What is the natural prey of the E.III?

[Hauksbee]

Having got a grip [however fleeting] on the E.III controls, I decided to see what the 'Fokker Scourge' looked like. I checked Wikipedia and found that the B.E.2's suffered a particularly bad patch in 1915 at the hands of E.III's. OK. B.E.2's it is. But I find that if you don't get above them in the opening moments of QC, you never will and after that, they fly away from you. Slowly, but steadily. There's no overtaking them. R.E.8's the same. Any tips out there on E.III strategies? Is there anything in OFF that the E.III can catch?

[Hauksbee]

Their other natural enemies are the Nieuport 11, Bristol Scout, DH2

I'm looking for 'natural prey'; natural enemies I don't have to look for. They find me.

Edited April 13, 2009 by Hauksbee

[Wels]

Hello,

most planes being the "natural prey of the E.III" are not yet modelled in OFF p3. Most planes downed with the E.III, the Halberstadt D.II, the early Pfalz monoplanes and the Fokker D.II biplanes, were the so-called X-wires ("Gitterschwaenze" in german) of the early Farman types.

But you can shoot down B.E.2cs, all other planes in OFF are (almost) impossible to down with an E.III. I do now shoot down 1 1/2 strutters now and then, but you have to get in fast from above, no chance otherwise. To engage a Nieuport is of no use in OFF, no chance.

When you manage your engine right (only OFF, not reality because the Oberursel engine could not be adapted to higher altitudes) your E.III will be a slight bit faster than a BE2c, and you will finally come close enough. But you have to lean your mixture according to the altitude you fly - again, not so in reality, the E.III was always faster than the B.E.2s without engine management.

 

Greetings,

Catfish

Edited April 13, 2009 by Wels

[+RAF_Louvert]

Very true Wels, the EIII outclassed the BE2c in all regards, and unless the Einie pilot was foolish enough to allow himself to fly into the gunner's arc on the BE, there was really no danger. Unless of course several BE's were flying together and went into their circle tail chase defensive tactic when the Einies approached them. Then the Hun would have a time of it trying for a clear shot without getting shredded.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Hauksbee]

So...it's BE-2's or nothing? I'll get the ground crew to tweak the engine. It'll be a long, tough slog, but I've got to try to do an Immelman.

[Cameljockey]

Natural prey for the EIII? Horses, cattle, goats, chickens, pedestrians, etc. EIIIs are natural prey to whom? Everybody else! It's a POS!

 

CJ

[Red-Dog]

What ever i'am flying is the natural prey of a E.III

[+Olham]

Yes, the E III should get an opponent in a future version or added on package.

The Morane Parasol or whatelse there was, that an E III could have a chance to beat.

Then, more people would use it. I would!

[Rooster89]

What can an E.III catch? you say? on fire! (sorry, just had to) But I've managed to down maybe 5 Nieuports in my OFF careers, all other times I go down without wings. I haven't even seen any BE2s in my current campaign, actually I havent seen any enemy planes and I'm up to 5.5 hours. Probably all due to the fact that Im in the Verdun region in 1915.

 

-Rooster

Edited April 14, 2009 by Rooster89

[Waldemar Kurtz]

the problem with flying the Fokker E.III in OFF is that there's only one thing you can reliably shoot down with it: the BE2c. another problem with THAT is that the BE2c isn't modelled in OFF the way it actually operated. you can't actually animate some poor bloke picking up the Lewis gun and moving it from one candle-stick mount to another! likewise, most players would be appalled at flying a two-seater that can't fire forward.

 

sure, there WERE instances where people mounted a machine gun to fire forward on the BE2c, but this was far from standard. you can sit on the tail of a BE2c with impugnity--when, in reality, that rarely happened for Fokker pilots (or anybody else, for that matter)

 

the most common "prey" of the Fokker Eindecker historically would be the Farman pusher-types (another reason I've been advocating that they get modelled in the game). the other big option would be the Caudron G.III or the Voisin. neither of these nearly ubiquitous French pushers is currently in the game. the Morane Parasol (in either it's single-seater or two-seater form) could work.

 

additionally, the Nieuport 10 and 12 (the '10' is simply a Nieuport 12 with a faired over cockpit that was converted to pursuit duties) where shot down frequently by the E.III.

 

the Fokker should easily be able to overtake the BE2c... it just realistically took a long time for that to happen! the difference in speed isn't as great as a Fokker pilot might hope for.

[Hauksbee]

...the Fokker should easily be able to overtake the BE2c... the difference in speed isn't as great as a Fokker pilot might hope for.

 

I'll have that engraved on my watch.

[Waldemar Kurtz]

well, the difference between the Fokker E.I and the E.III was pretty noticeable! also, the BE2 seems to be the same throughout the entire war--so they might have juiced up the performance of the BE2 to match mid-war performance levels. I'm not sure.

 

but the BE2c was supposed to have a max speed of 72 mph whereas the BE2e had a top speed of 90 mph!

 

the

Fokker E.I could only fly 82 mph as well--which meant that it's hardly surprising that it took Max Immelmann the better part of 45 minutes to shoot down a single unarmed BE2!

 

the E.III's posted speed was something like 88 to 90 mph... so even if the BE2c is slower, it's not by so much you're gonna overtake it quickly. and if the BE2 performance is from the later marks then you'll NEVER catch it with a Fokker without an altitude advantage and lots of diving!

 

you just gotta have patience. and I always use the time-speed increase to help "shorten" the real-time pursuit cuz I frankly don't have enough spare time in the day to play it at "full realism" like some other folks do.

[Waldemar Kurtz]

nah, I just looked up all of the stats of the E.III and the BE2 and the use the late-war versions of the BE2e and g models for the flight parameters--so Fokker Eindecker pilots are simply screwed. for the early war period Red Baron 3d with the Western Front Patch is still superior to Over Flanders Fields in terms of aircraft match-ups and flight model specifications.

 

I do hope that in the future that OFF will actually modify the Fokker Eindecker and BE2 aircraft series to reflect the performance they had relative to any specific historical period in which they flew.

 

so, this is me eating crow.

 

everybody spoke about how OFF is so historically accurate I assumed (wrongly) that this would apply to the flight models of the E.III and the BE2c.