DFW Campaign

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Well, I have taken the Plunge, and started a two seater campaign (what was I thinking??)

 

I think there are a couple of two seater fans on the forum..so any advice on how to stay alive most welcome

 

Here is my Aircraft... based on a Halb CLIV livery (but only just!!...a lot of artistic license)

 

BTW...I found the DFW a real bitch to skin!

[Olham 164]

Well, but you got it done, and she's looking great!

 

To stay alive in her: fly as high as possible - this craft can fly the highest altitude in OFF.

At least 14.000 feet.

 

For more advice, Hasse Wind will come in hopefully. He loves the "bitch".

And really, she is a sturdy and reliable craft - if only the engine wasn't in the forward view!

[Morris 2]

The observer in the DFW is the key to shooting down a few Krumpets and she is a lot safer than a fighter.

 

Good Luck Widowmaker.

 

m

[Hasse Wind 46]

Olham, the DFW is no bitch!

 

Widowmaker, the DFW has many excellent qualities. It's easy to fly, but most importantly, it has excellent climbing speed and service ceiling. With the correct fuel management (easiest when you put it to auto), you can climb up to 21000 feet - no Allied fighter will be able challenge you there, and there aren't many AA guns that can shoot so high (much less hit) either. So take your time before crossing the enemy lines and gather enough altitude. I never go into "Indian country" unless I'm above 10k feet, preferably at 14k - 15k feet. And if you do get hit by Archie or lose engine power for some reason, the DFW can glide a long way, but that isn't of much use if you're 50 miles behind enemy lines and flying at 500 feet, so stay high.

 

In late 1916 when the DFW comes into service, the Entente doesn't have fighters capable of really following the DFW in a climb and maintaining their superior speed (and the DFW is not slow for a 2-seater), so you can easily get rid of pursuing Nupes and DH2's and others by rapidly climbing. But you don't want to get into that kind of a situation in the first place, so that's why you gain enough altitude before crossing the lines. Later it will be much more dangerous with strong Allied fighters like the SPAD and SE5a, but even they don't have a service ceiling comparable to the DFW, so you will be safe if you stay high. Above 18k feet the only fighters you need to worry about are the Brisfits (they have a service ceiling of 20k feet), but I've never seen any combat take place above 18k in OFF.

 

The DFW is also the only bomber in OFF with a bombsight (F7). It makes bombing missions very easy to complete successfully. Wait until the target is in the center of the sight and you will more often hit it than miss. With a max payload of 150kg of bombs, you can do some nasty damage to Entente buildings. Don't forget the bomb view (F9) - it's fun to watch where your "eggs" hit.

 

So in a nutshell: stay high and use the bombsight to your advantage, and don't enter into any dogfights, unless you are facing easy prey, such as unescorted Be2cs (the Pour le Merite carriers). Have fun!

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Thanks Hasse...I shall start off with some Bombing Practice!...Catch me if you can Krumpets

[Olham 164]

Here is an excellent model on "The Aerodrome" website. And other great models too.

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/members/beeza-albums-my-1-32-ww1-aircraft-collection-picture963-wnw-1-32-scale-lvg.html

[von Baur 54]

Ditto to Hasse Wind's sentiments on the DFW. I used to enjoy taking one on long-range runs to London in Richtofen's Skies. Of course they always ended with ditches at the mouth of the Thames, but what the hell. I hadn't tried the one in OFF, but HW's post made me want to try it, so I fired up Feldwebel Freuliche Flieger, went to QC, strapped three 50's to her uderbelly and headed out to look for some TO's.

 

First was the climbout. Slow circles over the airfield to just under 10,000' then continuing to climb as I headed west I crossed the lines at 14,000. Your prm's will max out between 1380 and 1340, with the top end lowering as you climb even adjusting mixture (manual, not sure of the results if you're on auto-mixture). Not only does the high altitude make you less vulnerable to AA, it gives you a wider field of vew when you go to bombsight, thus giving you more time to adjust your final approach to target. As Hasse Wind said, the bombsight is very accurate (maybe too accurate)...I hit an army base from 15,000' with all three bombs on my first bombing mission. And the bombsight view makes for an excellent simulated recon camera.

