Scrambles in OFF

[Ironhat 0]

So far in my brief OFF playing time i've had 3 scrambles. One i got off the ground asap only to find a clear sky. I flew the waypoints for over 10 minutes before 4 enemy bombers showed up.

The other 2 times enemy fighters were over the field as soon as my ac came up. Needless to say i was barely off the ground before i was shot down. I can see several enemy ac sneaking in low but 20 or more at about 3-5000' get over the airfield before a warning is sounded ?

 

Yes i know all about the details of Pearl Harbor but there the Japanese were detected on radar and ignored as the Americans figured it was a flight of B-17 Bombers coming in from the states. What are your thoughts on scrambles in OFF ?

[Bandy 3]

Get the freaking engine started ASAP, get the chocks out, and everyman for himself!

Have fun, I look forward to them, kind of a nice wake up call to break the mission monotony.

[catch 81]

I like them for a blast of adrenalin. The very second I hit the airfield (index finger of left hand already hovering over the E key) I start the engine and push full throttle and take off without waiting for anyone. (sometime the engine sounds take a while to catch up but who cares, I'm close to getting off the ground by that stage). I don't even look where the EA are at this point. Once in the air jag around as much as possible, do anything but fly straight until you get a bearing on where the EA are. Then hit the A key to get your wingies focussed I can't remember ever having been hit while taking off or shortly thereafter. Getting into the air with haste is the essential bit imo.

 

If they're bombers up high, you can relax and give chase.

[Olham 164]

The scrambles are rather an entertaining interlude - in real life, the squadron would have

either been warned early enough to get airborne and could have climbed, or they would

have remained on the ground, in a shelter. It is suicidal to go up, when enemy fighters

are crossing over your field.

 

In your first case, did you have the TAC on? Maybe you missed high flying two-seaters?

 

I recommend for "scrambles": press "pause" and switch on TAC, to check, who is knocking.

That's no cheat, cause in RL they would have known long before, how many enemies where

underway, and which aircraft type they flew.

Now, if you see, you can take up the fight do it - if not, give it a miss, and live to fight another day.

[Ironhat 0]

Ive been starting up asap believe me, lol. As rolling as fast as the engine starts and doing a dance as soon as the wheels are clear. I always have the tac on and those bombers were not in sight in the one scramble.

Thanks for the tip on hitting pause right away and having a look.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

All part of the "Fog of War" Ironhat. As to the early warning our RL counterparts had, such was not the case on every ocassion, at least not in the books and personal accounts I've read. While there were plenty of times when folks on the ground did know they had incoming EA, there were also plenty of times when they did not. Their "early warning" during those times was when the first bombs came whistling down on them, or when a flight of scouts swooped in and strafed the field. Keep in mind it was common practice for bombers to glide in at very high altitude with the engines throttled down so they would not be heard as they made their approach. If there was cloud cover and/or it was dawn or dusk, (or dark of night for that matter), it was not uncommon at all for EA to surprise their target.

 

 

BTW, if I haven't already said so Ironhat, "Welcome to BHaH!" Great to have you with us Sir.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Rickitycrate 10]

You have a better chance IMHO of surviving Scrambles if you delay your take-off for what might seem a long time, maybe a minute or two. By waiting you take away the enemy advantage, angle of attack I think it's called. Anyway rather than being a target with no advantage you then have a chance of engaging them while they are engaged with your squadmates and or "A" flight. You can get on their tail. Now it may seem that you are not doing your part and that your countrymen will perish but actually it's not real life and even if some pilots go down they will not be lost/dead. Just an approach if you want to better your odds with a campaign pilot you would hate to lose.

[itifonhom 6]

I agree with Rickitycrate, delay your take off. When the enemy scouts are at your level, take off and start hunting, they got no advantage this way.

 

Anastasios

[Winston DoRight 3]

Just skip them; advance the time manually. The odds against you are totally outrageous and you may survive one or two of these with various tactics but they won't work every time and eventually, you will be hammered. It never happened like this anyway so why should you be expected to do it.

[Bullethead 12]

Only do scrambles if you're either very, very good, or if you're in a stallfighter. But as a general rule, never do them at all. They're completely unrealistic. When you get a scramble, the best bet is to advance time.

