Waldemar Kurtz Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 I realized that the original Red Baron flight-sim is now nearly 20 years old. I played this game for hours on end back in high-school. so much so that I developed near god-like powers. (how else could one Morane Bullet pilot take on 12 Fokker D.VIIs and shoot them all down in flames inside of 5 minutes?) so I went back and played a couple of campaigns last night. even though the campaign play could produce different missions for every pilot-- they still felt pretty predictable. you also had that severe memory restriction of never being allowed to encounter more than 12 aircraft per mission. I don't remember ever seeing more than 8 enemy fixed wing aircraft on any given campaign mission. this means that if you had two recons, and three other planes on escort. you were pretty much only going to see 6 enemy machines try to intercept. (if memory serves) bomber flights were also never larger than two or three planes! heh, pretty unhistorical. the closing speeds were astonishingly slow. even after having been away from the game for years, I found that after a cpuple of missions or so I could hit my old stride. the damage models were pretty basic. and the hit boxes were enormous! I could find that it was just as easy to shoot down two enemy planes from a head-on pass as it was 10 or 15 years ago. and, depending on formation sizes (like attacking a two-seater with escort in trail) it was even possible to kill two enemy machines in an over-head pass with closing speeds of 240 mph! (I'm diving at 160, and they're plugging away at 80 in the opposite direction). I could never pull off something like that in Red Baron 3d let alone in Over Flanders Fields! the other hilarious detail is that the velocity of your bullets depends on your airspeed! I forgot about this: when I'm on the brink of stalling at the top of a zoom climb, barely 100 ft away from Charles Nungesser and my bullets fall away before they can hit his plane... that's the sign of a BIG game-play flaw! even so, it's still a fun game. Quote
Hasse Wind Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 A great game. Here's a screenshot I just took from my Red Baron running on Dosbox. We've come a long way from those days. Quote
Rickitycrate Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Wern't we thrilled to have it then? I have stayed with video gaming as I got older because things kept getting better in most ways. Imagine if you were playing Red Baron and the next thing you saw coming out was OFF. I could not have dealt with the quantum jump. Quote
Rodster Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Wern't we thrilled to have it then? I have stayed with video gaming as I got older because things kept getting better in most ways. Imagine if you were playing Red Baron and the next thing you saw coming out was OFF. I could not have dealt with the quantum jump. It was the same for me when I played Microsoft Flight Sim 4.0 on floppy disk and then I saw Flight Sim 5.0, the difference was HUGE. Quote
Hasse Wind Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Wern't we thrilled to have it then? I have stayed with video gaming as I got older because things kept getting better in most ways. Imagine if you were playing Red Baron and the next thing you saw coming out was OFF. I could not have dealt with the quantum jump. True. But I just realized there's actually one thing missing from OFF that RB1 already had - moving machine gun bolts! And there's also a Snipe in the sim. This one's for you, Widowmaker. Quote
UK_Widowmaker Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Hahaha...thanks guys! Yes..RB...the whole and sole reason I sold my Amiga 500 and bought my first second hand 386SX Happy Days...but god...we thought THAT was cutting edge Graphics!...imagine what we will see in 10 more years!!....scary Quote
OvS Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 A great game. Here's a screenshot I just took from my Red Baron running on Dosbox. We've come a long way from those days. Yeah... we definitely have... ;) J12 above... J12 below. Quote
Tanyrhiew Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 Ahhh, almost makes me want to fire up my custom modded version of RB in dosbox. RB must have been one of the first games to actually have mods, some were pretty nifty like increasing the number of aircraft, altering the flight model or changing the skins, well, colours! Spent hours on that one and is the reason why I'm on this forum today. And it still had one thing that I've not seen in any simulation of historical air combat - personalised AI for the ace AI pilots e.g. Voss can do anything but MvR who had an aversion to aerobatics just turn fights. <sniff>Happy Days! Quote
Maxiku Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 (going all dewy eyed) - I still remember Knights Of the Sky on my Amiga 500. Fantastic game (for the time), absolutely brilliant music and I played it continously for about 5 years. I loved the "you have been challenged by the Red Baron" type missions and the sheer desperation I felt when trying to coax back my shot up machine to our side of the lines. In the end it was the release of Flying Corp Gold (along with the ability to use analogue joysticks) that swung me across to the PC. Much better graphics but I don't think the gameplay was anywhere near as good. Just for the hell of it - I played Knights Of The Sky again a few weeks ago on the WINuae Amiga emulator...It hasn't aged well but that music still sounds as good as it ever did. I also had a bash at Flying Corp Gold again last week....and that seems to have aged even more than Knights Of The Sky. I wonder how I'll feel about OFF3 in ten years time..(by which time I hope to be playing OFF10 in my fully 3D immersive cockpit) Quote
Hellshade Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 I wonder how I'll feel about OFF3 in ten years time..(by which time I hope to be playing OFF10 in my fully 3D immersive cockpit) Sorry my friend, but 10 years time? That would be OFF 5 with a Superpatch. Of course by then there won't be any graphics. You'll just plug your cables into your head "matrix" style and it'll create the experiences in your head. Hellshade Quote
Rooster89 Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Ahh good memories with that old game. It was my first ever game. I remember the day I got it. And a red and black logitech joystick. That game is the sole reason why I got interested in WW1 aviation. Just hearing the intro music brings a tear to my eye from all the good times I had with her. One of my favorite parts was that as you earned medals you got to see them shimmering on your pilots chest. -Rooster Quote
UK_Widowmaker Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Sorry my friend, but 10 years time? That would be OFF 5 with a Superpatch. Of course by then there won't be any graphics. You'll just plug your cables into your head "matrix" style and it'll create the experiences in your head. Hellshade I'll be too busy having virtual sex with Keira Knightly by then! Quote
Olham Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Hihi, yes, Widow, or Wynona Rider!!! Sigh!!! Quote
UK_Widowmaker Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Hihi, yes, Widow, or Wynona Rider!!! Sigh!!! hahaha...."Here lies Widowmaker/Olham...Died through too much Virtual Sex"..... now THAT would be good on ya tombstone!!! Quote
Olham Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Even better: Here lie Olham and Winona Ryder - don't mind the noise! Quote
UK_Widowmaker Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Haha,,yes..What I wrote sounded a bit like Olham and Widowmaker dying through too much virtual Sex didn't it?....Well, we can assure fellow Forum Users, that the thought probably makes both of us feel quite unwell!! Quote
Rickitycrate Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Haha,,yes..What I wrote sounded a bit like Olham and Widowmaker dying through too much virtual Sex didn't it?....Well, we can assure fellow Forum Users, that the thought probably makes both of us feel quite unwell!! You did conjure an unpleasant image and have me wondering. Olham is rather nice but I did not think you fancied him. Thanks for clearing it up a little bit. Quote
UK_Widowmaker Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Indeed!...the thought of Olham, armed with a Bratwurst, coming at me after dark, would scare even the bravest Krumpet!! Quote
Herr Prop-Wasche Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Achtung! Ven attackeeing zee Krumpet, alvays lead mit der bratwurst, und not zee fruit! Quote
Von Paulus Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) Haha,,yes..What I wrote sounded a bit like Olham and Widowmaker dying through too much virtual Sex didn't it?....Well, we can assure fellow Forum Users, that the thought probably makes both of us feel quite unwell!! http://www.youtube.c...h?v=aJwwcsYUp7U Edited January 18, 2010 by Von Paulus Quote
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