without force feedback) doesn't seem to work with the new computer. Tried a number of fixes including looking for driver updates. Doesn't look like it's going to work.

 

SO.... I'm going to buy a new stick and pedal set. I know nothing about new hardware or PC rudder pedals.

 

I've read what some of you have said and it sounds like Saitek pedals are good? I've looked at them on eBay and they look nice.

 

So, to my QUESTION: If you were in my position (brand new Dell computer with good capabilities but set up with Vista) which pedals and joystick would be best?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Prost!

 

TvO

Edited March 8, 2009 by Todt Von Oben

[Baywing 0]

FWIW, my kill reports show SE5's. Never heard of a RE5.

 

Don't know much about Vista, I've been avoiding it, but BHaH should run fine. As long as the stick and pedals are USB (not the old gameport) pretty much anything current should work.

I have a copy of RB (not sure which version) still unopened. I never got around to it, though in the day I didn't have a computer strong enough to run it. As I look back, I was busy with the real ones at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.

[Mr. Lucky 0]

The german planes, after the EIII typically enjoyed a power advantage that allowed them to climb and generally dive away from the enemy. This, however, doesn't seem to be modelled here in OFF. Try to outrun a Nieuport in a DII or DIII. But, I've noticed that when I fly German, knowing I have the twin guns and therefore twice the firepower of the enemy, I enjoy a great confidence boost. I would think this may have been tru IRL also. As a note, for the German planes (at least the early ones), I reduce the fuel to fit the mission plus a safety margin to get a gain in performance.

[Todt Von Oben 0]

FWIW, my kill reports show SE5's. Never heard of a RE5.

 

Don't know much about Vista, I've been avoiding it, but BHaH should run fine. As long as the stick and pedals are USB (not the old gameport) pretty much anything current should work.

I have a copy of RB (not sure which version) still unopened. I never got around to it, though in the day I didn't have a computer strong enough to run it. As I look back, I was busy with the real ones at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.

 

You were involved at Rhinebeck? Very cool! I've only seen it on TV.

 

I thought about running OFF/BHAH through my old computer (where the joystick works) but it doesn't seem to have enough power to run CFSM3 and OFF.

 

The new computer with Vista has the room and power for OFF, but doesn't like the joystick. So I'm shopping around. Am researching into what most of you guys feel is the best stick and pedal combinaton for this game. The downside is, it's probably going to be another week until I get flying. Oh well...

 

Prost!

 

TvO

[Geier 0]

Never mind my previous post re: the DIII and N17. The DIII flies like a dream and both it and the N17 are more fragile. Just download and install 1.26. Man oh man what a sim this is.

 

I absolutely love the changes made to these AC. The DIII is also far better at high alt compared to before. Had a great fight with some N17's at 13000 feet. I got one, Grabenhoof another but the bastards got Richter. We were 4 vs 6 and my rudder got busted so made a forced landing with someone called Tom Falcon Something shooting me up something terribly. N17's still fly as great as they did but now you can hang onto them much better. Sure, you can kill them faster but they can kill you much faster as well. Really recommend the Wide setting for the guns.

 

The air just got far more deadly.

[Olham 164]

Hey, Blue

Since the Camel joined the SPAD as a two-gunner, life got hard for the German pilots.

Cause, the German Albatros wasn't superior through it's weapons anymore, and it was less manoeuverable,

and not faster than any of those.

The only "plus" of the Albatros seemed to be then, that she was very stabile (apart from the lower wing), and

could take some hits. I wonder, how good it's performance would really have been - wish, there were a film,

showing MvR, Voss or Udet flying it. Perhaps it is a bit underrated here. But I'll continue flying her (ant I get

better and better, Crumpetz! Better beware!!)

The planes to match the new Allied ones were the Dr.1 (good equivalent to the Camel), and the D VII and D VII F

(good against anything). Haven't checked the Pfalz D IIIa yet enough; could be an equivalent to the S.E.5a

(? does anyone know?)

These two should have done fine, but when a small country like Germany has England, France, America and Australia

against it, it was totally outnumbered. Impossible to win. So I chose the most beautiful crate to die in (Lol!)

 

Geier, for scrambles, use some phantasy. I start sidewards to the field and try to get some distance to the mob.

Then I climb, and come back with enough altitude. I really like scrambles. Only had two on BHaH patched yet, but on

the 2. I killed three Tripes with my Albatros D III early (on the 1. though, I had to land my D II with damaged engine

after getting only one Nupe 11). And Nupe 17: try to only fight one at a time. Means, get away from the furball; use wing 1

helping. I had a fight against Monsieur Victor F M A Regnier from Esc. 112 (a Stork emblem - sure an ace).

