Phase 4

[Hellshade 110]

Maybe P5?...blimey!..trying to think of a title for that now!..hahaha

 

P5 name suggestion

Over Flanders Fields : 90 years in the past, available 90 years in the future

 

Hellshade

[Hasse Wind 46]

Yep been noted already Hasse

 

I really appreciate your team's responsiveness to customer feedback. And I know I'm not the only one. It's really special in these days of huge corporations that don't give a damn about customer service.

[Creaghorn 10]

what would be great, if jagdgeschwader do not only wear the name, but would really be a jagdgeschwader and cooperate. so if i am with jasta 6, i have missions together with jasta 10 for example. or on occasion have the complete geschwader in missions with all involved jastas. what a great sight it must be to see hughe formations of different jastas at once.

[Hasse Wind 46]

what would be great, if jagdgeschwader do not only wear the name, but would really be a jagdgeschwader and cooperate. so if i am with jasta 6, i have missions together with jasta 10 for example. or on occasion have the complete geschwader in missions with all involved jastas. what a great sight it must be to see hughe formations of different jastas at once.

 

That would give us all the opportunity to see why the Geschwader organisation came into being in the first place, ie. to group Jastas together and make it possible to achieve local air superiority against more evenly dispersed but numerically superior Entente squadrons. But I wonder what the limitations are for the total number of aircraft in the air? Because a fully equipped Jasta group flying together would mean dozens of planes going into action at once, and add to that also the enemy planes.

Edited June 16, 2009 by Hasse Wind

[Canvas Wings 1]

Lot of posts here - scanned 'em as best I could - but if I missed these and they've already been suggested, my apologies:

 

I'd like to see pilots get wounded occasionally. I think I saw this happen once - the pilot's health dropped from the perpetual "59" ...but if it did happen, it was only once in literally hundreds of flights.

 

I'd also like to see pilots *potentially* injured in any crash they walk away from.

 

In both cases, it would be good if the injuries/wounds resulted in time spent recuperating (I know, you can advance time yourself... but a hospital sequence would be nice.) I understand there was one once in the earlier versions of OFF, but I never played them, so I don't know.

 

And it would be nice if the missions-per-day or enemy-contact-per-mission was adjusted some. I love the difficulty of surviving the 17 hour barrier. But invariably if I make the 17 hours that represents the achievment of the average pilot, I am already one top scoring pilots of the war with 20+ confirmed kills to my credit.

 

Could the game be retooled to fly one mission a day, or even 3 in a week? - maybe just indicating the pilot flew 'x' number of 'uneventful' missions since his last flight? No need to change the actual missions, -even then, not every sortie would result in a combat; and the 17 hours would then be measured in actual sim-flying time... I'd like to see a pilot who lived roughlly as long as Richthofen (as if) end up with a fairly comparable tally, rather than something like Hartmann's 352 WWII kills.

CW

[Creaghorn 10]

And it would be nice if the missions-per-day or enemy-contact-per-mission was adjusted some. I love the difficulty of surviving the 17 hour barrier. But invariably if I make the 17 hours that represents the achievment of the average pilot, I am already one top scoring pilots of the war with 20+ confirmed kills to my credit.

 

Could the game be retooled to fly one mission a day, or even 3 in a week? - maybe just indicating the pilot flew 'x' number of 'uneventful' missions since his last flight? No need to change the actual missions, -even then, not every sortie would result in a combat; and the 17 hours would then be measured in actual sim-flying time... I'd like to see a pilot who lived roughlly as long as Richthofen (as if) end up with a fairly comparable tally, rather than something like Hartmann's 352 WWII kills.

CW

 

 

i believe there is no need to change enemy contact per mission. it should be as it was in real. sometimes you meet lot of them, sometimes none. i believe the two keys to decrease it are AI sight (you can't fight what you can't see) and smarter AI (knowing when to attack and knowing when to run). if those two things could be altered, there would be a lot of less kills.

in real they often saw enemy formations here and there, but they didn't attack each other all the time or they simply missed them. and if 10 fought against 10, then maybe one or two of each side were shot down, the others went home again. if there were more killed in one sortie, it's so worthy that it's mentioned explicitly in memoirs or papers or reports.

if it would be altered, you wouldn't get 20 kills in 3h flight. if you have stats like this, something must be wrong and unrealistic. and i think those are the two keys how to make it realistic.

