Beginner's Help

[tofu 0]

I am new to WWI Sims... heck, I am new to ALL flight sims, but I am excited to get going. I have played for a few weeks now in RoF and OFF (bought both the same day). My time is very limited, so I have focused on RoF and been definitely enjoying myself. I ordered TrackIR (will be here tomorrow). So, as you can guess, I am excited and devoted to start flying these early birds. First to the OFF team, thanks so much for this excellent sim. In going through the different forum posts, trying a few scenarios or campaign mode, or just jumping into a few quick scenerios... I can see the love and attention here. Great job! I am excited to fly some more! I have been enjoying RoF very much, but now I want to get into the detailed history, scenarios, and campaigns of OFF. Everything is fairly set and I mostly figured out controls and settings (still working on radiator and blip switch).

 

So, with that heavy intro, where the hell do I start? I am not a history buff, and don't know what I am selecting in campaign mode. Is there a good campaign to chew on? Should I do other missions first? Is there a good way to easily fly around and just figure things out (and die a lot without creating a character every time)? Is there a good beginners guide to get people like me started in the game? The information on the site and here in the forums are great with settings, hints, etc. But, there isn't much about how to play the game and especially how to get started (at least I can't find something suitable for my intellect ).

 

Any ideas for a beginner? Thanks for any suggestions!

Edited September 8, 2009 by tofu

[Check Six 2]

tofu,

 

Welcome to OFF (and RoF too I guess). I can maybe help you arrive at a few decisions that will get you started in WW1 Flight Sims. You say you're new to ALL flight sims, so I'm guessing you need a bit of a helping hand with that.

 

First off, I'm sure you've seen movies like Top Gun, and Battle Of Britain etc, and so you'll want to fly at breakneck speeds, looping and rolling, and turning on a dime. WW1 aircraft are way different. They are difficult to fly, to say the least. To try to evade someone who's on your tail shooting the buggery out of you without snapping your wings off or stalling is a hard task. These are slow aircraft, easy to stall, and dangerous when you DO stall them. No parachutes mate.

 

So, the first thing you should do is find an aircraft that is easier to fly than some others. Fairly forgiving. My suggestion would be the Wolsely Viper-powered SE5a. You can take her for a bit of a spin, kick the tyres. If you like her, you can take it further.

 

Ok, to get a hold of a Wolsely viper SE5a, first of all, enlist a pilot. British. Fighter. Then you're prompted to select a squadron. Scroll down the list until you get near the bottom, Squadron 92 RFC will do. Make sure they give you a SE5a, then complete your enlistment.

 

Then go to "Quick Combat", select "Free Flight", "start in the air", "pilot never dies", and fly her around for a while. Get used to her. The SE5a is quite quick compared to many aircraft in OFF, yet you'll think she is slow. Try to turn tightly in her, and see if you stall. (The reason I suggested SE5a is that they are easy to recover if you DO enter a stall). Try to turn through 90 degrees but keep your eyes on the horizon, and see if you can keep the nose up.

 

Now you can enlist different pilots from different countries (flying some of the German craft in here is just brilliant...the Fokker D.VII is one of those), and check out what your favourite aircraft is. Mess about with easy flight models, no wind effects etc, until you've got the "feel" for WW1 aircraft, and try different mounts. Once you've decided on a good aircraft, now you can try a campaign. You can enlist a pilot and select a squadron that utilises your favourite aircraft (you'll see a list of aircraft each squadron will use throughout the war near the bottom of each squadron). Then you can choose the date you wish to join. If, say for instance, you like the Fokker D.VII, and scroll through squadrons until you find a favoured squadron that uses that aircraft...you then have the choice of when you join that squadron. As the Fokker D.VII was introduced late in the war, if you join at an earlier time, you will be assigned a different aircraft that you must fly until the Fokker D.VII is introduced. Or you could scroll through the times until the squadron you have selected is issued with the aircraft of your choosing.

