Anyone still on the fence about buying this sim?

[Siggi 10]

This sim continues to blow me away.

 

We were tasked with bombing an enemy airfield. Three of us in B1s with three 1 1/2 Strutters as escort, got the field in sight and were engaged by a large group of Halbs. There were planes all over the place. I managed to get my bombs away and then made for the lines, keeping an eye on my tail. Then I made out a plane coming right at me and right at the moment I applied full aileron and kicked the rudder he opened up on me. I was genuinely bricking it as I watched the smoke-trails come at me and then flash past where my left wings had just been. Got onto his tail and got a couple of bursts into him before I pulled up. The next five minutes were nerve-wracking as I tried to regain height and get back over the lines, all the while with aircraft dog-fighting around, above and below.

 

Got over the lines ok at about 5000ft and noticed archie going off in the distance. Put my glasses towards it and spotted four Rolands at about 2000ft heading left to right. At this point I'm thinking "I'm on a bombing mission, I'm not obliged to go after them..." But a perverse sense of virtual duty came over me. I really didn't want to engage them, because I know how it usually ends. But I turned and put the nose down, both my flight with me. By the time we reached them they were turning themselves and I slotted into the wake of the nearest and started shooting from about 300 yards. Then they started shooting back and I could hear the occasional 'twangs' as rounds went through my kite. I was laying it on thick myself, pretty much willing the belt to run dry so I could call it a day and get out of it. Most of my rounds were going wide but I could see a few puffs of dust coming off him. I got to within about fifty yards of him, praying I'd hit his gunner. Then my gun ran out of ammo and I broke off. Motor still running! Miracle!

 

Two of these buggers then followed us all the way back to our field, smoking one of our escort about two miles behind us. They actually strafed me after I'd landed!

 

I didn't think I'd got a kill, but the claim-form came up, much to my suprise, so I claimed the Roland. But neither he nor the Halb had looked to be in trouble after I'd shot at them. The Roland got the worst of it though, and I can only assume I forced him down with damage.

 

There were some genuinely stressful moments in that mission, and as an organic whole of an experience it was truly superb. Bloody trains running along, the barrages on the front, the sound, the visuals, the action. This is, to date (since 1994), the best PC game I have owned.

[Slartibartfast 153]

I was on the fence until last week when I ordered it along with CFS3 got CFS3 but the wait for OFF is now the long one... Cant wait to start having a knife fight in a phone box... (Hang on I do that with jets so with a WW1 plane will have to downsize to a mailbox )

 

Hurry up!!!

[GwynO 16]

Only two things keep me on the fence from getting into this, and that's finding the Ubisoft DVD so I don't have to load the disk every time, and getting enough cash to afford it! Maybe Christmas someone will think of me (friends and family who read this hint hint)

[Stiffy 1]

Only two things keep me on the fence from getting into this, and that's finding the Ubisoft DVD so I don't have to load the disk every time, and getting enough cash to afford it! Maybe Christmas someone will think of me (friends and family who read this hint hint)

 

 

You won't regret it...

 

Firstly even with a copy of CF3 it still works out cheaper that the latest games (about 25/30 pounds tops)

 

Secondly having to put the disk in isnt nearly as bad as Rise of Flight where you have to connect online every time you play offline!

 

I also know it gets to plymouth in 5-6 working days!

[Slartibartfast 153]

Only two things keep me on the fence from getting into this, and that's finding the Ubisoft DVD so I don't have to load the disk every time, and getting enough cash to afford it! Maybe Christmas someone will think of me (friends and family who read this hint hint)

 

Well I ordered CFS 3 on CD and got it for a £5 and it arrived 2 days later still waiting on OFF though. But all told it only cost me £28 and that includes postage from the states and Oldham...

[Olham 164]

Did you mean me? What have I got to do with this???

[Slartibartfast 153]

Did you mean me? What have I got to do with this???

 

Nein mein Herr... I meant Oldham as in the town in good old Blighty... hmm looks like I will be flying for the RFC once my copy arrives

 

Tally Ho and all that...

 

Apologies for the bad Deutsch its been awhile

Edited November 2, 2009 by PACMAN

[CaptSopwith 23]

Fantastic write-up Siggi. This sim continues to impress and re-impress me everytime I fly. There are a very few PC games that have given me true "wow" moments. Some of them were racing sims that showed spectacular AI (Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix Series), the rest have, by and large, been flight sims. I started with Wings of Glory back in 1994 and that was the sim that planted the bug in me. Red Baron II had lots of wow moments and even now, some ten years removed from the first missions I flew on the old gal, I can still remember details. But nothing I've seen yet gives me the consistent feeling of actually being in a war when I sit down to fly a mission. The immersion is just phenomenal; from the vehicles moving on the ground to the constant booming of artillery in a heavy sector, to the buzzing of other craft around you, it's not a game or even a sim, it's an experience.