Although my Alb was already damaged, I managed to hit him severely, cause my wing1 chased him off my tail.

Then I escaped over the lines. On German side I hit him again. These two bursts should have been more than enough for

a Nupe, but he carried on attacking me, as if he was invincible (an "ace cheat", Winder?) Try hit-and-run tactics with them.

 

And, yes, Mr.Lucky - fuel management is important!

[Hoghead 0]

At least in the summer of 1917. Every mission I'm outnumbered and the Crumpets shoot very well. When I get one on my tail, it seems my Albatros is no match for a SPAD7, I can't shake him. I haven't made it back from a mission in quite a while. Captured or injured, I consider myself lucky to land anywhere. From what I can see, it isn't going to get any better anytime soon......

 

The only german planes that seem to be on a par with their allied counterparts are the DVII and the DR1. I don't know if this is historical or not but the Camels, Se5s and the Nieuports all seem to be much better then their contemporary germans planes. The new patch did help the Alb DIII a bit though. I was doing some testing in QC of the new patch and I wanted to get away from the airfield so the ground gunners wouldn't interfere. DVII vs Se5a. At the merge I put the nose of the DVII down into a shallow dive and used padlock to watch the Se5a. After we initally passed each other he made a 180 degree turn where he never got more than about 500 feet (or yards, It still looks like the numbers in the labels are yards) behind me and then started catching up!! I watched a video that someone posted here about him getting his butt handed to him by some Bristol fighters. Isnt it great that the Bristol fighter can fly circles around the Dr1, that's probably why the British suspended all other fighter production to concentrate on the Bristol because it was such a terror of the skys, Oh wait, they didn't and it wasn't, hummm. Additionally I still think that the AI is not hampered by the same laws of physics as the player is. I have a nice video clip of a Se5 just kinda hovering nose high doing a little piroette <sp> as I try to spiral climb above him. On the other hand though, the Spad XIII is still a brick, seems it didn't get any help in the patch, in fact in my testing the Spad VII was a more viable plane against the DVII then the XIII is. Also the DH-2 seems to be out classed by the early Albatros and the Halberstadt except when the AI is flying it.

 

Again all these observations are subjective, I've never flown any of these planes in real life, nor do I have hard flight test data, but when I'm flying a Spad XIII straight and level and I pull all the way back on the stick as fast as I can and the nose just very slowly rises, what I know about aerodynamics just tells me this is wrong. So far I think 1.26 is a steep in the right direction but I think more of the planes need looking at as far as FMs go. I'm sure OBD will get around to it in time.

 

Scott

[Geier 0]

Olham:

Scrambles were good fun IF you didn't care if your Jasta got wiped out. Sometimes they're OK but the last three I got was 9-12 enemy fighters sitting on top of 4-5 of us when we hadn't even started our engines. That's a massacre no matter if you get 3 or 4 of them by yourself, and I even managed to quite easily just fly away from them once. I haven't tried it with 1.26 though, the N17 are no longer the terror I thought they were before. Their DM has been turned down a notch and the DIII is now a far superior plane to what we've had before.

 

Hoghead:

The Bristol Fighter was in service until 1938. I'd say it is a great machine if you flew it correctly. But I'll QC a few of them with my DIII and return with my reports. They had some weird AI flying them back in 1.0. Anyway, I'm sure the team would look into any complaints you might have, they are a supremely committed bunch. The DIII is after 1.26 exactly the terror it was during March-June 1917 and can hold it's own against all opposition, including the SPAD VII and the Tripehound. When the SE5's and Camels arrive, they're in trouble. What the Jastas were built for was protection of balloons, attacking balloons and knocking down the two-seaters. As they were outnumbered they picked fights they could win and didn't go tally-hoing into any enemy flight that crossed their path. The BE2's, the Strutters, the Harry Tates are your primary targets - not the scouts.

[shredward 12]

The SPAD VII was preferred by many pilots over the XIII - it only gave away 20hp, though it was actually faster, and it was far more agile. The big advantage of the XIII was the second gun.

Top speed of the SE was 135 mph (217km/h)

Top speed of the Biff was 113 mph (182km/h)

Top speed of the DrI was 160 km/h

Top speed of the DVII was 189 km/h

Top speed of the Bimmer was 200 km/h

The DH2 was outclassed by the Tros - hence the demise of Lanoe Hawker, and the story of Bloody April.

Cheers,

shredward