 

I particularly like the RNAS and Sopwith aircraft. In particular the Sopwith Triplane. I can select RNAS 8 squadron, and select the earliest possible date that I can join that squadron, I will be flying a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, then later on, the Nieuport 17, then Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Triplane, finishing off with the Sopwith Camel. Or I can scroll through my starting date until RNAS 8 is using the Sopwith Triplane and start my career then.

 

All your choice.

 

You say you don't know much of the history, so is there campaigns anyone can suggest? Early on in the war, the Germans had the upper hand, and periods known as "The Fokker Scourge" and "Bloody April" came into being. Your chances of survival in this period were slim at least (depending on which side you flew on). But there are other periods (say, earlier on in the war) where you can fly many missions without even encountering a single enemy aircraft. Is this a good thing? Well, you could use this period to hone your flying skills, or you might get easily bored, and want action. This might cost you your life.

 

Some want to enlist a pilot, and select a squadron, and fly throughout almost the entire war. You can do this if you select "Pilot Never Dies", so that you are not constantly re-enlisting. Others prefer to fly as realistically as possible, what is known as "DiD" standard (Dead Is Dead). No "TAC Radar", no labels to help you identify if that speck in the distance is an enemy or a friend, realistic flight model, realistic gunnery accuracy, wind and "G" effects, limited fuel and ammunition...and when you get shot down, and plummet earthwards from 8000 feet, you don't survive.

 

So it's all really up to you. Before you begin a campaign, take up a few good aircraft, and get used to the flying conditions, then see how you do in quick combat against a rookie opponent.

 

Good luck, and if you want to know anything, just don't be shy, come here and ask. Hopefully, someone will be able to help you.

[Kingkat 1]

Hop over to the www.theareodrome.com they have a great selection of suggested readings. If you are interested in learning about the air war. Some great books.

Osprey Publishing has wonderful books too.

 

Also, many people here have many favorite books they recommend for reading. Depends on whether you prefer Allies or the Central Powers.

Watch the movie, The Blue Max. A little dated, but a good intro to the WW1 flyers.

 

Enjoy........................its all about the journey.

 

 

Hope to see you in the sky.

[tofu 0]

Thanks for the great tips... time to go fly!

[tofu 0]

Tried flying the SE5a for a while (thanks again Check Six), but having troubles getting TrackIR 5 and OFF to work. Seems to work fine with RoF, but having issues with OFF.

 

I looked through the forums and OFFs faq page, but nothing seems to explain why it isn't working. Any ideas folks?

 

Thanks again! I guess I will play RoF tonight, I am done doing tech support :) ... will try again tomorrow.

[Check Six 2]

Tried flying the SE5a for a while (thanks again Check Six), but having troubles getting TrackIR 5 and OFF to work. Seems to work fine with RoF, but having issues with OFF.

 

I looked through the forums and OFFs faq page, but nothing seems to explain why it isn't working. Any ideas folks?

 

Thanks again! I guess I will play RoF tonight, I am done doing tech support :) ... will try again tomorrow.

tofu,

 

I'm guessing it's because you can't climb into "virtual cockpit". This command is not assigned a keystroke in OFF. What you need to do...

 

Launch OFF and go to quick combat, just to get into the game screen, hopefully sitting on the aerodrome. Hit "Escape" and a drop down menu will appear on the right hand side. Click on "Controls". Scroll down that menu until you reach "Virtual Cockpit". You will see there is no key assignment for this. OK. I use (and suggest) "V". Click on "Add Assignment" and a box appears. Type V in there, then "save as". You MUST save it as "Mine" (I forgot the file extension, but you dont enter it anyway - is it .xca??). Close the menus, and then Hit "V" to see if it takes you into the cockpit. If you have TrackIR up and running, have a look around. I hope that you can see around you now.

 

Another good piece of advice I got was that if you have a programmable joystick that can cope with multiple key assignments, you can assign a button on your joystick to go to virtual cockpit and also to hit F12 (so mine is V and F12 at the same time). That way, when you enter your virtual cockpit, it is automatically centred as well.

 

Hope all that made sense and helps you out.

[Rickitycrate 10]

For me with Vista I have to start TIR first with run as administrator.

[tofu 0]

Thanks! Should have tried admin mode first. That worked like a charm!