[+Polovski 428]

Hospital stay is in there. Check your pilot settings in workshop re dead is dead etc. If you play dead is dead CFS3 will report you dead a lot more often no chance of hospital. Just the way it is.

If you choose "Easy" then OFF will give you a chance to survive more often try that if you have not.

 

Put Weather mode on AI weather Gen, and then you can choose light "Campaign Mission Frequency" 1 mission a day normally. You can also put it on manual/auto advance, and skip a few days missions if you like to account for leave etc.

 

It's been noted previously AI should break off more (runaway is already in there and they often do actually, but usually in a way that gets them killed like fly level and head for home). For some fewer encounters, lasting less time may be duller, so it again would somehow need scalability somewhere, something we'll look at if possible.

 

A sim is unrealistic before you even start, you have many lives, in real life you have of course only one. So many players would engage a lot less in real life. Many factors at play, and as always - we look into things best we can and will do the best we can.

[Creaghorn 10]

It's been noted previously AI should break off more (runaway is already in there and they often do actually, but usually in a way that gets them killed like fly level and head for home). For some fewer encounters, lasting less time may be duller, so it again would somehow need scalability somewhere, something we'll look at if possible.

 

A sim is unrealistic before you even start, you have many lives, in real life you have of course only one. So many players would engage a lot less in real life. Many factors at play, and as always - we look into things best we can and will do the best we can.

 

thank you for your hard efford, devs. i'm sure you'll find a way to make it as best and realistic as it can be. really appreciating it

[Hellshade 110]

Hospital stay is in there. Check your pilot settings in workshop re dead is dead etc. If you play dead is dead CFS3 will report you dead a lot more often no chance of hospital. Just the way it is.

If you choose "Easy" then OFF will give you a chance to survive more often try that if you have not.

 

A sim is unrealistic before you even start, you have many lives, in real life you have of course only one. So many players would engage a lot less in real life. Many factors at play, and as always - we look into things best we can and will do the best we can.

 

Here's a way to reduce the number of kills / flight hour. Hardcode the game so that if you die, it literally won't let you play for a real full month. That way we'll all be a heck of a lot more choosy about who we do and don't engage.

 

/salute

Hellshade

[+Polovski 428]

Lol Hellshade, just imagine that. We did consider a "format hard drive" option if you got shot down to add "an edge" ;)

[Creaghorn 10]

Lol Hellshade, just imagine that. We did consider a "format hard drive" option if you got shot down to add "an edge" ;)

 

 

or a kind of countdown where in the meantime only quick flight is possible. personally i would like that.

[Duce Lewis 3]

This might boost immersion

If your pilot gets wounded, he remains unplayable for a period of time

(ex. If he's wounded for 21 days, he's unplayable for a week)

 

There could be further variation;

He could contract a stapf infection during that week and either increase his hospitalization time or succumb to the infection

His wounds might be deemed too severe and he's given a medical discharge or further rehabilitation

[Dej 17]

In danger of adding 'Theme Hospital' to OFF's list of included applets!

 

I'd like to see Dead Is Dead producing hospitalisation instead of the coin toss live or die that I see, e.g. last night I rolled almost to a stop on a forced landing and died (at 16 mph, I checked in the replay) whereas the night before I ploughed into some trees and survived without a scratch. I don't want to raise the whole issue again and I'm okay with it as it is but I do seem to have more 'uncanny bad luck deaths' than I do 'miraculous survivals'. Doesn't quite sit properly with the number of photos of pilots standing grinning by their overturned or nosed-in machines... though of course those who died didn't get a photo-opp.

 

Hospitalisation could overcome some of that perceived discrepancy... and I'd support some restriction on the use of the pilot until game time says he's recovered. But it's no biggy for me, just on the 'nice to have' list.

[Hellshade 110]

And while hospitalized, there is a chance of developing a romance with a nurse that opposes the war but is attracted to me despite my profession of dealing death in the skies. Oh wait, that's the plot of the Red Baron movie. Sorry.

