So Much for that Idea!

[Cameljockey 3]

14 Sept 1917 0700 hrs

Dear Father,

I received the new engine that you and Uncle Fritz reworked for me. It has to put out almost 200hp which will give me some advantage over the Camels and SE5s. I can't wait to try it today. Willi, my head mechanic worked on it all night and just came and told me that it was ready for me to fly. I will write back later (God willing) and let you know how she flies.

Your Son,

Kurt

 

14 Sept 1917 0900 hrs

Dear Father,

Well, here it is, 0900 and we're in the middle of an attack by a flight of FE2s and I'm huddled in the bunker with a bottle of schnapps. The new engine is very powerful, perhaps too much so. Ten minutes ago the flight of FE2s were spotted coming toward our aerodrome and we all ran out to the flight line and climbed in our Albatros. The FEs were flying very high and I really wanted to see how much my Albatros improved on it's climbing ability. After I quickly strapped in I pressurized the fuel tank and switched on the magneto. I yelled contact and Willi pulled with all his might on the propeller. The engine roared to life and the plane tilted very much to the left from the increased engine torque. It tilted so much that it tore the wing off! I just switched it off and waved the rest of the flight on. I was so disgusted. I'll have to tell the riggers to reinforce the landing gear while they are re-attaching the wing. The engine runs very well though.

 

Your Son,

Kurt

Edited April 23, 2009 by Cameljockey

[Test Pilot 0]

 

 

At least she riped off doing those tests on the ground! Father would have likely blamed himself had she broken up in flight.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Nice pics! Though this makes me wonder whether I should just stick to my tough old Pfalz D.IIIa and forget about the Albatros, as her wings don't seem to stay attached to the plane even on ground!

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

EEK!

[zoomzoom 2]

Hehe.....niiiiiiiice! I actually landed one like that....albeit after a collision in combat. Took me a good 2000 feet to get her back under control though. Good thing we were fighting high that day!!

 

ZZ.

[Cameljockey 3]

But all I did was start the engine! It never moved forward at all, and this happened at the beginnng of a Scramble mission!

 

CJ

[Olham 164]

Hah!!! Pol, Winder - I said, that the wings break too easily!

[Hasse Wind 46]

Hah!!! Pol, Winder - I said, that the wings break too easily!

 

Olham, how often does it happen that you lose wings in combat when flying the Alb? I've yet to try her in campaign mode, but in QC I've been very careful with her wings and haven't yet broken anything, although the wings do make nasty sounds when I turn and dive quickly - sounds that you won't hear from the Pfalz at those speeds. It probably helps that I have experience from flying the Nupe, which is very fragile and forces you to be careful. But campaign situations can be so much more dramatic and demanding than QC when your DiD pilot is on the line. I've broken a couple of Nupes in campaign just because I became careless in the heat of battle. Maybe you've had similar experiences?

[zoomzoom 2]

Olham may have more data than me, but I usually fly Albatros DV's almost exclusively, as it is my fav plane, and I have NEVER broken a wing in Combat manuevering or diving, unless of course someone collides with me. But then thats different.

 

ZZ.

[Olham 164]

I have recently lost 5 or 6 Albatros DVa to breaking up in mid air.

But Pol says, they should be rather more stabile than in Phase 2 (were I never broke one).

I just don't know what this is. I even fly with Hardcore DM, so the plane should be even more solid.

I'll give her more tries though, as she is my favourite plane - I'll be more careful now.

 

The last one broke up, when I followed a Nupe 17 in a soft 15-20° dive, and then followed her, when

she pulled up again. That annoied me so much, that I switched the "aircraft stress" yesterday.

But I don't feel good with that either...

[Cameljockey 3]

I just want to get off of the ground.

 

CJ

[+Polovski 458]

CJ centre your joystick first, me for example I swirl the stick around and rudder/throttle full on/off before flying. Put throttle on minimum, then start engine!

 

Oldham we need to know how to reproduce your wing failures if they happen much more than P2. You cannot fly it around and pull up hard all the time at the maximum edge - ease off a little.

 

As I asked, can you please enable messages, and see if it mentions when your craft is getting overstressed.