 

My previous flight was with 8-RNAS, flying some Sopwith Pups in December 1916. Our flight was tasked with bringing down a German observation balloon near our sector. There were, I believe, four of us, including myself and I was tasked with leading the flight. The skies were dreary and oppressive; heavy cloud cover blanketed the land and a thick pea-soup fog made the flight feel disorienting and claustrophobic. We headed towards the lines and while in route, spotted a flight of three or four Albatros scouts moving due East of us, running parallel of our flight path towards the balloon. I was half a mile out from the target, watching the Albs, wondering when they were going to cut right and bounce us, and watching for my target; all while artillery was blasting around us. The level of stress at that moment was tangible and I felt my hand sweating around my ancient Sidewinder 2 joystick. Finally, well over the target balloon and with flak all around me, I blipped the rotary engine, rolled my Pup, and dived on the target.

 

The gas bag went up in a sheet of flame after only a few rounds. I'm still not sure if I hit it or if there was so much shrapnel in the air from their own artillery that friendly fire did the balloon in. At any rate, I pulled up hard, cranked the engine back to full blast, and booked it West for our lines, my flight in tow.

 

I had lost sight of the Albatros fighters and was bent on getting back over friendly territory as quickly as I could. The flak was still bursting all around us and, after glancing off the right of my tail, I could see a trail of smoke in the distance. Craning my neck around (or in my case, pushing the hat switch a little to the right to get a better look), I could see one of our own had been hit by flak, burning, and spiraling slowly to earth. I don't know how the OBD guys pulled this effect off, but the sickening look of smoking, trailing debris and burning wreckage slowly winding to earth in a trail of deathly black smoke is still one the eeriest things I've ever seen in a game, and it never fails to turn my stomach. Damn, I thought, who did we just lose?

 

Never once was I thinking about lines of code or impressive AI. "Who did we just lose?" was my only thought. Who? As if the computer controlled lines of code piloting that 3d rendered Pup was real. And that's when you know the OBD guys hit on something special. Who? When your sense of immersion is so great that you're worried about your fictional wingmen, you've got a classic "wow" game. But then again, knowing half of the guys that developed this amazing sim, I really shouldn't be surprised. This band of coders, painters, modelers, and programmers have been giving me wow moments since I flew Red Baron 3D back in the 1990s. Well done guys.

 

And just to wrap up the story... no, we never were attacked by those Albatros fighters. I can only assume that they didn't see us through the pea soup - or simply weren't in the mood to tangle.

 

Cheers guys!

Edited November 3, 2009 by _CaptSopwith

[cptroyce 0]

To anyone "on the fence"..you will never regret getting OFF.

 

If you have the least bit of interest in WW1 aviation or flight/combat simming in general, this is probably the best purchase one could make in a PC flight sim.

 

As for CFS3 needed for the OFF base files..not only can you use the CFS3 disc for OFF which would be ones primary interest since you are reading this forum, but the CFS disc can be used for WW2 ETO(European Theatre of Operations) expansion, WW2 MAW(Med.Air War), and WW2 PTO(Pacific theatre of Operations), all extraordinary add ons using the base CFS3 disc.

 

Royce

[OvS 8]

 

If you have the least bit of interest in WW1 aviation or flight/combat simming in general, this is probably the best purchase one could make in a PC flight sim.

 

Royce

 

This is the best statement about OFF I have ever read and sums it all up perfectly! Way to go Cap!

 

OvS

[Duce Lewis 3]

Only two things keep me on the fence from getting into this, and that's finding the Ubisoft DVD so I don't have to load the disk every time, and getting enough cash to afford it! Maybe Christmas someone will think of me (friends and family who read this hint hint)

Hi Gwyn0,

Where do you live?

I've found the Ubisoft DVD in Brussels, South Africa, & the Netherlands

Even if you must use the CD, you won't regret buying BH&H

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I jumped straight in the deep end with Phase 1

 

Been drowning ever since!

[Olham 164]

CptRoyce: If you have the least bit of interest in WW1 aviation or flight/combat simming in general, this is probably the best purchase one could make in a PC flight sim.

OvS: This is the best statement about OFF I have ever read and sums it all up perfectly! Way to go Cap!

 

Olham: Indeed - almost: he could have dropped the "probably"!

 

 

[themightysrc 5]

"Nein mein Herr... I meant Oldham as in the town in good old Blighty"

 

Gosh - small world! I live near Bury and work in Oldham...

[Olham 164]

Of course Europe is a small world - look at our OFF Pilots Maps in the "sticky threads" above.

Britain is so crowded by OFF Pilots alone, that they have to swim in the north sea all the time!