 

Shortening the enemy AIs sight sounds good to me, except I think it was Winder who pointed out that that would result in considerably fewer dogfights and a lot more patrols just 'enjoying the scenery.' I can't say that sounds like as much fun. Reducing their ability to see and fly through the clouds though would probably be a very good thing if it actually can be coded somehow. Did I read somewhere that putting cloud graphics slider up to 4 or 5 somehow helps that? I can't recall now.

 

As for enemy AI disengaging more often, I think that too would be pretty cool. However as Polovski observed, the AI become pretty easy pickings when they try to fly away straight and level. The end result would probably be MORE kills / hour instead of less, unless they coded in some kind of cheat where they flew away a bit faster than they should be able to fly. I think folks would feel cheated then though. Come to think of it, how the hell DID they disengage without getting shot down?

 

The closest way I can think of right now to reduce the number of kills per hour is to use the Hardcore Damage model and possibly reduce your ammo % at loadout. It takes so many bullets to knock a plane out of the sky that usually you're doing quite well to get one or two per mission. That's still really high, of course. You can reduce your ammo load out so you have fewer and fewer bullets to fight with until you get to a number you think is about right in terms of kills per hour. The fewer bullets being some compensation for the fact that you will certainly engage in more fights as a Player in a Flight Sim than you would if your life were actually on the line as a Pilot in a War. I'm not saying that's an acceptable long term solution, but it might be interesting to try and find out what % ammo load out it takes in order to reach a balance. It would also tend to make you think before jumping into a fight because you know you may not have much ammo left to survive it. Obviously you drop historical accuracy when you do stuff like that though and that is the lifeblood of this sim.

 

Some way to unjam your guns would be awesome though. And maybe a voice overlay of a pilot swearing profusely. Oh wait, I usually supply that sound effect myself. Scratch that last part.

 

Hellshade

[Creaghorn 10]

Shortening the enemy AIs sight sounds good to me, except I think it was Winder who pointed out that that would result in considerably fewer dogfights and a lot more patrols just 'enjoying the scenery.' I can't say that sounds like as much fun. Reducing their ability to see and fly through the clouds though would probably be a very good thing if it actually can be coded somehow. Did I read somewhere that putting cloud graphics slider up to 4 or 5 somehow helps that? I can't recall now.

 

it may be fewer dogfights but this it how it was and therefore realistic, and how it should be. IMHO if it's about having fun dogfighting all the time, one can run QC.

it's already coded by cfs that AI can't see through clouds. sliders on 5 means more clouds, therefore less AI seeing you.

 

as for enemy AI disengaging more often, I think that too would be pretty cool. However as Polovski observed, the AI become pretty easy pickings when they try to fly away straight and level. The end result would probably be MORE kills / hour instead of less, unless they coded in some kind of cheat where they flew away a bit faster than they should be able to fly. I think folks would feel cheated then though. Come to think of it, how the hell DID they disengage without getting shot down?

 

much less AI sight would automatically result in more dogfights without result. if formations are seperated into smaller engagements and get spread around, both sides will continue their patrol because they simply lose the enemy out of sight. of course it would be great if nontheless AI would be smarter in deciding when to go without beeing an easy prey, though a very tough nut to crack it seems.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Keep in mind that we are also much more ruthless than many of the pilots in the Great War. I imagine that a lot of pilots let wounded enemy planes escape--especially if the enemy dived for the dirt or appeared to be seriously damaged. It just wasn't worth losing your energy state and potentially getting bounced by a heretofore unseen enemy.

 

There are also several tales of pilots letting obviously distressed enemy pilots get away out of a sense of chivalry or whatever. It's pretty hard for us to feel any chivalry toward AI pilots. Those guys are cold-hearted devils! Inhuman even!

[+Polovski 428]

Dej Dead is Dead is controlled by CFS3 which is the problem. Use Death on Die roll for original OFF's Phase 2 way to cope with that - gives you a chance of hospitalisation instead, that's what it is for.

 

As above if you imagine we'll format your hard drive if you die, then you wouldn't chase so many craft down. AI also need that too though in that case.

[Gous 0]

As above if you imagine we'll format your hard drive if you die, then you wouldn't chase so many craft down. AI also need that too though in that case.

Now here is an idea for even more immersion .

