Likes and Dislikes

[12oclockhigh 0]

I've been playing OFF for some time now. It has settled in to being 'the game' that I play when I have time which unfortunately is less and less these days. Over this time there are some things I've found that I really like about OFF and some things I dislike, although I must say the things I like far outweigh the dislikes. So here are a few of both from my opinion.

 

Like#1 Flying and dogfighting in the clouds. Flying blind is very tricky with the limited instruments but worth it for the skill factor. Sometimes the views are spectacular, especially when you spot an enemy in an opening below you.

Like#2 Overall game play and atmosphere (pardon the pun), I know that covers the waterfront but this game is fun.

 

Dislike#1 The claims system. I've had as as many as 26 consecutive claims rejected in one campaign before being killed, then 16 in the next. There is almost no point to even making the claims in my opinion. Some rejections I understand but some make no sense at all. I know some players are very meticulous in making claims but I don't have the time or the inclinnation for that. I list my witnesses only. That should be good enough in a lot of cases.

Dislike #2 My squadron seems to disappear at times. They are not shot down, they don't slink away, they just disappear. I find myself in the sky, all alone and surrounded by enemies. Generally I pick my fights to have a tactical advantage and it is annoying to have that disappear for no apparent reason.

 

Overall my likes far outweight the dislikes which really are minor annoyances. I also haven't mentioned anything about framerates or other hardware related things. There are too many variables in that. My focus here is the game itself.

[Duce Lewis 3]

Hi 12oclockhigh

Some good points about a great sim

There are 3 levels selectable for Claims in Workshop

You can have anywhere from tough to all claims accepted

[Macklroy 2]

Welcome to OFF 12High.

 

I too find that when I'm looking for my flight sim fix i turn to OFF more often than any other sim I own. (and i own quite a few of em)

 

For me the immersion that I get from filling out a claim form and trying to be as accurate with the details as possible is one of the cool aspects of this sim. I agree that there are some claims that are rejected for seemingly no reason. ( scramble to defend the home aerodrome and knock down 3 german craft within 100yrds of the field and having them rejected?) But overall I would say I get credit for close to 85% of my claims.

 

Writing down wingmen names before the flight.

Writing down the proximity to towns/airfields/rivers/etc. of claimed kills.

Taking note of the altitude of engagements.

Even the enemy sqn if i recognize them (I dont play with icons)

 

But some pilots dont enjoy that aspect of the sim as much.

 

My only recomendation would be to follow DuceLewis's advice and change the setting in the workshop for claims to either medium or simply easy if you dont want to have to fill out the form. On the easy setting the game will simply keep track of your kills for you and you will recieve credit for 100% of enemy planes downed.

 

S!

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

The harsh and frustrating claims system can be very immersive for some air services. It was for the French, who needed an examinable wreckage or at least two ground witnesses (no amount of air witnesses did ever bother) to have a claim confirmed. It had some influence on some aces' scores:

 

- René Fonck: 75 confirmed out of 127 claims

- Georges Madon: 41 confirmed out of 105 claims

- René Dorme: 23 confirmed out of 70 claims (some 40 of his unconfirmed seem almost certain)

- David E. Puttnam: 9 confirmed out of 24 claims when flying for France (4 confirmed out of 5 claims when flying for Uncle Sam)

 

Very frustrating, indeed.

[Olham 164]

12o'clockhigh,

 

- the claims should NEVER contain a semicolon, cause the sim regards a semicolon as the end of it,

and I had many rejections through that; but not anymore. Now I'm getting at least 2/3 accepted.

I list ALL my wingmen as witnesses, separated by comma and space.

 

If I had no wingmen near me at the time of the kills, there are no witnesses, and so no confirms!

So it is very important to keep them near you (press wingman command "return"), or to follow them,

when they get distracted.

 

When a fight begins, you could mark a high opponent and press command "attack" - the wingies

will remain higher then (as long as that opponent does). Work with the 4 commands - it helps.

 

- When you are leader of B-flight, you can only hold your flight near you. If you want to stay close to

A-flight, you need to follow them - whereever they go. They get distracted by other targets easily,

and it's your decision to follow them, or to fullfill your mission task.

Since the leader of A-flight is also the flight leader, there is nothing wrong in following him.

That way, a hated ground attack may turn into a wonderful dogfight.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Olham

[carrick58 23]

" Uncomfirmed by Army means Uncomfirmed"

[12oclockhigh 0]

Thanks all for the advice. I keep track of the pilots in my flight in notepad, then copy and paste their names in the claims form. I separate the names with commas. I try to play as realistically as possible so selecting the 'easy' claim form is not an option. How do you enter extra information such as location and altitude?

Edited May 12, 2010 by 12oclockhigh

[Barkhorn1x 14]

" Uncomfirmed by Army means Uncomfirmed"

 

..but...but, someone must have seen my kill!

 

"Ask Fabian, perhaps he saw it."

 

[Olham 164]

How do you enter extra information such as location and altitude?

 

As long as you avoid semicolons, you can write it any way.

You could mention the nearest airfield or town, and your direction to it; also the time.

I write it like in the briefing: 13:11 h

I never metion the altitude more precise than just high or low.

[rabu 9]

Just a reminder.. (but I do sympathize).

 

 

[Rickitycrate 10]

Hi 12'O, Good advice is given for the claims. As for your flight dissappearing select "always lead" in the work shop and use your wingman flight commands, A-attack, H-help, S-split and especially R for rejoin. I only seem to lose my wingies when we have had a hell of a furball and I need to skeedaddle out of the action for self preservation. They never just vanish for me.

[Barkhorn1x 14]

Nice shot Rabu. That screenshot was taken right before the adjutant wipes poor Fabain's name off the squadron scoreboard.

[Olham 164]

Rabu, it would have to be "Unbestätigte Abschüsse verboten!"

 

unconfirmed = unbestätigt

 

kill = Tötung, töten, but also: Abschuss

 

Not sure if you will see the right letters - if you don't have the Umlaut letters,

you can also write:

 

"Unbestaetigte Abschuesse verboten!"

[Duce Lewis 3]

Not sure if you will see the right letters - if you don't have the Umlaut letters,

I think they're all there for most fonts

Maybe Character Map has them

It's usually a cntrl and/or alt key and a letter

 

Found these in Word using Insert - Symbol

Ä ß ë

[Olham 164]

Ah, good to know you can see them, as I write them - thanks, Duce.

 

Ä is spoken like your "a" in "man"

ß is a double "s"

The last letter is a French one we don't use - it's in "Citroën", for example. It is spelled similar to our "Ä".

[rabu 9]

Ah, good to know you can see them, as I write them - thanks, Duce.

 

Ä is spoken like your "a" in "man"

ß is a double "s"

The last letter is a French one we don't use - it's in "Citroën", for example. It is spelled similar to our "Ä".

 

Thanks, guys, yea, I have a hard enough time with English, lucky it didn't come out, UnBeastHeGot ABigAss Beergarten, or something else even worse.

[rabu 9]

Nice shot Rabu. That screenshot was taken right before the adjutant wipes poor Fabain's name off the squadron scoreboard.

 

Thanks, one of my favorite movies.

[Barkhorn1x 14]

Thanks, one of my favorite movies.

 

 

Mine too - just watched it - AGAIN - about two weeks ago.

[12oclockhigh 0]

Hi 12'O, Good advice is given for the claims. As for your flight dissappearing select "always lead" in the work shop and use your wingman flight commands, A-attack, H-help, S-split and especially R for rejoin. I only seem to lose my wingies when we have had a hell of a furball and I need to skeedaddle out of the action for self preservation. They never just vanish for me.

 

 

I do lead and also use the keyboard commands. The disappearing flight seems to happen most often over enemy territory. When I look at the radar screen during a dogfight there are no black dots indicating fallen comrades. The blue dots from my flight seem to get covered by red dots and then they are 'gone'. I can't describe it any other way. Only red dots remain and its me against the world. I can understand not getting credit for a kill in those situations, no friendlies are around. I might run across my wingman on my way home, providing I've survived, but the rest of my flight is long gone. By the way I hate using the radar. It's an absolute immersion killer but almost necessary to even things up against the AI. Finally I know this is a stretch but for me what would be really nice in phase four is to have planes from your flight signal to you about enemies nearby and in that way do away with the radar entirely. To keep this simple maybe a brief text message could appear when an enemy comes within visual range of someone in your flight. Providing they are close enough to you they relay the message. Just a thought....

[12oclockhigh 0]

In my latest campaign I've tried adding more details to the claims form, not just the names of witnesses. It's hard to figure out what the details should be but I guess at stuff. Altitude is tough since I fly the Camel and the altimeter readings for the lower altitudes are hidden. I figure close has to be good enough. I take a stab at my location as well if I have time during a dogfight, something like '10 miles West of Saint Quentin' and then try to remember that when I get home. I'd have to say I'm having limited success with claims as I now have 5 confirmed kills out of 32. All of this in 15 missions and 14.1 hours of flying time.