 

My "Olham" has nothing to do with "Oldham" - it's rather my family name backwards, which

is Mahlo, spelled like and related to the American "Marlowe".

 

Oldham - does that really come from "old ham", or is the "ham" here rather an ending for towns

or villages, like in Nottingham? (Rather the latter, I suppose).

Edited November 3, 2009 by Olham

[themightysrc 5]

"Oldham - does that really come from "old ham" "

 

I suspect so, Olham. Oldham was but a small village nestling in the cold and windy Pennines until King Cotton came to town in the late 18th Century. As anyone from the North West will readily tell you, since that time Oldham as a place has become synonymous with culture, good taste and a Baroque system of stately canals only exceeded in their beauty by the pier at Wigan.

 

S'true.

[Von Paulus 8]

Only two things keep me on the fence from getting into this, and that's finding the Ubisoft DVD so I don't have to load the disk every time, and getting enough cash to afford it! Maybe Christmas someone will think of me (friends and family who read this hint hint)

 

http://www.mediadis.com/games/detail.asp?id=177272

[Olham 164]

Hmmm - well, could be worse. Looks like the pedestrians shopping zone in Spandau, Berlin.

And above all the typicall north sea light grey sky - not different to my native Ostfriesland.

 

 

 

(Isn't the web great? You hear of a place somewhere in the world, type it into Google Pictures,

and there you are. There is also an Oldham in Texas and maybe elsewhere, too.)

Edited November 3, 2009 by Olham

[Cameljockey 3]

I know there's a Paris in Texas.

 

http://www.paristexas.gov/

 

CJ

[Olham 164]

Oh, I know that - German director Wim Wenders made a film with that title "Paris, Texas".

Probably the only movie, where the great Harry Dean Stanton has the lead role. A very

good, and also very heart-tearing picture.

[Vidken 0]

I wound up having a surplus of budgeted game purchase money and free time due to announcements of the games I was looking forward to containing severely disappointing news. I won't name names there, it isn't the point. However, these were "top shelf" titles. Lots of names scratched off my purchase list.

 

There was a topic about RoF in a general gaming forum that I read regularly. As the conversation drew on about payware aircraft and phone home DRM, someone wrote a couple positive paragraphs about OFF and provided a link.

 

There isn't much else to say. I slept on the decision to buy it, but the feature list and Youtube videos were pretty overwhelming. CFS3 and OFF shipped quickly and it's been a joyride since.

[GwynO 16]

You won't regret it...

 

Firstly even with a copy of CF3 it still works out cheaper that the latest games (about 25/30 pounds tops)

 

Secondly having to put the disk in isnt nearly as bad as Rise of Flight where you have to connect online every time you play offline!

 

I also know it gets to plymouth in 5-6 working days!

 

 

 

It is a bargain at that price. I didn't mean to say it was expensive, I've spent more for a lot less. From the vids I've seen, that no one seems to have any major gripes about the game, and the "feel" of community you guys have here.. it is a very appealing purchase. I'm just feeling the squeeze at the mo what with Xmas coming and all, gaming shall have to wait for the new year.

 

Glad to hear it can get to Plymouth quickly, I only wish the trains and buses could manage the same

[GwynO 16]

To anyone "on the fence"..you will never regret getting OFF.

 

If you have the least bit of interest in WW1 aviation or flight/combat simming in general, this is probably the best purchase one could make in a PC flight sim.

 

As for CFS3 needed for the OFF base files..not only can you use the CFS3 disc for OFF which would be ones primary interest since you are reading this forum, but the CFS disc can be used for WW2 ETO(European Theatre of Operations) expansion, WW2 MAW(Med.Air War), and WW2 PTO(Pacific theatre of Operations), all extraordinary add ons using the base CFS3 disc.

 

Royce

 

That is a very good point I didn't consider, I thought apart from OFF, CFS3 was dead. It would be ace to fly WW2 as I've hardly ever done so, always been fascinated by fancy electronic switchology, but all that seems to come out of it is headache and a lot of lost time pausing and referring to the manual/keylist every few seconds.

[GwynO 16]

Hi Gwyn0,

Where do you live?

I've found the Ubisoft DVD in Brussels, South Africa, & the Netherlands

Even if you must use the CD, you won't regret buying BH&H

 

The good olde UK of A. I've yet to find it in any local stores, and would prefer that to ordering off the net to be honest, at least then I don't have the worry of non returnable scratched discs as has happened in the past. One day.. I will get BH&H! I hope.

 

http://www.mediadis....l.asp?id=177272

 

Champion! Added to favourites. Did you buy from them? Do you know what the returns policy is?

[Olham 164]

You can get CFS3 at AMAZON - and there, you can return it, when it is not okay.