New Realistic Series of Missions -

[Guest British_eh]

Dear OFF enthusiasts:

 

After having P1, P2, and now P3, I can respectfully say that it has been an inspiration to all those who covet flight sims, and WW1 aviation. I too have been quite entertained and have pursued the 17 hour challenge.

 

There have been musings of the current difficulty of achieving the goal, and certainly, the OFF Team has supplied many different options to facilitate ones approach. For myself, 100% (or greater for some) Realism is the standard, but so difficult (for me at least).

 

I am reminded that the 17 hour, or two week stint on the Western Front, was the average time for a new pilot, when the Germans had the RFC on the run in 1917. What a goal to shoot for, which leads me to the following. I am embarking on making a series of Missions to perhaps provide a lead in to P3, or for QC pilots to expand their choice of Missions.

 

I have uploaded GB Productions 9 which is the first of these Missions. GB Production 10 "R series" is soon to be uploaded for approval. The *Realistic series is meant to provide for a P3 setting that is "Realistic" in the sense that it emulates what I believe to be a reflection of the pilot's flight mission experience and chance of survival, given the limitations of a flight sim. The hard coding of MS CFS3 provides for many obstacles, but with the keen approach by the OFF Team, there have been great strides to making this flight sim the best WW1 entertainment available.

 

And so, the object is to have a reasonable shot at attaining the 17 hour, or average life span of a pilot. Dead is dead can still be applied to your "Workshop" settings, but you don't actually qualify for the Siggi's DiD standard.

 

*Resources: Flying Fury – J. McCudden, Sagittarius Rising – C. Lewis, Dr.1 – Norman Franks, Fokker Dr.1 Triplane – Paul Leman, Fokker V5/DR.1: by Achim Sven Engels, Fokker Dr.1 Aces of WW 1- Norman Franks

Edited August 2, 2009 by British_eh

[+Winder 32]

Dear OFF enthusiasts:

 

After having P1, P2, and now P3, I can respectfully say that it has been an inspiration to all those who covet flight sims, and WW1 aviation. I too have been quite entertained and have pursued the 17 hour challenge.

 

There have been musings of the current difficulty of achieving the goal, and certainly, the OFF Team has supplied many different options to facilitate ones approach. For myself, 100% (or greater for some) Realism is the standard, but so difficult (for me at least).

 

I am reminded that the 17 hour, or two week stint on the Western Front, was the average time for a new pilot, when the Germans had the RFC on the run in 1917. What a goal to shoot for, which leads me to the following. I am embarking on making a series of Missions to perhaps provide a lead in to P3, or for QC pilots to expand their choice of Missions.

 

I have uploaded GB Productions 9 which is the first of these Missions. GB Production 10 "R series" is soon to be uploaded for approval. The *Realistic series is meant to provide for a P3 setting that is "Realistic" in the sense that it emulates what I believe to be a reflection of the pilot's flight mission experience and chance of survival, given the limitations of a flight sim. The hard coding of MS CFS3 provides for many obstacles, but with the keen approach by the OFF Team, there have been great strides to making this flight sim the best WW1 entertainment available.

 

And so, the object is to have a reasonable shot at attaining the 17 hour, or average life span of a pilot. Dead is dead can still be applied to your "Workshop" settings, but you don't actually qualify for the Siggi's DiD standard.

 

*Resources: Flying Fury – J. McCudden, Sagittarius Rising – C. Lewis, Dr.1 – Norman Franks, Fokker Dr.1 Triplane – Paul Leman, Fokker V5/DR.1: by Achim Sven Engels, Fokker Dr.1 Aces of WW 1- Norman Franks

 

 

Sounds good - will be keen to know how it pans out.

 

WM

[Olham 164]

British_eh, I hope I'm not the only one who didn't try additional missions yet.

So, for all the ones new to that: how do I get the missions; and how do these missions get integrated in BHaH;

how do I start them?

