Saved by a bug?

[Macklroy 2]

My current DiD pilot sergent Mack McRoy was on his 4th mission over enemy teritory on a balloon busting mission. His small flight of 3 sopwith camels were suddenly decended upon by a much supperior flight of enemy air craft and the fight was on.

 

In a desparate attempt to shoot 3 bosche fighters off my wingmate harlowe richardson, i was set upon by 2 more of the pesky buggers. I jinked best i could to try and keep my quarry in front of me and still not give MY pursuers the chance at a clean shot. Harlowe performed a hard roll onto his back and roared his plane to the deck heading for home. When i tried to follow the manuver i found that my poor bird had taken more punishment than i thought from my pesky friends at 6 o'clock.

 

The plane stalled and started to spin. Loosing all my airspeed by now, the 2 bandits on my tail had no trouble overtaking me and sending a large quantity of hot lead in my general direction. Just as i was starting to realize that this could be "IT"!!!... the mission closed and kicked me out to the debriefing screen. Both my flight leader and wingman had returned home, although poor harlowe was in the hospital for 17 days after the encounter. But i was unhurt and back to flight readyness for the next mission.

 

Im flying at 100% realism in the workshop config. (DiD setting). The only settings i adjusted as far as 'gameplay' goes is auto mixture set to on (-10%), and Guns on hard (+10%).

 

Any reason the mission just 'quit' while i was getting hammered by the enemy? I didnt get booted from the game either. just as if i had hit esc and quit the mission. Back at debrief ready for the next day.

 

S!

[Rick Rawlings 132]

My current DiD pilot sergent Mack McRoy was on his 4th mission over enemy teritory on a balloon busting mission. His small flight of 3 sopwith camels were suddenly decended upon by a much supperior flight of enemy air craft and the fight was on.

 

In a desparate attempt to shoot 3 bosche fighters off my wingmate harlowe richardson, i was set upon by 2 more of the pesky buggers. I jinked best i could to try and keep my quarry in front of me and still not give MY pursuers the chance at a clean shot. Harlowe performed a hard roll onto his back and roared his plane to the deck heading for home. When i tried to follow the manuver i found that my poor bird had taken more punishment than i thought from my pesky friends at 6 o'clock.

 

The plane stalled and started to spin. Loosing all my airspeed by now, the 2 bandits on my tail had no trouble overtaking me and sending a large quantity of hot lead in my general direction. Just as i was starting to realize that this could be "IT"!!!... the mission closed and kicked me out to the debriefing screen. Both my flight leader and wingman had returned home, although poor harlowe was in the hospital for 17 days after the encounter. But i was unhurt and back to flight readyness for the next mission.

 

Im flying at 100% realism in the workshop config. (DiD setting). The only settings i adjusted as far as 'gameplay' goes is auto mixture set to on (-10%), and Guns on hard (+10%).

 

Any reason the mission just 'quit' while i was getting hammered by the enemy? I didnt get booted from the game either. just as if i had hit esc and quit the mission. Back at debrief ready for the next day.

 

S!

 

This seems to happen when the game senses that you have no more control over the aircraft and it determines what your fate is. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die. I don't believe that the hospital has worked for the last several patches; at least, I have not been hospitalized since 1.28 or so. Whenever something like what you described happens, if I live, I use time advance to put myself in the hospital for ten days or so. To help get your mind around it, imagine you just went Barker on us and managed to bring the plane down miraculously through bouts of unconsciousness. Don't worry, another time it will happen and you will be properly dead :)

 

RR

[+Polovski 440]

Woo hold on guys, before we shout bug it quits, bug no hospital ;).

 

Yep when you are out of it, pilot dead, a/c totally damaged beyond control etc the game will quit after a few seconds.

[Canvas Wings 1]

No idea why it happens, but I've experienced the same thing several times. -Sometimes when shot down, (once when a burst caught my fuel tank; I saw the explsion, and the wings rip off, at about 8000 feet.) -sometimes in a crash.

I usually fly a series of 8 pilots, of different nationalities, planes and time periods. I have notice that when this miraculous escape occurs, it tends to happen to the next pilot and possibly the third. Then it the game returns to it's normal deadly level for an indefinite period, all without stopping/restarting the sim.

I fly at 110% DiD and nothing tweaked except automix. Sometimes with TAC & labels, sometimes not. I still haven't manage to isolate any common denominator in the incidents so far.

Wierd -but since I'm a rookie at this game, my pilots die so often that I'm just glad to get a break. So I just thank the Gods of War and soldier on.

[Canvas Wings 1]

imagine you just went Barker on us and managed to bring the plane down miraculously through bouts of unconsciousness. Don't worry, another time it will happen and you will be properly dead :)

RR

 

 

LOL! Good point!

