Midair Collisions

[Javito1986 14]

I just got Oswald Boelcked while chasing down an enemy plane along with a wingmate. Died instantly in the crash, though thankfully it was a scenario mission that I'd set my pilot not to die permanently on so my career is still okay... providing I had made a half decent crash landing I might have walked away from that one.

 

I notice though that the crash was quite survivable. I lost my propeller and some of the lower wing but nothing that would have killed me outright like the game said it did. My wingmate was also fine, though I suspect his tail section should have been sawed off by the collision with my propeller.

 

Still I know this is the old CFS3 engine and I remember from CFS1 & 2 that collisions, no matter where, just blew you up and you died. So maybe a midair isn't survivable here either? I'm just not sure, 'tis why I'm asking. I remember in RB3D midairs only rarely killed you immediately, you were likely to die in the crash after them though a good pilot with an aircraft that wasn't TOO badly stricken could almost always land and be okay. Different engines though! If midairs are insta-kills I'll avoid them like the plague.

[zoomzoom 2]

Yes, you should avoid them like the plague. They arent necessarily a death sentance, as I believe there is some die roll involved (correct me if I'm wrong) but your chances aren't great. As likely they wouldn't be in real life. Ironically enough, when Boelke went down, it was reported that the two aircraft involved just "Brushed" each other in flight. Shows how devastating a brush in mid-air can be!! Even so, if its possible given the restrictions of the CFS3 engine, it'd be cool if the Dev's in the future were able to refine the damage models for impacts and crash landings to gain more variability.

 

ZZ.

[Olham 164]

I had a mid-air some time ago in my Albatros against a Nieuport.

The Nupe crashed, while I had the left wingtip missing.

Now, in an Albatros D III it is your big luck, when it isn't more, like the V-strut,

cause the aileron cable goes through there to the upper wing.

 

Now, my cable still worked, and I made an emergency landing.

Since the lift was missing a bit on the left, it was flying with stick full right.

But I made it. So, no: it isn't always automatically death to have midairs.

[Bullethead 12]

I have a lot of collisions. They kill far more of my pilots than any other cause, including enemy fire. However, I also survive many collisions and kept on flying. The landings in such cases are tricky, however, and you can die that way even if you've flown home many miles after the collision.

 

The screen going black immediately after a bad collision doesn't mean you're dead. That's just the baseline feature of CFS3. When the game determines that your plane is unflyable, it stops the whole 3D simulation and goes back to the menus, where a box pops up saying what happened to you: dead, hospitalized, or no harm done. It's possible, though rare, for this to say you lived even after the most horrific crash you can image. Anyway, this "exit on unflyable" thing is why you got the instant black screen after the collision even though your pilot was set immortal.

 

This used to be a feature of OFF as well, until the most recent patch which disables the instant end of the flight. This is a workshop option and the default is keeping things as per CFS3. However, if you change it to the new feature, you can struggle with your controls all the way down.

 

But back to surviving collisions themselves, regardless of how you have the above setting......

 

Many collisions are just minor bumps that will crumple up a wingtip or something. This sort of damage is considered "flyable" so the flight doesn't end even if you have it set so it will. Now you can attempt a landing. However, odds are, you'll probably crash. This is because you'll probably have to fly at high speed to keep control of the plane. When you touch the ground and start to slow down, the plane will often roll over on its side. This seems to be about 50/50 on being fatal.

 

Otherwise, you'll have major damage and the plane is unflyable. Then it's just a question of how hard you hit the ground, if you have the game set not to immediately end the flight. I think the same sort of live or die determination goes on when you hit the ground this way as if the flight had ended immediately, however. Sometimes you survive, most often not.

 

 

[VonGuber 2]

 

The screen going black immediately after a bad collision doesn't mean you're dead. That's just the baseline feature of CFS3. When the game determines that your plane is unflyable, it stops the whole 3D simulation and goes back to the menus, where a box pops up saying what happened to you: dead, hospitalized, or no harm done. It's possible, though rare, for this to say you lived even after the most horrific crash you can image. Anyway, this "exit on unflyable" thing is why you got the instant black screen after the collision even though your pilot was set immortal.

 

Does the hospitalized result still occur if you have your settings on "Hard -Dead is Dead"? Since you mention it, I haven't seen such a result since I've been flying with that setting, in spite of seeing that the pilot was...technically....wounded. (found by looking in my UnlimitedPilots.xml file)

 

Maybe it was only a flesh wound?