Edited August 2, 2009 by Olham

[GaryR 0]

I have uploaded GB Productions 9 which is the first of these Missions. GB Production 10 "R series" is soon to be uploaded for approval.

 

Can this series be played in Multiplayer?

[cptroyce 0]

British-

>> I am reminded that the 17 hour, or two week stint on the Western Front, was the average time for a new pilot, when the Germans had the RFC on the run in 1917. <<

 

You are correct. I used the 17 hour survival stat ( which I thought was the average stat for the War) in a discussion once on the "Airodrome" website (where you really need to know what you are talking about), and was gently corrected, with an insightful response on the accurate rates, times etc of a pilot at the front.

 

The 17 hour stat arose as you suggest, from that particular period and for that particular group.

 

Personally I found that interesting as it really changes ones perception of what went on as a whole. For example teh German survival rate was surely far different.

 

 

Regards,

Royce

 

PS- Where can I get you Mission D/L's?

[Launchbury 1]

I think the 17-hour mark is so difficult because of the likelyhood of the AI flight leaders to attack a formation of enemy scouts when at a disadvantage. In WW1, any flight leader would turn around and go home rather than lead their flight into an obvious deathtrap. When you become a flight leader, try to keep you and yours out of danger.

[Bullethead 12]

I think the 17-hour mark is so difficult because of the likelyhood of the AI flight leaders to attack a formation of enemy scouts when at a disadvantage.

 

I think, surely, that the same can be said of most humans :yes: . After all, most of us have jobs, families, etc., which limit our opportunities to play at all, and how long we can play on those occasions when we can. I bet a lot of us secretly wish to catch swine flu so we can sit at home, quarantined, with nothing to do but play OFF all day . Anyway, given the situation where you need to get the most out of what little time you have to play, I'm sure many humans accept battle in situations where real WW1 FLs would have taken the long way home.

 

Another contributing factor, I'm sure, is the difficulty in surprising AI planes. IIRC, something like 80% of all guns kills in air-to-air combat came in suprise bounces. I've never surprised anybody yet. OTOH, the AI can see me before I see him, and is usually attacking from a postion of considerable advantage before I know he's there.

 

Given the above, the odds are that you'll see more combat per flying hour in OFF than real pilots had to deal with. Most guys would go perhaps a week without seeing action. We, OTOH, usually have a fight every sortie because we pick squadrons that are where the action is. Plus we do 2 or 3 sorties per day, which is actually historical for times when the front was hot.

 

Now combine the above with OBD's dedication to realistic combat results. Shooting MGs from short range at somebody, or a fuel tank, protected by nothing more substantial than clothing, is going to be deadly, if it's modeled with anything approaching realism. The key to surviving, therefore, is to avoid being shot at. We tend to get shot at more than real pilots. So if you're having fights every sortie, it won't be long before the odds catch up with you and some enemy will land a lucky burst in your vitals. I submit that this chance comes up for us more often than it did for the real guys.

[Guest British_eh]

Bullethead - "I submit that this chance comes up for us more often than it did for the real guys."

 

Agreed - and is likey ( positively?), a CFS3 hard code issue? Winder?

 

Launchberry - "When you become a flight leader, try to keep you and yours out of danger."

 

Yes, hit "R" till my finger is sore, but again, is it "as above?"

 

 

cptroyce - Where can I get you Mission D/L's?

 

Go to Downloads, top taskbar, then OFF by OBD, and then you can go directly to, ( in Grey type), "Maps, Missions, and Campaigns" RAF_Louvert has a couple there which are quite good.

 

GaryR - Can this series be played in Multiplayer?

Yes

 

Winder - Sounds good - will be keen to know how it pans out.

As one would expect, the majority are in "Campaign" mode, but for the Newbies and QC pilots, this may be something additional to add to the repitore.

Cheers,

 

British_eh

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Well done British-eh. I look forward to flying your mission pack as it becomes available Sir. Keep up the stout effort!

 

Cheers!

 

Lou