And... there used to be a wounded/hospital function in this game??? (I started at 1.30) Cool! I'd love to see that back in the mix.

[Wels 2]

Hello Pol,

this has been sure asked before - is there really no possibility to NOT end the game at this point, to see what happens to the craft, and pilot ? Is this the same behaviour that ends the mission as soon as you land behind enemy lines / emergency land etc. ? Because in P2 if i remember right the game did NOT quit immediately, or at least only if the pilot was inded dead .. so .. no chance for this in P3 ?

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

[Bullethead 12]

Yep when you are out of it, pilot dead, a/c totally damaged beyond control etc the game will quit after a few seconds.

 

Would it be possible to change that? I'd really like 2 changes: 1) the flight never ends until you say it has, even after you're dead and bouncing on the ground, and 2) when you're in some badly stricken crate whose remains are tumbling end-over-end, that you neither black nor red out.

 

The reason I want these things are 1) to take a screenshot of my inglorious death which is the only remembance most of my pilots will ever have, and 2) to find out just why I suffered Mysterious Destruction Syndrome, so I know who to blame when I get to Hell.

 

The lack of such things is rather annoying to me. I very frequently suffer Mysterious Destruction Syndrome (MDS), where my crate basically disintegrates for no apparent reason. I'm not being shot at, that's all I know. Most times, due to both the screen instantly going red or black, or the flight ending, I never have a chance to see what got me. Even when I go to external view, it's still black or red, with nothing to be seen at all. How can I learn from my mistakes when I can't see what I did wrong? And how can I tell which of my erstwhile wingmen to shank in Hell when I don't know which one flew into me? Right now, I have to be EXTREMELY quick on the draw to hit pause before the screen goes solid or the mission ends, and usually I ain't quick enough.

 

Besides, I think it would be fitting penance for my various sins and wickednesses if I had to ride my burning crate all the way down from 16,000 feet. I'm not the type to jump or shoot myself on the way down. I figure I might as well get used to the flames now, because it'll be more of the same for Eternity

Edited April 20, 2009 by Bullethead

[Rick Rawlings 132]

Woo hold on guys, before we shout bug it quits, bug no hospital ;).

 

Yep when you are out of it, pilot dead, a/c totally damaged beyond control etc the game will quit after a few seconds.

 

 

Jeez, Pol, so far you're the only one to use the "B" word in the whole thread so far :)

 

RR

[+Polovski 440]

Quite right apart from the major indicator the topic ;)

 

Lol Bullethead , no we won't change that behaviour at the moment due to the way CFS3 works that's what we went with we looked and that's it for now. It's not that "mysterious" ..you are dead, or about to die badly.. from collision or bullets. The mission replay should help.

 

We are done patching. Small one coming soon then that's it we have to start making new things.

[Burning Beard 14]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh........

 

Don't tell anyone about this. I'm flying at 130% and I need every little nudge I get, lol.

 

Beard

[Rick Rawlings 132]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh........

 

Don't tell anyone about this. I'm flying at 130% and I need every little nudge I get, lol.

 

Beard

 

 

I think that unless one is on invulnerable, we could all use a nudge

 

RR

[Bullethead 12]

Lol Bullethead , no we won't change that behaviour at the moment due to the way CFS3 works that's what we went with we looked and that's it for now. It's not that "mysterious" ..you are dead, or about to die badly.. from collision or bullets. The mission replay should help.

 

Just so you know, I'm gonna keep asking for longer-term and unobstructed views of my demise regardless of whether you're finished patching or not

 

And BTW, the mission replay doesn't say jack about collisions. You have to imply that from seeing "Captain XXX Bullethead's <aircraft type> has become basically unflyable" without any preamble about taking hits from enemies. And even this doesn't disclose the name of the SOB who rammed me. If he's one of my guys, and I live through the ensuing crash, I want to know who did it so I can shoot his stupid butt down when I get out of the hospital!

 

Edited April 21, 2009 by Bullethead

[Hasse Wind 46]

And BTW, the mission replay doesn't say jack about collisions. You have to imply that from seeing "Captain XXX Bullethead's <aircraft type> has become basically unflyable" without any preamble about taking hits from enemies. And even this doesn't disclose the name of the SOB who rammed me. If he's one of my guys, and I live through the ensuing crash, I want to know who did it so I can shoot his stupid butt down when I get out of the hospital!

 

Interesting that so many of your deaths are caused by collisions. I think I've lost only one pilot in collision with my wingman, the rest have died thanks to enemy fire (and a couple of stupid manoeuvres in weak planes and one failed landing). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you seem to be flying in two seaters a lot, or am I mistaken? I haven't tried them in campaign mode at all... yet.

[catch 81]

.... that's it we have to start making new things.