[Javito1986 14]

I've wondered the above myself.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Javito1986

[Siggi 10]

I hit the top wing of a D7 with my Se5's undercarriage some months back, my wheels were damaged and I landed lop-sided but survived. Other collisions have seen a wing-tip go, survived ok. I've also been brought down by collisions and survived. So no, it's not an instant death-sentence.

[MikeDixonUK 5]

My biggest fear in the DiD campaign is that I'll crash into an enemy craft and die, I crashed loads previously but have been lucky so far in this campaign (I've also been a lot less aggressive which is probably why) I even crash into a plane at the end of one of my youtube videos.

 

At least with the bullets you usualy have a few seconds before it goes from ok to dead, with collisions it goes from ok to dead in 0.1 seconds.

[gaw 5]

if there're already a couple planes on an enemy I leave it alone....sure recipe for a crash, they'll probably nail it anyway, and let 'em have a moment in the sun instead of the outer third of your wing....even if they are AIs.....if there's another squad in the thick of it, I'll pick off strays outside the furball if I've arrived late to the feast but not inside....other squads want the kill as much and are willing to run you over to get it....furballs within your own flight.....your own flight members seem to defer more or less to you especially if you're leading, so it's easier to take a strong hand but again....work the edges and you'll come home more often than not. This is single player perspective but it'd probably hold true for multi as well

[shredward 12]

Migawd he's channeling MvR.

[Morris 2]

I cant BELIEF,

 

I was standing on 21 kills and hunting a ACE from RFC 80 when the SH!T happened in my DID campaign. Next time I'm first shooting down my wing-man.

 

The screenshot was taken the mission before. I knew something was going to happen!

Edited January 29, 2010 by Morris

[JimAttrill 24]

von Robertson? It's no wonder you got shot down with a name like that.

[ConradB 0]

I just got Oswald Boelcked while chasing down an enemy plane along with a wingmate. Died instantly in the crash, though thankfully it was a scenario mission that I'd set my pilot not to die permanently on so my career is still okay... providing I had made a half decent crash landing I might have walked away from that one.

 

I notice though that the crash was quite survivable. I lost my propeller and some of the lower wing but nothing that would have killed me outright like the game said it did. My wingmate was also fine, though I suspect his tail section should have been sawed off by the collision with my propeller.

 

Still I know this is the old CFS3 engine and I remember from CFS1 & 2 that collisions, no matter where, just blew you up and you died. So maybe a midair isn't survivable here either? I'm just not sure, 'tis why I'm asking. I remember in RB3D midairs only rarely killed you immediately, you were likely to die in the crash after them though a good pilot with an aircraft that wasn't TOO badly stricken could almost always land and be okay. Different engines though! If midairs are insta-kills I'll avoid them like the plague.

 

A little combat wisdom.

 

1 Make sure you're the leader.

 

2 It takes a bit, but get used to assigning targets to your flight.

 

3 Stay with your own target until the duel is done. The only time to break form this is if you are under attack yourself, or have damaged your opponent to where they are no longer a threat to you. Gain some altitude, and survey the situation. Find you own flight and how they are doing.

 

4 If your wingie is under attack, go to their aid (provided you have followed the rules in 3) and damage the E/A attacking your guy. This is the only time I break from the close in shooting. A few rounds "across the bow" will make the enemy disengage and go on the defensive.

 

5 If your squadmate isn't too heavily damaged, let them finish off the target. It's a team effort up there.

 

6 Lastly. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go after the same target as your wingies! Only help them if they are getting bettered. Once the enemy is damaged, let your guy finish it off, as they will go after their assigned target whether you are in the way or not.

 

With that said, you won't get tons of kills per mission, but you will see the same faces in the mess hall without a revoling door of new faces all the time.

[Olham 164]

Haha, Morris - I know how that feels!

In our "Krauts vs Crumpets" Full DiD campaign, my best pilot (38 confirmed! PLM!

Order of Hohenzollern! Red Eagle Order!) had a fight vs 6 French craft; Nupes and

SPAD. On his "attack" signal, the wingies didn't react immediately but turned with

him. When they reacted, one got badly into my way. I had to perform a sudden

jump move, which made me crash into a SPAD roaring over me.

Lost the lower wings and the whole engine (!), and fell down unrecoverably.

 

Sooner or later, your string of good luck ends - even for a pilot like MvR.