Procrastinating from OFF (I'm afraid of DEATH!)

[Javito1986 14]

This happen to anyone else?

 

I recently shipped back my Gamefly games so I'm gearing up to return to my 80+hr pilot campaign. I flew a QC this morning, just a few circuits around the airfield to practice some maneuvering, and now I'm all ready to go...

 

BUT I'M AFRAID OF DYING and find myself kinda putting it off. Or wanting to make a new redshirt pilot and sending him up.

 

Yep, I'm officially not playing OFF because I'm afraid if I do my pilot will be killed. Which I know is silly. I have a patrol scheduled for this evening, have the RL time all set up for it, and there's no more excuses! Just gonna go up there, fly around, but if I see a Hun I swear I'm running away.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

OH, I have sooooooo been there, Javito. And it seems as if we have another candidate for the BOC. Apply today, my barmy lad.

 

The Barmy OFFers Club

 

.

[Olham 164]

Javito and Lou, I knew that too well. Sometimes I spend more than an hour on preparing to fly,

only to find that a sudden, very intensive tiredness is falling on me like a curtain.

It is psychological - I feel a strong stress, and try to escape it.

 

And that is only flying German side, which is easier, cause you fly your scout only

over friendly terrain, and can put it down, if it is damaged. Whenever enemy craft

are getting near you, you will see black Flak puffs as a warning and a guide for

either sneaking up on them, or for evading them.

How much deeper the Entente pilots feel this, I only recently felt again with a BE2c pilot.

After crossing the lines, you have no more to rely on than yourself. No guiding Archie.

No terrain to land a damaged kite.

Flying Entente side is so much harder, that no one must feel ashamed, if they make

far less kills, or if they don't last so long. Yes, I feel with you guys.

[Shiloh 12]

I try and approach flying like I always did playing sports Javito & Olham. You'll do your best if you're loose and relaxed perhaps with a tinge of nervous energy and you'll be on the top of your game. If it is your time to go, so be it but you cannot perform your best living in fear.

[hood 2]

Javito, I too am afraid of losing my pilots and I now have lost countless numbers of them.But at last I have found an answer. Cowardice!Gutlessness!The yellow streak!My favourite pilot, Captain Harry Flashman, has now lasted seven and a half hours which is an absolute record for me.He never leads and when his formation nears enemy lines he deserts and stooges around Allied lines watching for enemy formations which he then evades by running away.He flies the SE5 and on the few occasions he has been surprised by a wily Hun he has escaped by shoving his nose down and outpacing him.I have considered giving him a Spad which would make him even better at fleeing the scene.He even has a victory to his credit, when he attacked [his only attack]a damaged German two-seater trying to regain his own lines and put enough bullets in him to force him down on the Allied side of the lines.He tried to land near it to savour his victory but botched his landing and ended up in hospital for a few weeks.

I have great hopes for this lad and as I started him off in August 1918 he may see the war out if he is able to maintain his standard of chickenheartedness,which I have no doubt he will.

I can recommend these tactics to anyone who wants see the war out.

[TaillyHo 2]

Not sure you're doing a lot to perpetuate the brave ANZAC traditions there, Hood (!)

. . . but there is some wisdom - and some comedy - in what you say.

 

Nice to see another Aussie on the forum - I seem to have been flying the flag alone for the last few months.

 

Yes, I know that feeling too, Javito - that's where having 2-3 pilots on the go at any one time gives you the option of chosing a less established one when you feel tired or distracted - ensuring you feeling good about it before you load up your main-man!

 

Good luck! I look forward to reading about the return of Joyce.

 

 

[Javito1986 14]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who suffers from this affliction. I actually ended up flying two patrols this evening after making this post and didn't see any Huns on either one. Figures!

 

Oh and @Hood, that one made me laugh out loud.

[Olham 164]

Hood, you may have discovered at least one recepy for a longer life in war.

 

We fly OFF, cause we want it most immersive.

Most immersive is: you feel like - you ARE the pilot above the lines.

Most immersive also means: you are afraid to lose your life

Absolutely normal to me.

And the longer you fly, the more pssible chances of dying did you see;

the more of the 9 lives of the cat did you use up...

[Creaghorn 10]

i know that feeling too well.

but mostly i know that feeling when i played the various "resident evil" games on play station. that was so scary and exhausting every time, that after a while i had to save the game and play some sportsgame or something, knowing that's a game where nobody is going to be scared to death and nobody is dying . and later when i wanted to continue resident evil, i hesitated here and there and doing lot of other stuff as an excuse before finally continueing to play.

 

with BHAH you simply have to go on and on and on without thinking too much about him. if you have a cautious flying attitude anyway, then there is no difference if it's hour 1 or hour 500 in the air. there shouldn't be a difference in the cautious approach anyway because the life of the pilot does not begin with his first sortie, but has begun about 20 years ago. the problem is rather when you get tense because exactly then happen accidents like collisions and landing accidents etc. that happened in the past so often that guys in the forum, who picked the 17h mark as the goal, shortly before or after reaching it died stupidly in collisions etc. and some even accused the devs to have built in something which makes further progress after 17h impossible lol.

i compare it a bit with a close baseballgame in late innings. many people tend to get more tense in later innings, be it hitting or especially fielding. and many people especially then strike out or make errors, simply because they start to think too much instead of doing the same what they did all game before. same principal IMO.

[Wayfarer 5]

And I thought it was just me! I always felt embarrassed that I sometimes felt too tired to start OFF, being convinced I would get my pilot killed because I couldn't concentrate. What was it like for people who had to do it for real!

[Olham 164]

i know that feeling too well.

but mostly i know that feeling when i played the various "resident evil" games on play station.

that was so scary and exhausting every time, that after a while i had to save the game

Hihi, that shows you are an "immersive player" - I know that so well !

A friend of mine doesn't understand that; for him it's "just running through and kill all the monsters".

But me, I need to explore things, and when getting towards a difficult task waiting, I often spend even

more time exploring, postponing the stress a little.

 

In OFF, I recently saved Jasta 2 ace Frommherz, who was fighting two Nieuports only 100 feet above the mud.

And it felt like a Staffel mate in in serious threat, and I had to concentrate myself so hard, not to make a stupid

mistake now. After the rescue, I was really mentaly exhausted - but also very glad.

 

Maybe as a sportsman, you have trained it better, not to think about any consquences,

but to concentrate on the very moment rather. That can be the decisive difference between winning or losing.

In a dogfight as well as on the baseball ground.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Olham

[Creaghorn 10]

Hihi, that shows you are an "immersive player" - I know that so well !

A friend of mine doesn't understand that; for him it's "just running through and kill all the monsters".

But me, I need to explore things, and when getting towards a difficult task waiting, I often spend even

more time exploring, postponing the stress a little.

 

In OFF, I recently saved Jasta 2 ace Frommherz, who was fighting two Nieuports only 100 feet above the mud.

And it felt like a Staffel mate in in serious threat, and I had to concentrate myself so hard, not to make a stupid

mistake now. After the rescue, I was really mentaly exhausted - but also very glad.

 

Maybe as a sportsman, you have trained it better, not to think about any consquences,

but to concentrate on the very moment rather. That can be the decisive difference between winning or losing.

In a dogfight as well as on the baseball ground.

 

no, the zombies etc. are just part of it. mostly it's the music, the camera angles, the story, the sounds, the overall unvisible and dangerous atmosphere in it and the sudden appearing scary moments (and i always jump from my seat, even if i played the game before and i know it's going to come lol).

 

in sports maybe you learn how to focus, but i would never compare a sportsgame with something which might cost your real life. and every football coach or whoever, who said that beeing in sports is like beeing in a war, has never been in a war. otherwise they wouldn't talk crap like that.

it's rather different, in important situations in sports i calm myself down in remembering that we are just adults, playing a childrens game, while there are REAL important situations in the world, like doctors who in the same moment are doing brain surgeries or something really important and dangerous. soldiers who fight for freedom or are protecting freedom etc.

 

on the other hand you are right, when you say that many aces tried to see the aerial warfare as a kind of macabre game. probably also a way to stay calm.

[Shiloh 12]

And I thought it was just me! I always felt embarrassed that I sometimes felt too tired to start OFF, being convinced I would get my pilot killed because I couldn't concentrate. What was it like for people who had to do it for real!

 

Last night I flew when I was absolutely exhausted - on the verge of getting sick I think but the same thought crossed my mind Wayfarer. If they could fly exhausted why can't I - isn't that realistic? I wasn't handling my Albatros D.III the way I normally would and had to struggle over the 1+ hours I flew with no less than 3 major engagements. But then I landed safely (with a claim to boot), I felt a great sense of relief that my days hard work was done and now I could retire to my bunk to earn a well-deserved rest.

 

My wife on the other hand was pretty PO'd that I came to the bunk so late but I told her that her world would be safe for another day thanks to me and she should know by now what it's like to be married to a pilot!

 

If that's not Barmy, I don't know what is.

 

Contact - clear!

Edited July 22, 2011 by Shiloh

[Olham 164]

...sudden appearing scary moments (and i always jump from my seat, even if i played

the game before and i know it's going to come lol).

Knowing your athletic shape (from that Halloween pic, when you were the "Joker"),

I just had to laugh out loud, imagining you to get scared by a game.

[Creaghorn 10]

Knowing your athletic shape (from that Halloween pic, when you were the "Joker"),

I just had to laugh out loud, imagining you to get scared by a game.

 

marriage and children slowly turn an athletic shape into an undefinable mass of meat. i'm glad my hair isn't slowly falling off to complete the picture ...oh, wait a minute, there is a hair...there another...oh nooooooooo...

[kaa 0]

Javito, I too am afraid of losing my pilots and I now have lost countless numbers of them.But at last I have found an answer. Cowardice!Gutlessness!The yellow streak!My favourite pilot, Captain Harry Flashman, has now lasted seven and a half hours which is an absolute record for me.He never leads and when his formation nears enemy lines he deserts and stooges around Allied lines watching for enemy formations which he then evades by running away.He flies the SE5 and on the few occasions he has been surprised by a wily Hun he has escaped by shoving his nose down and outpacing him.I have considered giving him a Spad which would make him even better at fleeing the scene.He even has a victory to his credit, when he attacked [his only attack]a damaged German two-seater trying to regain his own lines and put enough bullets in him to force him down on the Allied side of the lines.He tried to land near it to savour his victory but botched his landing and ended up in hospital for a few weeks.

I have great hopes for this lad and as I started him off in August 1918 he may see the war out if he is able to maintain his standard of chickenheartedness,which I have no doubt he will.

I can recommend these tactics to anyone who wants see the war out.

 

[gordohk 1]

Yup I know that feeling. Also had the wonderful experience of get back into the cockpit, after a six week break from flying, and lost all of my pilots one after the other in one session. That really sucked.

[Olham 164]

...oh, wait a minute, there is a hair...there another...oh nooooooooo...

Don't bother - losing hair on the head is a sign of manhood, they say.

A wife plus a kid can sometimes be as straining as flying four patrols on a

busy front sector, I'm sure!

Good to see you here - and laughing, Creaghorn!