 

YAY Parasol :rapage: .... :whistling:

[Bullethead 12]

Interesting that so many of your deaths are caused by collisions. I think I've lost only one pilot in collision with my wingman, the rest have died thanks to enemy fire (and a couple of stupid manoeuvres in weak planes and one failed landing). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you seem to be flying in two seaters a lot, or am I mistaken? I haven't tried them in campaign mode at all... yet.

 

That might have something to do with it. My scout pilots usually die from flying face-first into their targets, either from pressing an attack too close or from the target making an unexpected move at the last second. I chalk this up to having spent nearly 2 decades lugging 4x MG151/20s and 2x MG131s around the sky and turning my targets into confetti before I have a chance to run into them. I have never yet lost a scout pilot to the fire of enemy aircraft, and am hardly ever hit by them at all, but a few of my scout pilots have fallen to ground fire. Only occasionally do they suffer MDS, which I blame on a wingman ramming me.

 

It's rather the opposite when I fly 2-seaters, which I do way more than scouts. In them, enemy aircraft shoot me up nearly every hop, and shoot me down not infrequently, although ground fire gives them good competition. I've only flown into 1 enemy plane face-first in a 2-seater. However, most of my 2-seater pilots still die due to, as far as I can tell, being rammed by wingmen. And I see this happen to my squaddies as well. I usually lead 2nd flight some distance behind 1st flight, and when the Alabri pounce, before they get into shooting range usually 1 or 2 of 1st Flight are spinning down due to a collision. I use TAC, so I see squares go black while the enemy is still a couple miles from them, and then I see in the 3D world a twisting trail of smoke or 2, all before the enemy's fired a shot. And I get rammed a lot whether I'm flying a Fee, a Strutter, or a Brisfit.

Edited April 21, 2009 by Bullethead

[Hasse Wind 46]

I chalk this up to having spent nearly 2 decades lugging 4x MG151/20s and 2x MG131s around the sky and turning my targets into confetti before I have a chance to run into them.

 

Yep, sounds familiar! These WW1 crates sure ain't no Focke-Wulfs! I felt like a fish out of water when I started playing OFF after spending years flying the real aircraft of WW2 in Il-2.

 

 

I usually lead 2nd flight some distance behind 1st flight, and when the Alabri pounce, before they get into shooting range usually 1 or 2 of 1st Flight are spinning down due to a collision. I use TAC, so I see squares go black while the enemy is still a couple miles from them, and then I see in the 3D world a twisting trail of smoke or 2, all before the enemy's fired a shot. And I get rammed a lot whether I'm flying a Fee, a Strutter, or a Brisfit.

 

Maybe the problem is you're serving on the wrong side of the frontlines. Join us Überkanonen in the Kaiser's Luftstreitkräfte and you won't have to fly with those silly crates like the Fee! (Though there's nothing silly about the Brisfit, I fear them like the devil in my Pfalz campaign!)

 

I plan to start a campaign soon perhaps in a Roland squadron, then I guess I'll see with my own eyes how common those collisions really are.

[Bullethead 12]

Join us Überkanonen in the Kaiser's Luftstreitkräfte and you won't have to fly with those silly crates like the Fee!

 

Hehehe, to be honest, I'm a Fee-fetisher. I've always wanted to fly them and one the main attractions of OFF was finally getting the chance. I guess I've always just wondered how such an ugly, strange machine could have done so well for so long against all the great German planes of 1917. Everybody knew the Quirk had to go, and damned the RE8 as being no improvement and perhaps worse, but I don't recall there being any hurry to replace the Fee until towards the end of the year. How was that possible? Were the Fee crews ubermenschen, or was there more to the Fee than there appeared?

 

I've now discovered that if you know what you're doing, the Fee can be a match for an Albatross D.III and more than a match for a D.II. The Fee is very slow, can't climb worth mentioning, and is ALWAYS going to be bounced from high above. That's all true, but OTOH it turns quite well, can shoot in both directions, and because both guns are swivels, it can shoot whether it's lined up on the target or not, so usually has more firing opportunities than its opponents. And even better, while your gunner is shooting 1 guy, you can be looking over your shoulder for an approaching threat. The main problem with the guns is that the gunner doesn't always shoot at the guy you think he should, and he doesn't always shoot as well as you think you could, but you can't switch seats with him because you have to keep turning or you'll die.

 

So, as a Fee driver, if you can survive that 1st German swoop, you can put up a very respectable fight. You can usually do at least as much damage as you take. And you WILL take damage, because no matter how well you turn, you're still a big, slow target, and even with TIR it's hard to see what's going on behind you (although the rear gun in front of you points to threats). So it's fairly brutal being a Fee driver, but satisfying, too. It's like limping home after a fight at the local bar, spitting out a wad of blood and teeth in front of your wife, and then saying, "You should see the other guy"