My God This Game Is Hard ! LOL

[dokken1212 0]

Just got my game about 5-6 hours ago and have set it to relatively easy settings and i'm being blown out the sky, flying into forests lol etc ....... all you 'veterans' werent joking when you said the game had a steep learning curve lol

 

That said I have to say the game is incredible and so immersive. ......... absolutely love it and I am determined over the forthcoming months to increase the realism and become an Ace lol

 

I am using a hat switch for looking around and can see now why a lot of you guys are using TrackIR ....makes perfect sense lol ....... I think Santa needs to bring me one lol

 

All the best fellas and happy hunting

James

[+elephant 36]

I'm happy for you !

Mine is on its way still...(order confirmed 17th of Nov.)

I had put my hopes on today (Friday).

It seems I'll have to wait for the next weeks arrivals...hopefully...

[Javito1986 14]

Welcome to the meat grinder. What planes have you been flying?

[Olham 164]

Congrats, dokken1212 - so it worked, as Polovski said it would. Great to hear.

May I repeat my standard line again here: This game ain't easy, because it is not a game.

Take your time for learning one specific craft of your choice - best is in "Quick Combat", and there in "Free flight", without opponents.

It will take a long time to get really god on just only one type of aircraft.

This sim provides you with stuff for years, honest!

 

Head up, elephant - if his sim arrived, yours will too.

[+elephant 36]

Already did , thanks uncleal!

 

[Olham 164]

Well, if you want TrackIR but can't get it in Greece, I could buy it for you in the Netherlands for 125,- Euro,

and then send it to you. If you want that, just send me a PM, elephant.

[+elephant 36]

No, thanks...I can order one via internet by myself, no problem.

I've bought lately, RoF with the whole bunch of planes, OFF BH&H and will buy HiTR as soon as it arrives...

With my recent financial stress this is already too much ...jobs are getting scarce here, for a freelance artist I am...

I'll try to go with Freetrack first and we'll see...

Thanks again!

[NS13Jarhead 6]

Just got my game about 5-6 hours ago and have set it to relatively easy settings and i'm being blown out the sky, flying into forests lol etc ....... all you 'veterans' werent joking when you said the game had a steep learning curve lol

 

That said I have to say the game is incredible and so immersive. ......... absolutely love it and I am determined over the forthcoming months to increase the realism and become an Ace lol

James/dokken,

In case you haven't tried it, run a plain, unmodified mission in CFS3, then run an OFF mission - it will really give you an indication of just how much work the DevTeam has put into this and why it is so special to all of us.

 

What learning curve? The flying part isn't too hard - push the stick forward and the trees get bigger, pull the stick back and the trees get smaller. Simple, right? Recommend flying a relatively docile bird, like the Albatros D.V, Fokker D.VII or the SE5a to start. If you were like me, you jumped into either the Sopwith Camel or the Dr.1 and dumped it into the ground with or without enemy help.

[carrick58 23]

Just got my game about 5-6 hours ago and have set it to relatively easy settings and i'm being blown out the sky, flying into forests lol etc ....... all you 'veterans' werent joking when you said the game had a steep learning curve lol

 

That said I have to say the game is incredible and so immersive. ......... absolutely love it and I am determined over the forthcoming months to increase the realism and become an Ace lol

 

I am using a hat switch for looking around and can see now why a lot of you guys are using TrackIR ....makes perfect sense lol ....... I think Santa needs to bring me one lol

 

All the best fellas and happy hunting

James

 

Dont follow the fighters down to the weeds their wing mates are waiting for you

[CaptSopwith 26]

Hi James, and welcome to the forum!

 

Glad to see you got your copy of OFF and you're already acclimating to life as a pilot in World War I! I don't have much I can usefully add that the other chaps here haven't said already. Start with a fairly easy plane to fly - the SE5 is my personal favorite. The old Red Baron II manual used to say that the SE5 could make even a mediocre pilot look good - which is certainly the case for me! The other plus is that it's one of the few allied planes with twin guns, which will certainly be useful once you get to where you can put sights on an enemy.