 

Do that 3 times or so and snap...

 

edit: BTW just spent half an hour doing (ZZZZzzz) stress tests on the Albatros craft and they are fine Oldham ....

Diving is risky, but basically anything around 150 mph or more pull back a little more gently than full whack or stress will occur (stress of the wings, and stress of you ;))

[Cameljockey 3]

That's just it. I always do the control check thing you know, work the controls and visually check for movement. Everything was normal. Stick centered, but to tell the truth, I've never had a problem with that. Also the throttle was full off. I pushed "E" and the engine started turning over, and when it caught the whole plane tilted waaaayyyy over to the left. I've noticed it before (I'm talking about DIII (Early) when I would fire the engine, and have thought to myself that it seemed kind of extreme on the torque, but this is the first time that it has damaged the plane. You think maybe the engine torque on the DIII early is a little out of whack? Or maybe the landing gear is a little weak? Has anyone else noticed this?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I have never flown such a trouble free sim before. I'm on the original install and have all updates installed and this is the first real problem that I've had. Like I said, this is the first time the plane was damaged, and it may never happen again, I haven't tried again...yet.

 

mucho, MUCHO, kudos OFF team!

 

CJ

Edited April 23, 2009 by Cameljockey

[Bandy 3]

Well, I can say I've seen my AI wingmates explode while sitting on the field as well. Could have been the same thing. Never seen it since.

 

I originally thought two of them might have run into each other, but I'm not sure exactly what happened since I wasn't looking in that direction. I just heard the explosion, looked over, and saw the burning wreckage.

 

Ghost in the machine...

[+Polovski 458]

Got to love the occasional ground accident :) - in reality we'd see more of course, but not as much fun

 

yeah CJ, throttle not just on minimum, but also move it full on/off before engaging engine to make sure joystick has reset throttle.

[Siggi 10]

I jammed my Saitek pedals today, fortunately while I was still on the ground and cycling all the controls. I had to dismantle them to fix the problem. I'm glad it didn't happen at 14,500ft when the Albatrosses steamed in. Was very immersive.

[Olham 164]

Pol: ...just spent half an hour doing (ZZZZzzz) stress tests on the Albatros craft and they are fine Oldham ....

Diving is risky, but basically anything around 150 mph or more pull back a little more gently than full whack or stress will occur (stress of the wings, and stress of you ;))

 

I told you, I haven't been flying any more aggressive than before, and I never used to have breaking wings.

But now, gentle times for you SPADs, I will carefully spiral my way down, to follow you, as I shouldn't get under stress - doctor's order.

What's the "ZZZZzzz" mean - are you sleeping in the crate on your sorties, pilot Pol?

 

Edit: did you test it in "Campaign" ?

Edited April 23, 2009 by Olham

[Cameljockey 3]

I don't know. No sooner than the engine fired and broke the wing it settled into that HD sounding idle. I think it was the torque from the initial startup. It's not a big deal. I went to QC and tried it. The left wing took a dip but didn't come close to what I experienced before. Maybe there's a difference in Campaign? That's where I was when it happened. Like I said previously, it may never do it again, it was just strange. Gophers maybe?

 

CJ

Edited April 23, 2009 by Cameljockey

[Hasse Wind 46]

Are there really differences between QC and campaign when testing the durability of aircraft? It seems to me the Nupe, which I know very well, is equally fragile in QC and campaign. And I just can't break those Albatros wings in QC with my normal fighting methods. The Alb feels to me like a very much tougher scout than the Nupe.

 

Olham, it may well be that you're being too rough and ungentlemanly with your lady.

[Olham 164]

How often must I repeat this:

- I have NOT changed my fighting style!

- No Albatros EVER broke up before in Phase 2, nor in BHaH before patch 1.28 - NEVER!

- It only happens to me now, after 1.28

(and that, although it is said to be made rather stronger; and despite I'm flying the Hardcore damage model,

that should make her stronger again).

Edited April 24, 2009 by Olham

[Hasse Wind 46]

Well, call me crazy, but I've just started a new campaign in Jasta 9, mid 1917 just to see how those Alb wings behave in combat. I will try to be as reckless as possible, and I'll also post my observations here. I wanted to give the Alb a try in DiD in any case, so might as well do it like this. And I haven't ever played Phase 2, so I can't really compare the Alb's behaviour to that...

[+Polovski 458]

Oldham then something has changed with your setup. New joystick perhaps? The Alb was definitely weaker in P2.

 

Albs do and should break wings sometimes just like Nieuports. They were too strong in P3 v.1.0 and due to people asking we put the weakness back in 1.26 or 1.28 cant rem.. but not as much as P2. and I tested and tested oh and did some testing, so yes I said ZZZZzz as I because of your comment I spent an hour or so testing diving DIII early, DIII, DIII AOW, DV, DVa and pulling back over and over. It's something I have done a lot of, and yes sorry I am bored trying it for the zillionth time ;)

I flew Albs several times in campaigns recently no problem.

 

Remember I asked you to please turn on messages did you do that??

Please do so and see when it says in yellow text that you are overstressing the aircraft.

 

Maybe you fly 1 particular one, which is it? Dva 200? DV later?

[Olham 164]

Hi, Pol, and thanks for all that testing. Nice, you cared!

I'm flying the D Va with Jasta 9. When Hasse Wind will not experience it, something may be wrong my end.

But what? No new stick, nothing changed, except patching.

But I couldn't bear it to have "aircraft stress" switched off, and put it on again. And then I flew almost carefully

against some SPADs and killed them still. So, I can handle it.

Oh, and yes, the yellow warnings are and alway were on. Can they possibly be put into the low center of screen?

If not - I'll manage somehow to get used to it.

[Hasse Wind 46]

It's weekend and for once I don't have any work shifts, so I'm able to spend a lot of time playing OFF and testing things in this latest version. I've concentrated all of my attention to my Jasta 9 pilot flying in his Albatros in summer 1917 and just had his tenth mission. I've encountered and attacked enemy aircraft in six missions, scoring 4 victories. At this rate he won't live long, but the point of all this was to see for myself whether there's something wrong with the Albatros wings, or not.

 

So far I haven't seen anything that contradicts my experience in QC or Pol's thorough testing. The wings of my Alb haven't broken in any battle, and I've fought against Nupes and turned quite hard with them. I can see the yellow text and hear creaking sounds, but haven't actually had any wing failures, probably because I've successfully slowed down or eased my turns and dives when I see and hear the warning signs. The Alb seems to be made of stronger stuff than the Nupes.

 

The only time I was able break one wing was when I intentionally entered into a steep dive like a Spad. Not soon after I lost my left lower wing and the Alb spun out of control. I didn't want to kill my pilot, so I hit Esc and ended the mission over my home airfield. This loss of wing happened exactly like I expected it to happen - the Albatros shouldn't try to dive like the Spad. I haven't had any problems in easy turns or dives. And I haven't had any trouble with take-offs either - no wings breaking when turning on the engine.

 

Olham, my experience with the Alb is obviously much more limited than yours, but I haven't come across any of the problems you seem to have had.

 

(But what a wonderful scout she is, especially in those cool black and white Jasta 9 skins! :yes: )

[Olham 164]

Yes, Hasse Wind, she is a beautiful lady!

 

Today I did this: I patched the game to 1.30, then to 1.30c, and then to Hardcore 1.30c. (Before: 1.28a and Hardcore)

Then I did some intensive testing in QC.

I noticed, that I'm flying more careful than necessary. The warning didn't even appear yet, when I reacted

careful on screaking noise in the structure. So, I'm flying her really well.

But: nothing broke up. It just didn't happen. Not once. Even when I got a bit rougher with her; even at a 30°

dive, nothing broke up!

After that, I dared to continue my campaign in Jasta 9. All was fine - not a single problem!

 

Now I'm wondering, if it might be possible, that all those breaking up planes could have been mid air collisions?

Does one get an obvious writing, saying: midair collision? Or does it look like a breaking up plane?

In that case I beg your pardon, devs, and especially you, Pol, for all your testing. Sorry.

But now I'm happy! She is my Lady, definitely. And together, we killed 4 SPAD XIII in one sortie. It must be love...