 

All-in-all it's an excellent plane for anyone who likes flying for the dark side and would like to try two-seater campaign. I may put one up myself.

[Bullethead 12]

I've just got a few more things to add to the excellent advice others have already given...

 

When bombing, DO NOT give your wingmen any attack orders. In fact, do give them any orders at all. When you're in the bombsight view and drop your bombs, your wingmen will drop theirs as well. There's a slight problem, however, in that their bombs fall further behind yours than their planes are in your formation, even though they drop a second or 2 after you do. I don't know why this is, but that's how it works. So, if you're attacking a railyard (the most common target) and you aim for the center, their bombs will fall short of the target area. To get all bombs in the target area, you have to aim at the far edge and theirs will land just inside the near edge. This isn't a real problem, however, as the DFW's bombs are bigger than most in the game, so have enough blast radius to cover most of the target area this way.

 

The best L/D glide speed for the DFW is about 45 knots, which is just an RCH above its stall speed. However, as mentioned, it will go a LONG way at this speed, especially if you're up very high when you lose your motor. It just takes forever to cover any horizontal distance.

 

Flying high is of course the desired approach, but you have to be below the clouds to see the target, which makes you more vulnerable to both flak and fighters. So I have a set of rules for various weather conditions. If the mission is a deep penetration, I will only go if I can fly at least 15,000 feet just below the clouds. If the target isn't too far behind the lines, I'll go if I can reach 10,000', although I expect to lose a wingman to flak. If the clouds are any lower than that, I just bomb front line targets of opportunity.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Most long range bombing the Germans did in the war was performed at high altitude, and often at night to avoid Entente fighters. For ground attack missions close to the frontline, they had special aircraft and squadrons later in the war. The DFW wasn't a low level ground attack bomber, so I never do my bombings at a low altitude (and besides, that would be a total waste of the excellent bombsight).

 

The only bomber in OFF capable of flying higher than the DFW is the Hannover CL.II. But since that 2-seater (which was designed to be used mostly as an escort for other 2-seaters, if I remember correctly) has a puny bombload and no sight, the only crate in OFF able to perform devastating precision-bombing from high altitude is the DFW.

[von Baur 54]

Thanx, Bullethead, for the info on the wingmen's performance. I had gone solo and was thinking about trying with friends to see how they would behave. Do you remember how close they were to you when you released? Maybe by keeping the formation tight the bomb spread will be as well.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Thanx, Bullethead, for the info on the wingmen's performance. I had gone solo and was thinking about trying with friends to see how they would behave. Do you remember how close they were to you when you released? Maybe by keeping the formation tight the bomb spread will be as well.

 

It's best if they are close, otherwise their bombs won't drop nowhere near your bombs.

[Bullethead 12]

Do you remember how close they were to you when you released? Maybe by keeping the formation tight the bomb spread will be as well.

 

I have the workshop set for the tight formation and the only command I gave my wingmen was the occasional call to rejoin if they were slow in making a course change. Anyway, they were always at the usual close distance around me during the bombrun, at least up to the point when I started looking through the bombsight.

 

I think the bombsight mechanics in the game have some leftover WW2 code in them. To me it looks like your bombs alone follow a true ballistic trajectory and your wingmen's bombs get put into a formation with yours more appropriate to a B17 formation than where your wingmen really are compared to you.

 

BTW, selecting the ground target and giving your wingmen the attack order makes them go into about a 30^ dive with the objective of dropping bombs from about 1000' or so. This is for any type of plane, not just the DFW. As such, this is only useful for low-level missions. At DFW attack altitude, it just breaks up your formation and also cancels the automatic wingman bomb-dropping. This is why you never do this in a DFW.

[von Baur 54]

Good to know.