 

A good way of acclimating yourself to flight in OFF is to play several quick missions and quick scenarios - just make sure you check the box that says "pilot can't die" or else you'll lose your campaign pilot! It's a great way to get your feet wet without subjecting yourself to the complete rigors of the Front, with all of its perils. Once you start getting comfortable, jump into a campaign. My recommendation - as I've always played my sims this way and enjoyed the experience more for it is this - if you feel like it, try playing around with OFF with all of the realism settings turned up. I tend to find I learn quicker working with the rules the way they will ultimately be rather than learning an easier system and ramping up the difficulty later. And hey, it'll give you an idea of what it was really like back then. Too bad those early Camel pilots didn't have a setting to turn off gyro effects!

 

Again, welcome to the front! We're always glad to have another new pilot in our midsts. Keep asking questions, and we'll keep giving answers (some more useful and or more sarcastic than others! ). And hey, we like the company!

 

New guy buys the first round!

[dokken1212 0]

Hey guys,

 

Thanks very much for the feedback and advice :-). It certainly is a beautiful game for sure. The trouble I have is getting onto the enemy and even knowing where he is lol ....... i just see tracer, then i start evading, looki round with hat switch and barely see anyone or just a flash of the enemy, then its just maneouvreing in the hope i get onto him lol. I can claim an assist kill though i think lol .... I was badly shot up and limping for home and I was about 200 feet off the ground and my camel would only do 40/50mph max and i was trying to evade a german aircraft that was still on my tail and I looked back and he was on firee and smacked into the ground ...... i think my flack guys got him lol ......... Can i make a claim for him? hahahahahahahahaha ........ or is that clutching at straws lol

 

I am going toinvest in TrackIR for Xmas ..... thats a certainty lol

All the best felaa's

James

[Hasse Wind 46]

Get that TrackIR ASAP. It will change the way you play and enjoy flight sims. And you WILL live longer when your situational awareness improves. CFS3 has rather... limited view controls without TrackIR.

 

No flight sim fan should be without TrackIR. It really is that important.

[Redkite 0]

Freetrack works well if you are prepared to invest some time, It took me a while as I am not into electronics but there is plenty of info on the freetrack site and youtube.

[Burning Beard 14]

Use the padlock key. You can see your enemy on the HUD out to 4 miles, padlock one enemy as they pop up (they will be white initially and turn red as they get closer). When they get closer you can cycle your HUD down to 1 mile. If you are locked on a specific enemy, your screen will orientetoward him, you can then cycle through the enemy contacts (by pushing the padlock key) and get a idea where they are because the screen will orient toward each one as you cycle. Don't worry about it staying there, the padlock can be cycled on and off. You need the padlock up to target enemies for your wingmen.

 

The enemy can be hard to find even with TracIR, and you don't have the advantage of a radio or wingmen that will point where an enemy is, that is what the padlock is for. I have bound keys on the joystick for padlock and cycle, I also have zoom in and zoom out keys mapped so I can use it like a pair of binoculars.

 

When just beginning, you should use labels to give you an idea how the game works and how far you will be able to see. Use instruments when first learning, until you get a feel for the airplane. I always have the compass up and have drug it under the HUD (there are actually planes in the game with no compass) and it is hard to navigate using the in game map. The HUD also shows a line to the next waypoint.

 

Find a level of realism (using aids) that you are comfortable with and fly that way.

 

Beard

Edited December 11, 2010 by Burning Beard

[Olham 164]

For elephant and all who don't yet fly with TrackIR:

 

The hat switch will give you 8 angles; you can use the forward one for looking up;

and when you leave the hat switch, it will jump back to forward view.

 

You can toggle the views from "snap view" to "pan view" (or how it's called - see in "Controls").

If you put the toggle command on any joystick button, you can have the gliding "pan view" during

normal flying; and as soon as a fight begins, you can toggle to "snap view", which makes quick

checking the six (and all other directions) much faster and easier.

Personally, I never liked "Padlock view" - it fixes me to the target, makes my flying complicated,

and doesn't allow quick checks in other directions. It always felt most unnatural to me.

[77Scout 3]

i just see tracer, then i start evading, looki round with hat switch and barely see anyone or just a flash of the enemy,

 

If you are using the hat switch in 'snap' mode you will have little hope of seeing anything, as the directions you can look are limited. If you use it in 'panning' mode you can look in any direction...similar to having TrackIR but requiring a lot more skill because moving your thumb is not as natural as just moving your head. If you get very good at panning with the hat switch you can track enemies through twists and turns almost as good as with TrackIR, but after TrackIR you will never go back.