[Blackdogkt 0]

I skimmed through this topic so excuse me if it's already been mentioned. A nice feature that i miss from older flight sims is the ability to apply for a transfer. That could work on a percentage based roll of the dice, the higher your rank and kill score the better your chances of a transfer being approved.

 

Of course, it could include all sorts of different modifiers. For example, it would be unlikely for a transfer to be approved if there was a major assault planned in the next few days and the need for aircrews were high. In such a case, being an accomplished ace would make you a major asset and that would work against your chances of getting transferred out of a hot sector.

[Dej 17]

Dej Dead is Dead is controlled by CFS3 which is the problem. Use Death on Die roll for original OFF's Phase 2 way to cope with that - gives you a chance of hospitalisation instead, that's what it is for.

 

As above if you imagine we'll format your hard drive if you die, then you wouldn't chase so many craft down. AI also need that too though in that case.

 

Understood, Pol. You've explained that before and I could go back to DoDR but then I wouldn't be DiD. 'You pays your money... etc'. As I say, it's no biggie anyway.

 

As for formatting the hard drive... wouldn't that mean the demise of the AI anyway, period

[Hellshade 110]

Dej Dead is Dead is controlled by CFS3 which is the problem. Use Death on Die roll for original OFF's Phase 2 way to cope with that - gives you a chance of hospitalisation instead, that's what it is for.

 

As above if you imagine we'll format your hard drive if you die, then you wouldn't chase so many craft down. AI also need that too though in that case.

 

Maybe you can't format the hard drive, but once you crash and die, you could make it go through a 60 second funeral scene that you can't escape out of. It would be enough of an annoyance I bet that people would fly more carefully just to avoid the delay in getting back to the game. I wouldn't put it in QC mode though. Only campain mode if possible. It could be a part of the DiD standard to add to the realism.

 

As another idea, it might be cool to have 2 overall options to select in the workshop. One is "DiD mode" and the other is "Custom". For people that want to fly true DiD, it will automatically put all of the other settings that are DiD relevant into the correct selections. With Custom mode, of course, you simply select everything the way you would like it. Just a thought.

 

Hellshade

[Creaghorn 10]

Maybe you can't format the hard drive, but once you crash and die, you could make it go through a 60 second funeral scene that you can't escape out of. It would be enough of an annoyance I bet that people would fly more carefully just to avoid the delay in getting back to the game. I wouldn't put it in QC mode though. Only campain mode if possible. It could be a part of the DiD standard to add to the realism.

 

if you see a scene after a mission (funeral,too) just hit once "esc". and voila. or you disable ingame movies in workshop.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Creaghorn

[Hellshade 110]

if you see a scene after a mission (funeral,too) just hit once "esc". and voila. or you disable ingame movies in workshop.

 

I'm sure pushing the 'esc' key is the first thing most of us would do. That's why I said to make it where you can't escape out of it somehow. Hardcode it if possible. Otherwise, of course, it would be circumvented and serve no use. Probably can't be done, but some kind of in game delay that makes people definately want to avoid dying by taking excessive risks. Just an idea. Probably a bad one.

 

Hellshade

[Hasse Wind 46]

Transfers have also been mentioned, but what I would like to see is getting offered a chance to join one of the elite squadrons when my pilot has achieved enough success in his career, so that I could start a campaign game in some less well-known squadron and finally, if the pilot stays alive and gets enough kills to become famous, he has the opportunity to transfer to the best units possible. I think this would be quite fun and rewarding and would add to the already considerable role-playing element we have in OFF. Now we must spend the whole war in the same squadron (not that any of my pilots are in danger of living through the war - maybe if I started a campaign in late October 1918!).

 

 

Speaking of suffering some penalty after losing a pilot because of recklessness in DiD mode, I think nothing more is needed than the painful feeling you get when you know you just lost a promising pilot thanks to your own stupidity. Forcing players to watch films or preventing them from playing the campaign would be really unnecessary. Nobody has to play OFF unrealistically and too aggressively if they don't want to do it. It's up to the player to decide whether he or she really wants to attack everything that moves no matter how disadvantageous the situation is.

[Cameljockey 3]

The only thing for me would be a video replay capability, sort of like the Gran Turismo series for PS. That way you can watch the race (or mission) after you've driven (flown) it. If not, no biggie.