theultimat 5 Posted July 28, 2011 Up until now, I have been flying OFF as I would any other serious flight sim, but had yet to witness the absolute "immersion" that I hear you guys talking about. I didn't think it was possible for a sim, but I have been proven wrong. It all started when my flight of D.Vas was tasked with strafing the front lines, so I took off with five wingmen and headed for the target area. I arrived at the lines without issue, and that was when I saw a flight of six Nieuport 24 scouts flying at our height. I signaled my wingmen to attack, but forgot to tell them what to attack, so as it was a ground attack missoin they all dived towards the trenches, leaving me alone up high. Four of the Nieups followed them, leaving me with two - which turned out to be Del Antonie Gaston Vial and Charles Boishardy (spelling?) of Esc. 315. They had also dived, but not followed my wingmen, so I circled above them, unsure what to do. Then, for some reason I can't explain, I just threw my kite into a dive and shot into the middle of them, guns blazing. I zoomed passed them, and we were soon in a crazy tail-chasing circle. I managed to out turn Vial, and fired a few shots into his engine, but then one of their wingmen came back, so I was forced to break of the attack. I instead shot up the newcomer, who fell in flames shortly afterwards. Then I resumed my position in the circle, and proceeded to damage Vial enough to make him climb out of the fight, that was now at treetop level. That left me with even odds, I thought, so you can imagine my surprise when I turned around and found Boishardy on my tail, along with four wingmen. Needless to say, I fled, zigzagging my way back to the lines and safety. I got a fair way over, so three of the Nieups left me, and because of this I thought I may as well try my luck against the two remaining Nieups. We were chasing each other again in a circle, and I got onto Boishardy's tail, firing a long burst into his engine, which sparked a few times. I was forced to break off the attack, as his wingman was pumping lead through my wings and fuselage. I tried to evade his fire, and succeeded in doing so, but too late - my Albatros was as maneuverable as an R.E.8 with a full load of bombs. I was forced to flee, and this was when I got truly immersed in the game. This one Nieuport chased me for 20 miles all the way back to my aerodrome, during which I had to stunt as much as my damaged Albatros would allow. I eventually got back to the aerodrome, and made a safe landing, missing a wingtip and with wings and fuselage riddled with bullets. When my kite ran to a stop, I realized I was actually sweating, and breathing heavily. This probably doesn't sound as amazing as it felt to fly it, but hey, I'm not great at describing stuff that I've done in the past. So, sorry if I had doubted OFF's immersion - now I'm a full believer. I'll put a report up in the "Reports from the Front" topic in a while - I need to recover first. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shiloh 12 Posted July 28, 2011 (edited) Way to go ultimat! That sounded intense and as a new flier I know what you mean. I had a moment with one of my pilots last week that affected me deeply and I still think about it even now. It was a quiet moment after an intense fight where I downed two Jasta 2 pilots. Afterwards, I was quite alone with the eerie desolation of the front and the sight of ground gas and bombing - it all really sucked me in and jerked my emotions around to say the least. Edited July 28, 2011 by Shiloh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adger 87 Posted July 28, 2011 great story ultamat,i tottally agree OFF is THE most immersive sim anywhere on the market,you actually start caring for your wingmen, and others in your flight ive sweated and screeched on more than one occasion (ive had the missus runnin out of the bedroom to see whats going on) Ha Ha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted July 28, 2011 Seems you had your "baptism of fire" today, ulti? I know what you mean about sweaty hands etc. There should be a warning on the package "Not for people with heart diseases!" When you have sent your wingmen down to attack ground targets, and then find yourself in trouble with other fighters, you could press "H" for "Help!" repeatedly. At least your direct wingman should now break off his attack; maybe the whole flight would come for help. I had a great fight with two SPADs yesterday, flying an Albatros D.Va. With the almost invisible tracers provided by Creaghorn, I used most of my ammo on one SPAD (they die hard!), and hit the other quite a bit. But then it was used up, and the SPAD began chasing me. Now I pressed "H", and within a minute, he had the other 4 Albatros chasing him - they shot him to pieces. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Javito1986 14 Posted July 28, 2011 I had a moment like that a few months ago when I was flying with 56 Squadron in my current career. It was May '17, Battle of Arras was raging, and we came across a 20 - 30 plane dogfight ongoing. Naturally we wouldn't miss out on the fun so we went into the thick of it! Long story shot I brought down one Alb DIII, only to be holed by his wingman a second later. Was damaged, had a fuel leak, made for the nearest aerodrome and just as I was coming in for a landing the cheeky bugger Albatross made another pass at me, filling me with even more holes. That's when my own wingman, Edgar Epps, showed up and shot the living hell out of the Albatross. My kite was completely finished, I made an extremely hard crash landing and as I rolled to a halt the Albatross that had been killing me crashed less than 50 meters in front of me, and I looked up and saw Edgar's SE5 flying by. I waved at him from my computer chair, was a great moment. Poor Edgar was WIA a month later, but I remember him fondly as the best damn AI wingman I ever had Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted July 28, 2011 I have a broken joystick downstairs...it's a testament to how 'intense' combat can become. when you have a good pilot to protect Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted July 29, 2011 Welcome to the war, Ultimate. What's even more exciting is realizing that when you come across some famous Aces, they weren't just "spawned" there out of thin air. It means their squadron was stationed somewhere in the area and they were sent out on a patrol or mission of some kind with their own objectives. I've had dogfights where planes from 4 different squadrons were all embroiled in a furball because as patrols from either side came across our dogfight, they decided to join in! It really is a war up there in OFF:BH&H. Glad to see you are enjoying yourself. Hellshade Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dej 17 Posted July 29, 2011 (edited) Jem Spilsby and Drew Palmer, two of the greatest guys that ever didn't exist. My first campaign in OFF P3, I flew with No. 56 Sqn. like Javito, and Jem and Drew were my flight mates, Jem my wing. Throughout April and May those guys kept knocking Huns off my tail or helped me gain a score by beating up on a Hun and then leaving the 'coup de grace' to me. Posted to Walmer in June, they both died in a mid-air collision in a storm that we should never have been sent up in - OFF Manager, how could you? - I was gutted... and so angry at the futility of it I didn't fly for weeks! That was nigh on two years ago and I still remember. Yes. It is immersive. Edited July 29, 2011 by Dej Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theultimat 5 Posted July 29, 2011 Yup - I can now see how immersive OFF really is. I tried flying without any of the aids earlier today and that even better. I think I'll fly like that in the future, and just turn on labels to check if any aces are about, as apparently they don't show up when using HPW's Ultimate DM. I'll see to posting that report in the other topic right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