[Morris 2]

A scramble mission is the best. Most times you will get ur ass kicked and then need to dive and land for safety but that's part of OFF.

 

good advice is to look for the ACES first during the attack and try to get behind them. The ACES will kill you in a few seconds if u are trailing another plane not looking behind you.

 

Try to hit planes with short burst and keep look for the 1-3 aces in the flight. If u shoot them to hell its easy.

 

Cheers

 

Morris

[Olham 164]

Forgot this: when you are "paused", mark one of the enemy planes in TAC,

and then switch through outside views (F4 repeatedly), until you see the craft.

 

Although otherwise a cheat, you can regard it here as an early warning call from

the trenches, telling you who comes for lunch.

 

Thanks for the info about non-warning raids, RAF_Louvert - like always: good and

detailed knowledge, Sir.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

TKS Olham, but I must make one correction. When I noted "a flight of scouts swooped in and strafed the field", I meant to say "target" as I don't recall ever reading about an incident where a group of scouts attacked an enemy airfield. That's not to say it didn't happen, but it would have been a waste of resources. Also, I probably should not have used the term "scouts" either as this denotes a single-seater doing that task, i.e. scouting. Many single-seaters were used in ground attack roles, but they would not have been referred to as scouts in that context. Alright, I'm done correcting myself now...carry on.

 

BTW, good advice here for you Ironhat from our veteran flyers, and as you can see a mix of opinions. I myself don't tend to engage in the scrambles if there is a flight of enemy single-seaters diving in on the field just as I begin. As has been noted, it is not very realistic so your response need not be either. Now, I will take off and fight if its incoming bombers, but with the single-seaters I usually jump out of my kite and dive into the nearest shelter for a smoke whilest they clear the area, then I head over to the pub for a pinta'.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Ironhat 0]

Looks like you OFF vets come through again. Thanks for the replies, comments and suggestions guys.

It's refreshing to be on a game board where a newbie questioning a part of the game is not taken as anti-game and is answered in a mature way by the board members.

[themightysrc 5]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to leap out of your cockpit, waddle over - perspiring freely - to a nearby machine gun post in your two hundredweight of sheepskin and start having a pop at the bally Hun using a tripod mounted Lewis? Why, you could even have a Martini or glass of Mouton Cadet brought over by your batman whilst you pasted the perfidious Boasche into next week.

 

P4, perhaps.

[ConradB 0]

I never fly them. It is suicide to do it as it is right now.

[Rickitycrate 10]

I fly them. If I get shot up I put her down asap. I think bombing runs are far more dangerous, but I love doing them too.

[Waldemar Kurtz 1]

Get the freaking engine started ASAP, get the chocks out, and everyman for himself!

Have fun, I look forward to them, kind of a nice wake up call to break the mission monotony.

 

 

well, except when you're flying a DFW C.V campaign and you get SIX of them in a row!

[catch 81]

well, except when you're flying a DFW C.V campaign and you get SIX of them in a row!

 

That should {usually} only happen if you haven't fully completed the previous mission ie follow all waypoints including landing back at base. But sometimes other glitsches get in the way. I think that's why the devs gave us two new options (we never had these back in the day eh Uncle Al), to advance time or choose an alternate mission as a way of getting around it.

[Guest British_eh]

Hi there Ironhat, and nice to see you around Catch!

 

There is (as always, some excellent info posted.) I will add a little more detail yet. Switch on TAC, see if the enemy AI are within 2 miles. If so, you can start you craft, but wait, wait.......and wait, maybe two minutes, before they aren't clobbering the base. Take off going away from the base, and gain valuable height. Turn and come back to the base, so as to add the Ground Fire, to assist you in smacking the enemy a bit more. If your TAC shows no enemy within about 3 / 4 miles, you can probably get up, gain altitude, and distance from the attackers.

 

RAF makes a good point, but it depends on which side you're flying. The Germans rarely attacked British air bases, except for after March 3, 1918 and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the German offensive which ensued. Therefore 90%+ or so of attacks on Airbases were by the British, and the French. Given this, OFF has incorporated a tad too many Scrambles for the Allies to deal with.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh